Unsung and under appreciated: PS Vita

[Beige]

Who's played Tearaway? I've got it at home as well, not opened it yet. I've been iffy on Media Molecule in the past, but it looks clever. Vita it? Or wait for the PS4 version that has some kind of new tricks, presumably not involving a camera.

[Angry Jedi]

Who's played Tearaway? I've got it at home as well, not opened it yet. I've been iffy on Media Molecule in the past, but it looks clever. Vita it? Or wait for the PS4 version that has some kind of new tricks, presumably not involving a camera.

I haven't played it, but people who have are constantly raving about how good it is, so it's worth a shot at least, I'd say.

The PS4 version is a brand new game (albeit with the same story), so I don't believe the two will be directly comparable.

[Tolkoto]

I played Tearaway, and I certainly enjoyed it, but I don't think I liked it as much as some. The actual platforming is pretty standard stuff, but the creative use of the camera and touchscreen certainly adds a lot of value.

[Alex Connolly]

Tearaway was the perfect game to introduce my three year old to, regarding moving about in 3D space. A good game, creative and beautiful, but not a whole lot to say after the fact.

[RedSwirl]

Man whatever.

My issue with the indie games is that I bought them a year prior on Steam. I'm not paying $20 for Rogue Legacy again (especially when I probably got it for like $8 on Steam) just to play it on the go. If I'd bought the game on PlayStation with cross-buy and all that then that would be another story, but already owning games like it and Hotline Miami on Steam complicates the cost/benefit factor. This is the whole problem with the Vita as a port machine: I think that idea only really works when it incorporates some kind of universal inter-compatibility. A handheld can't exist as a choice for multiplatform games because a lot of people, especially in the West, are going to choose the console in that situation. The iPhone works because everything you do and buy on your iPad and a lot of what you do on your Mac seamlessly transfers right over. Sony is trying to get there but so far can only make a handful of games cross-buy and attempt Remote Play for everything else. And I don't think you can really "get there" unless you start shipping multiple machines that share architecture like Apple's machines do. This is what Nintendo is rumored to be doing with its next round of hardware: A console and handheld that completely share one ecosystem of software. At that point a system stops becoming a port machine and really does become a portable console. At that point we stop seeing the separation between at-home and portable that already doesn't exist in other media. If Vita is your preferred platform for multiplatform stuff then fine. I just don't think it quite accomplishes its main objective.

Unique games? Just not enough... yet. Let me put it this way, if I ended up with a Vita tomorrow, I'd buy exactly two games for it: Lumines and Danganronpa. That's not much for a $200 investment. I have a bit of a PSP backlog but I'm just fine playing those on my PSP-1000. And I never expected AAA games to sell the Vita. What I expected was a continuation of what we got on the PSP and what we're now seeing on the 3DS.

The PSP got a lot of strategy games, which would be perfect for the Vita's touch screen and backtouch, not to mention its more powerful hardware compared to the PSP and 3DS. All I see in that category is a Vita version of Disgaea 4. Why can't we have another game like Jeanne D'Arc? XCOM would have been great on Vita, but it ends up on mobile instead. Looking around there are indeed a few good-looking RPGs on Vita, so I guess that's something if you're into niche JRPGs and visual novels. Personally I'm not outside Chunsoft and Shin Megami Tensei, and the latter seems to have chosen the 3DS as its platform of choice. Just imagine what SMT IV would have been like on Vita. Then there's the potentially good shit that's Japan-only. And really, all Sony had to fucking do was moneyhat Monster Hunter. The game would've been great there and probably dragged a lot more Japanese developer support with it.

The Vita's a great piece of hardware with a lot of potential, I'm just not seeing it fulfilled. And what's with those memory card prices?

[Alex Connolly]

Fair points, Red, but to counter it, I feel exactly the same way about the big consoles. There's little to entice me there, especially with a PC in the mix. The argument of cheap PC indies hitting the Vita at double the cost is a valid one, but I think it was just the first wave of enticements. Most of the indie games that arrive on the platform now are great Redux packages, or in the case of something like Frozen Synapse, are reborn with a whole new look in the Prime Vita version.

I dunno. I just find the platform really attractive, and while I'd love it to get the same breadth of titles its forebear had - you cannot argue that, for a consistently bemoaned handheld, the PSP had a staid and lifeless library - there's a lot to like coming down the pipeline.

[Angry Jedi]

Fair points, Red, but to counter it, I feel exactly the same way about the big consoles. There's little to entice me there, especially with a PC in the mix. The argument of cheap PC indies hitting the Vita at double the cost is a valid one, but I think it was just the first wave of enticements. Most of the indie games that arrive on the platform now are great Redux packages, or in the case of something like Frozen Synapse, are reborn with a whole new look in the Prime Vita version.

I dunno. I just find the platform really attractive, and while I'd love it to get the same breadth of titles its forebear had - you cannot argue that, for a consistently bemoaned handheld, the PSP had a staid and lifeless library - there's a lot to like coming down the pipeline.

See my End of Summer Glut thread. A significant proportion of those games I'm looking forward to -- Akiba's Trip, SAO: HF, Freedom Wars, Neptunia Re;Birth -- are Vita titles.

[Beige]

Know what's good? Danganrompa.

[Angry Jedi]

Know what's good? Danganrompa.

Hell yes Danganronpa is good.

[Alex Connolly]

I'm going to add Jeff Minter's TxK to the mix. Wow. With this, CounterSpy, Gravity Crash Ultra and Behind You in just the last week (well, TxK from earlier in the year), that's a wholesome gaggle of games to sup upon.

Am heartily blaming Pete for the TxK addiction currently ongoing.