Nintendo used to own the on-the-go gaming scene with its Game Boy and DS. In 2005, Sony threw its hat into the portable gaming ring with its PlayStation Portable, or PSP.
While the PSP was technologically superior to the DS, it paled in comparison because of poor battery life and lack of games.
The DS has outsold the PSP with more than 151 million units sold worldwide compared to the PSP’s 71 million.
Sony is hoping to change all that with its successor to the PSP by bringing a new console to life – the PlayStation Vita.
“Vita” in Latin means life, and I must say, this thing brings a lot to the table.
The handheld boasts a gorgeous 5-inch, multi-touch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, rear touchpad, gyroscope, two cameras, six-axis motion sensing and two joysticks. Sony claims it to be as powerful as a PlayStation 3 but in your pocket.
After playing with mine all week, it’s easy to see the screen is absolutely gorgeous.
Abundantly colorful games like “Touch My Katamari” and “Super Stardust Delta” look stunning on the Vita’s OLED screen, and the system’s user interface is simple enough for anyone who uses a smartphone.
It seems Sony really hit it out of the park with this one.
On day one, the PS Store had more than 25 games specifically for Vita along with the hundreds of PSP games already available for download.
Sony experimented with a download-only system on the PSP Go, but it failed miserably. This time around, every Vita game will be available in both physical copy and digital copy, with the digital copy sometimes sold cheaper.
But the Vita is far from perfect.
Although it’s powerful and the games are gorgeous, the battery life is less than boastful, clocking in around four hours.
Not very good for a device meant to be portable.
With people constantly on the go, a new necessity of constant entertainment has become the norm — the nation’s attention span just isn’t what it used to be.
Whether it wanted to or not, Apple has changed the way people look at mobile gaming with the release of its iPhone and iPod Touch. Mobile gaming has transitioned into micro-gaming – bite-sized chunks of gameplay on the bus or during class.
Just five minutes of “Angry Birds” here and 10 minutes of “Cut the Rope” there, and society’s ADHD has been cured.
It seems Sony doesn’t understand this concept. While games like “Uncharted” look amazing — especially for a handheld — people aren’t going to pull out their Vita on the bus for a brief play session like they would an iPhone game.
The Vita also has to compete with Nintendo’s latest handheld, the 3DS, released last year. It already has a year head start and two very good “Mario” games included in its library.
If Sony truly wants to compete with Nintendo and Apple when it comes to mobile gaming, they’re going to have to go all out with the Vita. No more restrictions on games and downloads out of fear of piracy.
Nintendo doesn’t seem to understand how the Internet works, so if Sony can establish seamless integration of the Vita and PlayStation 3 over PlayStation Network, it will easily give it an advantage.
Unfortunately, the Vita is a tad pricey at $250. This is the same price the 3DS launched at last year, but has since dropped to $170.
The catch is that a proprietary memory card is required on almost every Vita game, and those cards don’t come cheap, ranging from $20 to $100.
I’m a lot more optimistic with the Vita than I was for the PSP, but Sony has a tendency of taking one step forward then a step or two backward.
Sony has a real chance with this new console, but it has a lot of room to make up if it wants to compete with Nintendo and Apple.
Adam Arinder is a 22-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
 
 
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]