PlayStation Vita

Gamers !

The time is almost upon us.

I am, of course, talking about the new handheld that is heading our way in less than 2 weeks. The PlayStation Vita. It has been a long time since I've been this excited for a new handheld. The last time might have been the Nintendo DS.

Bandit: Playstation Vita ... Motherfuka

Sony is once again entering the handheld arena, but can it hold it's own against the Nintendo 3DS?

The quick answer, yes. Yes it can.

You may all disagree with me, but so far, the 3DS has been rather lacking. From its lame, only sometimes working 3D, to its library of rehashes and to add insult to injury, the plastic and NOT built in second analog nub. Sold separately, of course.

But enough about the losers, let's talk about the soon-to-be winners.

What makes the Vita so special? Well for one, it actually has a semi-impressive list of launch titles. Games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Wipeout 2048, Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3, and more.

So that right there is already a very good start.

It also has front and back cameras, touchscreens . . . Front and back. Yes, you read that right, the back of the Vita has a touchscreen. This may or may not be awkward, more on that when I pick one up. A gorgeous 5 inch OLED screen, so that'll be great for people who are practically blind... like me.

There's Built in microphone, wi-fi, bluetooth, and on the more expensive models, 3G. Certain models of the Vita have the option of getting a monthly plan with some company, Verizon or something, I wasn't paying attention. It was a bad one anyway.

The 3G allows you to find players more easily though, play online anywhere, and connect to your PlayStation 3 anywhere and from what I understand, possibly play ANY of yourPlayStation 3 games, on the go.

Now hold on a moment there . . . This might be a really big deal.

The Vita actually has the power to play PlayStation 3 games. It's been proven before by Sony with videos, not just words. They've shown us that IT CAN do it. KillZon3D was played on a Vita. That is just insane.

So far, it hasn't been confirmed if they will implement this feature, and even if ALL the games will work. But if it does, then that is just amazing. You would be paying 249-300 dollars for what is basically, a portable PlayStation 3. And yes, it has a second analog nub built in.

Perfection.

However, this brings up a few issues. If you're on a monthly plan, you'll no doubt have a data plan. If you're streaming PS3 games, how much data is being transferred here? Aren't PS3 games like, 50 gigs or so,  depending on the title? And let's say you're on a wi-fi connection instead. How fast would you need the connection to be? And finally, and I rather think this one is really important. If you stream from your PS3, that means your PS3 has to be on. I for one don't like to have my devices on when I'm not around. A few PC's were lost this way. But let's get over that phobia for a moment. If we lose wi-fi connection or 3G connection when we are away from home, will the PS3 know to close itself? And if it does, then what happens to your game progress? Is it instantly lost?

These are my questions Sony. So far, you don't have the answers, but that's okay. We still have 2 weeks.

But I know what you are thinking. "Damn Axl, this seems too good to be true ! Truly there must be a downside to such a beast of a machine !"

I'm sorry to tell you reader, but yes. There are downsides.

For one, the Vita's battery seems to not last as long as some of us would want. I believe I've heard around 5 hours, which I think isn't too bad, but for others is completely unacceptable.

And then we have the real kicker.

It pains me to say it, but in another "Let's try to stop piracy" thing, Sony is now using custom memory cards for their Vita. Normally, not a problem. However, they made it a problem. The cards come in different sizes, from 4 gigs, to 32 gigs I believe. There might by bigger ones.

The 4 gigs is 20 dollars.

The 8 gigs is 35 dollars.

The 16 gigs is 60 dollars.

The 32 gigs is 100 dollars.

That . . . Is a lot of money for memory cards. They've essentially doubled the price of memory cards. And many games, such as Uncharted, require you to have one. So that is 20 dollars guaranteed that you will spend.

Awkward. This may hurt Sony more than they realize.

But, we'll see how it goes. The Vita's been out for a while in Japan. This system is just too good for me to pass up.

Expect a hands-on review as soon as possible.

-Axl4002