Playstation Vita

[moosegrinder]

That said, you'd be lucky to find 8gb for quarter of that. Instead you'll end up getting 32Gb later and be stuck with 8gb that cost you another £20 that you can't get shot of.

Exactly. Better to just bite the bullet and get a 32GB.

The 8gb is costing me a tenner with the console as I'm buying it off a friend. He's got his sights set on that LEGO B-Wing so he needs the money. I'll get a 32gb at some point, sooner probably than later.

[Looper]

In all honesty, you can get away with an 8GB fine - I've had mine a year now and while I wouldn't mind a bigger one, it's only once in a blue moon I'm actually playing more than two or three 'big' games at once. For example I have Persona 4 in the slot, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, Sine Mora, and have 3GB free.

[catinthehat]

In all honesty, you can get away with an 8GB fine - I've had mine a year now and while I wouldn't mind a bigger one, it's only once in a blue moon I'm actually playing more than two or three 'big' games at once. For example I have Persona 4 in the slot, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, Sine Mora, and have 3GB free.

Same here, but I suppose it really depends on your play style. I don't like dipping in and out of random games all the time. Once I've finished something, I'll just dump it on to the PC and delete it from the Vita. I maybe do that once every couple of months.

[LiMuBai]

I love having all my games on my 32GB card. Also, it lets me show multiple games to my non Vita owning friends to impress them

[bradigor]

I'm pretty much digital only. Whilst I'll only play one main game (Persona, Sly, Uncharted, Etc) at a time, i like to have all my dip in games on the card (Wipeout, everybody's golf and the likes). A 16GB just isn't cutting it.

[Kayin Amoh]

Yeah, the convenience of simply tapping an icon is way better than struggling with carts - not as in lifting them, but carrying them in a manner that won't end up with them lost, broken or just plain annoying to have to swap out each time you want to play a new game.

That said, new PSN / SEN releases are overpriced. I waited a week for Doa 5+ to show up for download, then bought the physical online as it was 33% cheaper. With the difference I bought Persona 3 Portable, which was on sale for £10.

For PS+ and games on sale though, can't beat it. Not at all.

[Dudley]

Exactly. Better to just bite the bullet and get a 32GB.

Best to just consider it the price of the machine. Vita+32GB = an Vita.

Hey, at least you won't have to buy many games.

[moosegrinder]

Is there an easy way of transferring my Persona 3 save from my PSP to my Vita? I really don't want to start again.

[jonnyalpha]

Some of the download game prices are shocking but I was very happy with £19.99 for Sly Cooper as that's the PS3 and Vita versions and they use the cross save as well which is brilliant.

[bowser123]

Is there an easy way of transferring my Persona 3 save from my PSP to my Vita? I really don't want to start again.

You need content manager on the PC. You then drop your PSP save onto the relevant folder in the CM on the PC, then sync it with the Vita. The game will need to be from the same region because the save IDs are often different otherwise.

Full details:

1. Start a psp game on your vita and create a save file (doesn't matter what you just need a save)

2. Connect it to PC and open content manager

3. Transfer the save to the PC

4. Find out where that save was transferred to (you can also open content manager options on yor PV by clicking it in the taskbar down at the bottom right and it will have a folder listed). The folder is usually:

C:/> users > username > documents > PSVITA > PSAVEDATA > (a folder that just has numbers and letters) > in here is where you should find the psp saves

5. Plug your PSP into your PC and find your save files ( folder is in PSP > SAVEDATA)

6. Transfer the saves you want (or all of them) to the folder on PC that we found where the vita backs the psp saves to (the letter/number folder in PSAVEDATA)

7. Open content manager on vita and choose PC -> PSVITA

8. Choose applications > psp saves and check mark all the ones you want on your vita

[AK Bell]

Some of the download game prices are shocking but I was very happy with £19.99 for Sly Cooper as that's the PS3 and Vita versions and they use the cross save as well which is brilliant.

Sly Cooper on PSN is cheaper than in the shops, where I can only find the solo Vita version. I was tempted as I enjoyed the demo but I reckon it'll be PS+ soon enough.That's terrible isn't it. I'm such a jerk.

[bradigor]

I got Sly on pre-order and I am yet to play on the PS3, has been all Vita thus far.

[jonnyalpha]

I couldn't wait for the PS+ inevitability. My daughter has been waiting for a new Sly game for the last 6 years.

[Paulando]

Started Sly last night and I really like it. Have never been able to get into the other ones, but it's perfect Vita fodder.

Bought Trials: Gameloft Edition the other day too seeing as it's a fiver. It's a bit shit, but I can see me getting £5 worth of fun out of it.

[Janski]

PS4 related but this from GDC about Vita/PS4 remote play sounds very promising

The ability to stream gameplay from PlayStation 4 to PS Vita was touched upon during the presentation, Norden confirming that the process of beaming gameplay from console to handheld is based in part on Gaikai streaming technologies, and that you'll be able to do this on a home network or over the internet.

"Latency is going to depend on your internet connection or speed but over your home network it should be extremely fast," he said.

The whole process is considerably more refined than it was on PS3. For starters, it's all hardware-driven, so there's no hit to memory, CPU or GPU. You won't need to put your console into a Remote Play mode as you do on PS3; you can activate it at any time. Gameplay is also mirrored on-screen on both PS4 and Vita - in contrast to the existing version where the PlayStation 3 can't run a video output from the main console simultaneously. Native Vita 960x544 resolution was confirmed for gameplay streaming, with Sony coming up with an innovative solution to address the lack of buttons on the handheld.

"The Vita doesn't have all the buttons the PS4 has, namely the R3/R4 clicking and the L2/R2 analogue triggers," said Norden. "But we're going to provide some default system controller apps to map those to front touch-screen, back touchpad - whatever you want. You'll be able to customise them too."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-inside-playstation-4

[moosegrinder]

You need content manager on the PC. You then drop your PSP save onto the relevant folder in the CM on the PC, then sync it with the Vita. The game will need to be from the same region because the save IDs are often different otherwise.

Full details:

1. Start a psp game on your vita and create a save file (doesn't matter what you just need a save)

2. Connect it to PC and open content manager

3. Transfer the save to the PC

4. Find out where that save was transferred to (you can also open content manager options on yor PV by clicking it in the taskbar down at the bottom right and it will have a folder listed). The folder is usually:

C:/> users > username > documents > PSVITA > PSAVEDATA > (a folder that just has numbers and letters) > in here is where you should find the psp saves

5. Plug your PSP into your PC and find your save files ( folder is in PSP > SAVEDATA)

6. Transfer the saves you want (or all of them) to the folder on PC that we found where the vita backs the psp saves to (the letter/number folder in PSAVEDATA)

7. Open content manager on vita and choose PC -> PSVITA

8. Choose applications > psp saves and check mark all the ones you want on your vita

Fantastic, bit of fannying after looking for a free downloadable PSP game but worked a treat. Thanks man.

[Dandy_Sephy]

Ps3 owners can do it more easily. Activate usb mode on the pc, goto the psp save folder on the ps3 game menu, copy to ps3, swap the psp to vita then launch content manager on vita.

[Dandy_Sephy]

Sly Cooper on PSN is cheaper than in the shops.

Sony's own games tend to be cheaper on PSN than in retail. As a PS3 example Ratchet and Clank and Jak collections are £25-35 online but jak is £20 on PSN and Ratchet is under £25, less again if you have Plus.

When Vita launched the prices were similar to shopto/amazon at best, rrp at worst. Since about 3 months after launch most of the Sony games are cheaper than new physical copy

What Sony need to do is encourage third parties to do the same.

[bradigor]

PS4 related but this from GDC about Vita/PS4 remote play sounds very promising

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-inside-playstation-4

I wonder if we would be able to customise those properly. Say for example Drive Club uses L2/R2 for accelerating and braking, could we map those to R/L on the Vita and then what would usually be R/B to the front/rear touch? Otherwise driving games could be a bit shit having to use the touch interface.

I would love it if they could use the expansion port to add in L2/R2 physical inputs. Hell, they could even bring out a new model, then charge a nominal fee for an add on for the existing models.

Although, I imagine that there will be some games that simply won't suit the Vita and its existing controls, but is nice to have the option there anyway. Would be great for sports games, even if you didn't play the proper games on the move, you could still muck around with the other bits. Such as doing all the GM parts in NHL. Madden, NBA 2K, etc.

I actually can#t wait to see what some developers do with interaction between PS4 and Vita, as I don't think it needs to be limited to purely another screen as such.

[Super Craig]

I'm sure someone from Sony mentioned that they'll ask developers to submit a control mapping themselves, so they probably won't need much tinkering.

[bradigor]

From one of the GDC panels:

Today at GDC there was a panel dedicated to the Vita hosted not by Sony, but veteran Vita developers. Bobby King (The Pinball Arcade), Richard Hogg (Frobisher Says), Brian Provinciano (Retro City Rampage), and Drinkbox’s Chris Harvey (Guacamelee, Tales From Space: Mutant Blob Attacks) all talked about their experience working with Sony and the Vita on a panel moderated by Gaijin Games' Alex Neuse, whose Runner2 is making its way to Vita.

The overwhelming opinion was that it’s a great idea for smaller scale developers to work with the system, for a variety of reasons, one of which is that the market isn’t as saturated as iOS and Android app stores. Additionally, it’s easy to work with. Provinciano had his port of Retro City Rampage playable in a single day, while Frobisher Says took eight months to make, from receiving development kits to submitting a final build. Hogg noted that “as a programmer, it [developing for the Nintendo DS] was one of the most miserable periods of my life,” while working on the Vita has been the opposite. One helpful inclusion is access to Sony’s developer support team, members of which the team included in Frobisher’s credits because of their tireless, prompt assistance with getting the game made.

When Neuse asked if the developers plan to put their next games on Vita, all four nodded immediately, replying emphatically in the positive. In fact, King confirmed that FarSight Studios is working on an unannounced new IP for the Vita, an action puzzle game. So, more games are coming. That was evident earlier in the week when Sony was showing off both rad ports (Spelunky, Hot Line Miami) and a bunch of great, new stuff like Luftrausers, Dragon Fantasy: Book II, the aforementioned Guacamelee, and more. I pretty much wanted every game they were showing off for the Vita. The common cross buy option makes them even more enticing.

Provinciano likened iOS development to "throwing the dice" -- especially for new developers -- because of how randomly certain games go viral while other great games toil away under low sales numbers. Hogg added, “At this point, we pretty much gave up working on iOS games." King, whose Pinball Arcade supports about 20 different Android devices, loved being able to develop for the Vita's consistent specs and bang out a stalwart 60 frames per second.

A lot of other praise was lavished unto Sony, as well as a suggestion or two for improvement.

Cross buy (buying once to get Vita and PS3 versions of a game) is a huge sales influence. King noted that 67% of Pinball Arcade owners were influenced by cross buy promotion. Meanwhile, Provinciano disclosed that about 85% of Retro City Rampage players crossed the 500k points threshold on Vita, while only around 25% of PC players did so. Speaking of the Vita's capabilities, Provinciano added "there’s no pressure to add any of these frills if they don’t make sense," yet displayed an interest in using things like touch screen more in future work.

The overwhelming issue with developing for Sony is one of territories. After testing and certification is finished for the territory you have been working with, another bout of similar operating procedures need to occur in other territories in which releases are planned. It's a minor issue in light of how good these guys' experiences seem to have been, but anything to alleviate undue strain is a good thing.

One of the thing's Hogg said that struck me most is this: "Most of the guys at Sony are pretty well integrated into the indie community. It doesn’t feel like an 'Ugh, I have to go sell my game to the publisher' relationship." With the aforementioned focus on smaller scale development -- Jonathan Blow working on The Witness for PS4 was something Sony chose expressly to highlight in the console's reveal -- Sony just seems to get it. Barriers to entry are lowering and Sony is looking like a real friend to indie developers just as iOS/Android and Steam seem a bit more disinterested (those services only do so much to promote smaller games). And of course few small developers seem to want to work with Microsoft anymore.

http://www.destructoid.com/indie-developers-prefer-vita-development-to-ios-android-249952.phtml

[Janski]

I wonder if we would be able to customise those properly. Say for example Drive Club uses L2/R2 for accelerating and braking, could we map those to R/L on the Vita and then what would usually be R/B to the front/rear touch? Otherwise driving games could be a bit shit having to use the touch interface.

Yeah I imagine it'd be something like Vita triggers replacing primary shoulder buttons with the other 2 buttons and the clicky L3/R3 being mapped to top corners or rear touch which could potentially be A bit fiddly

Has it been confirmed remote play for PS4/Vita will work with every pS4 game?

Apols for OT

[bradigor]

I'm not sure but I imagine that is what they are aiming for.

Can the rear touch be split into sections? I know the front screen can as you do that on the PSP games (using screen corners). As maybe you could have attachable triggers that are set up to touch the top left and top right areas of the touch screen.

[moosegrinder]

From this article on Eurogamer

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-inside-playstation-4

The ability to stream gameplay from PlayStation 4 to PS Vita was touched upon during the presentation, Norden confirming that the process of beaming gameplay from console to handheld is based in part on Gaikai streaming technologies, and that you'll be able to do this on a home network or over the internet.

"Latency is going to depend on your internet connection or speed but over your home network it should be extremely fast," he said.

The whole process is considerably more refined than it was on PS3. For starters, it's all hardware-driven, so there's no hit to memory, CPU or GPU. You won't need to put your console into a Remote Play mode as you do on PS3; you can activate it at any time. Gameplay is also mirrored on-screen on both PS4 and Vita - in contrast to the existing version where the PlayStation 3 can't run a video output from the main console simultaneously. Native Vita 960x544 resolution was confirmed for gameplay streaming, with Sony coming up with an innovative solution to address the lack of buttons on the handheld.

"The Vita doesn't have all the buttons the PS4 has, namely the R3/R4 clicking and the L2/R2 analogue triggers," said Norden. "But we're going to provide some default system controller apps to map those to front touch-screen, back touchpad - whatever you want. You'll be able to customise them too."

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I doubt this remapping stuff will work well to be honest. Grab a Vita and imagine playing Tomb Raider on it, the alternate fire modes would be shit.

[Dandy_Sephy]

I'm sure someone from Sony mentioned that they'll ask developers to submit a control mapping themselves, so they probably won't need much tinkering.

Shuhei Yoshida has said it in at least one interview. It's a sensible move.

I doubt this remapping stuff will work well to be honest. Grab a Vita and imagine playing Tomb Raider on it, the alternate fire modes would be shit.

I've not played TR but presumably developers will plan their games to fit both. Especially if they are developing a proper Vita version.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I doubt it, but we'll see. It doesn't matter much to me one way or another, as this whole streaming thing is something I'm unlikely to use much anyway. Why would I play a PS4 game on the Vita's small screen while I have a glorious 46" screen with surround sound standing here anyway.

[LiMuBai]

I doubt it, but we'll see. It doesn't matter much to me one way or another, as this whole streaming thing is something I'm unlikely to use much anyway. Why would I play a PS4 game on the Vita's small screen while I have a glorious 46" screen with surround sound standing here anyway.

When the wife wants to watch shitty girlie TV, and you want to keep playing

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Not an issue here as I have my own gaming TVs.

[Alex W.]

Worst case scenario you can keep playing your PS4 game with iffy controls, best case scenario you can keep playing your PS4 game with completely normal controls.

IBTFAD