Rant 33: The PlayStation Vita

Ok. For those who don't understand my anger at Sony when it comes to the PS Vita really need to read my tweets more. See the PS Vita is essentially an expensive portable gaming console that is releasing with bugger all titles worth buying it for and on top of that it's screwing PSP owners like me among other things. I will talk about everything that pisses me off about the PS Vita and what I want to see from Sony when it fails to make up for their stupidity.

First off is the price. AU$350 for Wifi and AU$400 for 3G+WiFi? Piss Off! Didn't they learn from Nintendo's 3DS release? See I could have lived with AU$300 for the WiFi but even that's a little high priced for what it is. Seriously not everyone can afford to pull that much out of their arse and to top it off AU$80 a game? Are you mental? Charging more then AU$70 for a portable game is madness and won't sell units that easily. Again look at Nintendo, they realised that with the DS and they had to knock off AU$10 to make it more appealing. Also why'd you make a new storage system for the Vita? The Memory Stick Duos were fine and since you are trying to get people to download a SMALL fraction of the PSP games released, allow them to carry their saves over would have made them a lot happier and more willing to buy the Vita.

Next we have the piss poor launch line up. All that you're releasing is shit no one wants, Uncharted: Golden Abyss and PS3 re-releases. Not a good strategy. See a good console release has games worth buying on release to not make you feel like such a chooch for buying it, case in point Nintendo released the Wii with a free game and Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a good move on their part. If you released the Vita with a Ratchet and Clank game and a free game showing of the unique features of the console, it would sell relatively high for a newly launched system.

On to my biggest gripe... screwing the PSP fans over! Sony came up with a scheme to allow PSP games to be downloadble on the Vita through a redemption plan so people who bought the UMD games could play their games on it without paying extra... problem is that all the games that kept the PSP alive aren't on the list. See if you have a look at the list all the Square-Enix, Atlus, Capcom and a variety of other companies games aren't on the list and almost 99% of my games are not in the list. This has me absolutely pissed! I was looking forward to retiring my beloved PSP and jumping onto the Vita but Sony gave me a big mid finger and said "Pay up!". See this is why Nintendo does a better job then you when it comes to the video game industry. They allow reverse compatibility on their console so you upgrade to the new one, not throw your money in the toilet. See even though the 3DS didn't sell to well at first, early adopters could still play DS games on it and the Wii allowed Gamecube games to be played on it and even the Wii U allows for Wii games to be played on it. Didn't you learn anything? The PS3 would have sold better if you'd have allowed full reverse compatibility with PS One and PS2 games, I bought the 60GB model because of the reverse compatibility just to find out Final Fantasy VIII didn't work on it or the majority of my JRPGs and it pissed me off!

Allowing 3G but restricting the carrier is a dick move! Seriously why? It would have been a better business venture if you'd have allowed every carriers sim cards to work on it. If you were say building the units to not use a sim and work on a specific network I'd still be pissed but less pissed because I'd be more pissed at the carrier.

Forcing me to put up with touch screen and track pads for games really pisses me off! I hate touch screens! Sure on a phone it's a great idea since it's harder to make accident calls but it's shit for gaming! The whole reason gamers haven't embrace mobile gaming is because of the lack of button and the Xperia Play is a bridge that will make us care about it, but using touch screen controls for a gamers console it stupid! I hated Nintendo for it with the Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks! Having the option or minimising it's use is the best way to go.

Why did you abandon the XMB? I love the XMB! I love it on the TV, I love it on the PSP and I especially love it on the PS3! So why'd you make that ugly menu interface that looks like an episode of Spongebob? Sure it looks practical but come on! You could of at least allowed me to have the XMB option. Maybe you can update the Vita's software to have that option.

Look Sony, if you want me to buy one here's what I want to see before I buy one.
1) Release an external UMD drive or a PS Vita with a UMD drive so I can play my PSP games on it.
2) Drop the price of the PS Vita, the games and the memory units.
3) Release some JRPGS on it!
4) Get Mistwalker to make some games for it and try to get them to release a port of the Xbox 360 game Lost Odyssey on it. Love that game!
5) Release a HDMI and/or component cable for it so I can play on my big screen TV.

I just hope you guys read this and see your short comings. I like you Sony but I can only take so many kicks to the groin before I become absolutely livid.