Weekday musing - Playstation Life

Playstation Vita, courtesy of Official Playstation website

Playstation Vita. Latin for 'Life'. Clever, if you think about it, as it allows Sony to run their adverts to the theme of 'Playstation Life'. Plus Vita sounds kinda cool. If you're a geek like me.

I was rather dubious of the whole PS Vita (back then, it was still called the NGP) when I first heard of it. It has a plethora of controls, including a touchscreen and a rear touchpad. Surely that would get really confusing?

so I forgot about it, and bought a 3DS. Boy, was I disappointed. I had to wait five months before a halfway decent game was released, and even that was a remake of a game I've played a lot (Zelda). Then there was  the fact I found the 3D to be great for about five minutes before it started to give me eyestrain, a battery that died very quickly even when the console was left on hibernate, and a form factor that hurt my palms if I held it for any length of time. So after six months of ownership, I finally decided to trade it in.

Suffice to say, I was disappointed. I barely touched my 3DS in all the time I owned one, making a mockery of the money I spent on it. Indeed, I actually played DS games on it more. I don't miss it. What I do miss is having a portable games machine for when we go to Heather's parents or mine for the weekend, or when Heather is playing on the Xbox or watching something I don't care for. I'm not a fan of smartphone gaming, simply because they lack physical controls, and the same goes for a tablet.

Now, I'm not dissing the 3DS (though I do think the 3D is a bit of a gimmick). I just don't think it's for me. I've been a console gamer since the Megadrive, and Sony's marketing of the Vita as console gaming on the move appeals to me.

In the run up to the Vita's release, I wasn't taking any notice of it. Then something happened. Just by chance, I watched a video of Uncharted Golden Abyss. I was blown away. This is on a handheld?

So I popped into my local Game store and had a play. The handheld was comfortable to hold and Uncharted looked as amazing in the flesh, so to speak, as it did in video.

The big question then, is am I going to get one?

They are very expensive; the cheapest price for a wifi Vita is around £200, but that doesn't factor the cost of a game or a memory card (damn you Sony!). However, there are twenty games coming out over the next ten months that I'm interested in, so the answer is yes.

When I have the money.