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Wednesday 22 February 2012

Vita Launch Guide

Sony’s newest handheld gaming system the PlayStation Vita comes out today and I have put together a basic buyer’s guide to help people looking to learn more before purchasing the device.  Hopefully this will help some people with their decision on whether or not to get the system and prevent them from wasting any money.

So first things first there are two version of the Vita available: the Wi-Fi only model for $250 and the 3G model for $300.  If you go the route of the 3G model you will be able to go online and download from anywhere but it will run you $15 a month for 250MB or $30 a month for 3GB.  Now the $30 a month version is obviously better but you should know that if you were to download Uncharted: Golden Abyss (which is $5 cheaper on PSN due to Sony giving 10% discounts when you buy from them digitally) it would take about 3.2GB, which would pretty much fill up the smallest memory card (I’ll get to that later), and go over your data limit for the month causing an overage charge.  So if you ask me stay with the WI-FI model, so you save $50 up front and $30 a month after that, and just download when at home or in a Wi-Fi hotspot for an extended period of time.

Alright after picking the model you want comes the next and quite frankly the most important thing, the games.  I am not going to tell you what games to get since I have yet to play any, let alone all, of them and that is a matter of personal preference.  So I’ll just leave you with the list of all 26 launch titles (that’s right all 26 are day one games) and order them by price.

Game(s) for $7.99
 Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack (PSN Only)

 Game(s) for $9.99
Hustle Kings (PSN Only)
Plants vs. Zombies (PSN Only)
Super Stardust Delta (PSN Only)

Game(s) for $14.99
Escape Plan (PSN Only)

Game(s) for $29.99
Asphalt: Injection
Ben 10: Galactic Racing
Hot Shots Golf World Invitational
Little Deviants
ModNation Racers: Road Trip
TOUCH MY KATAMARI

Game(s) for $39.99
Army Corps of Hell
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II Plus
Dungeon Hunter: Alliance
Dynasty Warriors Next
F1 2011
FIFA Soccer
Lumines:Electronic Symphony
Michael Jackson: The Experience
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus
Rayman Origins
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Virtua Tennis 4
WipEout 2048

Game(s) for $49.99
Uncharted: Golden Abyss

            In addition to the Vita’s 26 launch titles there are 275 games from the PSP that can be re-downloaded onto the Vita.  I figured it would be simpler to just provide the link to the list especially since it gives some info on how to re-download the games.

Well now that you got games you need to save them on to something, which brings us to my biggest gripe with the system: the need to use overpriced proprietary memory cards exclusively made for the Vita.  The prices are as follows: 4GB - $20, 8GB - $30, 16GB - $60 and 32GB - $100.  Game sizes vary quite a lot especially if you decide to download the games.  For instance if you download an arcade game like Super Stardust Delta it will take about 200MB of space, but as I wrote above Uncharted will take 3.2GB.  Playing games does not require installation, so if you don’t download any retail games or many arcade games you should be fine with any size card.  However if you add in photos that you might take, songs that you might listen to and movies that you might watch you will probably want to get at least an 8GB card.

            As with all handheld systems there are a number of different accessories available for the Vita.  The best deal that I have found is the Sony PlayStation Vita Starter Kit for $40, which includes a Screen Protector ($10), a cleaning cloth, a car adapter ($10), a pocket pouch, a case that holds up to 8 games & 2 memory cards, Vita headphones ($20) and a 4GB memory card ($20).

            So that is pretty much everything you need to know about the Vita right now.  Hopefully this helps and hopefully the Vita will prove to be an amazing system. 

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