The Pundits are Wrong: The PSVita is Awesome

[Solid Snake]

You can't walk two millimeters through the ugly, bloated morass of gaming websites on the interwebs without hearing holier-than-thou journalists triumphantly declare that the PSVita is dead already, despite the fact that the system is less than a year old in the states.

Of course, we saw the same kind of bullshit from the paid pundits regarding the Nintendo 3DS in 2011, back when the 3DS' prices were too high, games were being canceled and the doomsday proclamations emerged.

I wouldn't dare indulge in any delusions (as Sony executives might) that the Vita will 'beat' the 3DS. And they certainly aren't going to compete directly with smartphones.
But that's okay. You see, I don't think the PS Vita is going after the same market.

What the Vita is is quite possibly the best portable system for hardcore gamers I've ever had the opportunity to experience.

I'll be honest: When I put down a shitton of money on my Vita, I thought I was buying a mediocre system for the sole privilege of experiencing Persona 4: Golden. I had an influx of cash to afford it, but I was pretty miserable the week leading up to the transaction. It felt more like something I was just inevitably going to do out of a twisted sense of obligation, rather than something I was genuinely excited for. I wanted to recreate the circumstances that led me to pass the LSAT a few years ago, costs be damned, because apparently I'm more superstitious than I'd like to believe.

What's shocked me so far is how much *fun* the Vita is.

(Not just P4G. I'm fortunate in that I haven't gotten to the problematic new content yet, so everything's positive so far -- beautiful vibrant colors, polished graphics, and a metric shitton of extra features make P4G a standout title, though -- unfortunately -- it'll stand out for all the wrong reasons once I get to this scene and have to resist the urge to shout obscenities at the screen.)


Here's why I recommend you check it out
(If you can afford to, of course. The costs are extremely prohibitive and that's really where Sony's been botching things lately. Had I not literally received 'you failed the Bar pity monies' as a gift from my grandparents a couple weeks back, it wouldn't have crossed my mind.)

* I've never seen a screen so pretty.
And I know 'pretty' is a generic word, but I don't know any better way to describe it. I own HD TV screens that I've paid tons of money for but even with brightness full-blast I wouldn't be getting color like I'm getting from this screen.
The colors alone lead to the best-looking versions of PS1 and PSP games you could possibly imagine. I actually think I might prefer the way the 'HD' versions of MGS2 and MGS3 look on the Vita as opposed to on the PS3.
And games developed for the Vita, like P4G and Assassin's Creed Liberation, are just damn pretty.

...I've seen the P4G intro on Youtube and on a computer it looks, well, okay. On the Vita it looks stunning. I don't even know how to describe it.
I know aesthetics don't make or break a system, but whichever department of Sony's was responsible for the Vita screen deserves all the free cookies in the universe.

* The control scheme and layout is the best and most intuitive I've experienced on a handheld.
Nothing more I can add here except that I completely disagree with Kotaku's assertion that it's uncomfortable.

I love my Nintendo DS (it's how I played Ace Attorney, after all), but I've never been a huge fan of the stylus or the dual screens. Maybe I'm just poor at multitasking, but I prefer my eyes to stick to one place. That's probably why my favorite DS games minimized reliance on both screens (with Ghost Trick quite possibly being the major exception to that rule, but hey, that was Ghost Trick.)

I'm not sure if I'll like the dual analog sticks much when trying titles that rely heavily on it -- so far I've been able to get by with the D-Pad -- but I really do like the Vita's layout.

* For such a large screen and for such pretty graphics, what shocks me most about the Vita is how light and easy to carry it is.
It can fit in my pocket and barely weighs me down. I mean, I'm sure it weighs more than an iPhone or a DS, but it still surprised me how unobtrusive it is.

* The Vita's menu interfaces are so intuitive and easy to use they put the PS3's to shame.
This is probably a personal preference thing, but damn, I love the Vita menus. It's easy to edit and place icons and takes all of a couple strokes with a finger to access the content you want. Everything feels where it belongs. And the PS Store on Vita isn't the atrocious mess Sony's turned the PS3 Store into.

* This will probably be the definitive way to enjoy PS1 and PSP games.
Especially PS1 JRPGs, which look about twenty times better on the Vita's screen, especially when you select a few quick settings changes.
The idea of replaying PS1 games seemed daunting when I was limited to their awkward, stretched appearance on an HD television. On the Vita, they appear closer to the original resolutions. The colors are phenomenal. The intimacy of the smaller screen and its proximity to your eyes really draws you in.
It's exciting to actually be excited about replaying the PS1-era Final Fantasy titles again, not to mention all the PSP RPGs I missed out on because I haven't owned a PSP.

* I can understand reservations regarding a lack of incoming stellar game titles, but it's been less than a year.
As I recall, the PSP was all but sunk after its release too, when the DS was trouncing it and before the JRPG library (and Monster Hunter) picked up and salvaged things. And the PS3 a year post-launch? Sony was dead in the water. Now the PS3 is on course to potentially match the 360's hardware sales when all's said and done.

I understand that gaming journalists love to hype up successes and failures and stoke flamewars to galvanize the masses into reading their articles and commenting.

But in all seriousness: a Vita purchase I felt lukewarm at best about has become my favorite gaming-related purchase of the year.

And maybe that says something about me -- how I might be more interested in older-school PSP and PS1/2 era JRPGs than modern-era releases, how apparently I care more about aesthetics than graphics when it comes to visuals, or how satisfied I'll feel when given an alternative to gritty gruesome brown-tainted shooters.

But I'd really prefer it if folks gave the Vita a chance. Instead all I can read about it are postmortems that barely seem to restrain the various authors' glee at the thought of its imminent demise.

This wall of text brought to you by Kotaku, who infuriated me sufficiently to write more Snakewalls.