Vita TV - Should Vita Owners Be Worried?

PS Vita TV - Will all future releases be Vita TV compatible? 

Hi again! I have had a couple of followers on my last post through SoundCloud. (Thanks!) So because of that I thought I should come back on tonight and make another post on a subject that has been on my mind lately. 

I own the PS Vita and I love it. Especially the AMOLED (Which is why you don't want the slim!) which makes the games visuals amazing compared to my 3DS (Which I do also love because of its games.) But with the release of the Vita TV in Japan it has made me wonder about the future of some of the PS Vita's Features.

Time for some comparison!

For those of you that don't know, the PS Vita TV is a home console that you connect to your TV, that uses a DualShock 3 controller (Same as the PS3) and allows you to play Vita games, without the need for a Vita. It releases at a similar price to the Vita but slightly cheaper, outputs in HDMI(HD) and has 1GB internal memory which can be expanded with the use of a PS Vita memory card. So far so good! Because all of this is near enough the same as the Vita, but, now comes the tricky bit:

The Vita has the following features that the Vita TV does NOT:

• Front Touchscreen
• Rear Touchpad
• Sixaxis Motion Sensing (As far as I can tell the Vita TV has this also because of the DualShock 3 )
• Electronic Compass
• Front Camera
• Rear Camera

The lack of these features means that initially quite a few of the Vita games would need to be modified to be played on the Vita TV and games like Tearaway, that was a big Vita hit, would be near impossible to make the switch because of the amount of game features that rely on the extra functionality.

So The Vita TV Users Don't Get A Few Games. Where's The Problem?

Now a few of you may be thinking, "oh well, ill stick with the Vita it won't be a problem, I will still be able to play every game right?" Correct! BUT....

The Vita TV is becoming a huge success in Japan, and it has recently been released to parts of Asia, so far there is not a release date for Europe or North America but it has not been dismissed either. As the Vita and Vita TV are region free (PSN is not!) a lot of the game journalist websites have imported a Vita TV from Japan, and so far, almost every review has been in favour of it. Some even saying that the console is more of a step forward for Sony than the PS4.

The problem for us Ye Olde Vita owners is that with the Vita TV's rising popularity worldwide, but more importantly in its home country, Japan. Most of the future games will now be optimised for the Vita TV. We will still be able to play them on Vita of course. But if you are someone like me that brought the Vita for the games that have amazing AR abilities, or games that were going to make full use of the front and rear touch pads. I'm afraid that I do not think that they will be coming any time soon. 

For example, I am currently playing Conception II on my Vita. The game itself has 2 times that you need to use any of the extra Vita features, and both are the Touchscreen. 

1. To Save (This is Vita side not game side so not even sure if this counts)
2. "Touch" Minigame, which is a small section of the game (Less than 20 minutes all events?) and could easily be removed. And its slightly creepy anyway.

 

Conception II

Other Features?

The PS VITA TV also allows you to play PS3 Games (And soon PS4) in a separate room from the console onto another TV that is connected to the Vita TV, so for example you could have your PS4 hooked up running loud in your bedroom and play your PS4 games in the living room with the nice and quiet PS VITA TV connected to your bigger living room TV. There is no reports on streaming issues yet but I am sure we will find out the answer to that soon enough. 

Also for me the big feature that the VITA wins is the portability. Which is such a good feature for me when me and my partner are living separate and its such a pain to move around a PS3. But with the pricing strategy of the Vita TV and the streaming possibilities its sure to sell more than the normal Vita. Also there are rumours of the PS Vita TV could be sold at a reduced rate with new PS4's in some countries. Which will greatly help the sale of both consoles. 

TL;DR - Vita TV is going to kill the Vita's extra functionality. But at least I can still play the Vita on the bus.

Once again, thank you for reading.

BlessingOfChaos

{Chris}