Upcoming PlayStation Vita firmware update brings PSOne support

 

While the PlayStation Vita has a nice selection of games to choose from, it is missing a lot of games that made the original PlayStation so popular in the first place. Well, if you're one of those people who refuse to let go of the past, you're in luck. It has been reported that an upcoming firmware update for the PlayStation Vita will let you enjoy the classic games of the original PlayStation – on Sony's latest portable console.

The Vita 1.80 firmware update is said to add the ability to play classic PSOne titles, with over 700 titles to choose from. No word on what games will be released at launch, but a lot of gamers are probably keeping their fingers crossed for Final Fantasy VII to arrive sooner than later.

In addition to the Vita update, a new update that's on the way for the PlayStation 3 is said to bring support for PlayStation 2 games – bringing back the backwards compatibility feature that was present in earlier versions of the console. The updates are slated to arrive in Japan this week – no word on when the rest of the world will have access to them, but let's hope it won't be too long.

Sony PlayStation Vita battery life: as little as three hours on a charge

We've had plenty of QT with the Vita on the floor at TGS, but battery life is hard to judge when you can't take the device away with you. Back at our earlier hands-on in June we were told that longevity should be on a par with first-gen PSPs, which were all rated at 4-6 hours and - with the PSP-1000 - achieved around 3.5-5.5 hours in real-world tests. Now though, Sony says the Vita has just enough juice for 3-5 hours' gaming. We need to play this thing to death before we can be sure, but this does sound like a potential 15-25% drop in minimum play time. Do we care at this point? Not particularly. We're too busy salivating over this.
source:Engadget

Sony PlayStation Vita debuts in Japan on December 17th, partnering with NTT DoCoMo for 3G

Sony's just announced in SCEJ press conference, Tokyo that the PlayStation Vita will debut in Japan on December 17th, and it'll partner with NTT DoCoMo for the console's prepaid 3G service in Japan. Customers will have two choices of connection here: 980 yen ($13) for 20 hours, and 4,980 yen ($65) for 100 hours. The first 500 units sold will come with 100 hours of prepaid 3G connectivity. Pre-orders open on October 15th. Alas, the rest of the world will still have to wait until 2012.

Capcom's Yoshinori Ono was on stage and mentioned that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 would launch simultaneously with the console. Square Enix also announced that the PS2′s Final Fantasy X will be remastered for the PS Vita, and it'll be in PS3-like quality; sadly, there was neither date nor demonstration.
source:2DayBlog.com

PlayStation Vita delayed until 2012 for folks in the West

Boy, is this a piece of wet blanket news – when we read about Sony's PlayStation Vita (PS Vita for short) hitting the FCC and gaining its approval, we were rather pleased, as it normally signals a release that tends to happen sooner rather than later. Well, word has it that the PS Vita will start rolling out this year, although it won't be a global one.

PlayStation head honcho Kaz Hirai has just revealed that the PlayStation Vita will hit the Land the of Rising Sun (that's Japan, in case your geography isn't up to scratch) this year, while the Americas and Europe will have to wait until next year. Of course, next year would mean you will have to play the guessing game as to the exact date where you will have to make 366 guesses at most for the correct answer.

According to Hirai, “We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable. There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game business decided that they were going to lower their price.” Guess that means there won't be any 3DS style price cut in the near future, either.
source: Ubergizmo

Sony: PS Vita Will Not be Ready by Christmas

Sony Corp. Executive Vice President Kazuo Hirai said on Thursday that the PlayStation Vita won't go on sale in Japan until the end of the year. That means we won't see the unit until early next year. Hirai didn't label the new release schedule as an actual delay, but instead stated that the company wants a solid software offering when the hardware launches.

According to Sony, the PlayStation Vita will cost $249 USD / 24,980 yen for the Wi-Fi-only version, and $299 USD / 29,980 yen for the 3G version. Starting August 11, the Nintendo 3DS will cost 15,000 yen in Japan and $169.99 USD here in the States on August 12. Given the sudden price hack, does Sony plan to reduce the PlayStation Vita pricetag before it lands on store shelves?

“We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable,” Hirai told reporters at Sony's Tokyo headquarters. “There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game business decided that they were going to lower their price.”

Guess that's a big no.

Hirai didn't say exactly when the PlayStation Vita will arrive in the States and Europe, only stating “early next year,” but the Associated Press didn't even feel confident that Hirai's “end of the year in Japan” comment even indicated that the hardware would be ready by Christmas. Still, one thing's for certain: Sony will miss a key marketing window in the States by delaying the release until after the holidays. Would the 3DS have done better had it launched in the November/December holiday season window? Probably.

Hirai said that once the PlayStation Vita launches in Japan, the console's shipment schedule will enter into a phased rollout for the other territories.
source: 2DayBlog.com

PlayStation Vita a No-Show for the Holidays, Except in Japan

Want to have a Sony PlayStation Vita by Christmas? If you live in the United States or Europe, it is highly unlikely.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Sony's Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai says that its next-gen handheld console will not be released in the States or Europe until next year. Hirai even says the device will only be available in Japan by the end of this year.

The executive acknowledged that not selling the Vita during the holiday season would be really costly. “This is going to prove painful for Sony,” Hirai added.

So why the delay? Nobody knows for sure, but let's just hope Sony will not delay its release. They did that with the PlayStation 3 countless times, which ultimately hurt sales when it was launched a year after the updated Xbox 360 was released.

The PS Vita will be available in two different models: The WiFi-only model costing $249 and the one with 3G for $299.
source: Gadget.com

Next Generation Portable Gaming – PlayStation Vita

Sony announced on June 7, 2011, their next portable gaming system, PlayStation Vita. Vita means “life” in Latin. The Wi-Fi model will be available for $249 or $299 for the 3G/Wi-Fi version. AT & T will be Vita's exclusive 3G partner. The Vita has a 5″ multi-touch organic light emitting diode (OLED) (960×544 pixels) as its front display and has a multi-touch pad on the rear. The PS Vita allows game play like never before, featuring three-dimension-like motion through finger motions of push and pull, trace, push and pull, and grab. PlayStation's Vita has two analog sticks which create a larger genre of games for the portable gaming experience. It will also have 6-axis motion sensors and dual front and back facing cameras. This device is supposed to run on a quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor. Vita will be preloaded with a new application called “Party”, which enables the user to engage in voice or text chat while online gaming and also when playing different games, or even performing different applications, like surfing the internet. PS Vita will also come with an application called “Welcome Park”, which is a user's guide to accustom them easily to the features of Vita and to easily learn the three-dimension-like finger motions on the PS Vita.
source: The Gadgeteer

Sony's PlayStation Vita official: $249 for WiFi, $299 for 3G

Finally Sony's NGP goes official with a proper name, and it's called PS Vita! Sony's Kaz Hirai has unveiled the next generation handheld console from Sony at their E3 conference, with specific price.

The Sony PS Vita will cost $249 for the WiFi version, or $299 for the 3G model, which Sony's Kaz Hirai confirmed will be available exclusively through AT&T, with both models shipping worldwide toward the end of 2011. Prices are (Prices are 24,980 and 29,980 yen in Japan, euro 249 and euro 299 in Europe.)

The device, also offers six-axis motion sensors, dual analog controls (proper ones, with thumbsticks), front- and rear-facing cameras, an OLED touchscreen, and a touchpad on the back too.

The company showed off a number of top-tier titles, including Uncharted: Golden Abyss, a hack-and-slash RPG called Ruin, a new ModNation Racers, LittleBigPlanet, and Street Fighter x Tekken, each showing off plenty of motion and touch interactivity to make it really feel like the next generation in gaming. They're all looking quite good, and honestly a bit more advanced than what the 3DS has delivered so far — for the same money.
source: 2DayBlog.com

Sony PSVita, aka PSP 2, Unveiled

Hacking problems aside, Sony is gearing up in the next-gen handheld gaming device race with the introduction of the PSVita, known previously as the Playstation Portable 2. The gadget comes with six-axis motion sensors, dual analog controllers with thumbsticks, front- and rear-facing cameras, an OLED touchscreen, and a touchpad at the back.

Sony has also displayed a number of game titles, including Uncharted: Golden Abyss, LittleBigPlanet, and Street Fighter x Tekken.

This handheld gaming device also allows online play, although Sony has confirmed that the PSVita will be available exclusively through AT&T. The WiFi-only model would cost $249, while the 3G model would go for $299, with both models shipping worldwide in time for the holiday season of 2011.
source: Gadget.com

Sony PlayStation Vita To Available Thru AT&T

AT&T has confirmed that they will become the US carrier to exclusive offer the 3G-enables Sony PlayStation Vita a.k.a PSP2 NGP previously, where it should be available starting the end of 2011 together with the WiFi-only model. Regarding features, the PS Vita will come out with a 5-inch OLED touchscreen display with 960 x 544 pixels, front and rear cameras, a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, GPS, Bluetooth aside from the 3G and WiFi. No idea on how much the PS Vita will cost at the carrier as they also will offer data plan, but according to SCE ( Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. ) the Wi-Fi model will be priced at 24,980 yen (including tax) in Japan, $249 in US and €249 in Europe, while the 3G/Wi-Fi model will be available for 29,980 yen (including tax) in Japan, $299 in US and €299 in Europe. [ Via SCEI ]

PS Vita will almost certainly be the NGP's new name

Sony's official PlayStation press conference happens later today and it's going to be a heck of a show, with more concrete info on the NGP expected to be announced and a heavy dose of PS3 gaming to soothe burned PlayStation Network gamers.

Over the last week or so, we've been hearing a lot of news regarding the NGP's new name “PS Vita” – with Vita meaning “life” in Latin. Now, there's even more evidence that suggests PS Vita is the final name: trademark filings. Sony's filing of “PS Vita” trademarks in Europe is substantial proof that the moniker is here to stay. While, most people are bashing it for sounding like vitamin, I kind of like it.

The only way to know for sure what is what with the NGP is to stay tuned to Ubergizmo at live.ubergizmo.com throughout the day as we report back on everything happening at the Sony E3 press conference!
source: Ubergizmo

Officially Official! The NGP is now the PlayStation Vita!

Our dearest friend and Colleague Cyril DREVET who's attending this year E3 for us just called us to announce that from now on you will have to call the NGP PS VITA!

We have seen the name PS VITA floating around for a week now so it's not really a huge surprise here, but still I am quite disappointed by this name and it does not really carry the "Magic" being the very secretive NGP (Next Generation Portable) Name!

As far as the price are concerned you should expect the following

24,980 Yen or 249 USD or 249€ for the WiFi version of the PlayStation Vita

29,980 Yen or 299 USD or 2299€ for the 3G and WiFi version of the PlayStation Vita

Specs are as follow :

Official Name : PCH-1000

CPU : ARM Cortex-A9 (4Core)

GPU : SGX543MP4+

Size : 182×18.6×83.5mm

Display : 5″ (16:9) multitouch capacitive EL Screen with a 960×544 resolution

Back Panel : multitouch

Camera : Front camera, Rear camera Frame rate : 120fps@320×240(QVGA), 60fps@640×480(VGA)

Resolution : Up to 640×480(VGA)

Sensors : Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass

Location : Built-in GPS (3G/Wi-Fi model only) Wi-Fi location service support

Wireless communications : Mobile network connectivity (3G/Wi-Fi model only) IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode) Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）

PS Vita incorporates a beautiful 5-inch multi-touch organic light emitting diode (OLED) as the front display and a unique multi-touch pad on the rear. Together with the front touch screen and the rear touch pad, PS Vita offers new game play experiences never before seen on any device, allowing users to interact directly with games in three dimension-like motion, through "touch, grab, trace, push and pull" finger motions. Also PS Vita features two analog sticks which enable a wider range of game genres to be brought into the portable experience, such as shooters, action games, and fighting games. Exciting and attractive new titles*1 are scheduled to be released from SCE Worldwide Studios, including "GRAVITY DAZE", “Uncharted Golden Abyss”, “Little Deviants”, “Hot Shots Golf”, “Reality Fighter”, “Hustle Kings”, “ModNation Racers”, “Wipeout 2048″ and “Super Stardust Delta,” as well as from a broad range of third party game developers and publishers, which will deliver value only possible on PS Vita.

Also, by having both Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity, together with various applications, PS Vita will enable infinite possibilities for users to "encounter," "connect," "discover," "share" and "play" with friends wherever they are. On January 27, 2011, SCE announced the first PS Vita application, "near", which will come pre-installed. It will let users discover what games PS Vita users in the vicinity are or were recently playing, as well as let users share their game information. “near” also enables location-based gaming features such as “gifting,” in which a user can access virtual game-related items that other users are sharing, through checking in at geographic locations that others have also visited. The virtual items can include content unlocked from games, such as character costumes, weapons, and treasures. Sharing these items between users adds a unique dimension to the portable gaming experience on PS Vita while enhancing the social connectivity among the PS Vita community.

Additionally, PS Vita will come pre-installed with a newly developed application called "Party." "Party" is an innovative application for a portable entertainment system which enables users to enjoy voice chat or text chat not only during online gaming, but also when users are playing different games or using different applications such as internet browser. Through "Party", which offers a new form of social networking, and "near", which enables users to share their game information with other users anywhere, anytime, users can dramatically expand the boundaries of interactive communication.

Also a tutorial application called "Welcome Park," developed specifically to guide every user about PS Vita's brand new user interface such as the front touch display and the multi-touch pad on the rear, will come pre-installed. By playing "Welcome Park", users can easily become accustomed to the three dimension-like finger motions used on PS Vita.

SCE will vigorously promote PS Vita towards the launch as the next generation portable entertainment platform and work towards expanding the portable gaming market.*1 Some title names are tentative. Titles may differ by countries and regions.
source: Akihabara News

PlayStation Vita Preview

So Sony totally blew everyone's minds with the PS Vita (formerly known as the NGP) at its E3 press conference today (catch up over at the live.ubergizmo.com). We know that the system will sell for $250 (Wi-Fi only model) and for $300 (3G + Wi-Fi) and it'll be available this “holiday season.” We also know that there are over 80 developers are working at games for the newest PlayStation system, but we know what you're really thinking: that thing looks huge. Naturally, you want to know how the PS Vita feels.

Ubergizmo went hands-on with the PS Vita, demoing five games, including Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Virtua Tennis 4, LittleBigPlanet, Little Deviants and Sound Shapes and we came back with our conclusions on not only how the new touchscreen and rear touch pad work, but also how the “bulky” handheld feels in our hands. Read on for our quick preview.

Design and Weight

Surprisingly, despite the PS Vita's large 5-inch OLED screen, the device is extremely light. We left our first-gen PSP back at home, but we can say, we felt a considerable difference in weight. We've concluded that the lack of an optical drive (UMD) could have significantly decreased the weight, but we also want to caution that these devices were hooked up to power adapters, meaning they most likely lacked the hefty battery that will be included in final retail units.

Overall, the analog sticks feel good – they're not too large, the standard PlayStation action buttons are small (tinier than the regular PSP, but about the same size as the PSP Go), but have just enough stiffness to them to not feel like they'll wear out too quickly and the plastic shoulder triggers are also snappy. The oval curves on the left and right side hug your hands and the PlayStation, Select and Start buttons are all easily accessible.

If there's any concern on the PS Vita's size, toss those worries out the window. The PS Vita is a device that you'll want to put in your bag for trips. It just feels that good, even though it's kind of large.

Touchscreen and Rear Touch Pad

As you know the PS Vita has a touchscreen on the front and a touch pad on the back. In Uncharted: Golden Abyss, we were able to use the touchscreen to direct Nathan to climb rocky cliffs and in Little Deviants, we played a demo that had us whacking moles with the rear touch pad. Inputting various swipes in Virtua Tennis 4 was a bit confusing (you really don't know what elements you can and can't touch) and felt gimmicky, while building levels in Sound Shapes felt more like an iPhone or Android game (graphics included).

While the touchscreen felt solid, it didn't feel as pin-point accurate as say an iPhone or Nexus smartphone, it was still very good.

Pricing and Release

With the $250 Wi-Fi model, it's clear that Sony is gunning after Nintendo's 3DS, which also retails for $250. And with a much larger and higher resolution screen, dual cameras, dual analog sticks, dual touch surfaces, the NGP is going to have a lot of pros, rather than cons when put up against the 3DS.

Sony didn't reveal pricing on individual games at E3, so that's still one piece of the puzzle that's missing. We think anything more than $40 is going to keep gamers away, but Sony appears to have learned a lot from the PSP's ups and downs.

Conclusion We think we're sold on the PS Vita on its price, features and the games we saw unveiled, but of course there are also other functions that can destroy our confidence in the system: namely battery life and cost per game. We love the option of 3G, but journalists who use iPhones on AT&T's network, we can't exactly say we love the network. Again, the PS Vita is launching this “holiday season.” Specifically what month and what date, we don't know, but we do know it'll be extremely competitive to the 3DS price point – and we like that a lot.
source: Ubergizmo

PS Vita will cost $250/$300 and comes out this holiday season

The PS Vita (vee-tah!) was announced in January, and although we knew most of the devices specs, Sony didn't announce any pricing or release dates. Today at Sony's E3 press conference, Sony let loose all of that info. According to Sony Bend, they've been working on PS Vita hardware for over two years!

There were reports that the PS Vita would suffer a delay due to the earthquake in Japan, but Sony's official stance is that there is no delay – it will come out this holiday season!

Before we go into all the details, on Vita's pricing and release, Sony announced a few prominent features: voice chat and Near. Gamers will be able to voice chat any time with a headset and Near will let them discover new gamers/what other gamers are players are playing and compare Trophies.

Pricing:

Wi-Fi: $249.99

3G + Wi-Fi: $299.99. AT&T is the exclusive U.S. carrier. Customers who have an AT&T data plan will also have access to over 24,000 Wi-Fi hotspots.

Release: Holiday 2011.

Now that we know how much the newest member of the PlayStation family will cost and when we can all get our hands on one, will you be in line to get yours on day one? Does it still seem too large? Are you excited for the dual analog sticks and rear touchpad? What about the dual cameras for AR gaming? Let us know what you love about the PS Vita in the comments section below.
source: Ubergizmo