What The PSVita Needs
I’ve got my sexy PSVita and have been enjoying it for quick, short games. My busy schedule lately hasn’t allowed for much dedicated time, but it is serving its purpose. That’s what I love about handhelds and the Vita has a lot of positives. The web browser, its multitasking capabilities allows me to pause and run other programs and I love that I can read messages from friends on either my PS3 or my Vita. However, it’s clear Sony launched this thing without it running at its full ability. There are some very basic things that will be added; I’m just not too patient about it. The fact is, these things should be there already. The hardware is fantastic. Like it’s PS3 brother, who launched without a very good store integration, no in-game XMB, etc. I’m excited about what is certainly to come. Let’s see…
1) PS1 Classics Compatibility
I don’t really know what happened here. I’m guessing it’s the software emulation. I figured that wouldn’t be a real big deal seeing as how it’s such old hardware and this *is* Sony. However, I have a few games on my PS3 hard drive that I’d love to play on-the-go. Symphony Of The Night is one of my favorite games ever. I’m hoping for full support before long.
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2) PSP Compatibility
I know backwards compatibility is never an easy thing and I’m happy the Vita plays a ton of PSP games. There are a bunch not on the list though, and I’m really looking forward to playing Ys Chronicles on my Vita. How they’re going to roll out these updates, I’m unsure. Hopefully with each firmware update we’ll get more games added to the list and to the store.
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3) Better Compatibility
Yeah, I realize…Three of the same category. However, this is what I’m looking for my Vita to do. When connecting to my PS3 to download videos I downloaded from the PSN, most don’t work. Wait…why? They are brand-new videos from the PSN! Nope. My videos? Nope. No WMV? I hate the codec, but playing videos on my gorgeous PSVita screen should be a breeze. Why it’s not is beyond me. Well, I can play videos I’ve downloaded. I just have to go through remote play. No…that’s not how it should be.
3) Better PSVita / PS3 Integration
Fighting piracy is no doubt one of Sony’s biggest goals and so I imagine the reason for this interface is just that. However, the Content Manager is a weak interface that is not smooth whatsoever. Copying files is not easy, the manager opens up the video and music programs individually (so why have the content manager?) and it’s all so very cumbersome. While waiting for wireless Vita/PS3 compatibility probably won’t happen (but should), I can’t stand the interface. Having to catalog everything on my PC so to use the same mediocre program is really annoying.
4) The Interface
Now, I quite like that we’ve moved away from the XMB. I loved that interface. I have a Sony Bravia, a PS3 and a PSP. It served its purpose but now with all touch-screen interfaces, I’m glad to be beyond that. While the new PSVita interface functions well, it’s awfully ugly. Will Sony ever change this a la the 360’s dashboard updates? I certainly hope so. There’s plenty that can be done to improve this. I can’t group games together, icons like the party icon look bad even for Nintendo Wii visuals and it’s not customizable at all. We know that Sony is fighting the smart phone market as well as the handheld. Getting the best of both worlds is not going to be easy but I’d love to have more abilities when it comes to tweaking the visuals.
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5) More Apps
Again, this is a handheld gaming device, but it’s got Facebook and it should add more like YouTube support, etc. Walking that line between a smart phone and a handheld means it cannot be inundated with crap. However, I hope they support this like they do with the PS3 and add something. Specifically, I’d love to be able to detect media servers and to stream audio/video to the Vita. In fact, this is one of my biggest gripes/desires for the system.
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