PS Vita

Japanese Vita sales completely collapsed after the launch. We'll see if the same thing happens here, but it probably will.

I just hope Vita sells well enough to make sure some really good software eventually hits for it. I love the hardware and have been impressed by Uncharted and Unit 13. I can't wait to see how other big developers handle it, but I'm worried that if hardware sales don't pick up or at least stay steady, we won't ever see what the system can really do in terms of software.

Isn't the big system seller going to be the next Monster Hunter? Did that already come out in Japan? I thought they go crazy every time one of those games comes out.

Monster Hunter Vita is still only "scheduled for this year". Maybe Japan will go crazy when it does come out.

So far as I can tell, Japan is already crazy.

Sony has become very proficient at pushing customers away.

I love Sony, but that's some bullshit right there.

No Charles, lost data is no big deal.

For the 4 (5?) of us that own a Vita we are finally going to start seeing some games for the damn thing.

I picked up ragnarok Odyssey yesterday and spent a few hours with it and I must say its quite fun. It's a MH type game and if you are into the monster hunter series you should look into getting this.

Has anyone played the Silent Hill roguelike for the Vita? It sounds pretty cool.

This is one of the games I've been watching out for, so I'd love to hear more as you play it, Marcus. I've never tried one of the MH-esque games, and I've always been curious.

Persona 4: The Golden is coming stateside soon too, right? It's the first thing that made me really glad I got a Vita and an easy recommendation to anybody who likes JRPGs at all.

It also has no DLC so there's no reason not to import it and get it months early if you live outside the US. Atlus' PAL localization staff still seems to consist of whoever happens to have time over lunch break, but at least they didn't pull the same region lock dick move as with Persona 4 Arena.

I've been playing Persona 3 portable on my Vita, though only sporadically. I'm not sure I get it, especially the dating sim part. I only get to choose to do about one thing per day and that's really not enough given the selection.

I've started pokeman-ing my personae, but the battles are kind of boring. You get four levels of fodder, then a boss that's challenging, then four more levels of fodder. I think I'm between levels 15-20 right now.

Is there going to come a point where Sony releases a handheld that's just called the Personastation?

Well, yeah. It's an actual choice as opposed to games where you just select the order in which you see the content. I understand it's possible to do everything if you follow walkthroughs since there is actually some gameplay involved but it's probably better to just hang out with the characters you're actually interested in.

I found P4G more interesting because they got rid of the bullshit random menu flipping skill system and just straight out let you pick from a list when combining personas. It lets you actually build your character according to some kind of plan without consulting the enormous, mouldering tomes on GameFAQs and generally makes the game easier to play, along with a slew of other UI improvements and niceties that really should have been in the series to begin with. Plus it's nice to actually walk around town instead of navigating a 2D menu.

You can also adjust individual aspects of difficulty (like damage taken, damage done, experience gain, etc) on the fly, though there's not much helping the fact that P4G gets very, very easy towards the end of the game due to all the new skills and features they put in.

Oh, Sony. This is just what the Vita needs to boost sales.

Strong marketing push indeed.

Are they trying to kill this thing? What, is this some Springtime for Hitler bullshit?

Hey - I don't give a shit about marketing, so I got one of the AC3:L bundles that seemed like a pretty good deal. Yo - this screen is nice, but now I gotta get stuff to do with this thing. There are actually a few things I wouldn't mind picking up, but apparently my Plus subscription is going to start getting me free crap in "November," so I'm reluctant to spend money on anything until I know what I'm getting for free. Is there anything more specific than just "November" at this point? My google investigation yielded nothing, but I'm hoping I'm just stupid.

I guess it's going to be mid November from what I have seen. No real word what will be on sale or free though but I am expecting it will be a pretty good game (like LBP) to try and entice vita owners to sign up for plus.

You should think about getting some PSP or PS1 games though because the vita makes them look pretty damn good. The minis all suck though so don't waste your time.

I'm actually very interested in grabbing a couple of original PSP games - I'm just worried that Tactics Ogre or FF4 or FFT will be in the "Instant Game Collection." I'm not sure that will stop me if the release isn't, like, next week, though. I'll end up getting at least one thing, since I don't think I'll be doing AC3 at least until I get the full game on PS3 (as an aside - super good way to get me to buy games on PS3, Sony - giving me extra stuff for having both triggers my collector) and I would like to take it out for a spin.

Also, I'm guessing that I'm just going to have to keep my PSP forever on the off chance that I ever want to actually play Star Ocean again? It seems to be one of the titles not in the store and I get the impression that nobody loved them but me.

The Star Ocean titles were well-enough regarded before Star Ocean 4 went and burned through every ounce of goodwill the franchise had.

I'd expect they'll return to a more respectable position in time - well, excepting 4, because y'know.

Mind you, Sony seems determined to kill the Vita off, and by the time people are going to bother to go out of their way for Star Ocean they might have succeeded in that. This in mind - hedge your bets and keep the PSP. At worst, you have an awesome portable for running emulators on. (Yes, your phone can do that, too. Your phone is also using a virtual D-pad. You know who plays Super Metroid with a virtual D-pad? Stalin.)

I thought 3 (Til the End of Time) was the shitty one?

My understanding is that Star Ocean 3's shittitude is a grain of sand next to the mountain that is 4.

(not NSFW, but might make you an alcoholic)

3 was fine right up until the end. Then it pulled an Illuminatus. I have yet to boot the copy of 4 (or, more appropriately, 0) that I own.

Hey, Vita owners and Playstation Plus subscribers, things just got pretty great!

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/13/ps-plus-hits-vita-on-november-19/

"Plus members will receive six games for the Vita: Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Jet Set Radio,Wipeout 2048, Gravity Rush, Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack! and PSP's Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions."

Excelsior. The one that I bought isn't in the list, which is good. I figured something was up with FFT when I saw that it was $10. No Square markup makes me suspicious.

So... what is Playstation Plus, since that article doesn't bother to say?

Playstation Plus costs $50/year or slightly more in three-month chunks, and with PS+ you get cloud saving, automatically downloaded updates, regular discounts on new and old games, and at any point something like 12 free games that remain free for you for as long as you are a PS+ subscriber. I joined right after it started, and I have, available to me for free (not all are available right now, but as long as I am paying for PS+ I have all of these that I can download and play at any time):

• LittleBigPlanet 2
• Infamous 2
• Wipeout HD
• Warhammer Space Marine
• Renegade Ops
• Walking Dead Episodes 1 & 2
• King of Fighters XIII
• Double Dragon Neon
• Just Cause 2
• Outland
• Pac-Man Championship Edition
• Ratchet & Clank All 4 One
• Scott Pilgrim vs The World
• Starhawk
• Tomb Raider - the ARPG-styled one
• Gotham City Imposters

And a few others, though I can't think of what they are right now.

For all the things PSN gets wrong, PS+ kicks XBL Gold's ass.

Meh, I'm a PS+ subscriber but only for the free games and the discounts since Sony tends to discount things at release or by much better margins/frequency than the Xbox Marketplace. But PS+ just helps gloss over the really stupid shit on the PS3 like slow downloads, no cross game chat, viewing achievements requires exiting a game, having to install downloads (and the PS3 takes years to install full size games), and other annoyances. The two things that make my 360 gather dust the most is the goddamned horrid ui (especially for apps like Netflix) and I bought a PS3 3rd party controller that I prefer to even the stock 360 controller. Microsoft held the lead for so long that the only way they lose customers is trying to fix things that aren't broken.

Do we need to have a PSVita in order to "purchase" these games? I don't have one right now but I'm a PS+ Member and I may buy one someday especially if I can get 6 free games for it. Hell, just FFT:WOTL and Uncharted is enough!

I have no idea! I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

I've been thinking about getting PS+ for the free games and discounts, but figured I have enough in my backlog that I should clean out before paying for more. Of course, I will never clean out my backlog.

This may be enticement enough. The battery on my Vita lasts much longer than on my 3DS, so I've been playing a lot of Persona 3 Portable this week.

Double post but a little bit of nerd rage here. Last night I plug my Vita in to charge and it's not charging. Hmmm. I'm in a strange house, so maybe the outlet I chose isn't working? I plug into various outlets, make sure all parts of the charger are plugged in securely, and it still won't charge. Finally, because it's late, I just leave it plugged in and hope it charges.

This morning, it hasn't charged. I fiddle with it some more, and finally flip the custom plug that goes into the Vita itself. It starts charging.

Dear Sony, if you make a custom plug that only functions if it's plugged in one way, make it so that I can't plug it in the other way. Also, fuck you.

Does it not make a little beep or have a battery charging indicator? Seems like something dumb to leave out.

I'm not sure what you did with your plug but mine definitely won't go in the wrong way up. There is a battery charging indicator in the system menu and the home button will light up red if a power source is connected during standby.

I'm still not sold on the PS+ offer since it's worse in Europe, but it's definitely an easy grab for anybody on US PSN and an excellent excuse to try out Gravity Rush. It's an open-world game with an interesting traversal mechanic, great visuals and outstanding music, which all in turn means that you can enjoy the best of what it has to offer without getting particularly far into the story.