The tired old sentiment that the PlayStation Vita has “no games” has long been disproved, but even more software is never a bad thing. Fortunately, the system could be about to enjoy a healthy injection in its content catalogue, as Unity has announced that the latest version in its entry-level cross-platform game development engine now supports Sony’s flagship handheld format.
“Developers with a licensed developer agreement from Sony for the Vita will now be able to deploy their game to the system via the Unity engine and make use of platform-specific functionality including motion sensors, front and rear cameras, dual analogue sticks, [and the] rear touch pad,” reads a blog post from the company.
The real advantage of the Unity engine to small teams is that code only needs to be written once in order to support an array of different platforms. As a consequence, any studios currently building titles with the popular technology could theoretically have a portable port up and running in minutes. The brilliant Stick It to the Man is one example of a release built using the software.
This is obviously news that’s most likely to please the development community, but it’s still a positive announcement for content hungry Vita owners. While it may take a little time before we see the fruits of this update, don’t be surprised if your handheld gets flooded with new titles to try in the near future.
[source blogs.unity3d.com]
Comments 11
Vita certainly has games so its a bit tiring to hear that still from some people, its exclusives its lacking and im not sure Unity support will help that too much. More ports are still not a bad thing I guess.
I thought the system had games now and the real problem was that nobody can afford the memory cards to put them on? Well nobody except Sammy
@rjejr yea, Sammy and his 64gb's of win
I have about 99games (with trophy tracked by psnprofiles) so I think vita has more than enough game
But it needs big name, just please make something that will draw people, sony
@rjejr
Overblown inconvenience. You can still buy the games retail if you want so you don't take up memory card space. Plus the games are inexpensive and you have options like Playstation Plus, so you end up saving money on that part in comparison to the 3DS for example.
The games line-up is pretty damn good now:
http://puu.sh/6mrqB.jpg
And the Vita has always had games btw. I think I've played it much more than 3DS. In fact, I remember the huge droughts in the 3DS its first year, it was a dust-collector. (Yay Steel Diver and Pilotwings and those were €40 games lol). The Vita had actual great launch games, probably one of the best launch line-ups in recent history. (Uncharted Golden Abyss, Super Stardust: Delta, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, Rayman Origins, Escape Plan, Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour, Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs Attack to name a few. And all of those were great games)
Still baffles me how the PSVita got its misconcepted reputation of "no games" with a fantastic launch line-up like that that make the 3DS launch line-up like a complete joke (no offense to the 3DS, it's a great handheld and has amazing Nintendo games now, but you can't deny that its launch line-up was really bad) and a few amazing post-launch games too like Gravity Rush and later LittleBigPlanet Vita.
Just AAA titles and no indie then :s
It got labelled so because it had hardly any decent games for a long time. When people say it hasn't got any games they generally mean it has nothing interesting. Vita now has a vast library of games that I personally want/own, but there's still not much, exclusive or otherwise, to get the masses buying it, hence why we still hear "Vita has no games." Hotline Miami P4Golden, Tearaway, Muramasa and Dragon's Crown are all titles I've enjoyed over the last six months on it, playing it more than my PS3. But I'm also fully aware those aren't games to sell a machine.
@Cyrso I got both machines very soon after launch and I have to say I personally enjoyed the 3DS trio of Super Street Fighter 4, Pilotwings and Dead Or Alive a lot, lot more than the Vita's collection. Of that only Gravity Rush stood out as above average for me. Different horses for courses of course though.
@rastamadeus
Whatever floats your boat.
I consider you have very weird taste in games in you say the PSVita's launch games were 'average' but you enjoyed Pilotwings.
I thought Pilotwings Resort was crap. Boring game all around, no substance, very little content. Baffling that they were selling a game like that for €40, but that's Nintendo I guess. Dead or Alive was not at launch. Street Fighter 4 was pretty much the only decent 3DS game for a long time, and that was a port. Actually looking back it's clearly the 3DS that had hardly any decent games for a long time. PSVita got its great games straight at launch. You're not going to tell me Uncharted Golden Abyss, Super Stardust: Delta, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, Rayman Origins, Escape Plan, Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour, Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs Attack were average. Those are all very well received games and regarded as great games.
PSVita's line-up was miles and miles ahead and consisted of quality, exclusive games in addition to some excellent ports of excellent games (Rayman Origins). That's just my humble opinion, though, different horses for courses indeed.
The exclusives line-up is also very good. Uncharted Golden Abyss, Super Stardust: Delta, Wipeout 2048, Everybody's Golf, LittleBigPlanet PSVita, Gravity Rush, Tearaway, Soul Sacrifice, Dragon's Crown, Muramasa Rebirth, Killzone: Mercenary. Those are not average games, those are all really excellent games. It's just because all those games don't have "Mario" "Zelda" in its name that the line-up goes underrated.
I just want Gravity Rush 2. After that, kick this money sink, and poorly conceived, poorly advertised device to the curve. It's obvious that with the exception of Nintendo there isn't a company that knows what it's doing as far as the handheld market is concerned. Sony isn't in a position these days to be f'ing around with things that nobody gives a sh*t about. I hate to say this because personally I think the Vita is an awesome system with awesome games but Sony dropped the ball on it. PS4 is hot right now and Sony needs to keep it that way. Get through this year with a few big game releases here and there for Vita but keep the main focus on PS4 and then 2015 and forward it should just be 100% PS4.
@RyoHazuki
I guess, but to me the ship has already sailed on this thing. 7 million sold and it's been out almost two years, embarrassing. In two months and with 'no games' PS4 has sold 4.2 mil. Given its current state as a company Sony has some choices to make and to me there's an obvious one as far as its game systems are concerned.
As an independent developer I'm optimistic that I can now (potentially) build games for the Vita due to it's Unity3D support. I just hope that this paves the way for a more open Playstation store that won't be as restrictive on what is allowed in. In either case I signed up.
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