Sony's PlayStation Vita didn't take the gaming world by storm unfortunately, but at one point in time it may have stood a better chance. One of the poorest decisions by the bigwigs at Sony was the use of propriety memory cards instead of the much cheaper and readily available SD cards. It's a decision which has baffled many and has more than likely swayed handheld gamers in the other direction.
But did you know that an early prototype of the Vita included a few features that are missing from today's iteration? A video of the prototype being man-handled shows an early version of the machine with a HDMI port for throwing the Vita's content onto a bigger screen, 12GB of internal memory, and an SD port to expand it.
It's truly a shame that Sony decided against SD cards and we're still very much peeved at the platform holder for such a cock-up. There's a video down below that's well worth a watch if you're interested in what could have been. Just look at that PSPgo design, man.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 24
I heard that this PSPgo model had overheating problems which is also probably why it changed. Agree on the SD cards, though.
This would have made it expensive as hell but damn that HDMI out connection would do wonders O-O
The lack of internal memory and those pointless memory cards killed the vita from the word go in my opinion. It was a really anti consumer move and hopefully Sony has learned from that mistake. I can't see them making another handheld however.
@get2sammyb
What a different handheld it would've been if it was able to read regular SD cards. The vita is such a wonderful system on its own, but when you use it alongside the PS4 it really starts to shine.
I'm still hoping for a real revision with an L2 and R2 and SD cards, cause I think if marketed right it could still be a succes. On its own the Vita might struggle in a world where mobile is dominating, but linked to its extremely popular older brother I feel there are possibilities. And with PSnow going out of bets on the Vita I think there has never been a better time to own a vita.
Once people experience the Vita themselves they're usually sold right away. Booting up the Vita to hand in some fetch quests in FFXIV, to grind a bit in Diablo or to just go about and explore big open worlds while laying in bed, it's an experience that's well worth your money. And then I'm not even considering the vast amount of excellent games that are on it!
I realize the Vita is probably Sony's last handheld, but they've done weirder things, so who knows! But it needs the marketing and vision they displayed with the PS4, where a console was sold on a great idea and clear communication alone.
I remember Sony promised hdmi output =(. Final prototype of Vita is much worse than psp, in my opinion. Vita is really anti consumer handheld. A lot of strange limitations, compared to psp.
I had a PSPGo for a while and I loved it almost as much as my PSP. I'm sure I would've loved this. Still play my Vita.
@stevie85 I figure if Nintendo is ballsy enough to have another home console, Sony may a well try once more with a handheld. That way, when they both fail again, they can work together again. Okay, maybe I dream too much...
@Gemuarto All I wanted from the thing was for it to play KH: BBS. They had that short lived transfer program, then they gave up on us. At present, there is nothing on the system that would justify me buying it.
@Boerewors If the NX is a home console and handheld match like Vita/PS4, I think the NX and Vita could benefit each other. Of course, that depends on a lot, but I'm a dreamer, it's what I do...
The guys behind Vita should be ashamed.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi for their woeful marketing of the console, yes, but not for the console itself. There is still an absolute abundance of fantastic content for it, and I personally think it's significantly better than the 3DS (which I own but hardly gets a look in edgeways).
Ultimately, despite some daft choices on the memory side of things, it is still a great piece of kit, and I think the only thing that really held it back was the marketing. If it had been marketed better, I think people would have bought it in spite of its flaws. But sadly there are still a shocking amount of people around today who genuinely don't even know that it exists, and it's too late in the day for a revival now even if they did :/
@SteveButler2210 indeed, the thing is great, there are a few stupid things they should have done, internal memory,4G, cheaper external memory, update it with L/R1&2, market the thing, market the thing, market the thing, market the thing.
Sony always screw themselves over with their proprietary memory cards that $100 extra to have any meaningful amount of storage for Vita was an absolute killer also I was hoping a year back we would get an HDMI accessory for Vita like PSP got (for SD) oh well the thing has had its day in their eyes.
That design is ugly, I like design they ended up with. Only problem is that I wish they kept SD card support, cause that's one problem most ppl have with the vita: the expensive memory cards.
I bought one last year and really like it, thought the ps store was really good. But there sd cards are beyond my price range, and refuse to spend out on it. Plus I bought a ps tv and that was pretty rubbish, except the remote play.
I've had three Vita's. First one I traded for lack of games and I rarely used it. Second Vita I traded for a 3DS but, other than Mario, Zelda and Metroid their was even less that interested me in the games department. Also I thought the 3DS was very uncomfortable as I don't have small hands.
I recently picked up my third a final Vita. I decided to give it one last try (Third time lucky) because of PlayStation Now and to take full advantage of PlayStation Plus, since I also have a PS3 & PS4.
Alot of people complain about the free games selection we get each month through PlayStation Plus but, if you have a PS Vita, PS3 and a PS4 you get "REALLY GOOD VALUE" for your money.
My only issue with the Vita is the price of the proprietary memory cards, which infact is my issue with Sony not the Vita. Sony could easily reduce the price of the 64gb memory cards by a good amount and not just a few quid.
Also, if Sony packaged the Vita with the PS4 and Uncharted Golden Abyss this Fall im sure thats all the marketing it would take.
Games like Uncharted and Killzone Mercenarys really show what the Vita is capable of and the Mobile/Cell phone is no substitute.
I have a Duke Nukem 3D on both my Vita and iPhone and to be honest, the iPhone version plays like crap. Graphics are fine on both as its an old game but, touch screen controls for the iPhone and then dual analog sticks, face and shoulder buttons for the Vita aswell as front and back touch controls, well, its night and day and the Vita wins hands down.
Even a few years after the Vita's launch and it still looks great. I actually went with the Vita slim this time for the extended battery life.
A decision I do not regret in the slightest.
I believe that with Sony's new service, PlayStation Now, plus remote play, cheaper memory cards, Sony could actually turn things around. Its still selling, granted at a few thousand a week but, if Sony do reduce the price of the memory cards and PlayStation Now is a success word of mouth will help spread the word. I have fallen back in love with my Vita and so could so many others.
It doesn't need a GPU/CPU or Memory boost as its good enough and completely smashes the New 3DS spec wise. So the only real expense to Sony is, the memory card price reduction and maybe either a small but to the point add campaign or to have a Vita and PS4 bundle package ready for this Christmas. All they would have to say is, play Black Ops 3 or Fallout 4 on your Vita whilst someone else uses the TV.
I think that the Vita deserves one more final big push, what about you?
I'm not bothered that Vita used proprietary flash cards, I'm just bothered about the highly inflated and unnecessary price they attached to them.
@dodoo agreed. I could care less that they want me to buy their own cards in theory. But the price is absolutely obscene, even as the Vita fails they leave the ridiculous prices.
I never bought a new vita due to the propriety card nonsense. Waited couple years till I saw a vita with 64gb card on eBay. They tried it b4 with the psp but micro sd adapters were readily available at 1 or 2 bucks. Must've deliberately created these cards to be too small to make adapters for. . . Which isn't really a problem if the price point is right and comparable to sd cards on the market... It wasn't.... Cynical, Scandalous prices from a greedy, opportunist company.
The memory cards are a joke, and as someone who buys 2-3 games of varying sizes a month has cost them a lot of profit. Even the free games I don't even bother with due to the memory left.
The biggest problem by far from me and I have just put it down...
Its blooming uncomfortable, the position of the sticks and holding it is hard, I'm sure I've got carpel tunnel attempting the 3rd boss on geometry wars 3.
I've never played a game that felt designed for Vita, either ergonomically or graphically. MGS3HD was almost playable, but idk why they didn't make games that felt at home on that machine. MHFU and Peace Walker felt better on Vita than KZ or even LBP, imho. Memory is always expensive, so just wait and problem solved. It wasn't PSP2 like we wanted, so hurry up and just make the Vita 2 with full L/R 1, 2 and 3s, with better resolution and the aforementioned hdmi out and sd memory. We've proven that we'll at least try it.
It says the video is private. Sad face.
they extracted HDMI port and make a PS TV...
(hope you still remember what is a PS TV...)
It's the developers who should be angry with Sony. Vita owners are buying less games on the PSN b/c they're huge and memory is like prime real estate. Plus, some publishers skip retail releases altogether which forces consumers to buy only from the PSN. I have a 16GB card and I bought FF X/X-2 retail however I was STILL required to download X-2 which is a whopping 3GB so already space is getting limited b/c usable memory is around 14GB...And I know we're all familiar with swapping out our game cards to play a different game but now I have to swap out memory cards, too, since I have the included 8 GB card with Borderlands 2 on it (which takes up more than 4GB...) I have not taken out my 3DS' 32gb SD card ONCE. I am now more open to the idea of buying PSP Classics in favour of Vita games since they take up less space but that's not the way things should be.
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