Biggest and best games

The PSP's UMD software has been thankfully scrapped for Flash-based storage cards, but as well as physical products, the Vita will also be download driven. Several games have been announced for the device, including Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Hustle Kings, Everybody's Golf Next (Hot Shots Golf Next in North America) as well as new iterations of Killzone, Wipeout 2048, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II Plus, Ridge Racer and Call of Duty. In addition, several third-party studios showcased technology demos of the device by exporting existing assets from their PlayStation 3 counterpart and then rendering them on the device. Some of the games that were demonstrated include Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Yakuza Of the End, and Lost Planet 2. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd was also demonstrated to be running on the device to showcase the device's backwards compatibility with downloadable PlayStation Portable titles, which was also shown to be compatible with the PlayStation Vita's additional analogue stick. Unlike the first PSP, the PlayStation Vita will come with Trophy support for games.

Open new ways to play

There are also control inputs aplenty - the familiar Sixaxis button and motion controls supplemented by a touch screen, a rear touch panel and cameras front and back. The buttons on the face of the Vita are tight and responsive. Its D-pad is a departure from the PSP's. It doesn't feature four separate pieces. Instead it is a multidirectional dial that doesn't seem to allow for the precision the PSP's D-pad does.

The PS Vita has a touch-sensitive back so you can control the on-screen action without hiding it behind your fingers. The rear touch panel is smooth and can sense multiple touch gestures and contact points at once. The screen's multi-touch too. The combination of a touchy front and back is fascinating - Sony talks about it enabling "touch, grab, trace, push and pull hand movements." implementation of these seems a few new tricks; in Uncharted: Golden Abyss, you can adjust your view simply by titling the screen in the direction Drake is looking. Or Little Big Planet where you can plot your moves through the new touch screen technology. Or, select a club in Hot Shots Golf just by tapping your intended target on-screen.

Sony is also clearly aiming at new audiences with problems adapting to new functions - It’s amazing, in a way, that we already take accelerometer control for granted. The PS Vita includes a three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer and three-axis electronic compass for handheld-waggling motion-controlled tomfoolery.

The device features a "super oval"-shape similar to the design of the original PlayStation Portable, with a 5-inch (130 mm) OLED capacitive touchscreen in the center of the device. The device features two analog sticks (unlike the PSP which features only a single analog "nub"), a D-pad, a set of standard PlayStation face buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross and Square), two shoulder buttons (L and R), a PlayStation button and Start and Select buttons.

We were expecting much more of a heavy, bulky feel-like we first experienced with the original PSP back in 2005. 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.

What is clear is that the structural bulk allows Sony to make a hand-held that is truly comfortable to hold. No smartphone control compromises, no utilitarian square edges - this is an ergonomic star. Sony's taken stock of the PSP's many flaws and fixed them - the horrible bevelled analogue disc has been replaced by quite incredible dual analogue sticks that are responsive and a joy to use, the harsh lines of the unit rounded to fit nicely in your hand, the PS buttons smaller and less clunky. Uncharted: Golden Abyss plays as close to the PS3 original as you could wish to hope for, long-distance gunning against multiple enemies from behind cover very effectively translated due to the combination of the impressive screen resolution and the tactile joysticks. Call of Duty and FIFA are going to play like a dream.

The PSP's replacement has a five-inch, 16 million color 960x544 OLED touchscreen, twin cameras, twin speakers, two turntables and a microphone. We're lying about the turntables.

You also get twin analogue sticks and a ridiculously powerful quad-core processor based on the ARM Cortex A9, the same kind of processor you'll find in many top-end tablets. Expect four to five hours of battery life.

Description from Sony:

Re-engineering the experience - PlayStation®Vita innovation has jumped years ahead of the industry with a range of new and immersive features that will literally change the way you play the game. Don’t think of this as the next generation of handhelds. This is the next generation of gaming.

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