Will your PS Vita be merely a shadow of your PS4 in the future? Only there to remote play its games? Read more inside......
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| Excellent variety in levels, fiendish platforming, amazing music... simply the best |
That's the kind of thing I like to use my Vita for: to play excellent games that take advantage of the Vita's power and mobility. To bring it with me wherever I go, Wi-Fi or not, and play a game. I'm a science teacher, and sometimes when I get to school in the morning, I challenge a student to an ad-hoc game of Playstation All Stars Battle Royale right there in the library before the bells ring.
What makes me a bit nervous is when I hear the plans for the Playstation 4 and its buddy or "companion" system, the Vita.
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| Look at me! I can remote play PS4 games! |
Recent news from the Sony UK President, Fergal Gara, is that he believes Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 4 home console will boost sales of the Vita. True, a lot of remote play features were touted for the Vita and the PS3, but word on the streets is that the Vita was developed more for the PS4 than the PS3. In what respect?
Gara says: "...now we go into the PS4 era, that companion device will look far more clear."
We all know about the remote play feature of the Vita for the PS4, in that every game being developed for the PS4 must have the functionality to be played on the Vita. Extra controls like the R2 and L2 triggers are able to be programmed into the touch screen. But what else is there for it? Few games use the "Cross controller" function to play PS3 games with your Vita. LittleBigPlanet2 had a cool pack with levels playable only with the Vita, and you helped other players onscreen who had regular PS3 controllers.
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| Did you play this? It was actually quite cool. |
Will there be cross functions like this with the Vita? Or simply the remote play function?
In a recent article from the Official UK Playstation site, Gara stated more that the Vita is a "PS4 in your pocket." That's all good again, but that bring sup the question, "Well, what do I do about that when I'm on a train and there's no Wi-Fi?"
You best have some games for the Vita. With the PS3 going away after the PS4 takes the throne, there will be fewer and fewer "cross buy" games for the Vita. Will there be something like that with the PS4? Gara says you won't be able to play your PS4 games offline, but will there be something you can do with a certain game? Like a companion app for Watch Dogs, so you can play a mini game, or build up experience in some other game?
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| a tablet running the Watch Dogs companion app... can we do this on our Vitas? |
One last thing Gara stated regarding the Vita was that "Gamers will tell us how it’ll evolve by how they use it."
Ok people, this is our time. What are you going to do with your Vitas this year? A lot of us were upset by the lack of new AAA games at E3. Many are overwhelmed by the amount of Indie games for the console. Most of us were shocked the memory cards didn't drop in price.
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| It takes a lot to hold a lot... |
But if you want the handheld console to exist and to thrive on its own and not just be a "buddy" system, you have to prove to the system that we want games exclusively for the Vita.
There are some great games out there. And there are some great titles on the way. Not as many as were hyped before E3, but still some amazing games. Tearway, Killzone Mercenary, Batman... I feel that if the Vita owners out there upped their game count, the developers would see the market out here. Jack Tretton during the E3 press conference said that Vita owners bought on average 10 games. I want them to keep making games for me to purchase for my Vita.
I don't just want it to be a remote play option for my PS4. Yes, it is a good idea, but to make it more than a buddy system, we need exclusive games.
What games are you looking forward to playing on the Vita this year? What do you want to see for the Vita's future? Comment below!