Internet Adventures - PS Vita

Sony's new handheld gaming platform launched in North America a little while ago and it was less than exceptional. Certainly not bad, but really just underwhelming. Normally when a new game launches there are people at my school who at least talk about it or sometimes stay home to play it, in the case of Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. But, there is no talk whatsoever of this new device which really does deserve to be talked about.

The vita launched in Japan long before North America so many people were looking to the sales in Japan to estimate how well it would do in North America and well, it didn't hold up. Sony's excuse for the, as some would call it, fail of a launch was that the psp is still quite popular in Japan and people did not want to switch over to a new platform. Whatever the actual reason was it seems to be doing much better in North America already, selling half a million units upon release! In my opinion it will only sell more and more as now advertisements are starting to pop up more more. Before launch i hadn't seen a single ad, granted I don't watch a lot of television, but I do consume mass amounts of internet. However, after the North American launch vita ads have been pre-rolling before youtube videos. Most of the people I know watch far more youtube than actual television and so I wouldn't be surprised if it gains a lot more awareness, at least in my circle of acquaintances.

The device itself is pretty high quality, with two analog sticks (finally!!), front and back touch screens, a 3g and wi-fi version both of which can access the playstation store to digitally download games right onto the device, six-axis motion controls, front and rear cameras and more! In my opinion the best thing the vita has going for it is the fact that you can load games from your ps3 onto your vita, which will help sony with ps3 sales as well if people see the two as sort of a package. The worst thing about the vita has got to be the camera. When compared to various phone cameras it simply does not hold up. But, if you want to take pictures of things you can easily use the fore-mentioned phone. The vita camera is more for augmented reality which I hear it does pretty well.
All in all this is a fantastic product if you're into handheld gaming and it deserves a lot more press. I recommend you at least check it out even if you're not into handhelds, this one might be your thing!