On the night of February 22 I stood in line at EB Games with a bunch of other nerds and techno-hipsters waiting for midnight so I could get my new machine and leave. I use the word ‘line’ loosely, as in reality there were less than 30 of us and we milled around pretty easily without the need for lines. Hype for PlayStation Vita obviously had not reached the lofty heights it had for Nintendo’s 3DS, which 11 months earlier had filled the same store to the brim and produced a line that went around the corner.

In fact the lead-up to Vita’s launch was downright silent. There was no advertising from Sony and embarrassingly low brand-recognition among the general populace. The only reason I was convinced to get one early was the few positive launch reviews out of Japan, and even they were necessarily low on detail. There may be a hint of intention to Sony’s lack of marketing push however. Vita is a machine that seems to make a few half-hearted attempts to be ‘accessible’ or ‘casual-friendly’, but primarily it’s a gamer’s machine. I predict a continued slow-burn of sales as gamers read more and are convinced, before eventually price-drops and software innovation wins over a casual audience tired of the last-gen graphics of their 3DS. If however, you’re someone on the fence who may still be convinced, or you’re in the market for a new handheld, I have some stories that may help you make up your mind.

An online system

Back on this night in February the store manager wandered around keeping order and looking nervous. He filled bags with old issues of Game Informer and four-packs of V energy drink, which he repeatedly announced were the store’s ‘gifts’ to us because they loved us so much. He also made a big speech about us needing to pre-order our games and hardware from EB in a show of reciprocal appreciation. The ultimate irony of all this (or perhaps the reason for his desperation) is that he was selling to us a machine that took the largest step yet to making EB and all games retailers completely obsolete and unnecessary.

One of the most exciting features of the system is its integration with Sony’s PlayStation network. Every single game available for the device is able to be downloaded direct from Sony through this network, thus avoiding games retailers altogether. It’s up to each game’s publisher to decide whether the games will be in physical stores at all, and games on the online store will always be sold 10 per cent cheaper than their recommended retail price. Of course getting all your games digitally does have some downsides. For one you need a lot of storage, and Sony has dusted off their familiar tactic of proprietary storage media, meaning a mid-range 8GB card will cost you around $50, while the 16GB (the biggest available in Australia) sets you back $70.

This issue is offset however by a very smart storage solution. Your games and media can be backed up from the Vita to a PC or Playstation 3, meaning you can use these devices like a virtual game shelf, keeping only the games you want to play right now in your Vita’s storage. All games and media that work on Vita can also be bought and downloaded directly on a PS3 and transferred to Vita later, meaning you never have to keep your Vita in wi-fi for hours on end to get your new game. There are other concerns many gamers have about the inevitable all-digital future Vita steps towards, but I think they’re unfounded. Obligatory link to a previous article that discusses the death of the used game market.

Interface

The physical system

Of course the interface and all that online mumbo jumbo means nothing if the device itself isn’t solid. So here are the basics:

Screen – A capacitive multi-touch display that easily rivals the iPhone for sleekness and useability. In fact I favour this display over the one on Apple’s device for a couple reasons; it’s a huge 5 inches; it’s a stunning OLED display as opposed to the iPhone’s backlit LCD, meaning more vibrant colour and impressive contrast ratios (although the OLED suffers more when placed in direct sunlight); the resolution is much greater, even if the pixel density is slightly lower than on the iPhone 4.

Face buttons – The traditional PlayStation buttons are all accounted for, and the twin analogue sticks (a first for a portable system) have good range and response considering their size. Anyone who used the PlayStation Portable ‘nub’ will be especially pleased with the upgrade.

Back touch panel – The majority of the rear of the unit is touch and pressure sensitive. This sounds weird but is actually a stroke of genius in the hands of the right developer. For example it is used to zoom scopes in and out in Uncharted: Golden Abyss. This means you can keep your pointers on ‘ready’ and ‘shoot’, your thumbs on ‘strafe’ and ‘aim’, and still have full control over scope magnification. In FIFA it is a virtual goal, allowing players to define their aim and the strength of their shot without removing their thumbs from the sticks.

The usual suspects – Accelerometer and gyroscope for tilt controls, serviceable speakers, bluetooth and wi-fi. A premium 3G enabled Vita is available, but it hardly seems necessary and is in no way worth the extra price or the monthly plan payments thereafter. Use your smartphone’s wi-fi hotspot if checking your friends’ game progress on the train is that important to you.

Two cameras – Way disappointing. Sony have imbued several Sony Ericsson smartphones with gear from their other production arms – for example many have CyberShot camera lenses, and some use Bravia post-processing algorithms to clean up the look of recorded media – but the cameras on the Vita are lame 0.3 megapixel affairs. This may be because a bigger sensor would strain the device if it was to use camera feed in an interactive way, but I can’t help feeling any game using these cameras is going to look stupid on such a brilliant screen. Thankfully the cameras aren’t a huge focal point for the Vita. Pun intended. The focal point is tiny.

I won’t detail the specifications of the Vita’s internals, mainly because I would be copying and pasting them straight from the Wikipedia page without a solid comparative knowledge of what the numbers mean. What I can tell you is that the end product is the most graphically impressive and consistent game experience I have ever witnessed on a handheld or a mobile device. After my initial ‘wow’ moment I spent a while hunting for graphical tricks or workarounds, but this is the real deal. Of course these things are largely dependant on the game developer’s use of the system rather than the system itself, but at least you can know the potential is there for some serious grunt if the situation requires it.

So there you have it. Not much to dislike about PlayStation Vita. It is expensive and not quite as portable as your smartphone, but if these things don’t bother you there’s really no other significant problem with the system. In all, the combination of touch and traditional controls, both of which work well, amazing graphics and progressive online service make this machine a pretty convincing alternative for avid gamers using an iPhone or 3DS for games on the go. And unless Apple or someone else pulls out all the stops in the coming year, Vita could be a serious contender for the casual market once a price drop hits.

Questions? Clarifications? Have your own opinion on the Vita? Cross that I spent a paragraph on shoddy cameras and left x feature out entirely? Comments below.