Playstation Vita 2000 and Vita TV Announced September 9, 2013

In the latest development in what will likely become a future history article for this site, Sony has made two big announcements today detailing the Playstation Vita.  Since it’s launch, the Playstation Vita can easily be described as a fantastic piece of hardware which has had an issue selling due to its high launch price and because of that has had a lack of decent system titles.  Today, Sony has announced its latest plans to improve the Vita and the Vita’s standing in the Handheld Console War.

First off, Sony is introducing a new model Vita, which will likely be called the Vita-2000 or Vita Slim.  It is a thinner and lighter version Playstation Vita, which will sport an improved battery and 1GB of internal memory for storage on top of an expansion slot for Playstation Vita Memory Cards.  With the recent announcement of the Playstation Vita price drop, the price of Vita Memory Cards has also gone down, so Vita owners interested in upgrading their memory might be able to find a deal right now.  The new Vita model will also now ship with a recent version USB port instead of a proprietary Vita port for memory transferring between the Vita  and Playstation or PC.  From the looks of it, the new Vita should be compliant with USB 3.0 ports.

Everything else in the new Vita’s system specifications looks to be the same with the exception of the screen.  While the screen dimensions and resolution between the PS Vita and the PS Vita 2000 are identical, the screen type will not be.  Sony will be moving away from the super high quality OLED screen in the original Vita and all PSP 2000 systems will feature LCD screens instead.  This is really disheartening as the OLED screen was one of the primary selling points of the Vita at launch, but it is plainly obvious that Sony made this decision to lower the manufacturing costs of the Vita.

The second announcement that Sony made today felt a bit like Sony reached into a conversation that I had with Twitch yesterday and put a modern twist on it, and that was the announcement of the Vita TV.  The Vita TV will be a set-top box for your HD Television similar to the Apple TV but equipped with a Vita Game Slot and Vita Memory Card slot.  Sony has promised that the Vita TV will be able to play most of the Vita’s game library with the Dual Shock 3 controller, as well as stream your PS4’s content to a separate TV in the home.  You should be able to access your entire downloaded catalog through Playstation Network as well, so you will be able to play downloaded PS1, PS Vita and PSP games that are compatible with the set-top box on your HDTV.  The Vita TV will be able to play Vita games at a native 720p resolution, but 1080 gameplay may be possible with interlacing.

Right now I’m questioning a bit of the logic behind the Playstation Vita TV’s release.  While I have to give props to Sony for offering players the ability to play Vita content on their HDTV, why didn’t Sony just take my advice from a few years ago and give players the option to mirror Vita content on their HDTV using the PS3, kind of like what an Apple TV can do with the iPhone 4S and 5, or provide a TV out port on the Vita system like the later Playstation Portable models provided?

The other issue with the Vita TV is with the lack of a touchscreen on the Dual Shock 3 controller.  While Sony could likely bring Dual Shock 4 support to the Vita TV later on with a firmware update, the Dual Shock 3 can’t really replicate all the functions of the Vita’s touch screen and rear touchpad since it has neither.  This would make playing games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss (one Vita game that I really want to pick up) difficult.  While the Dual Shock 4 does feature a single two touch touchpad on top of the controller, I do not believe it has a rear one, and many Vita games, including Little Big Planet Vita, make use of both.  The only solution to this problem that I can think of would be to allow the Playstation Vita’s use as a controller for the Vita TV.

Regardless of my concerns this does look like a step in the right direction for Sony, who is trying to improve the Playstation Vita’s image in the market just in time for this year’s Christmas season.  I just hope that Sony decides to take my advice and offers some way for players to be able to play from a Playstation Vita on their HDTV screen, either through a PS4 or Vita TV.  That would be a fine Christmas indeed.