Playstation Vita
UK launch dates and prices
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Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
Oops.


Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
You bought a Vita?!


;)
I'm loving Gravity Rush at the moment. It takes a little while to warm up and show you the ropes but its turned into an ace Studio Giibli-style adventure. It's a pretty big world for an open-world-lite game too and it looks the bizniz. Very good so far and apparently you'll get about 10-15 hours out the main story.
I'll tell you what else I like about Gravity Rush and some other Vita games I've played: motion control.

Which, by the way, I feckin loath with a passion.

Yet, here, I like it. Fortunately it's never imposed on you from Gravity Rush to, um, Uncharted but rather it compliments the two sticky-sticks. For example, you aim the sniper rifle in Uncharted with the sticks, ok, but you can also use the motion controls if you want but BUT you can use the sticks AND use the motion controls at the same time. The motion controls are so (what's the word when something isn't twitchy?) untwitchy that you line up a shot with the sticks and, almost unconsciously, make subtle adjustments by moving the Vita aboot. And it's ace!

Gravity Rush is easier to play using both sticks and motion in harmony this way. If you really get into a section and, say, your leaning forward whilst playing, it's pretty fun swinging the Vita left to right as you fly about and flying kick stuff in the face. But it's perfectly fine avoiding this altogether and using sticks but it just dawned on me whilst playing that the motion controls were adding to the experience for a change.

Anyhoo, that's it, motion + sticks together can be pretty cool on handhelds. Still shit on everything else. Probably.
Sounds pretty cool, actually. Gngh! Please don't make me buy a Vita!

I'm going to buy one, aren't I?
Quote:
Anyhoo, that's it, motion + sticks together can be pretty cool on handhelds. Still shit on everything else. Probably.


Awww, I used to enjoy watching my dad flick the controller upwards when playing on Mario 64, or leaning into the bend on mariokart. It was funny, just like how Lady T still insists on pointing her iphone at the telly when using hipporemote to control XBMC on the little revo.

Now, motion control has spoiled that sort of entertainment for me, as it actually helps. Bah >:|
I feel like I'm wasting the Vita's considerable power by just constantly playing TWA and Hotline Miami all the time - the PSP could run them in its sleep!

I won't stop me though.
Saturnalian wrote:
I'll tell you what else I like about Gravity Rush and some other Vita games I've played: motion control.

Which, by the way, I feckin loath with a passion.

Yet, here, I like it. Fortunately it's never imposed on you from Gravity Rush to, um, Uncharted but rather it compliments the two sticky-sticks. For example, you aim the sniper rifle in Uncharted with the sticks, ok, but you can also use the motion controls if you want but BUT you can use the sticks AND use the motion controls at the same time. The motion controls are so (what's the word when something isn't twitchy?) untwitchy that you line up a shot with the sticks and, almost unconsciously, make subtle adjustments by moving the Vita aboot. And it's ace!

Gravity Rush is easier to play using both sticks and motion in harmony this way. If you really get into a section and, say, your leaning forward whilst playing, it's pretty fun swinging the Vita left to right as you fly about and flying kick stuff in the face. But it's perfectly fine avoiding this altogether and using sticks but it just dawned on me whilst playing that the motion controls were adding to the experience for a change.

Anyhoo, that's it, motion + sticks together can be pretty cool on handhelds. Still shit on everything else. Probably.

I'm sure I mentioned this before, as something which dramatically improved the combat in uncharted. (seriously, it made me enjoy sniping sections, that never happens)

Overall, I did find the controls in Gravity Daze to be a little bit of a handful, mainly in the gap between the small movements you do with motion and the larger scale ones. Particularly in boas fights.
Gravity Rush clocked! It was very pleasant all the way through and only an abundance of combat near the end of the story lessened the impact for me, namely as that was the least fun bit about it, but the world and the characters were top notch. The soundtrack was particularly good as it was, unusually, a bit 'frenchy'. It showed how good the Vita was at doing an open world as well. Turns out it can handle it reet good.

A recommended amount of bananas. Y'know, a safe amount, and not enough to give you radiation poisoning.
So many good games out for this at the moment. I've just picked up Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark (aka Stealth Bastard) for £7.99. Also picked up Motorstorm: RC as it's cross-buy with the PS3 version and only £7.29.

I still haven't played Unit 13, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, Sine Mora, Rayman Origins, Gravity Rush or Uncharted: Golden Abyss from PS+ yet either.

I'm also interested in Wipeout 2048, Limbo, Walking Dead, Guacamelee and Retro City Rampage. If Vita lacked a decent amount of games at any point, now is not it.
SilentElk wrote:
Also picked up Motorstorm: RC as it's cross-buy with the PS3 version and only £7.29.
Did you not see this bundle deal?

I'm loving Stealth Inc. It's bastard hard, though. I was in the top ten fastest in the world one one of the later levels yesterday -- probably only because I've played quite a long way through it quite quickly, admittedly.

I think perhaps the $10-15 bracket on the Vita is the most interesting place in gaming right now.
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
SilentElk wrote:
Also picked up Motorstorm: RC as it's cross-buy with the PS3 version and only £7.29.
Did you not see this bundle deal?

Yes, but there was only two games I wanted on it, and 8GB is a paltry size for a memory card.
Quote:
I'm loving Stealth Inc. It's bastard hard, though. I was in the top ten fastest in the world one one of the later levels yesterday -- probably only because I've played quite a long way through it quite quickly, admittedly.

Yes, I've read it's quite hard. Harder than Hotline Miami, would you say?
Quote:
I think perhaps the $10-15 bracket on the Vita is the most interesting place in gaming right now.

Yes, I probably agree. Although stuff like Surgeon Simulator on the PC is also excellent.
Anyone here played Earth Defence Force on Vita yet? It's about £24, but I'm severely tempted to take the plunge.
Zio wrote:
Anyone here played Earth Defence Force on Vita yet? It's about £24, but I'm severely tempted to take the plunge.

It's way too expensive. They've missed the point with EDF. It's meant to be a low budget B-movie experience.
It is the price that's been putting me off so far.
Zio wrote:
It is the price that's been putting me off so far.

Plus I played the 360 version to death with itsallwater.
Zio wrote:
Anyone here played Earth Defence Force on Vita yet? It's about £24, but I'm severely tempted to take the plunge.

It's reputed to be excellent.
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
Zio wrote:
Anyone here played Earth Defence Force on Vita yet? It's about £24, but I'm severely tempted to take the plunge.

It's reputed to be excellent.


That price point is like some kind of magical force field erected around the glittering treasure of a game. I just don't know if that field can be penetrated in these days of PSN+.
SilentElk wrote:
Rayman Origins, Gravity Rush... Limbo ... Guacamelee


These are all fantastic, by the way. Guacamelee is a cross-buy with the PS3 version. Limbo's available on just about every platform there is now but it's still one of my favourite indie games of this gen.

I'm ploughing through Rayman Origins at the moment and it's just beautiful and lots of fun. Lord knows why it struggled to get much interest on the big consoles cause it's aces.
Late to the party but: I'm currently playing Stealth Bastard through on-and-off on my phone and thoroughly enjoying it. It's challenging in places but I don't think I would call it hard per se. I'm on about the seventh set of levels now and I've only had to look up part of the solution to two of the levels throughout all that. There are a few where, once you've worked out the solution, it takes a good few goes to implement but I've rarely felt frustrated by it and I've got a very low tolerance for things like Super Meat Boy and such stuff. It manages that most important of tricks where very rarely do you feel your failure is anything but your own fault which keeps it from feeling unfair.

I'm saying all this in terms of just finishing the levels mind, I've never bothered trying for high ranks on any of them or anything as working out the puzzles and getting through each level is satisfying enough for me. If going that extra mile is your bag then yeah, I expect it's hilariously difficult to get anything like a decent rating or to place highly on the scoreboards.

Also, bear in mind I'm experiencing it via a touch screen phone and the controls are excellent even on that so with proper buttons and a control pad I'd expect it to be even more fun/playable.
Going to try the Wake Up Club app tonight. It's just an alarm for the Vita really but if you leave it connected to the Internet it tracks your stats and rates you against other people waking up at the same time.

I've never known anything like it (I've checked the App Store and closest was an alarm challenge (which to be fair also looked quite good) but nothing that checked your waking up stats) so I'm giving it a whirl as I'm rubbish at getting up.
As am I, and this morning I also tried a new alarm that could only be silenced by scanning a bar code. I set it to be something in my bathroom, so I have to get out of bed.
The cross-buy Retro City Rampage is £3.99 at the moment.
This is interesting - you can pay a company a lot of money to have a USB port added to your Vita:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... =net-daily

Basically, this will let you stream the display of your Vita to your PC, where you can capture it.
Do you want to take place in the Killzone: Mercenary Beta Trial? Well you can't cause I hate you. Actually if you're a PS pluser you can! Now! So why not?
Saturnalian wrote:
Do you want to take place in the Killzone: Mercenary Beta Trial? Well you can't cause I hate you. Actually if you're a PS pluser you can! Now! So why not?

I've downloaded it but haven't played it yet.
Turns out it's a one-map multiplayer Beta. Quite why I thought a Beta would be a look at the campaign I've no idea, but I am a bit of a spaz. It's very nice looking and seems, to my untrained eyes, to be at least on par with KZ3 on the PS3. Maybe some of the effects are missing? I dunno. KZ2 & 3 were always a bit choppy online if you ask me anyway. And why'd you get speed-blur when you run? How fast are you going? The shooting alright though - pew pew and your dead like CoD, so you gotta find a hidy spot or creep around, but you still don't have much chance of running away from a fight. Twitch shooter, they call it these days? Well that's fine an' all but it's bloody hard with these Vita sticks but I don't even think it's the sticks; it's the bloody default settings cause you turn so slowly it's hard to get a bead on anyone.

Or maybe I'm just crap at it.

Maybe though the Killzone multiplayer is less fun than anyone whose played it would make out. I've always found it very average. You know when you shoot someone from miles away in CoD with the pistol and it registers a hit? The build quality is fabulous. I've never found that with KZ at all. The bloody sniper rifles were rubbish an' all. The best maps on KZ2 were from the DLC, which I bought by the way, both of them, but no fucker would ever play them. The maps should have had a forced rotation like CoD so I could play that cool one which takes place on two speeding trains alongside each other. Zaphod would have creamed his breeches over that. KZ3's multiplayer didn't iron out any of that either. I bet it'd be ace with Beezies though. Or not. I dunno.

So KZ beta on Vita I'm giving it a thumbs up cause I can shoot people online from the comfort of my bed, but that's it.
It looks gorgeous, but I am underwhelmed by the gameplay so far. To be fair I have no idea what the objectives are - I'm just shooting people.
Did you know:

1) if you go to Friends and click on the 3 dots in the bottom corner to Edit Profile, you can select a colourful panel for your face-hole? Y'know, CoD style. There's a fair few of them with all your favourite characters: there's Loco Roco, Super Monkey Ball, that Manga guy, Manga girl, Manga guy shouting at something, Manga guy pointing at something, Manga guy doing a karate chop, Manga guy laughing with his mouth wide open like some sort of loon ... a dragon. And so on.

2) Also I didn't realise you can go onto other peeps friends lists like Xbox. I've sent requests from that to Bamba, Zardoz and throughsilver by just pressing a button. Easy peasy. I'm not even sure you can do this on the PS3.
Saturnalian wrote:
2) Also I didn't realise you can go onto other peeps friends lists like Xbox. I've sent requests from that to Bamba, Zardoz and throughsilver by just pressing a button. Easy peasy. I'm not even sure you can do this on the PS3.

I didn't know this, ta.

Also, SPELUNKY! Let me know if anyone wants some co-op goodness at some point.
SilentElk wrote:
Saturnalian wrote:
2) Also I didn't realise you can go onto other peeps friends lists like Xbox. I've sent requests from that to Bamba, Zardoz and throughsilver by just pressing a button. Easy peasy. I'm not even sure you can do this on the PS3.

I didn't know this, ta.

Also, SPELUNKY! Let me know if anyone wants some co-op goodness at some point.

Is it not offline coop only like the Xbox?
Mr Dave wrote:
SilentElk wrote:
Saturnalian wrote:
2) Also I didn't realise you can go onto other peeps friends lists like Xbox. I've sent requests from that to Bamba, Zardoz and throughsilver by just pressing a button. Easy peasy. I'm not even sure you can do this on the PS3.

I didn't know this, ta.

Also, SPELUNKY! Let me know if anyone wants some co-op goodness at some point.

Is it not offline coop only like the Xbox?

That will make me sad if so.
Dave has made me sad.

http://www.co-optimus.com/game/3107/pla ... lunky.html

Quote:
Online Co-Op
Not Supported
Me too, but it does appear to be the case. If I'm wrong, let me know and I will be a buying it.
Saturnalian wrote:
2) Also I didn't realise you can go onto other peeps friends lists like Xbox. I've sent requests from that to Bamba, Zardoz and throughsilver by just pressing a button. Easy peasy. I'm not even sure you can do this on the PS3.

wtf
Oi, Myps, I've got to download an update before I can get on. If you're still on I'll join in.
Saturnalian wrote:
Oi, Myps, I've got to download an update before I can get on. If you're still on I'll join in.

I wasn't sorry. It wasn't letting me in any games anyway - I wonder if the Beta is restricted to certain times of the day.
SilentElk wrote:
Saturnalian wrote:
Oi, Myps, I've got to download an update before I can get on. If you're still on I'll join in.

I wasn't sorry.

You remorseless bastard.
I managed to get on the Beta last night and unlock a few weapons and junk. You can't seem to send an invite out in a public match (or at least I couldn't find a way) and I reckon a private match might just be friends only. Which'd be a bit shit.
I've just checked and Jak & Daxter was released on the Playstation 2. "2"! I mean, Christ, it's amazing when you look back and see the difference in, well, everything from the last gen to this gen.

That being said, it's still a nice platform game (I'd never played it before) and it's entertaining me enough. Daxter immediately starts off unlikeable but then 5 minutes later, and a change into fur, and he's the best thing about it. Great voice acting.
Saturnalian wrote:
I've just checked and Jak & Daxter was released on the Playstation 2. "2"! I mean, Christ, it's amazing when you look back and see the difference in, well, everything from the last gen to this gen.

That being said, it's still a nice platform game (I'd never played it before) and it's entertaining me enough. Daxter immediately starts off unlikeable but then 5 minutes later, and a change into fur, and he's the best thing about it. Great voice acting.

Jak and Daxter was rather fun, if now somewhat unmemorable.

Jak 2 was arse.
Saturnalian wrote:
I've just checked and Jak & Daxter was released on the Playstation 2. "2"! I mean, Christ, it's amazing when you look back and see the difference in, well, everything from the last gen to this gen.

Yeah, that Shadows of the Colossus was right out of the dark ages. ;)
Anyone who thought a nice retro platform game like Jak & Daxter might be a good laugh - don't be fooled. Your resolve will be tested and Spider Cave will crush your spirit. Awful, awful platform jumping frustration that'll make you want to die.
So, I'd dismissed this Urban Trials Freestyle game as a Trials HD rip-off, and for the most part it is. However, it's just as addictive, and for those who found the Extreme levels on Trials too difficult, there's nothing like this here.

A welcome difference in some levels is that you have to perform certain tricks in order to get enough points to five star the level. You also have to jig three parts of your bike around (engine, chassis, tyres) in order to get the best combo for the level.

I highly recommend it if you have Plus, as it's free right now. If not, I reckon it's still worth the £3.99 it costs.
Jak & Daxter: Clocked. Really enjoyed it up until Spider Cave (about just over 2/3rds through) when the jumps became tediously exactly affairs. Frankly, it gets very very difficult towards the end. Sometimes it's just hard cause the bloody camera makes it difficult to judge where you're standing, how far the jump us etc. I must have died a million times, still, I'd ended the game with 92/100 power orbs. You only need 72 orbs to get to the last level so you need not even go to the Spider Cave if you wanted to just finish it but those lacking patience will be mercilessly destroyed on the last level. I can't honestly see anyone of a flakey disposition wanting to play this through to the end but if you're the kind of person who regularly never finishes games you'll get a fair few hours pleasure from not finishing this.

I need 100 to get the good ending but there's no chance I'll get that box over the entrance to Spider Cave. Fuck. That.
Just had a quick go on Jak 2 and it turns out that Jak & Daxter was so sodding hard cause the jump button often doesn't recognise the second double jump button press. Jak 2 is fine. Hnnngh.

Jak 2 though, bizarrely, has some slow down. :shrug:
If you think Jalk 2 is easier...

8)

I like hard games, but that was too much.
I might start it to see whether I'm still interested in doing another at the moment but at least the double jump actually works. Did you ever complete Jak 2?
Saturnalian wrote:
I might start it to see whether I'm still interested in doing another at the moment but at least the double jump actually works. Did you ever complete Jak 2?

Hell no. I barely even got started before some mission that just annoyed me.
Sony have just announced an odd version of the Vita with no screen or controller designed to be plugged straight into a TV. The Japanese price converts to about £60 as the article notes so this would be a very cheap way to play Vita games and, as it does Remote Play, is certainly easier than carting your PS3/4 around the place with you. The other possible use case is as some kind of media player as I assume the Vita plays downloaded video files and it's got apps for stuff like Nextflix I think?
Oh, and a 'Vita Slim' redesign of the full console as well. Apparently it's got improved battery life and some amount of in-built storage so not just a cosmetic update.
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