CNET: Playing With PS Vita Till We Sweat

Cnet: The Vita looks to be a slick and impressive portable gaming system, but the lack of an included memory card prevents it from playing games out of the box.

[BiggsnWedge]

Didn't CNET have a story yesterday that Sony won't even ship PSV out to North America cause it will fail or something?

[GribbleGrunger]

@Chrisw. then how do you account for the huge sales of the 3Ds? are you saying that it's just a coincidence that it's Christmas over there too?

[ChrisW]

I don't actually understand your question. Nor as to how you got so many 'Agrees' for a somewhat incomprehensible question concerning why the 3DS sold so well. And to be honest, I don't know why, either. But maybe, just maybe, because it's more popular? I don't know.

Anywayzzz.... I'll try to clarify what I posted prior.

What I was saying is that Christmas has no impact on console and game sales in Japan. First and foremost, Japan only has about a 1% Christian population base. So obviously they don't celebrate Christmas like western countries do. Secondly, and you can look this up yourself, the only thing Japanese really buy is 'Christmas Cake'. It's an overpriced $30 - $40 dollar layer-cake for about 3 or 4 people. There are also stockings for children, but they are only filled with simple toys and candy. However once again, I will reiterate, Christmas in Japan has no impact on console and game sales. It's the "Year-End-Bonuses" that salary workers get. And it is normally 2 to 2&1/2 months worth of pay. I received mine on December 22nd. (The 22nd of each month is my normal pay day.)

Now... looking at the 11 or so "Disagrees" I got for posting simple non-bias facts, I'm damn happy this is my last bubble to post my opinion on this. Quite annoying, if you ask me!

[GribbleGrunger]

Chrisw, you appear to have done it again. i find it really odd. the reason the 3Ds has sold so well this Christmas in Japan is because consoles always sell more at Christmas. that shows quite clearly that, regardless of what you have read, they DO buy products for gifts just like everywhere else. it doesn't matter why, it happens. unless, like i said, you think it's just a coincidence. how can you persist with that notion when the proof is there to read and has been there to read every single Christmas since consoles existed

[SephirothX21]

@ChrisW
You're making too much sense for this site. Go elsewhere. This is a Sony fanboy site where users will deny any negativity aimed towards Sony or any of their products. I love the PS3 and I'm personally interested in the Vita but from the sales it is clear that more people are interested in the 3DS atm.

[kikizoo]

@amnesia boyz, do you remember how much the 3Ds sold in first weeks ? 3Ds was doooomed, and now, cheaper, with enough marketing, it sell, and vita, ebing by far the best one in his category, will sell, like psp, like ps3 (who sold better than competition each years, despite the "ps3 is doomed" propaganda), vita has very long legs.

[DivineHand125]

There was no such story. It was a 30 minute video with their year end predictions for 2012. In the video they spook about allot of things such as where they think social networking is going, what will netflix and amazon do, future ipad etc.

In that video they dedicated about 30 seconds to gaming and predicted that 2012 will be the year where we will see that the traditional handheld gaming market will show clear signs of shrinking and one of them made a joke about the psv might not even be released in NA because the market for that product have moved on to something else. The fanboys ofcourse saw this and blew it out proportion.

[cjflora]

Aren't these guys journalists though? What if your 5 0'clock news anchor just laughed and said "Terrorists will probably blow up New York in the next 3 months."

[DivineHand125]

Your confusing the gravity of the situation and that makes your analogy invalid. There is no way joking about the psv not being released in NA the same as joking about a terrorist attack happening in new york on 5 0'clock news.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

@DivineHand

No nothing that grave...but it is like what everyone decries HipHopGamer for. I thought it was quite lame when I read the title. Podcast was cool though.

[SilentNegotiator]

No one is going to watch a 30 minute video to see what those moron's opinions are on the latest playstation system. Not when they've repeatedly made FUD and articles like "Buy this $1000 laptop instead of the recently price dropped ps3!!". When they write articles that insane, it's fair enough that someone make an assumption about Cnet other than watch one of their long, boring videos.

[Legion]

No. That story has now been disapproved due to the poster sensationalizing a portion of the story that did not actually occur.

[The guy said that 2012 would see the handheld gaming going on its way out. Also, he commented that the Vita is out overseas and that it would release in Feb 2012 in US. The girl said "it probably won't even..." and got cut off when he says it probably will but people will realize it's not worth it. So the actual prediction that Vita will not launch in North America was never made.]

It was mentioned during the previous video that the device is 2 years too late and that interest has already waned on it.

We will just have to see how the US launch goes. Japan appears to have lost interest already.

[smashcrashbash]

@ blaaah . They sold almost every VITA they initially shipped. They haven't even had a chance to ship more and people are already with the doom articles. How is selling most of what you shipped disappointing? Disappointing to who?

Before they got better games later on the PSP was beating the 3DS in Japan. I didn't hear anyone using the word disappointing then. What happened to the same 'give it a chance' attitude everyone had with the 3DS? What, that doesn't apply to Sony's stuff or something?

[MaideninBlack]

It's from Sony. Everyone would rather see Sony fail at everything they do thus comes the doom and gloom comments and articles. It's been like this since the PS3 and the American "gaming media" have been the biggest culprits to the practice.

[chadwarden]

The question is why? Why, since the emergence of apple and samsung has the media grown this negative attitude against sony? The only one that knows that answer is apple...since that's what the media has been telling me. /s

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

I've learned that most game writers are English majors and not industry vets, they dream up reasons for Sony to fail. So I'm still getting mine...maybe my fifth PSP along with it. I didn't expect Vita to topple the 3DS, besides timid launch sales isn't always seen as an instant failure by Sony, and wisely so. Hopefully we will see a price drop before holiday 2012, and Vita can build off what PSP has accomplished.

[insomnium2]

Silly you. PS3 and PSV doesn't get the "give it time" attitude since they are Sony.

Seriously if I think about this it might have something to do with bitter xbox and dreamcast fanboys and the way PS2 destroyed them.

I wasn't on the internets back then but I as sure as hell would've defended any good console from biased and baseless bashing back then. I heard that the console war was pretty bad back then and xbox and dc got run over by the colossal success of ps2. I'm pretty sure that PS3 looks like a pretty sweet target in the eyes of those bitter fanboys who got run over back then.

Now Sony doesn't get ANY breaks from the media at all untill they are destroyed I assume. People seem to be very hungry for blood when it comes to Sony consoles so this is the only logical explanation I can come up with.

I've been wondering this for years now and it still goes on it seems. It's bound to get much worse as we get closer to next gen. There will be blood and I already know what color that blood will be. I dare you world, surprize me on this one.

[axisofweevils]

I hate to say it, but everyone was calling the 3DS launch a failure.

Nobody was saying "give it a chance".

[Studio-YaMi]

Not as much as any sony console or handheld

[SweatyFlorida]

@Blaaah clearly a troll that doesn't know crap about anything. The Vita sold somewhere of 320k in it's first two days, passing the first two days the PsP initially sold when that came out years ago. 3DS sold a whopping 370k in it's first two days, only about 50k more, and that was released in a time period where there was barely any games to buy or compete with.

[MasterCornholio]

I refuse to click on this article because the other day CNET claimed that Sony would cancel their plans to bring the Vita to the USA. After that they lost all credibility.

[chadwarden]

They made that "claim" as more of a joke than an actual statement since they seem to think portable gaming consoles are dead. They think that iphones and android phones are taking over. On that claim they have lost credibility.

[ChrisW]

Chad,

Exactly. I also think that many people didn't even listen to the podcast. The whole conversation prior to and after was about portables quickly loosing their market share to smartphones.

[chadwarden]

@ChrisW

Yea I'm sure most of the people here just read the title and went into uber fanboy mode. Most of their predictions were just for fun and off the wall and not what they truly believe. Ex. Web OS making a comeback. Everyone and their great grandma knows that's not going to happen.

[Kurisu]

I listened to the podcast myself last night, and they didn't actually say "It won't release". The guys were like "It releases in February" then the woman said "it probably won't, even". Then the guys was like "..no it will". The wording of the N4G topic title blew it out of proportion, really.

[ChrisW]

Well said Kurisu!

N4G = NAG

The place where gamers come to nag about things they know little of!

[MasterCornholio]

I didn't listen to a pod cast but I read an article on it. So they could have changed the info quite a bit.

XperiaRay

[HelghastDrake]

The PS what? Psssh, sorry guys. I will be too busy playing Angry Birds and Doodle jump on my iPhone. What true gamer would want Resistance 3 and COD on the go that looks and plays like the PS3 version AND has online multiplayer. Screw that, true hardocore gamers like me play doodle jump on the iPhone biatchess!

[Spenok]

Dont forget Words With Friends!!!

[NeloAnjelo]

CNET... they sound excited in the video, and impressed, yet they continue with the DOOM articles.

Japan doesn't celebrate Xmas, the PSP wasn't far off these sales, the 3DS had a slow start, UC is a western game... these facts make sense yet? Give it time. Its early to make judgements on the systems success. I wish articles would state this more clearly as they only stir up doubt.

[Kurisu]

Yea the only real gripe they have in this video review is the fact that you are *required* to purchase a seperate memory card to run many of the applications and some games. That is not on, really, but what can we do about it? Vita is still my most anticipated hardware release ever and nothing is going to change that :) roll on 22nd February.

[NeloAnjelo]

I agree that the cards are expensive. But Sony is a business. People seem to forget that a cheap yet functional smartphone is about £300. With all the Vita offers its a bargain.

I won't be downloading games which I can get on physical media, since I like having a collection to display. I will definitely use it for movies and TV shows when travelling though. Just like I did with the previous PSP.

Looking forward to this I have already pre-ordered.

[moparful99]

Sony uses proprietary media so as to save on costs(dont have to purchase third party) and mostly to cut down on piracy... But of course they get castrated because of this... If sony decided to use a simple sd card for their games then piracy would be a HUGE issue and they would be ripped apart for that... Nothing sony does is ever good enough for the media...

[DivineHand125]

This was posted on 21/12/2011.

[GraveLord]

CNET is extremely misinformed.

" but the lack of an included memory card prevents it from playing games out of the box."

SOME games, CNET, SOME games.

[PimpDaddy]

Should be NO games Gravelord. Not SOME games. NO games. Do you guys ever get tired of blindly defending Sony??? I'm buying a Vita at launch because it's games appeal to me but I am not happy about it not having any internal memory and having to buy a memory card in order to have all the functions and play all the games I want to.

Keep it real. He made a legitimate complaint.

[willie32]

I too have pre-ordered the vita and irritated about the memory card issue. Sony should have at least included a 2GB card in the box for everyone.

[Hicken]

Not one game, PimpDaddy? Cuz I'm certain that there ARE games you can play out of the box.

[cjflora]

Doesn't the PSP require a memory card for game saves?

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

A 512MB came with the PSP, though. They should give you a 16GB at the very least.

[cjflora]

My PSP came with a 32MB card.

[Game3s]

This article was already posted on n4g 2 weeks ago why is it approved again, i starting to wonder if this is about the year end prediction on cnet yesterday about the Vita flopping and some fan of the vita trying to get this article approved so that they can try to contradict what was said about the Vita in the year end prediction, you do know that that prediction was made after the sales of the Vita was released the guy 2 weeks ago would not know about the sales.

Is two different opinions by two people so stop trying to start some fanboy war against Cnet.

[Chaostar]

Hi there, I submitted the video, I don't remember seeing it on here; could you post a link please?

While I'm looking forward to Vita's UK launch I wouldn't call myself a fan yet as I've only had about an hour with it at Eurogamer Expo. My motive for submission was not sinister I assure you.

[Game3s]

Yes it was submitted already because i already saw this, just a different title though i can't bother to go search through PSV articles to go find the link so you do it.

It wasn't sinister you say, but the time that you decided to post this (an article already posted but different title) article could not have been a better time than to defame Cnet for yesterdays PSV doomed video wouldn't you think?

So forgive me if a may draw to some conclusions but the evidence is hard to over look.

[Chaostar]

Well no matter how you dress it up your baseless accusation is both ridiculous and offensive.

The title of the article is from ( http://www.cnet.com/ ) the CNET homepage and I doubt the same story would be present at the top of the page for 2 whole weeks. Perhaps you seen a similar article posted 2 weeks from a different source?

Whatever the case making paranoid assumptions and accusing me of lying is incredibly immature.

edit: If anyone else has the link to the posted video please pm me so I can take this down if necessary, thanks.

[Colonel_Dante]

CNET? but wait, dont they suck? oh yeah, they do. and I still dont care about their opinion. Especially after that other Vita article of theres.

[Ulf]

Most Vita games allow saving games to a reserved area on the game cards themselves, so you don't actually need a memory card at all.

GameStop happens to require games to include a "delete savegame" feature for savegames on the card, or they won't stock the game. They need this feature to sell used games like they were "as good as new". Oh the irony.

CNET... clueless as usual.

[Clarence]

How did they get 1? Cnet said that NA wouldn't be getting it. They are full of $h!t!

[fullmetal297]

Because Cnet imported one from Japan like every American who owns one... Did you even bother watching the entire video?

[Clarence]

Ah... that was a joke and no I didn't bother watching the video. Like I said Cnet is full of $h!t.

[xflo360]

Buy a memory card then you cheapskate!!!

[Half-Mafia]

Exactly how can someone afford a £230-£280 product + a few games and cant aleast afford a £15 4gb card. Yet again the US media finding the littlest thing and making it seem like the biggest problem the world has ever seen. It also happened with the iPhone 4 antenna, the media had a field day on that story, but i could hold my iPhone 4 in that spot. The bars would go down but i would never lose signal or drop a call. Maybe the UK have stronger networks compared to AT&T.

[xflo360]

What I don't get is this guy is in the media yet didn't know he would need a memory card? Yeah right!
Me and you aren't even in the games media yet we know that a memory card is needed!
This is just their way of trying to make the vita look bad!
The other thing is why didn't he get a memory card and then start the review because he just picked holes in the vita but all the "problems" linked back to the memory card!

[THC CELL]

I no gamers today.are really reAlly starting to.bring gaming down, when I got a 4 gig Xbox slim I.had.to.run out and buy a hard drive to.play.halo reach on coop. When my PS2 and 1 did not have a hard drive I payed for many memory cards. When my Xbox pad did not have batterys I still run and paid for em till I got a play.a charge.kit... Gamers really.need to just go with.the flow cause deep down I will miss out on some great games . Like some fanboys on this site who really hate Sony its your loss at the end of the.day. Missing out and counting sale. Are u really gamers no u are nit picking idiots and u should not game at all u should just go dye your hair blue and sit in a old folks home moaning at people passing.by. 2012. People really should stop thid sales crap. As for next gen companys should stop wasting money on.developers they shuld say.guys u wont get pAId till your games are working . Yes guys moan at developers we really should reqest patch free games from now on unless its minor change. I have never needed a patch for my PS2 games so why now PS3 and Xbox games.. Because developerd thinks realse it it can be patchef later...

[fullmetal297]

Having a handful of games requiring a memory card forces consumers to buy Sony's overly expensive proprietorial memory cards. This has been my biggest problem with the PS Vita since Day one. Why couldn't Sony reserve a small space in the game cartridges or make the PS Vita compatible with standard memory units like Micro SD? These easy and cheap solutions to fix this memory issue, but Sony wants to make extra money with their memory card format and they have tried this same stunt with the PSP and Memory Stick Duo.

[DragonKnight]

Your answer is piracy. Piracy is why these "solutions" exist. Prime targets for hacking the PSP were the memory cards and the battery. You don't like this part of the Vita? Then go to the hacker sites and thank them for bringing this about. Pretty simple.

[fullmetal297]

Firstly, the PSP was still hacked despite using Memory Stick Duo which is one of Sony's line proprietorial memory cards. And doesn't matter what kind memory storage is used because the reason why psp was easily hackable was because f the official 1.0 firmware. Sony neglected to have any preventive measures to run unsigned codes, so anyone could easily make a program and run it without a sweat. This decision to use their own memory card format and charge a high price is pure greed and you must naive to think Sony did it to stop hackers.

[DragonKnight]

I guess you never heard of the Pandora hack or the multitudes of memory card hacks in addition to the firmware hacks then huh? I'm the naive one because I know of this stuff eh? There's not denying Sony is trying to make money, there's also no denying that hackers are the biggest problem the PSP faced and Sony DOESN'T want to face that problem again. Given that they have had tremendous success with the PS3 against hackers (note: don't bother bringing up PSN because I said PS3), it's not a stretch to say that they'll do anything they can to prevent hacking attempts with the Vita.

And guess who has to pay because of hackers? The consumers. It's fanboyish of you to post more anti-Sony crap to add to the landfill loads that already exists this gen. You don't like what Sony's doing, then don't buy it. But if you can't accept the reasons behind it, then just keep quiet unless you like looking like a fanboy troll.

[fullmetal297]

I am aware of the Pandora hack and how it works. In fact, I have done it to a number of friends' PSPs by request. The hacks works by the PSP into service mode. I won't go into details on how it works but it involves modifying the battery via software then formatting and adding the downgrading program along with the original 1.5 official firmware. Sony was already using this same method to repair bricked PSP and it was cheaper way to unbrick a psp than replacing the motherboard.

Again it wouldn't matter what kind of memory format Sony uses, as long as Windows detects the psp and amount storage it holds. You should know that anything can be hacked. It is just a matter of time before someone figures it out. Sony choice to use their own memory card format wasn't to prevent hacking attempts, it was a greedy decision made by Sony. To make this BS excuse to defend this obvious ploy makes you look a Sony fanboy and should open your eyes and maybe complain about this.

[DragonKnight]

Congratulations for being a part of the problem and for revealing exactly why you're complaining. You performed these hacks so you have nothing to b*tch about. You're probably one of those people that supported Geohot, probably one of those people with illegal custom firmware on your PS3, and probably one of those people who blamed Sony and supported hackers during the Geohot suit and the PSN hack. You're the reason for the irremovable battery and the expensive memory cards.

Anything can be hacked, but no smart company is going to sit there and risk another PSP by just laying down and letting it happen. Sony has their own bottom line, and the revenue developers make to protect here. Only people who are a part of the problem would b*tch so much about it. Not saying that the cards aren't expensive, but for those who really want the Vita, it's a non-issue. Why would I complain about something that's not a problem? For one, the memory cards aren't necessary for most games. If I want to watch a movie or listen to music on my Vita, then I don't have a problem paying for a memory card to do so since I had to do so with the PSP. But if I want to play games, I can play most without needing to buy a memory card. So congrats for being the cause, shut up about the effect of your actions. Consequences will hit any hacker one day.

[PixL]

I got a quote from wiki about CNET:
"CNET got in trouble[clarification needed] in 2007 after it was revealed by former Gamespot editors that CNET corporate staff had directed the firing of a Gamespot editor. Furthermore, CNET was involved in altering the strict editorial policies that Gamespot and CNET reviewing staff once had. Indeed, CNET was considered complicit in its support of products regardless of their quality."

And more:
"Some software applications freely downloadable from the internet are also offered for download by CNET. Some of these "CNET versions" are actually wrapped inside other applications that install other pieces of software, for which the user has to specifically opt out, and the opt-out option is not clearly or immediately visible."

Credibility? Laugh.

[Donnywho]

Playing Ps Vita til we stop sweating is more like it. Bunch of douches.

[Legion]

Another video post approved before they fix the issues with the title. You are not allowed to create your own sensationalized title for a video when an appropriate title is already available from source. "CNET: Playing With PS Vita Till We Sweat" has nothing to do with the actual title given at the source.

[Legion]

Just saw another link to the front page which does use that title. just the source linked does not have it as the title.

[ilovemyps3]

The same happened with ps3.
When it was released, us media had a boner while announcing the ps3 was going t fail.
For them,everything was wrong with that damn console.blu ray,price,everything.
Even the smallest thing looked like the end of the planet earth.

Since 2006, thousands of reviews came out,excellent games kept getting bad scores,2 games released on both consoles, 100% similar,the ps3 version would always get a lower score.don't tell me about conspiracy,this still happens today,specially with exclusive ps3 games, sometimes I feel like laughing,because the reviewer is embarrassed,everything is so good in the game,he doesn't know what to invent,to lower the overall score,so you see him picking micro faults in the game,and tries to transform them into an horrible flaw/bug,that ruined his life.
Since media couldn't make people stop buying the ps3,they had to get something else,to destroy the brand. By making shitty reviews.and it became the main battle.

For example,a resistance 3 released exclusively for Xbox,would get scores like gears,halo,etc: 9 and 10's.
The same game released on the ps3,will get many 7's and 8's.
A killzone 3 on Xbox would get 10's, like gears.because its on the ps3,reviewers don't look,analize and judge the 1000 incredible things that the game does,they only care about the 5 or 10 minor things,so they can justify the 7/10.

The us media do whatever they can,so the ps3 and Sony doesn't triumph in usa,by
- criticizing Sony brand,ps3,psp,and now vita.
- always making the ps3 games look bad,with negative reviews and low scores
- always making the xbox games look phenomenal,even if the game deserves a 7
- giving excelent reviews and telling people the xbox is perfect and everybody should pick one,when the console was flawed,and would always stop working ,with a rrod. In 6 years,I almost never read a US website criticizing the console or saying "dont buy this shit,its flawed,Microsoft knows it,just wait until they release a working version,but don't buy the console right now,because it will rrod in a moment,instead,buy a ps3,they're solid and reliable". By doing this,and by not telling people to not buy the xbox,all these websites lied to gamers,only to make the "national brand" succeed.

Hate hate and more hate. It's all US media can spit,about Sony.

Xbox gamers are so "educated" now,they will blindly buy the next xbox,even if its flawed again.I don't hope so,because I want to pick one,too.

I love the Sony brand, but they do the same in Japan,they only buy Asian stuff,and don't care if it comes from america.after the nuclear bomb,they still hate america,deep inside...

Europe is lucky,afterall.they don't have to buy a national brand,they can pick all the consoles and games they want.

I hope next xbox will be great,so it sells great worldwide,even in Japan. and I hope usa people will stop the hate, and will buy the ps4.the more they sell consoles and games,the more studios will bring us excellent games to play.afterall,all we want is good games.and a lot of them.

So people,in 2012,let's stop a bit all this hate and fanboism shit, and let's prepare ourselves to welcome the ps4 and x720,in not that long. and let's not forget Wii u too.

Peace,and happy New year