Sony's Vita TV does what Apple TV has so far failed to

Sony's Vita TV adapter will allow gamers to play PS Vita and stream PS4 games to any television in their home.
In effect, Sony has beaten Apple to a critical phase in the development of tiny media boxes.
For some time now, Apple fans have expected Cupertino to announce the arrival of apps – and even some form of controller – to allow Apple TV to become a pseudo-gaming console.

[Qrphe]

Ironically, I'd only play any PS game but PS Vita games on this device, touch controls on this thing seem unbearable to pull off.

[US8F]

Mapping L3 and R3 for the front and back touch control could work. I rather they implement that on the dualshock controller than abandon the psVita games all together. To each his own I guess

[ginsunuva]

But now maybe devs who make vita games will use touch less. And ignore rear-touch altogether.

[PopRocks359]

Am I the only one who thinks mapping touch controls to L3/R3 is extremely impractical? What about the rear touch panel controls for games like Tearaway?

[mattkelly1991]

What about the ds4 touch pad for the ps vita touch pad?

[Eonjay]

Another brilliant move on the part of Sony. A $500 fantasy football box is not casual. A $99 dedicated game machine with built in Netflix, Hulu and the like not only appeals to the wider market, but also the the PlayStation fanbase looking to extend their PS4 into other rooms.
This is just another win for Sony and the consumer.

[nix]

okay... how i think they might handle the touch control until DS4 gets updated. DS3 still comes with extra tow shoulder buttons. so you press L2 and move the left stick around for front touch and R2 and right stick to simulate rear touch.

or simply R3 and L3.

[Kydawg]

They will figure that out, like they figured out everything else.

[Qrphe]

They surely didn't figure out PS3/Vita remote play, and it was more or less one line of code away. Don't expect most Vita devs to go back and rework their code to make this functionality work.

[Kydawg]

@Qrphe
Are you ok man? What's with people today? It seems like the dumb beetle has infected everyone. 1st- PS3/Vita remote play will be done through the PS4/Gaikai/VitaTV, along with PS1, PS2 and PS4 games. 2nd- Who cares they didn't think of this with the PS3, they thought of it now. 3rd- I expect every dev to make PS3 functionality work with Vita/Gaikai/Vita TV because it will make them a ton of cash. Don't know what your "one line of code" rambling nonsense is and I don't think you know either. It's called brains, grow some.

[Qrphe]

>Don't know what your "one line of code"...

Of course you wouldn't, you need to do your homework.

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Huh?

[Soldierone]

Not really, vita's touch controls are normally just the touchscreens making up for lack of buttons. Rear screen is often times the shoulder buttons, and thefront screen is the analog.

Other features for the touch screen are just "bonus" things that can be turned off in settings of the games.

Very few games like Little Deviants actually require full fledged touch and motion controls.

[miyamoto]

PS vita TV is sold out at Amazon JP!

1GB storage is built-in to the system, and it can output in 480p, 720p and 1080i.
&
Gaikai

Seals the deal for me.

it is small enough to be portable.

[rainslacker]

Even so, less than 10% of Vita games, if that, absolutely require touch controls. They're usually just added on after the fact, such as in Rayman Origins. I'd expect in the future that devs will map controls to make it functional, and that the less than 10% will stay the same. There will be the few oddball titles that won't work, but that doesn't mean the other 90%+ are going to disappear.

[demonddel]

wow everything Sony does is revolutionary but I guess im the minority here but couldn't they have done this on the ps3 or ps4 without having too buy a new device im just saying not hating

[Kydawg]

Hello? Anyone home up there? No, how are you going to stream games, ect. to another TV ect. without a device on that TV? Think before you speak.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Yea, he's wrong. Just try to be a little less condescending next time.

[Raccoon]

This is not a debate as youre correct about needing psvita tv to stream ps4 content to other displays...

smart tv's which are capapable of installing 3rd party apps and services like netflix, hulu, youtube ect. Likely gaikai in the near future... With features like those its safe to say streaming content to my tv or display device free is the imminent future.

I love gaming on the big screen to the psvita tv will replace my ps vita as my ps4 outdoor streamer....

[Mystogan]

I'm not sure how this is revolutionary.

This is what every android console is trying to do. Only this one has Playstation games instead of Android games.

[rainslacker]

"Only this one has Playstation games instead of Android games."

and that makes it infinitely more desirable.

Now imagine if Sony happens to start implementing that patent to add trophy support into older games without having to modify the original code.

[UltimateMaster]

Is the PS3 really as slim as that Vita TV?

It's meant for easy travel to a friend.

[tiffac008]

Not that slim. The PS3 still has the optical drive and built in storage(or space for it) after all but if you mean to travel with the newer slim models, then you shouldn't have any problems.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

There's no Vita game port on PS3, it can't stream PS4 content, and as many people keep overlooking, even with it in the headline of this very article itself, the device is easily marketable in the same marketplace with Apple TV. People who don't even own a PS3 can buy this cheap media device and stream actual PlayStation content, not smartphone games.

[jgrigs09]

Apple hasn't ever considered adding gaming to their company. They could back in 2010, when they were about to buy out Sony. Now I applaud Sony for making this Vita TV, I just think it will have major issues like the Kinect did. If Apple does ever consider adding gaming apps to the Apple TV, it will probably be until they release a new one. They did announce, their won't be anything about the Apple TV at their conference tomorrow. So maybe next Apple TV they'll have some Apps. Other then that, I could careless.

[TheLyonKing]

Finally no more hauling consoles around the house.
Been waiting for this ever since ps1 which is currently in the spare room, my ps2 downstairs and the ps3 in me and my girlfriends room!

Hope uk gets a release date soon! Would be great to have the ps4 as the living room entertainment box and then play the games anywhere. Great move by Sony!

[Evil_Ryu]

sounds like a device for a very niche market...perhaps if the psp grows in numbers i can see it being more populer until then this is a gamble.