Brad from The Vita Lounge loves his PSTV. He looks at some of the glaringly obvious mistakes that have been made with a system that could have been something special.
The Twitch app has arrived on the PlayStation store for both the PS Vita and the PlayStation TV, due to hardware restrictions you will be unable to broadcast from the device however the app enables Vita and PlayStation TV owners to watch streams without having to use the browser. The app itself is 16.7MB and requires a Vita Memory card
If you’ve been holding off on buying a PlayStation TV but were planning on picking one up eventually, you better get moving.
If I could play EVERY PS 1/2 game along with PSP and Vita games I would have bought one.
If only they put an A/V out cable on the PS Vita like they did with PSP.............. instant micro console for my 46" HD TV. Save Sony multi millions of dollars.
I told Shuhei Yoshida that was the way to go but they wouldn't listen.
It can play most and it is cheap. I hear you but it's a sweet deal, it gets hate for not being perfect which is unfair.
Because no one was really buying it. They even cut the price in 1/2 and PSTV's were just collecting dust on retail shelves from what I've heard. I wonder what they will do with all that overstock in their inventory? Well the Atari 2600 ET games have been all dugged up, so they can now bury this waste of hardware in it's spot. Oh well. Glad I didn't waste money on it.
Too much hardware on the market. Sony needs to avoid Sega's mistake back in the 90s.
If Sony intends to compete with a focus,trimming out unprofitable hardware and features is quite efficient.
Plus casuals wouldn't understand what this is. this is more geared towards core gamers who wish to play older games, but it doesn't contain all the games they wish to play.
Sony really dropped the ball on this one. It couldn't even do Netflix and they killed the YouTube app.
Got one on day 1 and I've only used it a handful of times. Freedom Wars is what's keeping it from collecting dust recently.
Not to mention I can't get mine to stream the ps4 well in a room 20feet away......I bought one so my kids could play the ps4 in the other room, but it doesn't stream well
Push Square: "When the PlayStation TV was announced, this author was on holiday. It was poor editorial director Damien McFerran that was left to man the fort during an explosive Tokyo Game Show press conference, which also played host to the reveal of the PlayStation Vita Slim. It was big, big news at the time, with the microconsole in particular drawing plenty of plaudits."
This is the problem with Sony Playstation, fingers in too many pies. Just focus on games and supporting the platform you already have out there. They are letting the PSVita die a slow and painful death, and instead of investing in it, went to come up with PlaystationTV? Surprise, surprise! Sony didn't support that either!
When will they learn that gamers just want to play good games?
I agree that sometimes it feels like they're spinning too many plates. I do think this was an experiment, though, so you can't really blame them.
wtf are you talking about? The Playstation TV was a console version of the vita. It didn't need its own support when it just played vita games. I'm not a handheld sort of gamer so its release was a welcome edition to me. A mini hmdi out port on the vita would've been nice but the PS TV was a cheaper option. It gave me the opportunity to play some of those monster hunter-like games that the vita was getting that weren't showing up on the PS3 or PS4.
Seems like you have no idea what the system even was
I don't think that's the problem at all. I see it twofold. One being necessity and the other being confusion. Necessity in that who needs it for Remote Play, to play Vita games on their tv, and so on. Confusion being exactly that. What is it? What does it do? And so on. Guess there could be some other issues. Price. Marketing. Price wasn't terrible but back to necessity. Do I really to spend that much for this and is it really useful to me. Lack of marketing. I bet a vast majority have no idea this product is available and if you were to ask gamers what PSTV was they'd think it's some video service offered by PS they never heard of.
I think it's a great concept. Back when I was a kid this would have been fantastic. With the price drops I have considered picking one up for $40-50. My problem is I really have no use for one. I don't have a spare tv anymore and even when I did I never really had any desire to game on it. I have my setup. Secondly most Vita games I enjoy playing on the Vita. Though some it would be cool to play on the big screen so I might have just talked myself into buying one.
They brought out PSTV before they abandoned the Vita. The PSTV by it's very nature could have bolstered the Vita install base, thus making it get more support.
While I agree, Sony did fumble support for VIta in general in the West, it wasn't because they happen to bring out a different version of the Vita...which only expanded the market base for the system.
Well many reasons, a hefty chunk of vita games are incompatible, memory cards are still pricey as hell, doesn't come with a controller which is required, doesn't stream netflix even thou standard vita does, and most of all people really aren't that interested in playing handheld visuals on a big screen. Especially now that every vita game is also getting a ps4 release, sony is really just slowly but steadily turning the knife they stabbed it withat this point
It was a great idea, just executed very poorly. Hardly any exposure and not enough support.
Just another peripheral in a long list from Sony that has been unsupported and eventually dropped. This is why people should be cautious about PSVR.
it was a solution for a problem that didn't really exist. if you own a ps4 (or a sony smart tv), you already have the best features of the pstv anyway. if you own a vita, then you have vita games, and they can be streamed via ps4. as a media streamer, it was a joke and could in no realistic way compete with Roku, Apple, Google, Amazon etc.
as for psvr - i really hope it succeeds, but you're right. a product needs a reason to exist and people need a reason to want it. same thing kinda happened with kinect as well.
Vita games can be streamed via PS4?
PS4 games can be streamed to Vita through remote play but I've never heard it the other way round.
it also didn't help that not all vita games were compatible. I bought one thinking I would just play my vita titles on my TV, but I honestly haven't used it at all - it's my own fault for not really researching it thoroughly enough!
I think it's execution was fine, just it didn't get much exposure in terms of marketing. I mean, even when the price dropped to a point only a hater could argue it wasn't worth it, the thing barely sold.
I think some people found it redundant. Some found it less capable than the handheld.
Mostly though, I think Sony had a great idea, and then didn't bother to make it into a better device as time went by. All their efforts went to PS4, and new compelling features...although probably redundant on a game console, never made their way to the device to entice the more mainstream casual customer to choose it over something like Roku or AmazonTV. Rather silly really, as much of the success of the PS1 and PS2 was due to how they made it more appealing than other devices which did the same thing...except the PS1 and PS2 could also play games.
Its very simple, when very few bought the system like the PSVita in the west Sony already set a 2nd tier option for development resource's moving forward, and its about "streaming" if you have not caught on yet, its kinda understandable, because the resource shift was if the PSVita platform did not work out, which in theory in the majority of the market aside from areas in Asia has shown reluctance to purchase said platform, so Sony in effect has already shifted to where the market is going anyway in the west in mobile.
Through Android, and iOS for which to vector in playstation streaming tech.
How do we know that's the 2nd tier , well because that's where they are shifting the resource's towards.
Example:
Sit back and relax
Android TV is coming to televisions, media players, and gaming consoles from the following manufacturers
Type Android.com in your browser
On the site.. Here is the opening.
Powering screens of all sizes
Android is the customizable, easy to use operating system that powers more than a billion devices across the globe — from phones and tablets to watches, TV, cars and more to come.
Now what has to do, with the Sony failure with the PSVita and Playstation TV as a platform? Remember its mainly about gaming right? Playstation 1st priority is Gaming. As a platform all PlayStation's are game consoles 1st.
So some may ask why is Sony stripping out functionality or has not included the functionality when its evident people would want those functionalities included. Well for one the IP may in effect not belong to Sony , like YouTube for instance so Google ends up with the choices or not to support, that means the cost would have to be paid, not just for development but continued support for such a device. Anyway to further go into such would be kinda pointless be cause its really a cost vs ROI and its more than a lost leader for Sony to do such. So that leaves just Remote play as is main functionality for Sony for the PSVita platform moving forward, but in prospective investments forward its this most cost effective and largest ROI in return for going forward for Sony.
1. Gaikai+OnLive remember Sony now owns both technology platforms for streaming tech.
2./Sony purchased all of Sony Ericsson stock. Renamed it Sony Mobile.
3. Playstation service apps are as follows:
PSN has: playstation Now, Playstation Vue, Remote Play.
What do all have in common?
Question: what main chipsets do those applications run on?
Intel?
And?
ARM holding's?
Nvidia?
ARM Holdings is the number one chipsets that the playstation network services outside of game console's. That they are made for with good reason.
Let's go back to Android.com
Powering screens of all sizes
Android is the customizable, easy to use operating system that powers more than a billion devices across the globe — from phones and tablets to watches, TV, cars and more to come.
Think about that over a billion device's+ moving forward that can have Playstation Now, Playstation Vue and remote play moving forward..and playstation Vita and its Playstation TV sibling as a platform is only just one device. Among the Billion's that many in the west just really did not adopt, but Android on the other hand is well adopted.
2nd part.
Arm Holding's chipsets is the Number one processor in Mobile devices, from Tablets to Phone's to now even sofar going into TV's themselves and of course top set box's built for streaming or small HDMI dongle's to put onto a TV to turn the TV into a smart TV.
They all have networking direct connection in many ways to not just the network but with the TV itself or the TV itself has such built right inside.
Example:
If you click the Android.com website under Android TV this is what one of the main things you see.
Introducing a smarter TV
Blockbuster movies and live sports. Streaming apps and multiplayer games. Android TV delivers a world of content, apps and games to your living room
http://www.android.com/tv/
Now you may ask , But Sony makes Playstation why is Sony investing into Android and not Playstation? Because clearly they stopped supporting The Vita as a platform, well think about that, have they really? With streaming not just over the internet, but local offline for in-house networking from a Say a PS4 to other device's such as Smartphones, TV, Tablets does the PSVita as a platform ; is it also included into that streaming functionalities? Not PlayStation Vue, you could say that would be correct because why not Playstation Vue also, because Sony has the PS3 and PS4 already for that function 1st. Sony is clearly targeting the Vita as a platform for Extending Playstation 4 to other rooms in the west as its main functionality due to , if you can extend the PS4 games to any other room via a PSVita or PlayStation TV or smartphone , Tablet or smart TV there is little incentive for developers to make a single dedicated exclusive to the PSVita aside from cross platform, because the PS4 streamed games serve that purpose in the west market. Sadly that's just the most cost effective means for ROI for the platform in the west centric markets.
Sony is instead of trying to put yet another box under every TV, they are targeting to put Playstation software and services to tie to your TV, Phone and Tablets.
Of course Mainly Sony's 1st.
But already iOS and Android devices are being supported.
Part 3
Now some may say that what I stated is just deflecting from the issue that Sony dropped the ball on the PSVita & the playstation TV, and why should anyone trust Sony when it comes to support for their mobile handhelds again?
The reluctances for not supporting Sony in handhelds in the west is justified, but on the very same token its in Sony's best way to spend those resources is to divert to PSN: Playstation Now, and Remote play.
Example:
PS4 Remote Play devices
Pick your Xperia gaming device. PS4 Remote Play is available on smartphones and tablets in the Xperia Z-series from Z2 and onwards
http://www.sonymobile.com/g...
I agree with the article, it's a great device, especially for the price you can get it for
Who cares if it doesn't have netflix or hulu? I can't be the only one with at least a half-dozen other devices that can play these things.
But with PS TV, I can play PS4 from two rooms in my house without having to move the PS4, I can play Vita games that I never would have gotten to play. My PS+ subscription is now more valuable because I get free Vita games each month, including Killzone Mercenary. If I ever dive into PS Now, it's good for that too.
Sure it doesn't play everything, but when you can find this for $20-30 often, it's hard to complain.
@uth11 + 14m ago
I agree with the article, it's a great device, especially for the price you can get it for.
Exactly...100%
When the device is now geared to what it can do , its functionality is viable for what it does.
The games it does get that are outside of Network services, work and new games that are networked services that are digital downloaded work quite well very little to no issues while playing those games.
Playstation Now works very well , and so does Remote play also works rather well.
One of the best things about the device is that it supports both the dual shock 3 & 4.
I play freedomwars on the PlayStation TV and it works great on both my PSVita and both of my playstation TV's. Good thing also its the cross play of being able to play from both the PS4 & playstation TV both in the same game for multi player gaming its like having an extra PS4 in the house.