Gaming Showdown: Playstation Vita vs iPhone 4S

Maximum PC compares the iPhone 4S and the PS Vita.

For those of us who remember wasting hours with the original, green-screened GameBoy, the thought that the era of portable gaming consoles may be coming to an end is a bit sad. While their TV-tethered cousins will be around for at least another generation or two, super-powerful smartphones like the iPhone 4S are calling into question the need for dedicated portable gaming devices like the new PlayStation Vita.

After gaming extensively on both, we’ve come up with a point-by-point breakdown that we think explains why portable consoles aren’t dead yet.

[Krew_92]

Vita wins.

Since the title says 'gaming' the Vita automatically wins.

Maybe it doesn't win as a all around media device, mp3 player and all that jazz.

However it sure as heck wins as a good portable gaming device, we do love those hardware buttons.

[Dante112]

How come the US gaming media always compare the PS Vita to the iPhone but never the 3DS?

[shoddy]

They though ipad and iphone can be good at everything.
They are just noob gamers or not even a gamer.

If apple really want to campare on gaming they need to invent button.

[Hisiru]

This is stupid. I can't believe people still thinks it's possible to compare smartphone (with the capability to run games) and REAL gaming devices.

Seriously... come on...

It's like comparing cellphones+java games and GBA/GBC

[xer0]

I'm not even going to read the article. The Vita is a dedicated gaming device with media playback capabilities.

[MasterCornholio]

Because they believe that the Vita is good enough to be comparable to a 600$ device. But I honestly believe it should be compared to the 3DS because both devices are dedicated gaming portables.

XperiaRay

[miyamoto]

because on the bigger picture its always Asia versus US America. mate.

Asian electronics vs US American electronics
Asian cars vs US American cars
Asian anime vs US American cartoons
etc etc

this is how US media rolls to get dumb consumers sympathy and turn them to fanboys thus making it easy for them to buy out of brand loyalty.

Don't let media hype & brainwashing cloud your ability to choose between good and bad, best & worst.

Trust your instinct when buying anything of good quality & suits you best and you'll end up the winner.

Think Win Win.

[Unexpecta]

Quote for Truth.

Nobody needs to even reply anymore because Krew92 has spoken on behalf of all handheld gamers.

And isn't there a more obvious answer? If I'm shooting a gun in a game, I want to press down on something and feel input so that there is a sense of life to the game. Buttons take care of this and gives a different level of experience to a person.

But shooting a gun in a game with a touchscreen? That's like shooting a man in the back.

[attilayavuzer]

Well I guess technically because you can run OnLive on an ios device you have basically a full gaming device, even though running it on a 4 inch screen would be shit. I've dabbled with it on my Touchpad and it's serviceable.

[Krew_92]

Yeah I understand what you're saying.

I too had a tablet at one point. I had a Motorola XOOM. I did try OnLive on it, and it was quite good.

It was only nifty though, it didn't have anything special going for it. I'd still much rather use a device that had hardware gaming controls.

Although you could connect a PlayStation 3 controller to a XOOM using a USB host cable.

[attilayavuzer]

For sure man, there's no substitute to cranking my home theater and becoming fully immersed in a different universe. I don't see how anything could replace that anytime soon.

[gamernova]

Seriously though?! Hahaha I own the "new iPad" and not even that could ever compete with the Vita. These articles have got to stop. Just ridiculous. Maybe they're doing the repetition so we will eventually believe it to be real. Sad.

[_Aarix_]

Would people stop with these articles. People enjoy ios gaming and people enjoy vita gaming. Different audiences especially since its a phone.

[-Ninja-]

This is like comparing a fridge to...uh....something that isnt a fridge.

[h311rais3r]

I have both. Vita wins. I only got my iPhone cuz it was $50. It's got some addictive games but it's nowhere near the same calibre as a vita game. Infinity blade is awesome tho. That would be awesome on vita

[clrlite]

"GameBoy, the thought that the era of portable gaming consoles may be coming to an end is a bit sad. While their TV-tethered cousins will be around for at least another generation or two"

Please see 3DS first year sales, then rewrite article to reflect objective reality.

[spektical]

vita is for games first, and everything else second. where the iphone is a everything else first and gaming a distant 2nd. sorry i cant take angry birds seriously.

[zero_cool]

They also failed to mention playstation vita's extra 128mb of vram.

Cheers Gamers & Happy Gaming!

[josephayal]

The iPhone 4S and the PlayStation Vita have two of the nicest screens we've ever seen

[Hicken]

The comments on the article all seem to have the same general impression: stupid comparison, as the iPhone can't match the Vita.

Of note, however, is that they give the third category win to the iPhone for "feeling" better, instead of the actual qualities and capabilities of the hardware, which would obviously go to the Vita.