Playstation Vita Discussion Thread

[squarezero]

Originally Posted by Haruhi

I don't know, I've felt like I've gotten my $40 worth with games like NFS Most Wanted and Disgaea 3. The graphics of a lot of current Vita games aren't that great, but the fun factor and content of the games I've bought are enough to justify the price for me. Honestly, I feel like iPhone gaming lost a bit of its magic ever since I got my Vita, but that's just me.

I got my money's worth with Rayman: Origin. The jury is still out on AC.

Wish I like Disgaea -- the gameplay is right up my alley, but I can't stand the jokey tone.

[tygamr]

The iPad 4 has a better GPU in terms of power (it uses a SGX554MP4, though the resolution means it has to compensate with a more powerful GPU to get similar performance to say, the iPhone 5), but the other devices use a different model of the SGX543- the Vita has the + model with four cores, while the iPad 3 has the non+ three core version and so does the iPhone 5. iPad mini/2 and similar devices (iPhone 4S, iPod touch 5) use the non+ two core version.

I think part of the problem with Vita games graphics is that a lot of the big budget Vita games aren't using graphical engines developed for the Vita- a lot of devs just port over their PS3/360 engines over and make games with that. Another issue is that Sony is limiting the Vita's power- it's under clocked (like the PSP was for the first few years of it's life) likely in order to make the battery life longer, and to prevent overheating. They will probably allow developers to utilize more power in the next few years, and release new Vita models that will probably resolve battery life and heat issues- that's what they did with the PSP (though it meant that the PSP-1000 didn't perform as well, especially because Sony also doubled the RAM in the models that followed it, which also limited new features to the new PSPs only).

Games like PlayStation All-Stars look really nice on the Vita- it has good graphical effects, runs native resolution, and runs at a smooth 60 frames. The engine it runs on was actually developed by the developers handling the Vita version of the game. If more games were built on engines built for the Vita, games would probably look and perform a lot better.

As for NFS:MW looking better on iOS/ Android, I don't think it's as straight as that. If the Vita version of MW ran native resolution (but was graphically the same otherwise), I think a lot of people would think the opposite. MW on smart phones looks pretty good, but it doesn't have as many graphical effects- there's no real time shadowing or lighting as far as I can tell, cars have reflections but don't actually reflect scenery, there doesn't look to be any grime or filth, etc. in addition to not being openworld and having even less traffic than the Vita version. The car models on the Vita version look really good, and are the same models used in the home console versions. Running sub-native resolution really mars up the graphical fidelity of many Vita games. If a game is going to run sub-native, it should do it how LittleBigPlanet does- LBP has really good filtering which makes it hard to tell, while still looking really good.

[Fireball926]

Originally Posted by Haruhi

I don't know, I've felt like I've gotten my $40 worth with games like NFS Most Wanted and Disgaea 3. The graphics of a lot of current Vita games aren't that great, but the fun factor and content of the games I've bought are enough to justify the price for me. Honestly, I feel like iPhone gaming lost a bit of its magic ever since I got my Vita, but that's just me.

I know what you mean. Phone games even high quality ones just don't and I think ever will have the depth you get from a higher priced game. I just can't get into phone games anymore. I'm almost wasting money now because I'll buy a game play it for maybe 3 days max then dump it. Nothing on iOS provides a similar experience to anything I've played on the vita..

[S.I.D. CrAzY]

Originally Posted by squarezero

Wish I like Disgaea -- the gameplay is right up my alley, but I can't stand the jokey tone.

Not that I want to get into this discussion, but have you played Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling together?

Not a Vita game, but it's playable on the Vita and it's awesome.

[JBRUU]

Originally Posted by tygamr

I think part of the problem with Vita games graphics is that a lot of the big budget Vita games aren't using graphical engines developed for the Vita- a lot of devs just port over their PS3/360 engines over and make games with that. Another issue is that Sony is limiting the Vita's power- it's under clocked (like the PSP was for the first few years of it's life) likely in order to make the battery life longer, and to prevent overheating. They will probably allow developers to utilize more power in the next few years, and release new Vita models that will probably resolve battery life and heat issues- that's what they did with the PSP (though it meant that the PSP-1000 didn't perform as well, especially because Sony also doubled the RAM in the models that followed it, which also limited new features to the new PSPs only).

Yes, that's a good point. Ported games always take up more system resources than ones developed specifically for the platform.

As for NFS:MW looking better on iOS/ Android, I don't think it's as straight as that. If the Vita version of MW ran native resolution (but was graphically the same otherwise), I think a lot of people would think the opposite. MW on smart phones looks pretty good, but it doesn't have as many graphical effects- there's no real time shadowing or lighting as far as I can tell, cars have reflections but don't actually reflect scenery, there doesn't look to be any grime or filth, etc. in addition to not being openworld and having even less traffic than the Vita version. The car models on the Vita version look really good, and are the same models used in the home console versions. Running sub-native resolution really mars up the graphical fidelity of many Vita games. If a game is going to run sub-native, it should do it how LittleBigPlanet does- LBP has really good filtering which makes it hard to tell, while still looking really good.

What device you playing on? On my 4th gen iPad everything you mentioned is there, plus some really nice motion blur.

[squarezero]

Originally Posted by JBRUU

Yes, that's a good point. Ported games always take up more system resources than ones developed specifically for the platform.



What device you playing on? On my 4th gen iPad everything you mentioned is there, plus some really nice motion blur.

They're there on my 4S as well.

[tygamr]

Originally Posted by JBRUU

Yes, that's a good point. Ported games always take up more system resources than ones developed specifically for the platform.



What device you playing on? On my 4th gen iPad everything you mentioned is there, plus some really nice motion blur.

Nexus 7 (I don't have any iOS devices right now . Getting an iPhone 5 hopefully in a few weeks). Haven't played a ton of it yet- only did one race. I don't own the Vita version- but I have watched several high quality (albeit off-screen) videos of it, and seen several screenshots.

[squarezero]

Originally Posted by Codycat

Obviously you haven't played LittleBigPlanet or the new NFS, both very high quality and both have blown me away.

Hate the platforming on LBP -- way too floaty -- though I know it's a well made game.

I may pick to NFS later on. Frankly, the "open world" bit doesn't hold a lot of appeal to me, and I'm really enjoying the iOS version. I wish there was a demo on PSN -- I'm always iffy about driving controls on handhelds (Burnout was fine on the PSP, but I didn't like the handling on Wipeout.

[squarezero]

Originally Posted by S.I.D. CrAzY

Not that I want to get into this discussion, but have you played Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling together?

Not a Vita game, but it's playable on the Vita and it's awesome.

Love Tactics Ogre, but I could have played it on my old PSP . As it happens, I've been using my Vita to play PSP and PS One games. Can't justify the expense of a Vita that way.

[tygamr]

Originally Posted by squarezero

Hate the platforming on LBP -- way too floaty -- though I know it's a well made game.

I may pick to NFS later on. Frankly, the "open world" bit doesn't hold a lot of appeal to me, and I'm really enjoying the iOS version. I wish there was a demo on PSN -- I'm always iffy about driving controls on handhelds (Burnout was fine on the PSP, but I didn't like the handling on Wipeout.

The handling and controls in Most Wanted are the same as the console versions. WipEout's handling is and always has been a part of WipEout- 2048 actually handles better than most of the other games in the series. The PSP games were great, but could be brutal. WipEout revolves around corner mastery and use of the airbrake- plus, they are anti-gravity hovercraft, so they are going to handle differently than cars.