PS Vita Impressions! Vita Digital Purchases Beating PS3 - no NA price cuts

[Hetz]

Time Magazine reviews the Vita:

http://techland.time.com/2012/02/13/sony-playstation-vita-review-beautiful-expensive-and-worth-it/

"Beautiful, Expensive and Worth It"

My thoughts exactly.

[Clanwolfer]

Nope, it was my console - after the factory reset Wipeout started working fine too. Might be safest to just reset your console when you get it? Don't know.

[The Grue]

Nope, it was my console - after the factory reset Wipeout started working fine too. Might be safest to just reset your console when you get it? Don't know.

Technically it is in a factory restored state when you first get it.

[EngineNo9]

Nope, it was my console - after the factory reset Wipeout started working fine too. Might be safest to just reset your console when you get it? Don't know.

Kind of scary that in such a small group here two people have already had to do factory resets just to get it working right.   

[Teggy]

Well, I've got a bunch of Discover cash back plus a bunch of converted change I wound up finding, so I'm getting the itch to pick this up for my birthday even though I had initially changed my mind. What's the best deal going where you get a decent memory card? I don't think I'll be getting Little Deviants, so the official bundle doesn't seem like the way to go, and I don't want a monthly fee so I think I'd go wi-fi.

I noticed that GameStop is doing $25 trade in credit on psps, which is doubtfully maximizing resale, but it's also minimum hassle and mine is a old phat version.  

[msduncan]

Well, I've got a bunch of Discover cash back plus a bunch of converted change I wound up finding, so I'm getting the itch to pick this up for my birthday even though I had initially changed my mind. What's the best deal going where you get a decent memory card? I don't think I'll be getting Little Deviants, so the official bundle doesn't seem like the way to go, and I don't want a monthly fee so I think I'd go wi-fi.

I noticed that GameStop is doing $25 trade in credit on psps, which is doubtfully maximizing resale, but it's also minimum hassle and mine is a old phat version.  

Just a note:   The 3G doesn't require a monthly fee.   You can pay for 1 month at a time.    So you can pay this month and turn it off and only have access this month.

[Teggy]

Well, I've got a bunch of Discover cash back plus a bunch of converted change I wound up finding, so I'm getting the itch to pick this up for my birthday even though I had initially changed my mind. What's the best deal going where you get a decent memory card? I don't think I'll be getting Little Deviants, so the official bundle doesn't seem like the way to go, and I don't want a monthly fee so I think I'd go wi-fi.

I noticed that GameStop is doing $25 trade in credit on psps, which is doubtfully maximizing resale, but it's also minimum hassle and mine is a old phat version.  

Just a note:   The 3G doesn't require a monthly fee.   You can pay for 1 month at a time.    So you can pay this month and turn it off and only have access this month.

Yeah, I saw that, but considering I can't ever see using it, it would seem a wasted $50.

[Hetz]

Well, I've got a bunch of Discover cash back plus a bunch of converted change I wound up finding, so I'm getting the itch to pick this up for my birthday even though I had initially changed my mind. What's the best deal going where you get a decent memory card? I don't think I'll be getting Little Deviants, so the official bundle doesn't seem like the way to go, and I don't want a monthly fee so I think I'd go wi-fi.

I noticed that GameStop is doing $25 trade in credit on psps, which is doubtfully maximizing resale, but it's also minimum hassle and mine is a old phat version.  

Just a note:   The 3G doesn't require a monthly fee.   You can pay for 1 month at a time.    So you can pay this month and turn it off and only have access this month.

Yeah, I saw that, but considering I can't ever see using it, it would seem a wasted $50.

You do get a free 8GB Memory Card though with the 3G version which costs $29.99 on it's own...so there is that to consider.

[msduncan]

Hetz,

Do both versions (3G and Wifi Only) have the GPS chip, or only the 3G version?

[Devil]

Ended up with 5 new games from today's deals. 

[Hetz]

Hetz,

Do both versions (3G and Wifi Only) have the GPS chip, or only the 3G version?

Only the 3G version.

[The Grue]

So, took my Vita out, went to do a Near update, and got the "An error occurred" error.  Formatted the Vita while out and about and it fixed it.  One thing I am going to try this time is leaving the option to get periodic location updates unchecked, since that is the default.  I noticed before I did the refresh that caused it to get in the error state that it had a location stored and so I wonder if something there is messing things up.  Like I said, having it unchecked is the default, so it could be nobody really tested it much.  I also noticed when the error occurred, it seemed to be flip-flopping between 3G and HSDPA, so could also possibly be the culprit.  I'd hate to have to stop using Near as I think it is very cool, but I certainly don't want to reformat my Vita every time I want to fix the issue.

[msduncan]

Hetz,

Do both versions (3G and Wifi Only) have the GPS chip, or only the 3G version?

Only the 3G version.

Thought so.   So that's something else to consider Teggy.

[msduncan]

So, took my Vita out, went to do a Near update, and got the "An error occurred" error.  Formatted the Vita while out and about and it fixed it.  One thing I am going to try this time is leaving the option to get periodic location updates unchecked, since that is the default.  I noticed before I did the refresh that caused it to get in the error state that it had a location stored and so I wonder if something there is messing things up.  Like I said, having it unchecked is the default, so it could be nobody really tested it much.  I also noticed when the error occurred, it seemed to be flip-flopping between 3G and HSDPA, so could also possibly be the culprit.  I'd hate to have to stop using Near as I think it is very cool, but I certainly don't want to reformat my Vita every time I want to fix the issue.

Very strange.   For the record I've failed to connect before (with error occurred message too I think) and later on it connected up fine.   At the time I figured it was just a connectivity error.

[msduncan]

Hetz or Devil or someone with Hot Shots Golf:

It got average reviews, but I'm hearing that two things are really making it worth the purchase:

1.  Daily challenges (please explain these?)
2.  TONS of unlockable content.   Are there tons of it for real?   Does this along with multiplayer make it worth my $40?

[Teggy]

What's the benefit to GPS outside of near?

[The Grue]

So, took my Vita out, went to do a Near update, and got the "An error occurred" error.  Formatted the Vita while out and about and it fixed it.  One thing I am going to try this time is leaving the option to get periodic location updates unchecked, since that is the default.  I noticed before I did the refresh that caused it to get in the error state that it had a location stored and so I wonder if something there is messing things up.  Like I said, having it unchecked is the default, so it could be nobody really tested it much.  I also noticed when the error occurred, it seemed to be flip-flopping between 3G and HSDPA, so could also possibly be the culprit.  I'd hate to have to stop using Near as I think it is very cool, but I certainly don't want to reformat my Vita every time I want to fix the issue.

Very strange.   For the record I've failed to connect before (with error occurred message too I think) and later on it connected up fine.   At the time I figured it was just a connectivity error.

Did it have "An error occurred" as the error message?  Mine basically did it for an entire day and resetting the system fixed it.

[The Grue]

Hetz or Devil or someone with Hot Shots Golf:

It got average reviews, but I'm hearing that two things are really making it worth the purchase:

1.  Daily challenges (please explain these?)
2.  TONS of unlockable content.   Are there tons of it for real?   Does this along with multiplayer make it worth my $40?

Basically every day there are three courses you can do and the next day it gives you a final rank.  The courses can have some of the different rules in effect, like unlimited power shots or shuffling the order of the holes.  If you rank high enough, you can get points.

It definitely seems to have a good bit of unlockables.  I'm definitely enjoying the game, though I haven't tried out the live multiplayer yet.

[BuckeyeShane]

So what games does everyone have?  I'm really loving this thing and ended up selling a bunch of 360 games I had around and bought way too many games(though I did still have a couple of gift cards for best buy I used).  I got:

Hot Shots Golf
Wipeout
Rayman Origins
Uncharted
Dungeon Hunter Alliance
FIFA
Marvel vs Capcom (not sure I'll keep this one, I'm finding out i'm just not very good at fighters)
Little Deviants (came with bundle)
Super Stardust Delta

[msduncan]

Scratch what I said about getting the 3G model.   

I went through the menu item and signed up for my $15 Dataconnect plan so that I could get my free game and my next month's free data.     Everything seemed to go fine.

Got a message on the vita that I'd signed up.   Told me to wait a few mins and it should be active.

I can't NOT get on 3G for anything.    I keep getting errors that I don't have connectivity.    I've tried power cycling the system.   I've tried removing the SIM, rebooting, and installing it again.   I've tried everything.   I have just flushed $15 down the toliet it seems. 

I searched online and found a few people having this problem, but NOBODY getting resolution.     I f***ING HATE AT&T.

[Hetz]

So what games does everyone have?  I'm really loving this thing and ended up selling a bunch of 360 games I had around and bought way too many games(though I did still have a couple of gift cards for best buy I used).  I got:

Hot Shots Golf
Wipeout
Rayman Origins
Uncharted
Dungeon Hunter Alliance
FIFA
Marvel vs Capcom (not sure I'll keep this one, I'm finding out i'm just not very good at fighters)
Little Deviants (came with bundle)
Super Stardust Delta

Yeah, I went kind of overboard with the game purchases as well, but I did trade in a ton of 360 games that I never play anymore with the 40% trade in bonus at Best Buy.

I got:
Uncharted
Dungeon Hunter Alliance
Marvel vs Capcom 3
Little Deviants
Super Stardust Delta
Wipeout
Rayman Origins
Lumines
Escape Plan
Modnation Racers

Got them all digitally, except Little Deviants which came with the system, so I saved 10% on most of them.

[BuckeyeShane]

Does anyone know when the motorstorm rc psn game comes out?

[msduncan]

ON chat with ATT, and just like the others that have reported this issue they don't have any idea what's going on with it.     They have directed me to call Sony (which is what happened with the other people online).   Sony will tell me it's with ATT.   

Very angry right now.    I'm going to ask them to refund my $14.99 or I will stop payment via Visa.    I'm tempted to go and demand they change my Vita out for a Wifi model to save me money since clearly the 3G doesn't work on mine.   

The free game isn't worth this hassle.

[msduncan]

Get this --

I managed to fix the problem while on tech support chat with AT&T.   They had no clue.  No answers on the internet. 

I went into Settings and disabled Wifi.   After that it started working.    I turned wifi back on and everything still worked.   Somehow the device needs to have wifi off the first time you access.

I told the ATT guy to put that into his knowledge base so they can handle the future calls.   No idea if he did or not.

[msduncan]

Actually it seems if Wifi is on, it doesn't work.    Very strange.

[Hetz]

Does anyone know when the motorstorm rc psn game comes out?

It comes out tomorrow in Europe. There is no date yet for the USA, but I would assume it will be out soon.

[Clanwolfer]

My Near errors came back today, less than a day after doing the restore. I'm going to go ahead and call it nonfunctional until there's a firmware update, and stop screwing with it.

The good news is, it appears that WipeOut's multi still works (before, I wasn't able to access that at all, and the system reset fixed it).

Wonder if a release-day firmware patch to crush some of these gremlins is too much to ask for...

[The Grue]

Actually it seems if Wifi is on, it doesn't work.    Very strange.

So if WiFi is on, but not connected to a WiFi network, your 3G doesn't work?

[The Grue]

My Near errors came back today, less than a day after doing the restore. I'm going to go ahead and call it nonfunctional until there's a firmware update, and stop screwing with it.

The good news is, it appears that WipeOut's multi still works (before, I wasn't able to access that at all, and the system reset fixed it).

Wonder if a release-day firmware patch to crush some of these gremlins is too much to ask for...

Do you have the option in Near settings checked to "Obtain location automatically at regular intervals" inn the Location Data section?

[Ridah]

The Near issues sound systematic, it's probably best to leave it alone until Sony issues a firmware upgrade.

[Hetz]

The Near issues sound systematic, it's probably best to leave it alone until Sony issues a firmware upgrade.

Yeah, NEAR is really cool, but it seems kind of half-baked. I really hope that Sony fixes the issues that some are seeing with it and makes it into a killer app for the system. Right now, it's cool...but just a novelty. It has a ton of potential though.

[msduncan]

Actually it seems if Wifi is on, it doesn't work.    Very strange.

So if WiFi is on, but not connected to a WiFi network, your 3G doesn't work?

Correct.    I had Wifi on and no joinable Wifi network available and could not get on 3G.   Turn it off and 3G starts working.

[msduncan]

Anyone else with any more detailed reviews of Hot Shots?   Hetz -- sounds like Hot Shots is like the only game you didn't purchase.   LOL

[Clanwolfer]

Oh, and Wipeout is a very slick racer, as expected - again, there's not a lot of 'new' to the table with it, but Wipeout seems to benefit a lot from the really bright, vivid screen on the Vita. Haven't tried it with speakers or headphones yet, but I can imagine it'd be the way to play it if you get the choice - the tunes are good so far but definitely lose a little from the built-in speaker. I don't think of myself as a huge Wipeout vet, so it was a little concerning when I cleared the whole first season in one pass through it - but the difficulty ramps up nicely once you get to B-class races. Not frustrated yet, but definitely not clearing tracks I don't know on the first try, either.

Online play is smooth so far - I like how it gives you individual objectives. So instead of just racing to try and win, you're trying to get XP from completing personal objectives - you might get "don't die, hit an opponent with a weapon" as primary tasks and then "don't be last" as an Elite task when you're starting out, for instance. Helps to lessen the frustration of the difficulty of playing online a good bit.

Hoping there's a lot of value from when the Wipeout HD/Fury piece becomes available, as well - though I've not even unlocked a third of the ships yet, and I don't even know the tracks I have, variety is always a big concern for me with most arcade racers.

[Louis Cypher]

Amazon has a buy 2, get 3rd free

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=bt_atcg_mine_cta?t=slicinc-20&tag=slicinc-20&ie=UTF8&docId=1000772511&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1AGJX8VYAGS4Q1RVJV46&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1346912522&pf_rd_i=3010556011

picked up Uncharted, Rayman and Golf 

[EngineNo9]

Heh, I wonder if they did that because people like me cancelled some game preorders in order to take advantage of the Target deal?  Too bad Shinobido 2 isn't part of Amazon's sale.

[Clanwolfer]

Amazon has a buy 2, get 3rd free

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=bt_atcg_mine_cta?t=slicinc-20&tag=slicinc-20&ie=UTF8&docId=1000772511&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1AGJX8VYAGS4Q1RVJV46&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1346912522&pf_rd_i=3010556011

picked up Uncharted, Rayman and Golf 

Hey, nice. I was on the fence for a few things - that put me in for Lumines, Golf and MvC3!

[Ridah]

Gravit Daze reviewed and scored a 9 from Eurogamer. More good games to choose from!

[Ridah]

Amazon has a buy 2, get 3rd free

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=bt_atcg_mine_cta?t=slicinc-20&tag=slicinc-20&ie=UTF8&docId=1000772511&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1AGJX8VYAGS4Q1RVJV46&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1346912522&pf_rd_i=3010556011

picked up Uncharted, Rayman and Golf 

Hey, nice. I was on the fence for a few things - that put me in for Lumines, Golf and MvC3!

Not fair, I already ordered a game and received it last week 

[Hetz]

Anyone else with any more detailed reviews of Hot Shots?   Hetz -- sounds like Hot Shots is like the only game you didn't purchase.   LOL

Yeah, pretty much.   I also didn't get FIFA, though I would have if it had a discount on PSN. Stupid EA!