PS Vita systems 3G/WiFi version $149.99 Clearance @ Best Buy YMMV

KevinMassacre

KevinMassacre

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Went to the Best Buy here in Chicago (Clark & Diversey) to pick up a copy of Black Ops 2 for Wii U for $19.99 and saw some PS Vitas on clearance. These are the ones that come bundled with the 8gb Memory Card. I just bought one on impulse. Plus if you apply for a best buy card (you don't need to be approved, you just need to apply) they knock $10 of your purchase. I walked out the door with a brand new PS Vita 3G/WiFi version with 8gb memory card for $139.99 plus tax.  



 
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KevinMassacre said:
Went to the Best Buy here in Chicago (Clark & Diversey) to pick up a copy of Black Ops 2 for Wii U for $19.99 and saw some PS Vitas on clearance. These are the ones that come bundled with the 8gb Memory Card. I just bought one on impulse. Plus if you apply for a best buy card (you don't need to be approved, you just need to apply) they knock $10 of your purchase. I walked out the door with a brand new PS Vita 3G/WiFi version with 8gb memory card for $139.99 plus tax.


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even though I am not interested in 3g, thats awesome I was just at my local best buy for the U&S and they did not have the same deal >.>
 
Kovorkian said:
even though I am not interested in 3g, thats awesome I was just at my local best buy for the U&S and they did not have the same deal >.>
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That's a steal, paid $150 for my recertified Vita and that was well worth it. By the way for anyone who does have these on clearance at their store the 3G is purely optional and there's no contract or anything.

 
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For someone who has a 3G Vita it is completely optional as described above. For S&G I activated my 3G for a few months to get the free game that was offered at launch and to see if I got any use out of the 3G and to be honest I wouldn't advise anyone to activate it even if they had $5 monthly plans.

The only way I would pay for 3G again on my Vita is if Sony put an android OS on the console. It just doesn't do anything worthwhile as is.

But that being said $150 is an absolutely excellent price for this.

 
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They are probably getting rid of these because, from what I hear, Sony is getting ready to launch a PS Vita Slim this holiday. I heard it from someone at Best Buy who heard it from a Sony retail manager type person. Someone who works between Sony and Best Buy. I don't know if they would know, but they said it'd have an HDMI out and longer battery life, maybe a higher def screen. I googled and it says there's some patents for one like that.

This is a great device and for a great price, esp. if you are getting a PS4. But with rumors of a slim popping up, I wouldn't buy this one right now since I'm the kind of person that wants the newest version of whatever. Too bad I already bought one.

 
fredbob3 said:
They are probably getting rid of these because, from what I hear, Sony is getting ready to launch a PS Vita Slim this holiday. I heard it from someone at Best Buy who heard it from a Sony retail manager type person. Someone who works between Sony and Best Buy. I don't know if they would know, but they said it'd have an HDMI out and longer battery life, maybe a higher def screen. I googled and it says there's some patents for one like that.

This is a great device and for a great price, esp. if you are getting a PS4. But with rumors of a slim popping up, I wouldn't buy this one right now since I'm the kind of person that wants the newest version of whatever. Too bad I already bought one.
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The patents are for the dev model that already exists.

[Update] We've heard from a reader familiar with the Vita's development hardware that this could be the patent application for the devkit.
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Also going off what we've seen with the PSP... I wouldn't expect a super awesome new version.

PSP 1,000 - Base Model.

PSP 2,000 - "Slim", mechanical UMD tray removed (because they broke down / had UMD shooting out complaints), removed "Pandora" battery on most models, smaller battery.

PSP 3,000 - Slightly improved screen (had many issues), built in mic, PS button, supposed worse battery life (due to the screen).

PSP Go - Need I say anything?

Anyway, I don't see the Vita getting revised and released around the same time as the PS4, since it will get killed in sales regardless. Sony might revise the system down the road, but most of the PSP updates weren't really revisions as much as fixing issues like the pandora's battery.

 
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You don't realize it until you own it but the Vita is actually remarkably slim and lightweight relative to what it has and that it looks like a brick. Was actually really surprised by three weight the first time I picked it up. Going to a slim model probably would be really counter productive since it's the battery life that is the system's highest downfall and going slim would probably cut that down since I can't imagine they would start making a system that cost them more money per unit.
 
EldritchOnRye said:
You don't realize it until you own it but the Vita is actually remarkably slim and lightweight relative to what it has and that it looks like a brick. Was actually really surprised by three weight the first time I picked it up. Going to a slim model probably would be really counter productive since it's the battery life that is the system's highest downfall and going slim would probably cut that down since I can't imagine they would start making a system that cost them more money per unit.
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I was going to note that it's fairly slim / light and that going much slimer would be counter productive for the touchscreen too. Right now I can get a good grip and touch the back, where as a thinner model might prove to be more difficult. There is a lot of ways to look at it, but I tried to keep my post more factual.

 
I agree with Admiralvic. If we are going to see a new Vita I expect it to come out the holiday season AFTER the PS4 is launched to booster sales of both systems.

 
Unless said new model comes with a simultaneous price drop or it accepts microsdxc this will be far and away the better deal if its available to you. They're not gonna put a higher res display since they already have to upscale some games as it is.
 
More likely this BB didn't sell through their original Vita launch lot and it just needed to go.  There'll be bundles and such this holiday, but a hardware revamp is probably not on schedule this year.

 
If Sony doesn't announce a new model at Gamescon, they'd at least announce a bundle. Probably one with Killzone.

I would jump on a $200 Vita bundle if it had Killzone and a memory card.. maybe even a download code for another game... Uncharted maybe? ;)

 
I was reading some rumors somewhere recently that a new, cheaper Vita was coming but that to cut costs Sony might ditch the OLED screen. Not sure how much of a difference that would make in the end, but by all accounts the current screen is fabulous. I might have to check my BB tomorrow to see if it's on clearance there. I seriously doubt Sony would ever put out a Vita that supports MicroSD. I'm surprised the modding community hasn't put something to that effect out yet, personally.

 
VenomA7X said:
If Sony doesn't announce a new model at Gamescon, they'd at least announce a bundle. Probably one with Killzone.
I would jump on a $200 Vita bundle if it had Killzone and a memory card.. maybe even a download code for another game... Uncharted maybe? ;)
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Uncharted is already free with PS+. Seriously though, with vitas relatively small base and PS+ giving out a full retail game each month we're getting some great stuff as vita owners right now.
 
graf1k said:
I was reading some rumors somewhere recently that a new, cheaper Vita was coming but that to cut costs Sony might ditch the OLED screen. Not sure how much of a difference that would make in the end, but by all accounts the current screen is fabulous. I might have to check my BB tomorrow to see if it's on clearance there. I seriously doubt Sony would ever put out a Vita that supports MicroSD. I'm surprised the modding community hasn't put something to that effect out yet, personally.
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Why? That would require some fooling with the actual hardware and logically require some level of coding (probably a lot, since that is a fairly big revision) to work. I suspect the only reason why the game capture mod works is because of the aforementioned dev kit features the same type of usb port and is location at the same place as the HDMI out on the dev kit. Same sort of logic you see with the soft modded Wii's, which worked by exploiting the existing dvd playable functionality.

 
I looked at my store online and it said they had them in stock.  I called the store and they said that they are priced at 299.99 and that they have them in stock.  Do any of you think it would ring up as a different price if I went to the store and tried to buy it?

 
Also, do we think that this clearance price is optional on a store by store basis, and is that why my best buy said they were 299.99 on the phone?

 
i have a secondary phone on the walmart $30 data plan that i use on tmobile for tethering and because one of my worksites have really bad verizon LTE reception (i know, it should be the other way around)

anyway would i be able to pull out the SIM card on the tmo phone and just use on a vita? or is it AT&T 3G/HSPDA only

 
DeliveryPizza said:
I looked at my store online and it said they had them in stock. I called the store and they said that they are priced at 299.99 and that they have them in stock. Do any of you think it would ring up as a different price if I went to the store and tried to buy it?
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If that's the case I doubt it. Probably just a store looking to clear out old inventory. Sounds very YMMV

PS: I always like the stories about how some random employee at such and such store manages to scoop the entire gaming news world because a company rep told them about an upcoming product. Maybe one of these days we'll get some actual news from them.

 
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nice deal. i've had a vita since it launched (thanks to a bunch of wal mart credit).  it is a fun little device to play on the go. I play it on the train to and from work usually.   just platinumed a free PS+ game (Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward) which was pretty cool/fun.  If I didn't already have one, I'd try to grab one at this price.

 
Maybe everyone already knows about this or maybe only certain stores do this, but I picked up Kirby for Wii the other day for the $8 deal and the checkout guy said that it was a really popular game (obviously, it was over $30 off regular price) because he shipped(free store to store) 2 copies to a store over 100 miles away for some guy that bought them over the phone.  So, perhaps when you do a search on bestbuy.com for in store pickup availability and a store has it that's way out of reach I guess you can call and order it and ship it to your nearest store.  This was news to me...  There's a lot of collectors editions of games I would have bought on clearance if I'd known about that.  Then again, maybe it's just my local store that will ship out?

My point being, maybe they would do that for these Vitas because that's a fantastic price.

One final note about the 3G version of the Vita, I believe it has a GPS chip in it as well (the specs are vague, maybe it's tower triangulation) and the Wifi one doesn't, which is what I already have.

 
AndrewCounty said:
Maybe everyone already knows about this or maybe only certain stores do this, but I picked up Kirby for Wii the other day for the $8 deal and the checkout guy said that it was a really popular game (obviously, it was over $30 off regular price) because he shipped(free store to store) 2 copies to a store over 100 miles away for some guy that bought them over the phone. So, perhaps when you do a search on bestbuy.com for in store pickup availability and a store has it that's way out of reach I guess you can call and order it and ship it to your nearest store. This was news to me... There's a lot of collectors editions of games I would have bought on clearance if I'd known about that. Then again, maybe it's just my local store that will ship out?

My point being, maybe they would do that for these Vitas because that's a fantastic price.

One final note about the 3G version of the Vita, I believe it has a GPS chip in it as well (the specs are vague, maybe it's tower triangulation) and the Wifi one doesn't, which is what I already have.
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OMS is nothing new, but it's far from an extremely useful thing. Like the online site only shows you if the store has 3+ copies in stock, so you're pretty much forced to call and find a location that may or may not have them. Even then it's impossible to say if you will score the last copy, since a LOT of places sell out of things the second these major deals hit.

They would, but this seems to be very YMMV. I can say I went to 3 BB's yesterday and didn't see anything like that. Now my stores could have been out of 3G's, but again, you're going to have to track one down and all that jazz.

It makes no difference.

 
Nice, I'm just holding out for a Vita Go style that the early dev kits were designed as:

ps_vita_dev_kit.jpg


 
fredbob3 said:
They are probably getting rid of these because, from what I hear, Sony is getting ready to launch a PS Vita Slim this holiday. I heard it from someone at Best Buy who heard it from a Sony retail manager type person. Someone who works between Sony and Best Buy. I don't know if they would know, but they said it'd have an HDMI out and longer battery life, maybe a higher def screen. I googled and it says there's some patents for one like that.

This is a great device and for a great price, esp. if you are getting a PS4. But with rumors of a slim popping up, I wouldn't buy this one right now since I'm the kind of person that wants the newest version of whatever. Too bad I already bought one.
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They are clearing them because of a wifi/4g model will be introduced. That's what i've heard few months ago. Vita is not getting a redesign, yet.
 
Some of you will have.better luck getting the store # & phone of the OP store. Have your local store call to verify the price & get a price match that way. Be prepared to get a warranty as a "favor" to the manager for the YMMV match since that could seal the deal.
 
Around launch, the thing that made the 3G version attractive over the wifi-only version was that it actually came with a memory card, and an 8 GB at that.  The 3G and GPS functions were just a nice bonus.  At $150, you're looking at an incredible deal.

 
MPoWeRM3 said:
They are clearing them because of a wifi/4g model will be introduced. That's what i've heard few months ago. Vita is not getting a redesign, yet.
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They're clearing them out because no one wants them (They're priced the same as wifi only models in Japan since March...), so the odds of a 4g model coming into play is about null. Remember, the 3G is only useful if you pay for a monthly plan and the 3G is unable to play Vita games online, nor can it download anything above 20 mb. For a 4G model to even logically make sense, they would need to drop AT&T, make the 4G actually have some sort of use and make cheaper plans (the minimal is $15 a month).

 
DeliveryPizza said:
Also, do we think that this clearance price is optional on a store by store basis, and is that why my best buy said they were 299.99 on the phone?
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All BestBuy clearance is on a per store basis.

admiralvic said:
They're clearing them out because no one wants them.
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Pretty much. That's why they've also been clearancing out a huge chunk of the accessories and the Vita section is on the verge of disappearing.

 
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fredbob3 said:
They are probably getting rid of these because, from what I hear, Sony is getting ready to launch a PS Vita Slim this holiday. I heard it from someone at Best Buy who heard it from a Sony retail manager type person. Someone who works between Sony and Best Buy. I don't know if they would know, but they said it'd have an HDMI out and longer battery life, maybe a higher def screen. I googled and it says there's some patents for one like that.

This is a great device and for a great price, esp. if you are getting a PS4. But with rumors of a slim popping up, I wouldn't buy this one right now since I'm the kind of person that wants the newest version of whatever. Too bad I already bought one.
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They still need games and cheaper memory to make it worth buying.

 
Def ymmv, friend stocking had no idea.

Kinda glad, I was having psp flashbacks (this is gonna be cool, i'll use it everyday.. Month later, ugh why Did I buy this?!!)
 
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admiralvic said:
They're clearing them out because no one wants them (They're priced the same as wifi only models in Japan since March...), so the odds of a 4g model coming into play is about null. Remember, the 3G is only useful if you pay for a monthly plan and the 3G is unable to play Vita games online, nor can it download anything above 20 mb. For a 4G model to even logically make sense, they would need to drop AT&T, make the 4G actually have some sort of use and make cheaper plans (the minimal is $15 a month).
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i thought the whole firesale of 3G vitas at the att store was a sign they were not going to be dealing exclusively with them anymore.

 
ritchardf said:
i thought the whole firesale of 3G vitas at the att store was a sign they were not going to be dealing exclusively with them anymore.
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What vic means when he says AT&T is that the 3G runs off of, and is locked to, their network so if you want to use it you sign up for a month to month thing and get a SIM card from AT&T. He's saying that if they did make a 4G model they would be best suited by dropping AT&T, though you're not going to add in CDMA bands just for Verizon/Sprint and T-Mobile is a non-factor in the States. That, and Sony and AT&T have a long standing history of partnering together and Sony products almost exclusively coming out on their network here.

 
ritchardf said:
i thought the whole firesale of 3G vitas at the att store was a sign they were not going to be dealing exclusively with them anymore.
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Or... it's a sign that no one wants them. It's really hard to sell people on a feature that costs $50 up front, will continue to run you $15 (and this is only 250 mb or you can buy 500 mb over the span of 6 months for $25 / 1 gb for $50 or solve all your problems with a 5 gb plan for $50) every month for as long as you own the product. Once you factor in my aforementioned AT&T limits (like the 20 mb download cap / 3G can't support online play, though a Vita can be added to an AT&T account for $10 and save some money, but still it's a continual fee that isn't amazing) and how quickly you can hit that celling before having to pay for additional time... it's easy to fathom why people didn't want it.

 
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