The Official PlayStation Vita Thread - 11/4: FW 3.00 Coming Just in Time for the PS4 Launch!

[quote name='Wolfpup']Yeah, 1GB was just a rumor floating out there. Seemed crazy at first, but then I'm like "well, the high end Android stuff has 1GB now..."

I wonder...Next Generation used to say you could get by with 1/2 (or maybe 1/4? I think they said 1/2) the RAM if you're using cartridges. Wonder if that's true, and if what Vita is using works for that.

I mean potentially it can load stuff faster than the disc drives on the other two consoles....although they have hard drives (well, Xbox games can't rely on it being there for sure). Hmm.

I mean Bioshock Infinite is supposed to be on it, right?!? How is that going to look? I mean...can it really do a version that at a glance you can't tell apart-or maybe is really hard to tell apart? Or will stuff look bad by comparison? (Of course launch games don't necessarily tell much.)

And then it's got FOUR GPUs...which supposedly scale well, but...[/QUOTE]

It using a flash based storage medium will help as opposed to a disc, but I don't know what rate would be required for it to not rely on RAM to stream data and how much that relief would be.

The general rule of thumb is that 1GB of VRAM is sufficient for 1080p gaming and anything over that is diminishing returns. Thus, this screen being qHD means that 256MB of VRAM will be needed, so let's hope for 512MB of RAM, 256 for each just like the PS3 has. I doubt they'd go 384MB and leave the CPU with only 128MB, so best case scenario is probably 512MB of LPDDR2.
 
[quote name='Anexanhume']It using a flash based storage medium will help as opposed to a disc, but I don't know what rate would be required for it to not rely on RAM to stream data and how much that relief would be.

The general rule of thumb is that 1GB of VRAM is sufficient for 1080p gaming and anything over that is diminishing returns. Thus, this screen being qHD means that 256MB of VRAM will be needed, so let's hope for 512MB of RAM, 256 for each just like the PS3 has. I doubt they'd go 384MB and leave the CPU with only 128MB, so best case scenario is probably 512MB of LPDDR2.[/QUOTE]

Oh, so it might have video RAM on top of that 256MB system RAM? I didn't realize that.

And the forum just hiccuped weirdly...I can't find the post I was replaying to, and lost my reply! :
 
[quote name='mwynn']The pre-order from amazon has set a date for 1/4/2012.[/QUOTE]

got the email today. I just assumed it meant a 2012 release
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']Oh, so it might have video RAM on top of that 256MB system RAM? I didn't realize that.

And the forum just hiccuped weirdly...I can't find the post I was replaying to, and lost my reply! :[/QUOTE]

Highly doubtful. It may just dedicate some RAM rather than share.
 
Wow, that's the most impressive stuff I've seen of it so far. Uncharted looks way better than in still screens, and the controller looks nice.
 
Not sure if anyone else caught this...

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/07/15/hideo-kojima-talks-metal-gear-solid-hd-collection-peace-walker-hd-ps-vita/

The next step is to take PS2-quality games, such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, to HD and then to take them to Vita transfarring.
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Anyone think its possible sony plans on releasing ps2 games via download for Vita down the road? Its nice they're doing these HD ports but they can't ignore the money that could be made from the ps2 library forever. Now that the 10 year plan is reaching a conclusion for the hardware they don't have to hold back out of fear of cannibalizing sales anymore, right?

Of course this is all a pipedream, but it'd be a killer feature.

I also have to say that Sony is doing an amazing job of having Vita announcements and then absolutely killing ALL buzz by waiting months inbetween to release any more news/info. Everytime I get hyped up for this thing the well runs dry again almost immediately.
 
[quote name='QiG']Not sure if anyone else caught this...

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011...-solid-hd-collection-peace-walker-hd-ps-vita/



Anyone think its possible sony plans on releasing ps2 games via download for Vita down the road? Its nice they're doing these HD ports but they can't ignore the money that could be made from the ps2 library forever. Now that the 10 year plan is reaching a conclusion for the hardware they don't have to hold back out of fear of cannibalizing sales anymore, right?

Of course this is all a pipedream, but it'd be a killer feature.

I also have to say that Sony is doing an amazing job of having Vita announcements and then absolutely killing ALL buzz by waiting months inbetween to release any more news/info. Everytime I get hyped up for this thing the well runs dry again almost immediately.[/QUOTE]

Of course. PS2 has an astounding library that will be a good money maker for the Vita. Even if you don't like any Vita games, the idea of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, GoW 1 & 2 etc. etc. on the go is hard to resist.
 
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011...-solid-hd-collection-peace-walker-hd-ps-vita/

PSB: Your process of “transfarring” will allow PSP players to take their Peace Walker save files from one console to another, and we will also see similar cross-play support with the PS Vita and Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Is this the future of gaming, and would you like to explore beyond what already has been announced?

Kojima: Peace Walker is the first step. It is a PSP game in HD that lets one go back and forth between one PSP and a PSP. The next step is to take PS2-quality games, such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, to HD and then to take them to Vita transfarring.

My next step is games that will come out for the PS3 from now on, so I can take advantage of this technology with the Vita with content that is exactly the same. I hope that cloud service is available now, and it would be ideal for me if transfarring were to serve as a bridge between the two services.
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I noticed this part of the Q&A about the Metal Gear Solid Collection that seems to suggest some heavy integration with Vita, if not another version for Vita with transfarrable saves for all three games.
 
This thread hasn't seen any update in a while. Anyway, I decided to take the plunge last night and put in a pre-order on a Vita. I had a decent chunk of credit after trading in my 3ds so I figured I might as well.

I did some looking around on the net and I found a news article that Sony is still shooting for a 4th quarter North America and Japan launch with Europe coming in 2012. It also looks like Amazon has changed their date to 12/31/2011 which also seems to support a launch of this year.
 
Sony's GamesCom conference is on August 16th.

Expect this to be heavily Vita-focused, with worldwide dates – or at least, a European timeline – possibly announced. Press will also be allowed to try the handheld after the press conference has finished.
 
Marvel Pinball was just announced for Vita, along with iOS, Android, 3DS, WiiU, and PC by the end of 2012 without any specific dates for any of those versions.
 
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-25-sony-details-ps-vitas-online-modes

Some details about the new online features (Near, Party, and LiveArea) have been revealed:
Sony has revealed more information on PlayStation Vita's online modes Near, Party, LiveArea and Activity.

Near is like the Nintendo 3DS' SpotPass. It's "a location-based gifting system", according to Sony Europe manager of R&D, Phil Rogers.

"What Near does is it allows users to discover each other, leave gifts for each other and essentially find out more about games. You can see where people are in relation to your location, their five most recently played games and also gifts that they've registered. This is fairly cool because it exposes users to games they might not have heard of and you can see how popular those games are and how people are rating them," explained Rogers at the Develop Conference 2011.

Near's gifts don't settle in one place, "unlike another platform" - they follow you around as you "go about your daily life". Near allows one 100KB gift box per game. Boxes can contain multiple gifts but can't exceed the 100KB binary data size limit.

Rogers painted a verbal picture: "Imagine user A visits locations one to ten through that day, and they get home and sync with the server and it uploads to the Near server your ten locations that you've been to.

"User B comes along, does the same thing, but at some point in User B's day they passed User A's location five, which means they're now able to collect gifts that that user's dropped. That comes into the Near application and then in-game they pick up those gifts."

You can specify how many times a gift is picked up, how available it is from your daily locations in terms of relative distance, how long a gift lasts for, who can access the gift and the probability of finding it. A rare item might only be discovered by one in 100 people.

Gifts can be more than simple items. "You can gift challenges," said Rogers, who used the example of a gift that challenges someone in WipEout, offering possible rewards if successful. You can even gift in-game items: "You could have a rare ship and you could drop that and someone could collect that by using Near," revealed Rogers.

Rogers said there will be functionality to write to a gift-giver and say thank you.

Party is "really good for having friends together to discuss games, chat about them and get into them", Rogers declared.

As on Xbox Live, Party is "platform-wide" and allows you and three friends to form a party that sticks together regardless of what you do on Vita. "You can chat across games through text and voice," explained Rogers.

"Cross-game voice chat," he reiterated, "it's there and it's on Vita."

You can also launch Vita games from within Party and your friends there can click a button and quickly join you.

"You can have different Party groups for different games or genres," expanded Rogers. "Maybe you've got a first-person shooter group that you can all chat and go into.

"The voice chat part you can override," he added, "so if in-game you've got your own teams for audio then you can override the Party chat and turn that off."

Party is integrated with friends lists but isn't compulsory for all games to include. "Games can choose not to," said Rogers.

LiveArea and Activity: "The LiveArea is essentially where you go to launch your PlayStation Vita day," Rogers beamed.

There are three modes in LiveArea: Index, Live and Game. The top area you'll see is the content information zone, which is the "landing point for when you start any game on PS Vita". The communication zone is where you "comment on people's activities within the game as well as publish your messages".

"Activity is a way for players to discuss progress," explained Rogers. "The system automatically puts a few activities in there," he added, such as Trophies and ratings. "That encourages people to then comment similar to Facebook style."

LiveArea can be updated by developers and publishers. "When you ship the game it's got the standard LiveArea that you bake into the game card," said Rogers. But through updates "you can even customise it to the user" by pushing out different data.

Publishers can also "push data to users" by putting images on the LiveArea frontpage as well as announcements on the bottom part of the logo. "It's a good way to push DLC," said Rogers. "So there's new levels out, click, go to the Store." It's also a good way to push news about the game. But Rogers offered a word of warning to publishers that "it's important not to spam users too much and to use it sensibly".

LiveArea also has location features and allows pubs/devs to track Vita owners "either by GPS on the 3G model or triangulation of mobile phone cells".

"As well as that we work with Skyhook and they provide wireless access points around to keep a general idea of where you are," elaborated Rogers. "So even with the Wi-Fi-only SKU you can still have a vague concept of where the user is."

Exactly how developers will use all these different features, Sony doesn't appear to know. "We're generally open to innovation," admitted Rogers.
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They also have this video at the end:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMqoNDB6OeI

I like the idea of what Near is offering since it seems like SpotPass on the 3DS without the need for two people to actually come in close contact with each other, which sounds like a better solution to that problem and it adds a wardriving element to that feature.
 
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So Near uses GPS. According to the early specs only the 3G model lists GPS, does this mean the Wifi only version won't be able to use Near?
 
It's right at the end:
"As well as that we work with Skyhook and they provide wireless access points around to keep a general idea of where you are," elaborated Rogers. "So even with the Wi-Fi-only SKU you can still have a vague concept of where the user is."
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyhook_Wireless

Wifi hotspots can still have a location, which is what Skyhook does. That's how I can use the location features on my iPod Touch just using Wifi.
 
Ah, missed that. Although, the WiFi only missing GPS kind of has me rethinking pre-ordering the WiFi only model. I'm wondering what other potential features I might miss out on games...
 
Supremacy MMA is coming to Vita later this year:
Begin the bloodletting! Global videogame publisher 505 Games and Kung Fu Factory announced today that Supremacy MMA™ will break bones and smash faces on Sony’s next-gen portable platform, the PlayStation®Vita this fall. Supremacy MMA for PS Vita will come packing exclusive content including new fighters, venues and features found only on the PS Vita, delivering all the brutality and fast arcade action of the most controversial MMA game in history on the hottest handheld of this generation.
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[quote name='FriskyTanuki']Supremacy MMA is coming to Vita later this year:[/QUOTE]

I like the sound of this. It gets me excited for the PSV
 
[quote name='Josh5890']October 28th release date?

http://psp.ign.com/articles/118/1184950p1.html[/QUOTE]

If true...

StarTrekGenerationsDataYESUM.gif
 
I wonder what games would be ready for that launch date? Gamescom and TGS are supposed to have a lot of news - maybe the 3rd party stuff will finally be on display.
 
I hope there's a way to transfer some of these umd games to the system. Ther some psp games I want to buy but I'm holding off on those.
 
Yea. They wanted to do it, but realized it was a nightmare from a licensing/logistics perspective when the go came out.

It won't happen.
 
[quote name='giantqtipz']dont know what that means but.. YES!!![/QUOTE]

It means that the FCC (governing body responsible for certifying all electronic devices in the US) has certified that it meets the necessary standards to be sold in the US. This is a necessary step for product launch and it also implies that the final version of the product exists and that release is imminent.
 
I'm assuming it's going to be released around the holiday season, but that's just a guess and it seems like most people are saying that.

I guess we'll find out more at TGS (most likely) or Gamescom (least likely).
 
So excited if this is really coming out so soon. I hope developers have strong showing for the Vita at TGS. Show me some good Atlus games and I will be ecstatic. Persona 5 and I might have a heart attack.
 
[quote name='Droenixjpn']I'm assuming it's going to be released around the holiday season, but that's just a guess and it seems like most people are saying that.

I guess we'll find out more at TGS (most likely) or Gamescom (least likely).[/QUOTE]

Well, if they don't release that info at Gamescom (2 weeks from now :)), then that puts the pressure on to announce it at TGS. I hope that it happens at Gamescom and more 3rd party game info is shown at TGS.
 
I pre-ordered both versions, but I'm still not sold on why any of us should bother with the 3G model. Any really compelling reason to go 3G?
 
[quote name='Kylearan']I pre-ordered both versions, but I'm still not sold on why any of us should bother with the 3G model. Any really compelling reason to go 3G?[/QUOTE]

Right now, nothing really, especially if you have a smart phone in my mind. I wouldn't be suprised though if there is something that comes out in the future that gives the 3G model a big boost.
 
[quote name='Kylearan']I pre-ordered both versions, but I'm still not sold on why any of us should bother with the 3G model. Any really compelling reason to go 3G?[/QUOTE]
Location-based stuff will probably be better with 3G.
 
Based on the device clearing FCC already, I think Sony is scared of lack of software causing a bobble on the launch as it happened on the 3DS.
 
That seems to be the assumption most places are running under, yeah. The Kaz quote seems to indicate it as well.

Now, here's the thing... the 3DS launched too early. It wasn't just lack of software, but also the fact that parts of the system itself (eShop, WebBrowser) weren't ready yet. Me, I feel like I had more than enough to play from March until now, so I didn't have an issue with the software line-up. In fact, for me, I'd describe right now as the first real 3DS software drought. The March through June time period kept me very, very busy on the 3DS. However, the lack of eShop seemed to imply that this thing wasn't totally ready to go.

Question... running under the assumption that a lack of launch software is the problem for the Vita, would you rather have the system and a small handfull of games (Uncharted, etc.) this October, or would you rather have to wait possibly an additional 6 months for a stronger launch line-up?

I'm curious as to the answer, because as smart as the 'better launch line-up' sounds, I imagine that playing Uncharted on the Vita this October is pretty alluring as well.
 
But do they have anything to show for Japan? Right now their biggest title is Uncharted, which is bigger in the West. Guess we will find out in TGS
 
I don't want it to be delayed. I think that a few AAA titles plus the deep PSN library should be enough. I was paraphrasing exact verbiage that has been attributed to Kaz as reasons for a delayed launch.

Hirai did not characterize the timing as a delay, but said Sony wants to be prepared with solid game software offerings timed with the hardware launches.
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http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20110804&id=14046022

I don't see why else it should be a problem. Modern factories could meet supply demands no problem. Maybe Uncharted devs asked for more time. Who knows.

[quote name='62t']But do they have anything to show for Japan? Right now their biggest title is Uncharted, which is bigger in the West. Guess we will find out in TGS[/QUOTE]

I think they could get by with a Monster Hunter title :D
 
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I'm kinda glad it won't be coming out sooner than it needs to be. I had a good feeling that October 28th date was just way too soon.

Gives me the time to gather up my credit at BB (with the $100 credit back and other credit I have there) and gives them time to iron out any remaining kinks.
 
I had my doubts about the 10/28 date from the start. I don't think they'd launch the thing without Uncharted- and they aren't going to put out 2 unique uncharted games within a week of each other. It'd cannabilize their own sales.
 
[quote name='007']That seems to be the assumption most places are running under, yeah. The Kaz quote seems to indicate it as well.

Now, here's the thing... the 3DS launched too early. It wasn't just lack of software, but also the fact that parts of the system itself (eShop, WebBrowser) weren't ready yet. Me, I feel like I had more than enough to play from March until now, so I didn't have an issue with the software line-up. In fact, for me, I'd describe right now as the first real 3DS software drought. The March through June time period kept me very, very busy on the 3DS. However, the lack of eShop seemed to imply that this thing wasn't totally ready to go.

Question... running under the assumption that a lack of launch software is the problem for the Vita, would you rather have the system and a small handfull of games (Uncharted, etc.) this October, or would you rather have to wait possibly an additional 6 months for a stronger launch line-up?

I'm curious as to the answer, because as smart as the 'better launch line-up' sounds, I imagine that playing Uncharted on the Vita this October is pretty alluring as well.[/QUOTE]

I'd rather just have the hardware out, but I'm all for them doing whatever makes the most business sense with that...whatever that is :lol:

The 3DS launch seemed decent enough to me...I mean it was much stronger than the DS launch I though.

The PSP launch was pretty amazing, the SNES launch was probably the best ever, but most systems? I don't know...
 
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