PS Vita Specs Announced

An anonymous reader writes "Sony has announced the hardware specs for the PS Vita and the details have confirmed most fans' hopes instead of their fears. The heart of the system is an ARM-developed Cortex A9 chip with four cores and a PowerVR SGX GPU. The screen is a 5-inch OLED capacitive touch-screen (with multi-touch) and a resolution of 960 x 544. The system will include 512MB of RAM and an additional 128MB of discrete VRAM. There will be front and rear cameras capable of 60fps at VGA resolution (640 x 480)."

But will it be fun...

[Darkness404]

But will it be fun? Hardware specs mean nothing if there aren't any good games for it. Hopefully Sony learns from Nintendo's mistake and actually has a decent library of games. Still waiting on a non-remake or original DS game to play on my 3DS I got as a gift back in June...

Re:Finally, something that doesn't record in 720p.

[MBCook]

512MB is pretty good. The PS3 only has 256MB of RAM (plus another 256MB for graphics). That's the same amount that's in the XBox 360, but on the Vita there is another 128MB of dedicated graphics RAM. In this respect, the Vita is very well specced.

I usually wish consoles had more memory when they came out. Imagine the difference doubling the ram on the PS3 or 360 would have. Doubling the Wii's RAM would make a big difference too. RAM tends to end up so cheap, it just seems like a lack of foresight not to put more in.

The Vita is going to have big problems though. It's nice, but it's still a portable console, and those seem to be dying. The only real thing I'd say this has going for it above an iPhone is the controls, and someone could fix that on the iPhone with a shell. The 3DS isn't doing well, and the PSP was never that big here in the states. In the last year or two, it's barely felt like an also-ran. The only people I know who love them do so because they hacked it. My PSP gathers a ton of dust, coming out once in a blue moon.

Good luck Sony. Even if the Vita is a kick-ass product, you've got a hell of a battle in front of you.

Re:Finally, something that doesn't record in 720p.

[Anonymous Coward]

People who previously owned UMDs were allowed to download free copies of their games from PSN.

Actually, due to "legal and technical reasons" [gamespot.com] this never happened.

Re:But will it be fun...

[JackAxe]

Your comment about the 3DS can be said about pretty much every console prior.

A brand new system always requires time for developers to figure it out and more importantly to test the waters, so as to make sure it's worth investing in with original IPs, or pretty much anything that's not just a port.

Re:Finally, something that doesn't record in 720p.

[Darkness404]

A game console's specs really don't matter. What really matters are the games. Perhaps I'm in the minority but I really don't care if a game doesn't have pure HD graphics and ray-tracing and other eye candy as long as the game is fun. Heck, I'd rather have worse graphics and get rid of loading screens on any game than have better graphics with loading screens. I'd rather have a fun FPS like Team Fortress 2 that doesn't have fancy graphics than a game with broken gameplay but has excellent graphics. Once you get past a certain point where the game isn't really limited (I'd say about the 16 bit era for 2D games and the PS2/GameCube/Xbox era for 3D games) improving the graphics doesn't significantly improve gameplay.

iPhone "gaming" annoys the heck out of me. Most of the "games" must be programmed for people with the attention span of a gnat. There really is no game to speak of. I don't need a 70+ hour RPG every time, but I expect a game to have at least a good 10 hours of gameplay in single player mode to complete the story or main objective in a modern 2011 game if I'm going to be paying any money at all for it.

The 3DS was launched -way- too soon. First, its battery life is pathetic, especially when compared to the DS Lite which can hold a charge for a long time. Secondly, what games were worth playing to buy a 3DS for on launch day? The launch was the worst launch I think I've seen on a console in recent memory. Third, its already nearly September and there are -still- no decent games out for the 3DS that aren't ports. Yes, I love Ocarina of Time, but do I really need it on a million different consoles with nothing added? After all, I can get it on the N64, on the GameCube (with the added Master Quest for free for pre-ordering Wind Waker), on the Wii (via Virtual Console for $10) and now on the 3DS? I mean, if there was some added content, a re-worked sountrack or something it would be a must have, but assuming you've already played it, what's the point? And yes, Street Fighter IV: 3D edition is good, but again, it is a port.

I think that there is a huge market for real handheld games, it is just both Sony and Nintendo aren't putting out any games worth buying at the moment.

How To Spot The Idiots In A Console Thread

[Anonymous Coward]

The ones babbling about RAM sizes.

"Good luck Sony. Even if the Vita is a kick-ass product, you've got a hell of a battle in front of you."

Uh oh Sony! A random idiot posting on Slashdot just let everyone in the world know about 'teh RAM problem'.

LOL!

105 million PS1s
155 million P32s
55 million PS3s
75 million PSPs

Just think how many consoles Sony could have sold if they had your valuable insight into console graphics hardware design!