The PlayStation Vita: A Phenomenal Piece of Hardware

When it comes to portable gaming consoles, few devices have received as much attention and praise as the PlayStation Vita. Released in 2011, the Vita was a powerhouse of hardware that showcased Sony's commitment to delivering exceptional gaming experiences on-the-go. The device itself was a masterclass in design, with its sleek and compact form factor making it easy to slip into a pocket or purse.

The display was undoubtedly one of the most impressive features of the PS Vita. With its 5-inch OLED screen, the console was able to produce vibrant colors and crisp visuals that were unmatched by other portable gaming devices at the time. The touchscreen capabilities added an extra layer of interactivity to the gaming experience, allowing players to navigate menus, control characters, and interact with environments in a more immersive way. And while some games did require the use of the rear touch pad, this feature was used to great effect in many titles, adding a new level of depth and complexity to gameplay.

One of the standout features of the PS Vita was its ability to play both PlayStation 1 and PSP games. This made it an attractive option for those who already had a large collection of classic games or wanted to experience their favorite handheld titles on a bigger screen. The console's processing power also allowed it to handle more complex graphics, making it a great choice for fans of JRPGs and other visually-oriented genres.

However, despite its many strengths, the PS Vita was not without its weaknesses. One of the main issues was its high price point, which made it inaccessible to many potential buyers. When it launched, the device was expensive, but Sony's commitment to delivering exceptional hardware meant that it was worth every penny. However, as more people began gaming on their phones or switching to the 3DS for Nintendo exclusives like Mario Kart and Zelda, Sony faced stiff competition in the market.

To address this issue, Sony turned to its microconsole roots by releasing the PlayStation TV. This compact device took all the guts of a PS Vita and packaged them into a tiny box with a controller and a few ports. The result was an affordable entry point for those who wanted to experience Vita games without breaking the bank. However, while the console's performance was decent, its inability to support touchscreen games and limited storage capacity made it less than ideal.

The PlayStation TV also raised some questions about what makes a device truly portable. While the Vita was designed to be a handheld console from the ground up, the PS TV felt more like an afterthought. It lacked the Vita's sleek design and compact form factor, instead opting for a larger and bulkier shape that made it harder to carry around. As such, while the PS TV was technically a handheld console, it felt less suited for on-the-go gaming than the Vita.

Sony did release a revised model of the PS Vita, known as the Vita 2000, which addressed some of these concerns. The new device had a slimmer design and a more streamlined interface, making it easier to navigate and use. However, despite its many improvements, the Vita 2000 was still plagued by issues with storage capacity and performance, which limited its appeal to gamers.

In the end, while the PS Vita was an incredible piece of hardware that showed off Sony's commitment to innovation, its high price point and limited market demand meant it never quite reached its full potential. Nevertheless, as a gaming device, the PS Vita remains one of the most unique and fascinating consoles of all time, offering experiences that are still unmatched by other devices today.

Tearaway: A Game That Showcased the PS Vita's Capabilities

One game that really showcased the capabilities of the PS Vita was Tearaway. This innovative title used not only the touchscreen but also the rear touch pad to create a truly immersive gaming experience. With its vibrant colors and engaging gameplay, Tearaway was able to bring out the best in the PS Vita's display, making it a must-play for anyone who wanted to see what this incredible hardware had to offer.

Tearaway was also notable for its use of gyro controls, which added an extra layer of precision and control to the gameplay experience. This allowed players to manipulate objects and navigate environments in ways that felt incredibly intuitive and natural. And while some games did require more complex controls, Tearaway's use of both touchscreen and rear touch pad created a truly unique and memorable gaming experience.

While Tearaway was not a traditional handheld game, it did take full advantage of the PS Vita's capabilities, showcasing the console's incredible display and innovative control schemes. This game really highlighted just how much potential the PS Vita had for creating new and exciting gaming experiences, and it remains one of the most beloved titles on this incredible device.

The PlayStation TV: A Microconsole with a Few Too Many Limitations

As Sony struggled to find its footing in the handheld market, the company turned to its microconsole roots by releasing the PlayStation TV. This compact device took all the guts of a PS Vita and packaged them into a tiny box with a controller and a few ports. While the result was an affordable entry point for those who wanted to experience Vita games without breaking the bank, it raised some questions about what makes a device truly portable.

The PS TV's performance was decent, but its limited storage capacity and inability to support touchscreen games made it less than ideal for on-the-go gaming. And while it had a few ports that allowed players to connect their TVs or other devices, this felt like an afterthought rather than a major selling point. As such, while the PS TV was technically a handheld console, it felt more like a compromise than a fully-fledged portable gaming device.

Despite its limitations, the PS TV did offer something unique for those who wanted to experience Vita games without committing to a full-fledged handheld console. However, in hindsight, it feels more like an experiment gone wrong rather than a successful product launch. While it may have been a way for Sony to test the waters and see what worked and what didn't, it's clear that the company will need to rethink its approach to handheld gaming if it wants to truly compete with Nintendo or Apple in this space.

Conclusion

The PlayStation Vita was an incredible piece of hardware that showcased Sony's commitment to innovation and delivering exceptional gaming experiences. While it had some limitations, including a high price point and limited market demand, the console remains one of the most unique and fascinating devices in the history of portable gaming. Its display, controls, and gameplay all came together to create a truly immersive experience that is still unmatched by other devices today. And while Sony's approach to handheld gaming may have been flawed at times, it will always be remembered as a bold experiment in pushing the boundaries of what is possible on a portable console.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- This, my friends,is every single Sony PlayStationhandheld of all time,starting with the PocketStation.Now, this might not seem like a truehandheld Sony PlayStation,but I can fit it in my hand andit's got a PlayStation logo,so therefore I submit that it counts.Now, unlike the PSPs and Vitasthat we're gonna betalking about very shortly,this was from an earlier time,back when this thing calledthe PlayStation 1 existed.- So it only existed in Japan,and they originally planned torelease it in other markets,but it became so popular in Japanthat they couldn't evenkeep up with demand.- Can I just point out that their mascotwas clearly rendered on a PS1.His textures are not matched correctly.He's a little warpy and weird.- Aw, you keep saying he.That's not just anybody.That is actually Sony's mascot Toro.- Toro.- And his debutwas on the pocket station.- And that was his demise to him.- Apparently, I don't really hearabout him now.- Oh, it's so cute!So outside the actualpocket station itself,we've got ourselves a lanyard.You know what?Before we did this video, Ihad no idea that this existed.If you wanna take yourPocketStation with you on the go,sounds pretty portable to me.Oh, look at this.Even the little watch batteryhas a PlayStation logo on it.See, this has all my favorite things.PSness.- Okay, okay.- No, video's over.- We're not even at the PSPs.- Is that a PlayStationlogo burned into the screen?That seems less than ideal.So we've got ourselveslooks like an A button.We've got four little D-pad buttons here,and then we've got a speaker, the battery.So you can plug in yourPocketStation directly to your PS1,and that allows you to have a wide varietyof different saves and whatnotdropped onto your memory card.On top of that, someof them would give yousome very interesting little bits and bobsof information on your screen.I don't know how to use it, though.- Oh good Lord.- Oh, I don't thinkthat was supposed to come off.Did you, why, you immediately broke it!- Anyway, I fixed it.(both laughing)Now, when you say-- PlayStation.- Handheld, the thing that Ithink is gonna come to mindfor most people, is thePlayStation Portable.2005 was a magnificent year.Not counting the PocketStation,this was the very firstSony PlayStation Portable.Nintendo dominated the market.So what Sony did, was they came inand they threw theirbiggest advantages at it.This PSP was astronomicallymore powerful than the Game Boy,and even the DS.It had a beautiful 16 by 9,272P resolution screen, full color.Nothing against the DS, obviouslyit sold tremendously well,there are a lot of greatgames I love on the DS.But if you were a real gamerin 2005, you wanted a PSP.Now, unlike the puny cartridgesof a Nintendo console,instead you had the beautyof the universal media disc.The one thing that this really missed on,was it didn't have dual analog sticks.Instead, it had a single little nub,which definitely meant thatyou were a little bit limitedwhen it came to certain types of games,like First-Person shooters,and even some racing games.This also had tons of other cool features.You had an internet browser.And believe me when I say,having a portable devicethat I could bring my bedroomand use the internet onwas really great for 13-year-old Austin.I was super excited.I mean, look, how elsewould I view YouTubeand Wikipedia and other kindsof wholesome media sources.- Yep, uh-huh.- Now there were certainly some downsides.Sony in all of their infinite wisdom,love some proprietarybull (censored) media.And oh, and oh boy.And oh boy, did they loveMemory Stick Pro Duo.So the UMDs were obviously proprietary,but also the media was too.And I'll tell you a one gig media stick,I wanna say I paid like 80bucks for it or something.It was so expensive.But it was importantbecause the PSP alsohad PlayStation store.You could actuallydownload games on your PSP.Should we go down memory lane togetherand experience some PSness together?- Oh.- Never heardmy DS make that sound.(all laughing)- Do you actually know how big UMD was?I don't know.- So it can holdup to 1.8 Gigabytes.- That's a lot of data, right?I mean that's denser thanlike a DVD of the time.'Cause DVD is way biggerand can only hold like 4.7 gigs.Yes, there were trade offs with UMD,but the thing was Sonydid a really good job.Things like skipping and whatnotwas very rarely an issue.And while it did makeit a little vibrating,and I will certainly sayit impacted battery life.But gotta consider it's 2005.So let's play some Blazin' Trails.All right, wow these graphics look great.Listen to that beautiful audio,and that sub 30 frames per second.While not a perfect start,this was a huge win for Sony.And really their best shotat trying to take onNintendo's absolute dominancein handhelds, but they didnot stop with the PSP 1000.Oh no, the PSness continuedfor many years to come.- This is ridiculous.- No more PSness.I apologize, okay.- Hey, you know what?- I said it enough times,it sounds a little sus now, I'm sorry.We'll move on to the PSP 2000 yet now.Now this my friends is thePlayStation Portable 2000,which came out a little over two yearsafter the original model.I mean, in some ways itwas a classic Slim model.It also was significantly lighter.I mean, you put these two side by side,I mean it feels likeit's significantly less.But also as a traditional Slim model,they removed some features.So things like the IR Blaster is gone,but they did add some cool features.So while it still has both the mini-USB,as well as it's got thelittle like barrel plugthat you can charge it with,this also supported charging via mini-USB.Now this was also a morepowerful version of the PSP.So we had double the ram, Itwent from 32 to 64 megabytes.And it also had more internal storage.And by this point, theyhad also unlocked that CPU,So was always running atthat much higher frequency.On top of that thishad, a smaller battery.What?- Just to be clear though,although the battery is smaller,due to efficiency increases,it actually will have the samebattery life as the original.- One of the things I missmost about the PSP 1000.So you pop the UMD here, listen to this.(UMD clicking)Solid, chunky, satisfying.I'm doing the same thing on the PSP 2000.(UMD clicking)(image shouting)It was no longer spring-loaded.It's just this little like door.It worked totally fine,but it also didn't quite feel as hefty.The PSP 2000 though did addone very important feature,the ability to run video out.Now mind you, you had to getlike a really specific cablethat was proprietary, surprise, surprise.But you actually had theability to take your PSP 2000and run it up to your TV.Wow, I totally was ready for that.This is said really weird connector.So you plug it in here,and then you can connect itto your fancy high definition television,and get your 277P output from it.This was the Switch before it was cool.Like see this on your DS.The PSP, the original, likeit's got like the littlelike slightly kind of scooped grips on it,and that extra kind of weightand stuff to me feels good.Mind you, I'm biased.This, because it's so thinlike there's nothingreally for you to grab on.Feels significantlyless comfortable for me.Like I almost have to likegrab it with my middle fingers,which it supports, but it's fine.The original PSP just felt better.This just feels a little toolight, a little too cheap.I mean, look, this thing looks terrific.Now mind you,the screen doesn't reallyhold up all that well,but the fact that this wasrunning on portable hardwarein the year 2008, mobile gamesat the time were laughablein comparison to whatyou get with the PSP.And mind you, this was the PSP 2000.This has already beenaround for a couple of yearsat this point.This video was sponsored by Stamps.com.As our business continues to grow,taking a bunch of trips to the post officecan become a real hassle.That's why Stamps.com is allabout bringing these servicesof the US Postal Service andUPS right to your computer,No lines, no traffic, no 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3000,which I have a boxed copythat I actually purchasedwhen it was still new in the store.And I'm not gonna open it,'cause I'm gonna save itfor a special occasion.But I have a already opened PSP 3000 here.Now this actually cameout only about a yearafter the PSP 2000, and themain upgrade was the display.So in some markets, this isactually called the PSP Bright,but regardless, you'll seethe screen is a whole lot,wow, that's literally twoseconds and you can see,this had basically allthe features you'd want.And I would say if you'regonna play a PSP today,this is probably the one you wanna get.I still prefer howcomfortable the 1000 is.Look, the screen alone on the 3000really does make a tremendous difference.And especially once you gotinto some of the later modelgames like Gran Turismo,you kind of needed that extra ram,otherwise the load timeswere incredibly slow.About to win this race.Everyone wanna watch me win a race?Look at that, look at that.That's what I call skill.- Mario Kart's looking really weird.- Can you go back to your corner?- I'm sorry, did you,you're forgetting a console.- Oh, oh Jared, you're totally right.This stupid (censored) existed.Oh, I totally forgot.This is the PSP Street.The reason I forgot about itwas because this was anultra-budget version of the PSPthat was never launched inthe US, I don't think, right?- No, this was onlylaunched in in PAL regions.- PAL.- This wasn't even in Japan.- Who wants to live in a PAL region?50 hertz, get outta here.- As your subscribercount drops by half.- Wait, can you watch myvideos in PAL regions?- What do youthink you're just banned-- Boy oh boy, Europe, you all are great.(speaking in foreign language)- Here, here, do onefor all the British people out there.- Hallo.- (laughing) For some reasonthat was the most offensive one.(both laughing)- The PSP Street, it was for the cool kidswho didn't need thoseextra features like wifior a microphone.The cost cutting was all over the place.I mean, single mono speaker.You didn't even have the video out.You only had the headphone jack.All the buttons and switches feel worse.I mean, look at this.So compared to the PSP 1000,which has all these veryfantastic tactile buttons,you had all these shortcuts.This has like touch sensitive nonsense.Select start, that's it.I mean, uck, ehhh.This was like, oh we're gonna just usethe last few sales outta PSP.- Let's go.- Let's go with the PSP Go.The PSP Go launched in 2009.This was the world's firstfully digital console.Maybe there's some weirdobscure thing before it,but certainly the firstcompletely mainstream console.Now the other thing is, as you can see,especially compared tothe 1000, wildly smaller.I mean literally in every possible waybecause it had that sweet sidekick actionwhere you could just pull it out,and then you would have not onlyyour literally kind of small buttons,but also you have yourvery small level nubbin.This was not wildly successful.Now there are certainly some downsidesto shrinking the PSP somuch to create the Go.It had a smaller 3.8 display,which admittedly was the same resolution,so it was a little sharper.But everything certainly looksa little bit small on here,a little crunchy, especiallywith big boy hands.You got a like kindalittle that twisty action.Look at it compared to likea phone of today, right?I mean you can just see justhow tiny this thing truly was.I mean this is a small Pixel 7, right?It's not even like one ofthe big chunkiest phones.But the fact that entirerelied on digital gamesmeant that while Sonywere living in the future,sadly that future has passed,'cause the PSP store no longer with us.I don't think there areany games on this, right?- There are.- Are there?- This is justwhat you had already downloaded on it.But there are games.- I'm glad that out of allthe games lost to time,this is the one that was saved.Honestly, this actually looks pretty good.Mostly because the art stylevery much kinda leansinto the PSP aesthetic.And sadly while this consoleis basically no longer with us,'cause you can't do anything.It really set the foundationfor the next generation,the PlayStation Life.- You're missing one.You're not forgetting any consoles,but you are forgetting a phone.- Oooh, the Xperia Play.This my friends, is the PlayStation phone.No, not your stupid batphoneor your Galaxy S22 Ultrawith a controller or whatevernonsense, no, no, no.The Xperia Play is a devicethat I actually made videos onback in the day.'Cause this was an Android powered devicethat actually was reallydesigned for gaming.So not only do you have,so your shoulder buttons,but you actually have a fullslide out range of controls,including two little touch pads.This had the full back compatibilitywith PlayStation 1 games.And they really kind ofmarketed this as a phonethat you could actually buy gamesthat were specifically designed for it.Now, as you may haveguessed, 2011 and Android,not a great combinationwhen it comes to gaming,which was part of the reasonwhy most of these gameswere kind of bad.But you know what I could do?I could play the Sims 3.while not really supportedanymore, since it's Android,you actually can still likedownload stuff on and side load.This was a proper gaming phoneway before there was theRAZR phone or the ROG phone.And it had Sony's backing, problem though,was that no one really bought it.Behold the glory, magnificence, and wonderof what I can honestly sayis the best PlayStation,portable handheld they ever made.The PS Vita 1000, this had so much.So keep in mindthat we're coming fromthe PSP and the PSP Go,and obviously they made a wide varietyof these things, right?But they threw it all in the garbageand instead startedfresh with the PS Vita.First of all, significantly more powerful.It also had significantly better graphicsand had a much better display.So I'm gonna fire this thing up.Behold, my friends, touch.The Vita had a wild interface.What this really did wasbring the PlayStation portableinto the 2010, 2011 era.The competition was almost less.So things like the DS and the 3DS,and almost more so thanthe devices in your pocket,which spoil alert,ultimately ended up winning over the Vita.Some of the things thishad a 544P display,there was OLED.And while this OLED might not match upto the OLED that's probably on the phoneyou're watching this video on right now.For 2011, the screen was phenomenal.The Vita really had a major emphasison the idea of being an online console.Yes, the PSP had online games,you could download them,you could play them against other people,but the Vita took it up a notch.Not only did it have terrific supportwith not only the PS3 and the PS4,including things like remote play.But on top of that with the3G model, that was an option,You actually could playcompletely remotely.On top of that, you alsohad a camera on the back.You have a camera on the front.Dual analog sticks.Yeah, my friends dual,count 'em, not one nub, two.The PS Vita also dropped the UMDin favor of the much moremodern PS Vita to Game Cards,which are pretty muchexactly what you have on the Switch today.And on top of that, theyditched the memory stick,mini micro, Duo Pro-- Oh, so they switched itto microSD card?- Exactly.Except proprietary PS Vita memory cardsthat cost a hundred dollars.- But they atleast put storage on itso that you don't have to buy.- No, you had to buy one pretty much.But it's fine because Sonyloves and cares about usand delivered a terrific,a terrific experience.Not to spoil some of the otherthings that are coming up,but this was by far the best model,because when they broughtthis out, it was expensive,but it was worth it.But you know, what I can do,I could play one of the most unique gamesthat ever hit the Vita, which is Tearaway.Tearaway is a game that does a great jobof showing off just how terrificthis display looks today.It also uses not only the touchscreen,but also the rear touch pad.And look, you also have gyro controls.You have pretty mucheverything you could need.And games like Tearaway did a terrific jobof showing off not only the gameplay,but also this terrific OLED display.Alas, this is where the Vitastarted to take a littlebit of a darker turn,because while the hardwarewas terrific, the graphics,pretty much everything wasgreat about the PS Vita.It was launching at a timein which more and more peoplewere gaming on theirphones, or buying a 3DSfor the very many Nintendo exclusiveslike Mario Kart and Mario Kart again,and Zelda and Mario Kart and Pokemon,- And Mario Party.- And Mario Party, which meantthat Sony had to get creativebecause while the Vita was terrific,and again a phenomenal piece of hardware,it was expensive, and it did notimmediately have that samekind of explosive growththat the wide variety of PSPs did.Which meant that theyhad to think a little bitoutside the box, the PlayStation TV box.Okay, you hit my PSP 1000, I'm upset.The PlayStation TV, not to be confusedwith the PlayStationTV that they launched,that was a TV with the PS2built in, only in Japan,because that was a reallyweird specific thing.Or, as Jared sprints and Naruto runs overto pick up our PlayStation 3D TV,which is a very different device.No, this is the PS Vita TV.And America's PlayStationTV in most places,this was just called the Vita TV.So what Sony did was they tookall the guts of a PS Vita,instead shipped you aPlayStation 3 controllerand a little tiny box thatis all the way in the bottom.This my friends, is the PlayStation TV,and it's about as simple as it gets.So around back you had a fewports, including your power.It was kind of a microconsole before micro consolesever really took off, eventhough they never really did.With this, you could playalmost every PS Vita game.- Aaah.- And by extension, I saidalmost, I'm getting to that.By extension, you couldplay a lot of PS1 games,as well as PSP games,because most of thosewere available digitally.The touch capabilities werenot available on the Vita,which meant that any gamethat required a touchscreen,either didn't work, or straightup wouldn't even launchon the PlayStation TV.So as you can see,once you actually getthe PS TV up and running,it does support 720P.And while most Vita games don'tlook amazing on a display,you know they're meant tobe played on a four-inchor five- inch ,or whateversize that handheld display is.But you'll see that alot of games work fine.The problem though is thatthe unsupported titlesare quite extensive.But this is technicallya handheld, adjacent ish.This is not, this is very much not good.The thing was the PS TV,while not quite as powerfulas something like the PS3,it had some performance.And the thing is, the Vitareally had its sort of best life cyclewith a lot of JRPGs and games.Because in Japan, thiswas tremendously popularfor many years, up to the pointwhere it only really got discontinueda few years ago, at this point.Whereas I think in the US,they stopped selling the PSVita and the TV like 2017or something, like was a long time ago.Fast forward to 2014,we've got the one and onlytrue hardware revision,which is the PS Vita 2000.The 2000 was a, I'll saya better looking console.It was certainly slimmer,but also it lacked some features.Most notably, it droppedthis beautiful OLED displayfor a okay screen at best.The smaller size doesmake a bigger difference.And I do really like,especially this blue, right?This looks, I think terrific.So instead of that proprietary connector,they did bring in micro USB.You'd also had a littlebit of more storage.So I believe that's had 1Gig of internal storage,not enough to really install games,but at least you didn't absolutely needone of those expensive Vita memory cards.The thing was though, it's very plasticy,it's very cheap.It also lost the 3G model.But you could tell this is Sony saying,"Hey, the Vita stillexists, please play me."This is Borderlands 2.First of all, that's asolid 13 frames per second.Now Borderlands is certainlya very stylized game,but this looks and runsabsolutely terrible.This is so impossible to control.It feels like there's like ahalf second of lag between it.Look at this.And mind you, this was after I think,like three updates to improve performance.On top of that, if you wanted to say,I don't know, turn up thebrightness of the display.Certain games such as Borderlandstook up too much power.The Vita wouldn't handle it.It literally will not letme max out the brightnessbecause it's alreadyrunning it a 100 percent.Just look at them side by side.The bezels, the thinness,it was a pretty significant step up.But keep in mind, thatthis is three years later,and at this point, the Vita's still alive,but it's approaching life support.This is sadly the lastSony portable consolethat they have ever made.Sony treated the Vita likethey had treated the PSP,stuck in the old ways,focusing on it being a consolein a world that wasquickly becoming dominatedby smartphone gaming.They had so many things going for them,it felt like they gave up onit exactly the wrong time.And guess who came along withwhat has ultimately turned outto be probably one of themost popular portable consolesof all time.(sign snapping)In just a few short years,Nintendo was able to deliver a console,which outperformed theVita in performance,in screen quality, in games, and in salesin every possible way.They spent all this time building up,and if only they had givena little bit more of a try.I truly believe that we wouldbe playing our portable PS4,the Vita 2.0, whateverthey wanted to call it,and it would be right upthere with the Switch.Well my friends, if we'velearned anything today,if you can't beat 'em, give up, and fail.That's the Sony motto.(car tires screeching)