Went and picked up mine from HMV with Fifa and Uncharted for £250. Then paid £15 for a memory card and £19.99 for the starter pack (mainly for the case and screen protector). So in all almost £300 to be up and running.
I had played it before today so this was not really first impressions but more longer impressions.
First things is yet again I have believed the bullshit people on here or on the net spout about how powerful it is....for a console supposed to be near PS3 level fuck is it slow! It takes so long to do everything! Load times remind me of the old spectrum days! Without a doubt the slowest "modern" console I have used. People talk about the processor in it being so good buy why does it run so shit? My phone is about x10 faster then it (iphone).
When actually turned it on for the first time it asked if I wanted to use my psn details...no brainer there. But when you enter your details it says it won't let you as you need to update the system first....strange. So after going in anonymous and updating finally was able to login as me! The intro video and the Welcome park games were quite neat I thought. Shows that you can do multiple things with the controls.
Tried running a few of the included things i.e camera and all seems fine! Although I noticed in the settings it says you can change the "panel" design so I changed it to one of the included ones but it hasen't actually changed it. Again a bit odd.
So then finally got around to putting in Uncharted to have a quick bash. The game didn't want to work....I figured I had not put the memory card in, doh! But this pissed me off too because that would mean I would of not been able to play had I not bought one that day! Which is lucky I got one. So have a go at Uncharted and realise straight away all the screens of the game on here or on the net have been taken from cut scenes....The actual in game graphics are nowhere near PS3 level, in fact I honestly would say they look no different to the games I have played on my tablet or phone. The game seems to run sometimes a bit slowly when there are a lot of baddies on screen. I will take a longer look later on tonight at Uncharted.
Next up bunged in Fifa. And to be honest I was pretty impressed! This one looks more in line with what I have been playing on the console. But there are still issues with it. Again you notice slow downs and sometimes passes don't go where you want. Also not having two bumbers on each side is a bit annoying when your used to lobbing and finese shots. Many visual features have been removed i.e static backgrounds/crowd movement and so on. But the essence of the game is there and I think that is what matters. I am sure I will play Fifa a shit load.
All in all am a bit dissapointed in it. It is clearly not ps3 level and is on par with current smartphones/tablets. Granted those things cost a lot more. But the reality is I have a 3DS and a iphone 4s. For me I have used these devices to the point they now feel normal. When I get my next phone/tablet I expect the features in them to come as standard.
That is why I am a bit dissapointed with the Vita because that near £300 is a lot of money. I could of basically got a ps3 + a 360 for it. The features within the system are very limited. You can't talk to other people, can't video call people, can't instant message people i.e texts/whatsapp etc. The interface feels really dated. It reminds me of a Wii and how that sort of looks, it has the feel of it and the icons and the symbols look similar to it. The fact you can't customize it too makes it feel limited. Maybe there is a way to add your own backgrounds and things like that but I couldn't see them. Technically what i'm saying is my Vita will look the same as yours. There are other things missing such as ability to listen to the radio or watch tv. The office style tools such as notepads, calculators and so on. These things are very useful. As are things like calenders.
For me that is the second main problem. It just feels clunky and dated in regards to it's interface. It feels slow. Maybe Sony can do an update to change it eventually who knows.
But my biggest gripe of all is the costs. Sorry but the thing is a rip off in every aspect. It is no wonder the company are in severe financial trouble when they have prices set as they are. To download a game digitally costs more then it does physically. That is simply stupid. The prices on the store are a complete joke and anyone who pays them is being taken advantage of. You obviously have more money then sense. If you saw someone in the street trying to flog a banana to an old guy at a cost of £3 PER one you would tell the guy he should save his money and get it from someone else. You would think that guy is trying to take advantage of that man and thus look badly upon him. I see this as no different. In shops you can pick up games for around £25. There is no reason at all to be charging people double that to purchase games digitally other then greed. It is wrong and needs to change.
People won't like me mentioning/comparing it to smart technology but you can't avoid it. On the app stores you buy games for about 69p. I got GTA3 for that at the weekend. There are no games around these prices. To get the equivelent of these games you have to pay £7 and upwards. Some of them around £20. These games should be nowhere near that. You can argue all you want about how much better the controls are but normal people don't think graphics = buy. The world is a different place now.
Don't get me wrong I do like the Vita, it is better then my 3DS. The games appeal to me more. But unless the price changes for the content then it is going to struggle far more then it already is. As companies get more used to the technology better games will be released but paying £40 for something like Ridge Racer should be illegal.
In time I am sure I will learn to really like it but I know I will only be using it for playing games. Because there is nothing else to do with it.
