With the PlayStation Vita's release date set as December 17 in Japan, Sony has issued a press release detailing many of the system's features, accessories, and other noteworthy tidbits. Battery life in particular has caused somewhat of an outcry, although the fairly low figures were to be expected.

The release estimates approximate gaming time on Vita to be between 3 and 5 hours; watching videos will get you about 5 hours; and listening to music in standby mode will go for about 9 hours. It's important to note these figures are based on the screen brightness being at the default setting with headphones plugged in and Bluetooth off. The game-playing figure is for when you're not playing online; 3G or Wi-Fi usage could drag any of these figures down even further.

Fortunately, it's estimated that it will only take 2 hours and 40 minutes to fully charge from an empty battery with an AC adapter. I say "fortunately" because that's almost an hour better than the 3DS, which takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes to fully charge. That system is often criticized for its battery; it, too, provides only about 3-5 hours of gameplay. There have been third-party solutions, but Nintendo attempted to mitigate the problem by including a charging cradle -- something you'll have to pay extra for with Vita.

The Vita battery life news shouldn't be to much of a shock. Back in January, when the system was still called the NGP, we asked Sony's head of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida about the subject of battery life. He answered, "It'll be about the same as the original PSP." In other words: You won't be playing games for more than a few hours without a charge.

What some will definitely find upsetting about the contents of the Sony press release is the pricing of its proprietary memory cards. Internal storage seems to have been sacrificed in order to keep the system's price as low as it is, making the memory cards more necessary. There are four different memory card sizes planned for release in Japan on December 17 alongside the system: 4GB (2,200 yen, about $29), 8GB (3,200 yen, $42), 16GB (5,500 yen, $72), and 32GB (9,500 yen, $124). Those seem incredibly expensive, and it immediately makes the prospect of using the system for all digital games -- Sony has said more than once that all Vita games will be downloadable -- much less attractive.

"Some PS Vita software titles may require the use of separately sold memory card for saving game's saved data while some software titles are capable of saving it on to the PS Vita card itself.

Link: http://www.1up.com/news/vita-battery-life-not-great-memory-cards-pricey

I have no problem with the battery life, though memory card price is a bit of a concern

damn those memory cards are a tad bit pricey

While 3 - 5 hours is not the longest, I've always considered portable gaming as something I would do in "spurts". I don't think I've ever in my life played a handheld for more than 3 hours, even when I had a gameboy.


This is, of course, just my opinion.

EDIT:  Damn just looked at those memory card prices.  Kind of makes the system's price seem a lot higher if you want more than 2 games on it at a time.  Considering PSP games could be over a gig, so Vita's will probably be larger.  Does it come with a default card already in it?

Battery Life isn't the big problem for me. Even though is does suck (so the the 3DS battery)

The problem is those Memory cards. I am not paying that much. Better be cheaper over here.

No, but supposedly a lot of the game cartridges will have extra memory for saves and DLC.

I'm not really surprised at the pricing, Sony stated early on that their plan to profit on the device from day one was including sales of accessories; that made it kind of obvious that their pricing would be exhorbitant.

"Some PS Vita software titles may require the use of separately sold memory card for saving game's saved data"

What the fuck?! Messed up if true...

Ohhhhhhh ok nevermind Vita is still amazing then.

Well smart phones have terrible battery life so this isn't too surprising, but the memory cards are some what shocking.

With cards that expensive, the 3DS is over $100 cheaper, even with the smallest card. And the biggest... You could spend over $400 for a top notch Vita and a game.