I picked up my PS Vita PlayStation TV from my local GameStop yesterday, much to the surprise of the store attendant. "Do you have a Vita?" Yes. "Do you have a PS4?" Yeah. "Why on earth would you need this?" While I wasn't going to justify my purchase to someone who probably shouldn't be putting me down for it, the answer is pretty simple; I want to play Vita games on my HDTV.
It's funny because a lot of Vita games I review are actually quite suited for portable, pick up and play sessions. And yet, a lot of the times I review them from the comfort of my couch. I honestly don't travel much and when I do, I'm the one driving my family anyways, so that means no gaming in the car for me. Since I'm always playing at home, naturally the thought crossed my mind that I'd love to actually play some of these games on my TV, not to mention with superior controls.
The PS Vita PlayStation TV announcement got me pumped, for obvious reasons. And while not all games would be supported, such as games that relied heavily on touchscreen features, it was games like Toukiden: The Age of Demons, Soul Sacrifice Delta, Ragnarok Odyssey Ace and even PSP games like Gods Eater Burst or Dissidia 012 Duodecim that had me truly excited.
What is this? A console for ants?!
The thing is tiny. And when I say tiny, I mean micro-tiny. It's much smaller than I thought it was going to be. And yet, it houses all the ports you'll ever need. The back of the micro-console houses the power button, USB port, memory card slot, HDMI port, Ethernet port and power port. On the side you have a flap which allows you to use your own Vita cartridges. Adding in an Ethernet port was a smart choice, especially for those that will be using the micro-console for streaming their PS4 to another room, or even using the just launched PlayStation Now Beta for the Vita and PlayStation TV.
The bulk of my experience yesterday was downloading a bunch of titles and seeing if they worked or not, and if they did, how did it look and play on a big screen. For obvious reasons, I booted up Persona 4 Golden, since that's not only a game I have yet to fully finish, but I couldn't wait to see those characters back on my TV, after having played the PS2 game years prior. Not to mention that sweet soundtrack pumping through my surround sound. I also opted to use the DS4 over the DS3, since, let's face it, it's vastly superior.
How the heck did she ever hide those things?!
It's important to note that the PS Vita PlayStation TV outputs at 720p, which actually looks pretty great on an HDTV. However, things start to look less crisp when you use a PC monitor. Since monitors are generally built for native resolution output, having anything sub-native isn't going to look as crisp. Trust me, you definitely want to be using your living your TV.
Persona 4 Golden looked pretty great actually. Menus were crisp and clear, and the animation sequences looked phenomenal. The game itself looked slightly worse, but then again, it is a port of a PS2 title, so that's to be expected. Controlling the game was also great, but given that it's an RPG that doesn't really require any sort of heavy button input, it was never a game I had a problem playing on the Vita to begin with.
I then booted up the recently released Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus, and that's where I truly saw how impressive games can look on your big screen. Everything looked sharp and clean, and not at all distorted or pixelated. This was easily one of the better games to test on the micro-console since everything about it is so flashy. There are magical girl transformations, ridiculous super attacks, and of course, the over-the-top jiggle physics that all look amazing on my TV.
It wasn't just Vita games though that I was excited about, it was PS1 classics as well. After the PS4 came out, I decided to say goodby to my PS3, therefore saying goodbye to playing my purchased PS1 classics on my TV, and left to enjoy them on Vita's 5 inch screen. While I'm not sure what the support looks like for PS1 classics, all the games I own did work just fine. I booted up Final Fantasy VI without a hitch, as well as Toy Story 2 (don't judge me) and played a good hour's worth of the new released Vib Ribbon. I was excited to once again be able to play these titles on my TV. Though strangely enough, the option to change your aspect ratio has been removed.
I did encounter one strange bug regarding Senran Kagura. As of right now, it's not listed as a compatible game on the compatibility list from Sony yet I had no problem booting it up last night. However, this morning when I brought my PS Vita PlayStation TV to work, I got a message saying that the game was incompatible. I wasn't sure what to make of this since there was no patch or update that went through. Five minutes later, I tried it again though, and it worked. Not really sure what the cause of this was, whether it has to do with the game not being listed, but it's certainly something that needs to be fixed.
I'm now realizing that both the games I played last night focused a lot on breasts…
Navigating through menus isn't as intuitive as it is on the Vita, especially if you want to reach the top right circle to check on the status of your downloads, but you're on the fifth page of icons. You have to scroll up all five pages until you can get to it. What's even more baffling is that Vita games allow you to utilize the touchpad to simulate the touchscreen, but this feature isn't available on the main menu.
It was odd not seeing support for games like Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment or even Soul Sacrifice Delta right out of the box, especially since the latter was built with the PS Vita PlayStation TV in mind. It's just a matter of time until more and more games get patched in.
I'm sure by now you've realized that I keep calling the PlayStation TV by its original title, the PS Vita TV, which quite frankly, should have remained the same. A friend of mine didn't realize you don't need a PS Vita for the PlayStation TV to work. They didn't know that it was essentially a PS Vita, without a screen or built-in controls. Sony is doing a poor job at conveying what the PlayStation TV is, and by rebranding it to its new name, is alienating gamers even more.
I do have to say that I am loving it so far. It's a fantastic system that allows me to do what I've wanted to do, ever since I bought Dissidia: Final Fantasy back on the PSP in 2009. With time, more and more games will fill up its compatible library, making it more than just an extension of the Vita. Though for a $100, it's easily one of the best micro-consoles out on the market.
