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Options to occupy your time will be at a plus one on Tuesday.
The Playstation Vita, the successor to the Playstation Portable, is being released. Or at least those who pre-ordered a bundle. The full American release date is one week later on Feb. 22. Why? Who knows, Sony loves to make some odd decisions sometimes.
Anyway, unlike the last generation when the only competitor for the PSP was the Nintendo DS, the Vita will be battling it out with both the 3DS and mobile gaming.
There are about a thousand articles online everywhere claiming that both 3DS and Vita are doomed because people like their cheap $1 games and don't want to pay $20-50 for hand held titles anymore.
Sure, sales are not going to be as good as they once were. That's what happens when you have competition. But for gamers like myself, that aren't all that interested in five minute time wasters like Angry birds, systems like the 3DS and the Vita are must haves. Now that I'm married, I find myself using my DS and 3DS more than ever, since the wife wants to the TV and I still need to spend at least some time with her at night.
And games offered on the Vita, like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Hot Shots Golf: World Inviational, would not run on a smart phone. Not to mention the lack of buttons to play the games. These are games that took more than a week to develop while someone was working out of their basement. I'm not knocking indy games. They are great fun for what they are, they just won't occupy nearly as much of your time as many titles found on a dedicated gaming handheld.
Everyone's got their preference. And the nice thing is, everyone can find what works best for them. Regardless, you're shelling out $150-plus for either a system or a smart phone. The smart phone will hit you with a $30 data plan charge, or you can opt to buy a game a month for around $30 for a system. If you got money to burn, do both! I certainly don't fall into that category, so a dumb phone I will continue to carry.
I'm sticking with just the 3DS for the time being. Vita doesn't have my favorites on it, but I know it will work for others. Heck, for the time being, Pushmo continues to be my favorite game to pull out for 20-30 minutes and let myself escape for the world for a bit. And in the end, that's what we are all aiming to do.
Side thougthts:
Remember back in history class, when we learned about Abraham Lincoln's vampire hunting hobby? Yeah, me neither. But don't worry, there's a movie coming called Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, based off a book apparently, that is coming out. I died a little when I saw this.
Valentine's Day is Tuesday. You forget to buy your significant other something as well? Yeah, that's going to be a fun adventure at the store on the holiday itself...
Video games have been a part of Andrew's life since childhood. Buying a NES with his own money in second grade, Andrew has continued playing games through the Nintendo 64, Gamecube, PS2 and now the Wii, PS3 and PC gaming on Steam era. Throw in the handheld systems of Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, DS and now 3DS, and the collection in his house could rival that of some used game stores. Growing up and becoming an editor at The Suburbanite newspaper did not mean giving them up. Keep up with the latest video games and discuss some classics as we remind ourselves being adult doesn't mean you have to stop gaming.
