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PS VITA
hat does Vita mean?” Kaz
Hirai rhetorically asked the
audience at E3 2011, as Sony
officially revealed what had
been codenamed NGP (Next
Generation Portable), the
true successor to PlayStation
Portable. That first PSP had
been Sony’s first steps intothe handheld market, and the
company knew it could push
things further. Much further. But
what does Vita mean, actually?
It’s something we’re still
pondering all these years on.“Vita means life,” Hirai continued
back in 2011, “and we’re confident
that PlayStation Vita will be the
first product that truly blurs
those lines between PlayStation
entertainment and your real life.”
With production of the console
ending properly this year in 2019,
it’s been an eight-year-long, veryfull life (it launched late 2011 in
Japan, and early 2012 in the West).
Despite the end of production,
it’s still a console filled with the
life essence – that Vita – thanks,
quite simply, due to the sheerwealth of excellent games available
on the system, from brand-new
experiences that wowed us for
the very first time to portable
versions of some of the greatest
PlayStation games of all time. It
was (and is) a console that united
the past and the future, and gave
us the best of PlayStation to hold
in our hands wherever we went.HARD(WARE) TO FAULT
But it wasn’t just the great games
that defined what PlayStation
Vita was (though it did have a
super line up of launch titles). It
was just how much Sony built into
the thing. Feature-rich is a term
that gets bandied about, but in
2011 PS Vita was a one percenter.
Two analogue sticks, a multi-
touch screen and a touch-pad on
the back, Sixaxis motion sensors,
and both front-facing and rearThe existence of a successor
to PSP is announced, referred
to only as the Next Generation
Portable, earning it the
mysterious ‘NGP’ moniker.At E3 Kaz Hirai takes to the
stage to unveil NGP as
PlayStation Vita, with a big
presentation showing its
many hardware features.Less than a year from the
announcement, the console
launches in Japan. Those not
mad enough to import are
very jealous because......it doesn’t come west to the
UK until February. Though
with a stellar launch lineup
and tons of features to play
with, we’re satisfied.SPRING TO LIFE
From a rumour to
our trusty travelling
companion... PS Vita,
this is your life!27 jan – 2011 6 JUN – 2011 17 dec – 2011 22 feb – 2012“FEATURE-RICH IS A TERM THAT
GETS BANDIED ABOUT, BUT PS
VITA WAS A ONE PERCENTER.”
DEVELOPER #1
GRAHAM SMITH
Co-founder and producer,
Drinkbox Studios
Games: ales From Space: T
Mutant Blobs Attack,
Guacamelee!, Severed
“The Vita was the first
handheld console that
Drinkbox Studios developed
games for. Getting up and
running on the Vita was super
smooth-due to its similarity to
PS3 development, and the
performance of the device
was good enough to allow us
to run our games without
sacrificing any quality. We
found a lot of success on the
Vita, having released three
games on the console,
including a launch title that
was designed specifically with
the Vita in mind (Mutant Blobs
Attack). We also made it
possible to play Guacamelee!
on PS3 using the Vita as a
controller where the Vita
screen would show the
mini-map while you played.
Overall, the Vita was an
absolute delight to work with.”