How is the PS Vita these days?

It’s sad to watch a good piece of hardware die due to lack of support, and sadly at this point in time the PlayStation Vita is in this exact situation. Sony, however, has not given up on their precious little handheld just yet and they do have a few tricks up their sleeves to see if they can get the momentum they need to keep the Vita from becoming just another failed handheld console.

First off let’s start with the fact that the PS vita Slim is just around the corner with a release date of May 6^th. The slim version of the system is not running the standard OLED, instead it uses a standard LCD screen.  With the swap you will lose out on quality but Sony claims that it will give the Vita 2 more hours of gameplay bringing it up to 6 hours instead of the standard 4 hours. I for one have seen the difference and while it is noticeable, I would personally prefer the extra 2 hours of gaming while on the go. Secondly they had a slight redesign on the buttons stating that they are more responsive than the previous ones.

The system is still coming in at $200 but they are offering a bundle deal with the very well-known game of Borderlands 2. Borderlands 2 has been recreated on the Vita and its official release date is May 13^th but if you pick up the new Ps Vita Slim bundle you will get it a week early. You also get a free 8g memory card which in itself saves the customer around $25. With borderlands 2 being as big of a game that it is I’m sure it will sell some systems. Having a handheld version of a game like that could be just what the Vita needs to get itself back in the game.

Now Borderlands 2 coming to the Vita is a big deal but I believe the Vitas savior is in the hands of Sony’s new service PlayStation Now. PlayStation Now will allow people to stream any game that is in the service onto any PlayStation Vita, 4, 3 and Sony even said if it became big enough they could even figure out a way to stream games on any Sony smart TV. Think about the possibility that this could have for the Vita. They already showed off PlayStation Now with the Vita by streaming The Last of Us. Aside from a few frame rate issues here and there it seems to be working just fine. If Sony can get this new Service up and running and working properly right out of the gate I believe we will see many Vitas selling just due to the fact that now you can buy or even rent a video game to play on the go. The one catch is that you do need to have at least a 5mb download internet speed.

This all being said it’s going to be a bumpy road for the vita. I did have one and I did sell it due to the lack of support. With everything on the horizon I do plan to pick one back up just to see if Sony can get things going again. The PS4 compatibility is nice but it will need a lot more than that to keep it afloat. I am optimistic about what’s going on and I do hope that with the implement of PlayStation Now that the PS Vita will get new life. It’s a very powerful handheld and it deserves more attention than what is has gotten. Let’s just see if Sony can deliver that.