Sony's NeoGeo Pocket's (PSP2/Vita) business/non technical ramifications talk

[patsu]

I'm guessing they are just looking at iPhones and tablets, none of which typically are set up for multiple users.

They also don't limit an iPad to just one account. My iPad is sync'ed to my wife and my own laptops. It has apps from both of our account. I can play them anytime I want without resyncing/wiping the iPad content. Software updates can now be done on the iPad itself.

Then, you can log in and out of GameCenter to capture your achievements/trophies to different account.

On top of that, it will automatically sync downloaded content to multiple iOS devices.


Sony's new system may be too restricted. Perhaps it is a system designed for businesses after soliciting developers and retailers input. But this crude DRM system will not buy them consumers. I guess we'll see how much more $$$ they make out of the strict DRM in the west, and if they get additional exclusive developer or retailer support.

 

[patsu]

Hilariously, I'm getting an add on Beyond3D itself for that PSP Vita rip-off. It links to a site that offers both highly overpriced imports at $700 and then puts the PSP Vita 'Android' right next to it as if it is of the same series and from Sony.

That's criminal, no straight way about it. This is what the add links to:

http://www.fyygame.com/ps-vita-accessories.html?gclid=CM3imaC-i60CFQSIDgodyCvjlg

Yap, if you visit China and read the local magazines, they can see interesting iPhone vs local-brands reviews too. ^_^

 

[patsu]

Vita tear down:
http://pocketnews.cocolog-nifty.com/pkns/2011/12/ps-vita-pch-110.html


The launch seems very positive (YESH !). Have heard a few rough edges, but may need to validate them:

* There are a few (or just one ?) crashing bugs in the OS, not often but they are there.

* Web browser cannot be viewed in portrait mode. HTML5 support seems limited. May be based on HTML4 ?

Also, the system will ask you to quit the running game when you try to open the web browser at the same time. This will be fixed later.

* PSOne game support will also come later.

* The universal screen snapshot function does not pause a game. So you may die in the game when trying to take a picture. It is also blockable by the developers.


I think the Vita game library stands out the most. No loud complain about battery life yet, which is surprising to me. ^_^

 

[Arwin]

Yap, if you visit China and read the local magazines, they can see interesting iPhone vs local-brands reviews too. ^_^

Yeah, but how does that surprise anyone? It's China, offering stolen products to the Chinese. That's a known quantity. But this, an ad to Western customers, on Beyond3D no less, is new.

And yes, launch seems to be pretty smooth for Sony, especially considering the announcement was only in January, they have good stock, and a lot of software. Good job so far, will be interesting to see how it goes in the west. Hopefully they'll have improved the browser by then.

 

[patsu]

The most interesting news is probably:
http://pspslimhacks.com/hello-world-on-the-ps-vita/

Update: Wololo has commented on this Hello world. Its using the PSP Emulator part of the PS Vita. So its not a Vita exploit as such. More of a PSP exploit running on the PS Vitas’s PSP emulator.

Japanese PSP scener Mamosuke announced today on his blog that he was able to confirm a “Hello World” running on the PS Vita through the embedded PSP emulator. The exploit was made by developer teck4, and most likely relies on one of our good buffer overflow friends. and for those who are wondering “is it real?”, my current answer is that I haven’t tried it yet, but knowing Mamosuke fairly well I can tell you it’s true.

Technically, the idea behind the hack is simple but brilliant: the PS Vita has a PSP emulator, and we have plenty of PSP game exploits lying around… can we assume they will work on the emulator? That’s what teck4 tried, and the answer is yes, so he managed to run unsigned code on the PS Vita.

For those who join this blog for the first time, basically how this works is that a special save data file is crafted for a specific game. When the game is asked to load the save data, through a flaw in the game code we manage to re-route the game into executing code that we wrote ourselves. That code is usually very simple, displaying a simple message (typically “hello world”, hence the name).

From there, what happened for the PSP was that we integrated these exploits into our homebrew loading tool, Half-byte Loader, which allows people to load more interesting homebrews such as emulators, etc…

If we can run PSP homebrew on Vita PSP emulator, perhaps Sony could support them officially via a sandbox.

At 30,000 feet level, it sounds better than OtherOS on PS3.

 

[patsu]

Which Is Faster: Vita Game Cards or Vita Downloads?
http://kotaku.com/5869222/which-is-faster-vita-game-cards-or-vita-downloads/gallery/1

With the PlayStation Vita, you can buy retail game card games or download digital versions from the PlayStation Store. It's your call. But before you do, there's something you should know: one is slightly faster than the other.

In this video from sister site Kotaku Japan, a card copy of PS Vita game Uncharted: Abyss and a digital copy. The card copy is running on the top Vita. The digital version is on the bottom.

... [another example] ...

The difference is only 2 to 4 seconds. Nothing major, but if you're someone who counts every second you have, then you might want to go with the game cards.

 

[patsu]

PlayStation Vita launches in Japan, shifts 321,400 units in two days
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/playstation-vita-launches-in-japan-shifts-321-400-units-in-two/

Kaz Hirai probably had a sleepless weekend as he and the team waited for the two-day sales figures for Sony's PlayStation Vita. He can probably relax a little, knowing that 321,400 of the things were exchanged for cold, hard cash in the retail outlets of Japan.

Hah, and the memory cards !

 

[patsu]

Shuhei Yoshida Interview: The Present and Future of PS Vita
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011...-interview-the-present-and-future-of-ps-vita/

PSB: How far ahead are you looking now and what can we expect from the second and third phases of releases?

SY: Generally we look three years ahead when we work on games. We have a fairly firm plan right up to 2013 but, because PS Vita gives us the opportunity to work on smaller titles like Escape Plan and Sound Shapes, I’m certain we will end up working on more games than we even know about at this moment. On top of the launch line-up, we have already announced LittleBigPlanet, Resistance: Burning Skies, ModNation: Road Trip, and Killzone.

In the past we launched PSP and then shifted our attention to PS3 when that came on the horizon, which we now concede was a mistake. So with PS Vita we are working on this huge range titles and planning ahead for a constant supply of excellent games.

PSB: Which games do you predict will be most popular at the Japanese launch?

SY: Actually, we collect data from retailers taking pre-orders and we know that Everybody’s Golf (note: known as Hot Shots Golf in North America) is the most popular and UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss is number two. I’m very proud that they are both Worldwide Studios titles.

The Japan launch Vita games are still "samey". The AR game does feel gimmicky. They may need more interesting apps for the US & EU launch.

EDIT:
Vita may appear too conversative after next CES.

 

[patsu]

Battery time... gleaned from noisy GAF thread:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=33619787&postcount=201

Battery Test:

3G/Wifi Model
Mobile Data (3G) ON (but is probably over-riden by...
Wifi ON (connected to home network) -- this means I was getting notifications/etc the whole time, all on
Bluetooth OFF
Brightness MAX (note: Brightness in OS MAX, caps in-game at about 80% [battery saving measure -- even 80% brightness is really bright...])
Near Auto-Updating ON
Headphones, volume at 50%

Time was spent: Play UMvC3 from Game Card (including about 30 minutes of Online play)
Occasionally flipping to Web Browser for quick look-ups, as well as Trophies app to check trophies (game kept running in the background, obviously)

Full to Death: 4:29
Warning notice came on at 4:11

Movie Battery Test:

Wifi Model Vita
Wifi OFF/ON (connected to home network) -- 4 hours OFF when at work, but at home it was ON.
Bluetooth ON
Brightness MAX
Near Auto-Updating: I didn't even check because I use WiFi model of Vita.
Headphones, volume at 100%

Time was spent: Played a constant loop of Man from Nowhere. (Ripped the movie and compressed it to 320x240. Found out better software too late. Bitrate was 828kbps if anyone is interested.)

Full to Death: 7:41

Might want to ignore the 3DS measurements here since people are saying Power Saving mode was off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u4xyABASlc&feature=player_embedded

Game: Uncharted
Time: 3:47

sound max, headphones, no wifi and highest level of brightness.

 

[patsu]

I thought Vita has a fixed battery. Apparently, users can replace it by unscrewing 2 screws:

Sony official battery pack:
http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/119/1194779p1.html

Others:
http://www.amazon.com/New-Trent-iCruiser-IMP1000-Blackberry/dp/B003ZBZ64Q/ref=pd_sim_e_4

 

[Arwin]

Yep, I read that too the other day. That's good news. Also, battery life seems slightly better than PSP at launch, which is good.

 

[Sigfried1977]

That's surprising. I got a comfortable 4.5 - 5 hours worth of playtime out of my PSP 1000 at medium brightness while using headphones. Now if the Vita can indeed match that I'm more than content.

 

[patsu]

PlayStation Vita launches in Japan, shifts 321,400 units in two days
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/playstation-vita-launches-in-japan-shifts-321-400-units-in-two/

Hah, and the memory cards !

PlayStation Vita Shipped 500,000 -- Nikkei
http://andriasang.com/comzfo/vita_shipment/

Sony shipped 500,000 PlayStation Vita units at launch, IGDA Japan vice coordinator Kyoshi Shin said today in a column for Nikkei.

Shin's article offered a critical look at the Vita's launch, noting that Sony failed to sell out of the initial shipment. Yesterday, Enterbrain reported a first week (covering just the 17th and 18th) sales total of 321,000 units for the system.

The main problem the system has faced at launch, Shin believes, is price. He notes that the cheapest purchase, assuming you buy the Wi-Fi model, an 8 gigabyte memory card, and a ¥5,000 game, would cost you about ¥33,000.

...

Media Create Reports 325,000 Units Sold For PlayStation Vita
http://andriasang.com/comzfw/media_create_vita_sales/

Vita sold 325,000 units in its first week (covering the 17th and 18th), according to Media Create stats (as reported at IT Media). ...

Media Create estimates that the system's sell-through rate is 65%. This is based off an estimate of 500,000 units shipped, which matches a figure shared in a column that was posted to Nikkei earlier today (it's possible that the Nikkei column was based off Media Create's shipment estimates).

Media Create CEO Atsushi Hosokawa provided some commentary on the initial performance. "The shipment was abundant, so it seems that there were hardly any reports of inability to buy due to shortages. Regarding sold units, to be honest we would like to have seen it sell a bit more, but you can say that it reached a certain level of success."

Hosokawa blamed the relatively slow start on price, noting that when you include a game and required accessories, the system ends up costing 40,000 yen. He also noted that the system did not have a system seller at launch.

One other factor could be holding back the Vita: its predecessor, the PSP. ...

 

[patsu]

Sony Preparing Vita Firmware Fix for Dynasty Warriors Online Issues
http://andriasang.com/comzg3/vita_online_issues/

...

The company says that it has confirmed problems for one game at present. Dynasty Warriors Next freezes in its Engi Mode and Souha Mode when a message is shown indicating that the game is trying to connect with the server.

As a temporary fix, Sony suggests that players switch the Vita's network setting to off before playing Dynasty Warriors Next.

Sony is currently working on a firmware update which will fix the issue. This update will be released in the coming days.

 

[wco81]

Weren't there earlier reports about Sony increasing the release volume from 500k to 700k because of strong preorders?

But now they didn't even sell out?

 

[patsu]

The 700K shipment figure was reported by a columnist. No one else confirmed it (yet). Andrew House did mention that initital allotment was sold out via preorders, but he didn't reveal any numbers either. He merely noted that Sony should be able to meet the demand.

Based on Japanese Gaffers' observation, the WiFi units were hard to find. The 3G units are more available.

Everyone will be interested in the momentum of Vita over the next few months.

 

[babybumb]

Sony is guaranteed making on the 3g version so of course they are going to to try to push it.

I wouldnt jump in untile the 28nm version is launched probably in a years time. Better batterylife + potentially cheaper. I see that Sony can take the price down really fast with die shrinks..

 

[patsu]

Sony: ‘No mass Vita problems, we haven’t apologised’
http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/21/sony-no-evidence-of-mass-vita-problems-we-havent-apologised/

It was widely reported that Sony had apologised on its Japanese site for technical problems being seen with the machine, which included a lack of responsiveness and trouble powering the unit off and on.

...

“The stories even said that Sony has issued an apology for PS Vita glitches, which simply isn’t true – there’s an apology on our Japanese website for people who are having trouble getting through to our technical help line, but that’s it.

“And there’s a page showing standard procedures for powering the PS Vita on and off, which has been on our site since before the launch, which has been presented in some news stories as a means of solving the alleged glitches.”

Several videos are circulating clearly showing Vita units with locking issues, and the Guardian piece says Sony acknowledges “that a few new PS Vita owners may have experienced isolated malfunctions”.

 

[patsu]

Hardware numbers for Vita launch week:
http://andriasang.com/comzgc/media_create_sales/

1. 3DS: 367,691 (350,321)
2. PSV: 324,859
3. PS3: 65,119 (44,661)
4. PSP: 64,468 (51,191)
5. Wii: 60,916 (46,018)
6. DSi LL: 5,600 (4,007)
7. X360: 3,584 (3,211)
8. DSi: 3,523 (2,609)
9. PS2: 1,400 (1,268)
10. DS Lite: 32 (14)

Not too bad considering PSV sales is for 2 days whereas 3DS is a full week. The tricky part is whether Sony can build momentum behind its new baby.

 

[patsu]

It's a very detailed look at PS Vita.
http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/21/2648497/sony-playstation-vita-japan-review

.. the most in-depth I have seen so far.