Sony Unveils PS Vita: Games line-up and Prices Confirmed...

It has been known to the handheld gaming community as the PSP 2 and the Sony NGP, but Mini Gamers can now reveal that the official name for Sony's newest handheld device is the PS Vita. 

For those of you who aren't yet aware of the PS Vita's technical specifications, the device will contain the following:

 5-inch OLED Touchscreen: For more varied gameplay

Rear Touch Pad: Capacitive Multi-touch

Cameras: rear camera, front camera which will be used for augmented reality gaming.

Sound: Built-in mic, built-in speakers

Sensors: 6-axis motion sensory system (three-axis accelerometer, three-axis gyroscope)

Internet Connectivity: 3G (optional), WiFi , Built-in GPS

Switches/Keys: Volume buttons, SELECT/START button, right/left stick, shoulder buttons, action buttons, directional buttons, power button, PS button

Wireless: Mobile Network Connectivity (3G), IEE 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR

The PS Vita is set to revolutionise the way that Playstation fans access and play their games. The CEO of Consumer services and Marketing, Kazuo Hirai, proudly introduced the new console at E3 2011 last night. He said: "Vita means 'life' and the PS Vita blurs the lines between entertainment and real life..." and he claimed that the PS Vita would also lead the way in offering gamers a: "Truly unique social experience."


The PS Vita contains a powerful CPU processor and greater memory, making its graphics closer to the PS3 in comparison. This means that there will now be better interconnectivity between Sony's favourite home console and the new handheld device.  

For example, the PS Vita will now use the 'Cloud Saves' feature usually found on the PS3 console. This means that players can save their game and then connect it up to their PS3 console and continue playing from where they left off.

Several PS Vita games were presented during the ninety-minute Sony conference, including Uncharted: Golden Abyss, a brand new Uncharted game.  This game was a good example of how the new PS Vita functions could be put to good use.

 For example, the main character, Nathan Drake can now be made to jump simply by tapping on the touchscreen. Players can also make Drake move along several ledges or chasms easily by 'drawing' a safe route for him with their finger.  Enemies can be attacked by using the traditional PSP button system or by tapping on them via the touchscreen. Weapons can also be collected via this method.

Modnation Racers for the PS Vita demonstrated how the multiple touch points on the rear touchpad can be used to customise tracks. In the PS Vita version of the popular racing game, pressing on various points of the touchpad can create mountaneous peaks and place trees, while tapping on the front touchscreen can create lakes or rivers and create bends in the racing track.

Finally, the PS Vita version of Little Big Planet uses the new 'tilt' functions of the motion sensors. Many of the new levels will include areas where the console will need to be tilted in order for the player to proceed.

Furthermore, players can use the new front and rear cameras to take a photo of themselves, which will then be used to create their sackboy/sackgirl character.

The Little Big Planet toolbox has also been enhanced. Players can now draw items such as bridges or steps on the touchscreen  and they will then be added into your own created levels.

These major titles will all be available for the PS Vita at launch, and CEO of Sony Entertainment America, Jack Tretton revealed that there were a lot more quality games in the pipeline: "We currently have more than eighty [PS Vita] game titles in development by top developers including EA, Ubisoft, THQ, Activision and Capcom."

The PS Vita  will debut some time in December 2011, just in time for the Christmas market. There will be two types of the console available at launch, PS Vita with 3G connectivity, which will retail for around £185, and PS Vita with standard Wi-fi connectivity, which will suit tighter budgets by retailing at around £155.

In conclusion, the latest Sony offering is certainly an intriguing little console. It is impossible to tell how well it will be recieved at launch, but with promises of Social Gaming functions and Augmented Reality gaming on top of the main console features, the PS Vita promises to provide gamers with: "An experience you need to see - and feel - to believe..." [Jack Tretton, Sony America CEO]

Gaming Smartphones: The Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY VS. Microsoft Windows Phone 7 - Which One Is Better For YOU?

            VS.

    

It is all too easy to think that the definition of handheld gaming is only restricted to the 'big name' handheld consoles (such as the Nintendo DS and 3DS consoles, or the Sony PSP,) but in truth, mobile phones with gaming apps have also proven to be very popular over the past few years.

Mini Gamers takes a look at the two newest forms of gaming smartphones on the market - Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 and the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY, and examines what they each have to offer the handheld gaming community.

Xperia PLAY

The Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY phone (AKA 'Playstation Phone') is the first ever Smartphone to use intergrated Playstation technology, and is the first of Sony's new devices to use the new Playstation Suite. It sounds amazing.  However, let us now take a look at the individual specifications of the Xperia PLAY:

Hardware:

The Xperia PLAY is a slider mobile phone, which closely resembles the PSP Go in many respects. It features the familiar Playstation D-pad buttons on the right-hand side of the phone, as well as a rectangular touchpad in the centre of the phone. The left, right, up and down directional buttons are situated on the left-hand side.

The Xperia PLAY also features a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 5 megapixel camera, and it supports microSD cards, as opposed to the Memory Sticks used in the PSP consoles. Most importantly, the new Xperia PLAY phone will be using the new Gingerbread (Android 2.3) Operating System.

Software:

The Xperia PLAY can access various downloaded Sony titles via Sony's new Playstation Suite. It also features its own dedicated version of Android Market.

 The Xperia PLAY currently features some older Playstation One titles as well as newer PSP titles such as God of War and LittleBigPlanet, amongst others. There are also plans to add some Augmented Reality titles like Invizamals in the future as well.

Networks and Price:

The Xperia PLAY is available from O2, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange and Three in the UK, and Verizon in the US. Monthly Contract prices vary, but the Xperia PLAY is usually between around £400 pounds on a pay-as-you-go tariff.

Please note, however, that some retailers are currently experiencing delays in their stocks of the new Xperia PLAY phone.

Windows Phone 7



 Microsoft Windows Phone 7 is a complete Multimedia device all wrapped up in a single mobile phone. Aimed both at business professionals and gamers alike, this nifty little gadget is an interesting addition to the current Smartphone market.

Hardware:

Windows Phone 7 features a 5 megapixel camera, 8 GB of flash memory and 256MB of RAM, it also features an ARMv7 Cortex processor.

Software:

 The phone features several different applications, including its own version of Internet Explorer . Furthermore, the phone features a Zune entertainment application, which controls the users music, video and picture files, and allows for syncronisation between the phone and a PC. The phone also has a Bing mobile search engine and even a mobile version of Microsoft Office Suite.

The phone also features several Xbox Live games. Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7  attempts to bring console-quality gaming experience to phones, and even allows users to create their own 3D Avatar. When gamers access the in-built Games Hub, they can interact with their avatar, view gamer scores and leaderboards,  and message their Xbox Live friends, amongst other things.

Fifty Xbox Live games have been announced for the Windows Phone 7, including: De Blob,

 Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles, Full House Poker, as well as many other exclusive Windows Phone 7 titles.

Networks and Price:

O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone, and Three have all announced that they would stock the Windows Phone 7. There are several different models to chose from.

 Again, prices vary depending on what mobile monthly contract package you prefer, but the phone is available from around £400 on a Pay-As-You-Go tariff.

Conclusion:

Both of these gaming phones have a lot to offer their customers. Both phones are equally expensive and cost almost double what a standard handheld console would normally cost. Nevertheless, they both contain extra applications which does help to justify the cost a little.

So, which phone is better for you? Well, the truth is, this is a very subjective question. It depends on exactly what you are looking for in a mobile phone.

If you are looking for a Smartphone which is purely centred on gaming, then the Sony-Ericsson Xperia PLAY is probably the right phone for you. It lets gamers play a range of top-quality Playstation games and a range of Android market games on the go. It does have links to Social Networking Sites such as Twitter and Facebook, but is primarily aimed at gamers as its main clientele.

If, on the other hand, you want a phone which features high-quality games, but also allows for other standard computer functions such as creating and accessing Microsoft Office document, then Windows Phone 7 is more likely to suit your needs. There are also a wide choice of  handsets to choose from.

Windows Phone 7 contains a lot of different useful office applications, and is the only mobile device to feature Xbox Live games.  However, unlike the Xperia PLAY, the Windows 7 Phone is not exclusively aimed at gamers as its core customer base.

At the end of the day, the choice about which phone is better ultimately comes down to you. Which phone would YOU choose?

From what we at Mini Gamers have seen, there are plenty of different monthly contract deals for both phones, to suit many different budgets. Shop around and see if you can find the deal that suits you best. Good luck!

Game Of The Week: ModNation Racers (PSP)

It has a quirky title, and even quirkier gameplay, but 'ModNation Racers' on the PSP definitely deserves the top spot on this week's gaming charts. This game is a sort of cross between 'My Sims Racing' and 'Little Big Planet'.

The aim of the game is to beat competitors in different racing competitions to unlock customisable items. The game has two main racing modes: Single Player Race and MRC (ModNation Racing Championships) Career Mode.

In Career Mode, you play as a young newcomer to the racing circuit called Tag. Your goal here is to complete a set of challenges whilst racing. The higher you place in each race, the more customisable items you unlock.

As well as racing around the track at high speed, you can choose to slow down your competitors by using a variety of weapons that can be collected from little bubbles that lay across the track at certain points. The weapons include: Smoke Bombs, Electric Pulses and Fire Bolts amongst other things. Points are awarded for how many competitors you manage to hit with your weapons and from how far away you manage to get a direct hit. This adds an extra competitive edge to the game and increases the fun.

Another racing element in this game is the 'Boost' button. The Boost meter has to be filled up before players can use the boost. The way to do this is to perform daredevil stunts on ramps throughout the race, or by 'Side Stomping' (overtaking your competitors by force). Once the boost meter has been filled, it is very effective in helping you to beat your fellow racers.

In the Single Player Race, you can choose from a group of Mods, vehicles and racing tracks to showcase your driving skills on. Here you can also choose the speed of the race, how many laps you wish to try and how many AI competitors you wish to compete against. The Single Player Race mode is also a chance for players to use their own custom designed Mods, Vehicles and Tracks.

That brings us neatly to the best feature of 'ModNation Racers': Everything is customisable, from your own Mod character to the track on which you race and the vehicle you choose to drive. Furthermore, the unlockable items can be recoloured to your specifications using 128 different colours! Moreover, some of your Mods facial features such as eyes and ears can be customised separately, so if you want to create a Mod with one large scary eye and one small eye, that is now possible.

Most of the content is locked at the beginning of the game, so it might be an idea to play the career mode first and unlock a few of the better items, but customising your game is easy and can be completed in a few simple steps. Players can also choose to display their creations on the Web and can download other players' creations as well.



The game utilises the PSP's directional controls and button pad as well as the left and right buttons, but this can sometimes prove a little tricky when racing against a large number of competitors.

Having said that, the game has two control layouts, (A and B,) to adapt the game for either PSP or PSP Go users, but which can be manually selected for either handheld. These layouts switch the acelerator controls from the R button to the X button and vice versa. If you are having trouble using your boost button in the first layout, try switching to layout B and see if this improves things.

Overall, this is a fantastic racing game for the whole family to enjoy. If you liked the customisation tools in 'Little Big Planet', or if you are a big fan of other racing franchises, then this is a game you would be interested in. A real winner! Overall Rating: 10/10.