What's next, PS Vita?

The Playstation Vita launched in Europe on February 22, with a strong line up of launch titles. Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Wipeout 2048, Rayman Origins and FIFA were all part of what should have been a very successful launch. A week after the Western launch it was announced that a total of 1.2 million units had been sold worldwide, and considering it launched in December in Japan that wasn't overwhelmingly impressive and since launch the sales have dropped considerably.

Overall, the reception has been positive with regards to the Vita's capabilities and plethora of input means. However, third party publishers seem to have taken a wait and see approach as the device has failed to get sales going. It's a powerful machine, almost capable of the same feats as its older brother, Playstation 3, thanks to its 4-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore and 512 MB RAM. The delicious 5" OLED screen (960 × 544), does its part to help sell players on the terrific power the device houses. With a myriad of in put options available to developers, ranging from your standard set up of dual analogues, four face buttons and shoulder buttons, and d-pad to the more exotic touchscreen, rear touch pad, motion sensing and dual cameras.

Sony have continued to launch titles for PS Vita with highlights since launch including Unit 13, Resistance: Burning Skies and Gravity Rush. On March 31, sales had reached 1.8 million worldwide. But much like the Nintendo 3DS, that didn't hit its stride properly until Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land launched, PS Vita seems caught in a bit of a post-launch depression, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

PS Vita offers many different categories of games. First of all you've got your retail selection lead by Uncharted, Gravity Rush, FIFA and so on. Dedicated PS Vita titles that are only available on that platform both as retail products and as downloads. Then there are dedicated Vita titles that are only available through download, these include Super Stardust Delta, Tales from Space: Mutant Blob Attacks, and Escape Plan. In addition to this there is a huge selection of PSP titles available for purchase in the online store and in the future PSOne classics will also be made available for purchase.

The PS Vita is highly compatible with your Playstation 3 and Motorstorm RC was the first title that you could play on both PS3 and PS Vita only needing to buy one game across the platforms. Hopefully more games will follow along the same suit offering cross platform save functionality. Sony has everything in place to make PS Vita a vital new addition to every active PSN user's (and even more so PSN Plus users) arsenal of devices, and it is going to be interesting just how this will be utilised in upcoming PSN/PS Vita and PS3/PS Vita releases.

If PS Vita has struggled to distance itself from its roots as a traditional pure gaming handheld, it's not for lack of applications. Recently Skype joined the fray and PS Vita has applications such as Facebook, Youtube, and the innovative Near that lets you see what other players are playing close by.

It's difficult not to point the finger at the long, slow death of PSP in Western markets as one of the key reasons to the slow start of PS Vita - it was an uphill struggle from day one. Another difficult obstacle is the rise of tablets and smartphones as gaming devices, putting a high-end gaming device targeted at an older demographic than your traditional Nintendo handheld in a difficult position.

Our feature continues on page two with a selection of upcoming releases on PS Vita.

Upcoming highlights:

Much of the fate of PS Vita rests on the games and this fall looks strong in this regard - if not in quantity, then at least the quality seems to be there. Here's our selection of highlights:

Sound Shapes (August 7)

An example of a title that will hit PSN and PS Vita simultaneously is Queasy Studios' Sound Shapes, a wonderfully addictive platformer that blends music and gameplay into a cohessive whole that is sure to be a hit with Vita players. Deadmau5 and Beck are among the contributors to the game that also features an editor that allows you to design levels and music with all the deconstructed sounds from the tracks included in the game.

Little Big Planet (September 21)

Sackboys are a perfect fit on PS Vita. And with a ready made community rearing to go when it launches conditions could not be better. All the tools are there to create imaginative levels, and you can import any costumes you've made for the PS3 game. In many ways the addition of a touchscreen will make creation mode even easier to control.

FIFA 13 (September 28)

The first FIFA to hit the Vita was a success, and given how close the experience was kept to that of FIFA 12 there is no reason to expect anything less from this year's edition. EA Sports have been keen on tying all FIFA experiences together as one cohessive whole, and this is without a doubt as good as FIFA gets on the go.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale (October 5)

Sony's answer to the Smash Bros franchise is coming to PS Vita at the same time as the PS3 version. In fact, the game are pretty much identical and feature cross platform play in every imaginable way. It's a nice test and great example of what the cross platform functionality can offer.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz (October 26)

While the monkey balls have lost a bit of momentum since their successful launch on Gamecube ten years ago, there is still a lot of fun to be had with the simian family. Banana Splitz also appears to bring back some of the more challenging nature of the series, while making use of some of the Vita's more exotic input options for mini-games and extra features.

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (November 2)

PS Vita is getting its very own exclusive Assassin's Creed III chapter complete with a heroine of its own - Aveline de Grandpré - as it plays out 1765 and 1780. There is going to be some connectivity between Liberation and Assassin's Creed III on PS3 and the game will make use of touchscreens, cameras and gyroscope for controls. The game will be bundled with a white PS Vita at retail as it launches alongside Assassin's Creed III.

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified (November)

We know very little of Declassified at this point. Regardless, any game carrying the Call of Duty title is going to be a force to reckon with. Supposedly it features original fiction, and hopefully the multiplayer will be just as addictive as its console counterpart.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (Fall)

As with Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale Sly Cooper is coming out simultaneously on PS3 and PS Vita in near identical versions. The PS Vita version will make use of features such as the touchscreen and gyro at times, but the adventure remains the same in all essential parts. Sly and his ancestors are involved in the first major instalment of the popular platforming series since the Playstation 2 days.

We will dive deeper into how Sony could turn the fortunes around for PS Vita in a Weekender piece this Saturday, so keep an eye out for it.