PlayStation Vita: Is It Better to Burn Bright Than to Fade Away? [Playstation Lifestyle] "For PlayStation Vita, Sony hasn't cut ties with its beloved handheld just yet. Third-party AAA support may be dwindling, but perhaps out of necessity the device has become more of a thriving hotspot for indie darlings, quirky Japanese titles and tactile platformers, and less a platform that boasts console gaming on the go. It's been a funny old road for Sony's handheld, though signs point to the PlayStation Vita motoring on for the foreseeable future, even if the Japanese platform holder's attention, marketing and stage time will soon be occupied by PlayStation VR. The install base may have plateaued, but so long as the two-fold relationship between developers supporting the device and consumers picking up those ports — not matter how long they take to arrive — Vita will continue to exist as "the platform that could." Let's just hope we'll be saying the same when its 5th birthday rolls around."
The State Of The 3DS And Vita In 2016 [Kotaku]
"Meanwhile, Sony continues to pretend that the Vita doesn't exist, mentioning it most frequently as a footnote to other, more important announcements. Oh yes, this game is also coming to Vita. Sometimes even Sony's own marketing ignores the Vita, portraying a game like Full Throttle, coming next year to both Vita and PS4, as a PS4 exclusive. Still, if you're into indies and Japanese games like Dragon Quest Builders or Steins;Gate 0, the Vita is humming along this year. I haven't played nearly enough Trails of Cold Steel II or World of Final Fantasy yet, but it's nice to know they're both there. And there's plenty more on the horizon, like Danganronpa v3 and Cosmic Star Heroine. It helps that the spunky little handheld is still selling fairly well in Japan. Sony's baffling decisions and long-festering neglect haven't killed the Vita—just crippled it a little."
Here's Why The PS Vita Is One Of My Favourite Consoles Of All-Time [We Got This Covered]
"To say that Sony's latest handheld has had a rough time on the market is a colossal understatement. Out of the gate, the Japanese giant was dedicated to it, throwing first-party development resources at the machine with fervent glee (more on this later). However, over time Sony rapidly realized that its miniature console just wasn't hitting the sales numbers to warrant investment from their valuable internal development teams, particularly in regards to triple-A support. Sadly, roughly three years into the console's life-cycle, Sony pretty much washed their hands of the device and sent their poor, little orphan console out into the wilderness to fend for itself with a smattering of Sony-funded ports and a swathe of much-appreciated third-party and indie support keeping the handheld alive. It's a somewhat different story in Sony's Japanese homeland, as the PS Vita, and handhelds in general, are still hitting healthy sales numbers. As a consequence, many of the titles you see on the PS Vita's upcoming release docket are often Japanese developed games that have been localized and introduced to a western audience. If you like Japanese titles, Sony's handheld is a veritable gold-mine."
In Loving Memory of the PlayStation Vita [Games Radar+]
"After the launch of PlayStation 4 in 2014, their attention shifted to the new console and Vita development was largely left to third-party developers. This could have been the end, but it's around this time that the Vita finally found its place in the world and matured into something much more interesting than the handheld Uncharted machine it was originally marketed as. In recent years it's become a wonderful platform for indie games, Japanese RPGs, visual novels, and other unique, offbeat titles. And it's one of the best ways to dig through Sony's library of old PSP and PSone games. This is what makes it a great handheld—not the fact that you can play a clumsy, scaled-down version of Call of Duty on it. The variety and versatility of the games is why my Vita isn't lying forgotten in a drawer, covered in dust. There's something for every occasion, whether you've got a few hours to kill waiting for a connecting flight or ten spare minutes on a bus. With a Vita and the right games you'll never be bored again, and sometimes I actually find myself looking forward to a long journey because I know I'll get to spend some quality time with it."
Your PS Vita May Be Gathering Dust, But It's No Console Failure [TechRadar]
"Nintendo's 3DS remains the frontrunner - hell, it's outselling everything - but to the Japanese market the PS Vita and 3DS are very different machines, offering two very different experiences. There's very little divide between the two in terms of their audiences (unlike the ever pointless fanaticism we see between PlayStation and Xbox over here) and there's every chance PS Vita will continue to grow and bloom on Eastern shores. The PS Vita then isn't a failure - it's a Western failure. It's inability to seed in North America and Europe led Sony to announce its decision to stop making first-party titles for the handheld, but none of that will affect its future in Japan where most of its most successful titles are developed by third party studios. Could we see a sequel to PS Vita then, its sales being so strong overseas? Well, considering Sony has described the climate as being, "not healthy," for its successor the prognosis suggests it's unlikely, but that comment was made specifically regarding the future of Sony handhelds in the West. If Vita does ever breed, don't be surprised if it forms into a purely Japan-focused machine."
PS Vita Jailbreak Finally Lets You Run Emulators and Homebrew Software [Ars Technica]
"If you see someone still playing on a PSP, chances are it's because it's been hacked to hell. Sony's trusty handheld might not have been the sales sensation the company had hoped for, but—despite the company's best efforts—the PSP became the handheld to own if you were into homebrew software or retro gaming. This was due to the ease with which it was hacked, the quality of the hardware, and a steady stream of unofficial software and emulators. There was hope that the follow-up to the PSP, the PlayStation Vita, would be similarly hacked, with the improved hardware and additional analogue stick allowing for the emulation of more sophisticated consoles. Unfortunately, the Vita has been a much tougher nut to crack. Despite some early efforts, the best anyone had come up with was an exploit that only worked on an older version of the Vita firmware, and that required it to be tethered to a PC—hardly ideal for a portable console. Finally, though, some clever folks at the hacking collective Team Molecule have come up with a solution that fully unlocks the Vita hardware for homebrew developers. Dubbed HENkaku, the jailbreak exploit not only works on the latest 3.60 Vita firmware, but also requires very little user intervention to execute. All you have to do is head over to the official HENkaku website on the Vita, tap on the install button, and then sit back and let the hack work its magic. The one drawback is that the jailbreak isn't permanent, so if the Vita is fully powered off it needs to be reinstalled."
10 Reasons Why The PlayStation Vita Failed [Goliath]
10. Shift in Mobile Gaming Market
9. High Cost of Hardware
8. Expensive Memory Cards
7. The PS4 Remote Play Gambit
6. Half-Baked Support For Old Games
5. No PS2 Games Support
4. Few Killer Apps
3. Crappy AAA Games
2. Didn't Follow The Nintendo 3DS's Example
1. Sony Chose To Ignore It