As I was looking for a cover pic for this blog I found out some interesting info: it's illegal in North Carolina to plow a cotton field with an elephant. Good thing I don't live in North Carolina! TIME TO PLOW THROUGH SOME COTTON WITH AN ELEPHANT! YE HAW!

...but first, A bit of an update of what I've been up to:

Recent Gaming:

I've been using my Vita as of late to play Lunar Silver Star Harmony. I've clocked near 18 hours already probably ranking in at 75% of the game complete I'd say. I've beaten Lunar several times, but the PSP remake is the best version I've ever played. And darn does it look good on the Vita, and it sounds fantastic! XSeed did a darn good job on this, as well as most of their work as of late. I'll post the final review soon, after I finish the game.

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MLB 12 The Show has been fantastic, as I've mentioned in the last blog. I'm aiming for two trophies: Complete a Diamon Dynasty Season (5 games) and win with every team once. So far I've won with the Yankees, Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays, Boston, Detroit, Indians, and the White Sox. Twenty two games to go then. xD

Recent watchings:

I've finished up season 3 of Dragonball after putting it off for some months. In Season 3, things start to get pretty good, and for fighting fans it's a pretty good watch. I didn't care so much for Season 2.

Finished Cowboy Bebop Remix set as well, and Disgaea: The Animated Series. I've been slowly going through the two series over the last few months. Cowboy Bebop is my all time favorite show, and Disgaea I liked, but I wish it went on for longer then 13 episodes.

I've started watching Big Windup! on Crackle. The story is as follows:

"The series, set in Saitama, follows the story of Ren Mihashi. Mihashi was the previous ace pitcher in his middle school's baseball team, but it seems that he only got the position because his grandfather was the owner of the school. His teammates (especially the team's catcher) hated him, and they always lost their games. Mihashi is thoroughly convinced that he is a lousy baseball pitcher and he graduates through middle school with extremely low self-esteem. But the truth is that he is really a hardworking and skillful pitcher, and the main reason why his team always lost the games is the bad cooperation, because his teammates never talked about the game with him, and they didn't even try to come up with a plan or strategy to fight against their rivals. He then transfers to Nishiura high school with plans of quitting baseball. though he still loves baseball deeply, because he does not believe he is good enough to succeed at baseball. However, he is dragged into Nishiura's baseball team by their coach while watching the team training outside the field. Assisted by his new teammates (and especially the catcher, Takaya Abe), he grows in stature, confidence and skill, helping his team excel with his own abilities."

- From the wikipedia webpage

It's pretty good so far, albeit the main character sounds like he's gonna die from going crazy at any second. xD

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Hope everyone is doing well. :)

Most who know me know that my gaming habits usually do not involve sports games. It's not that I have anything against sports games or sports gamers for that matter. I'm not one of those fools who dish on people who play sports games year after year, or just really play sports games. In my view, it doesn't matter what you play, if you're passionate about any gaming, it's cool with me

With that out of the way, again I rarely play sports games. I'm just picky. Very picky when it comes to them. I don't see myself buying every one that comes out every year, so it's very common to see me picky up a game from a sports game series like once very 5 years, and never, ever buying it when it just comes out (IE: $60)

Well ladies and gentlemen, hell might have frozen over.

I bought MLB: The Show 12 for PS3 last week.

A few weeks ago I saw videos of the game when I was interested in upcoming videos for the Vita, and of course they were hyping the cross-platform aspect of the game between PS3 and Vita. Once I saw gameplay for the PS3 version, I was in literal shock.

"Wait, this, this is gameplay? Holy cow it's so freaking real!"

I've always known about the show series of baseball games by Sony, as being dead set baseball simulation games, that were supposedly of pretty high quality. But I never payed attention to them really. See, as i mentioned before I'm really picky about sports games. Especially Baseball games. It's something from my early days of video game playing. It's gotta be accessible, have lots of options, and most of all, fun.

But let's face it, most baseball games from the early days til even now (MLB 2k series I'm looking at you) often fails at least in one of those areas. Often they are so inaccessible, so hard to adapt, that baseball games can be frustrating to play. often times, you forced to use some lame control scheme that the developer has come up with that you wish, you wish would be freaking normal to use (a lot of the games in the last ten years have faced this issue). The worst offender, to those that play baseball games is a lot of them, are just not fun at all.

So going with that much reservation about baseball games, why in the world, would I risk $60 on a new baseball game in this era.

Simply, because the more I watched videos of it, read about it, some what the game offered it.. clicked.

This, this might be the game after all these years of atrocious, stupid, what kind of crud is this baseball games that the industry has pushed on everyone, that this might be the game, THE game that is the best simulation game around.

So as I went to the game store, saw the copy I looked it over. And I took the plunge.

By god it is the simulation baseball game I've always wanted since I was a kid.

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The presentation is amazing. It feels like you are actually watching a baseball game, the announcers are spot on, the multi camera views, the graphics, lordy it is fantastic. But underneath all the tech polish the gameplay is awesome.

One of the best things about this game is the show does not try to confine you to a set difficulty or control scheme. You can set up the game to how you want it to be. want to sue traditional controls, you can. The new analog controls? You can. Motion junkie? yes sir you can. You can even mix and match certain parts. Want the CPU to take over certain parts of the game? You can do it, and best of all, they don't act like some silly zombies on the field. Want to adjust certain aspects about the ball play? Like the amount of errors, contact to bat, and such? You can. MLB 12 the Show tries to throw you at a base setting to get a feel, and from there you can set the game how you like it.

That's what I always wanted from a baseball game. Past baseball games never provided enough options, to let you adjust aspects of the game that you feel wasn't right, or wanted to make better.

I just love being able to load up a game, load my settings and be able to play the game *I* wanted. More sports games need to take notice. As fans of the sports being able to have a game that anyone can adapt to, learn, and later be able to adjust the game to challenge themselves isn't just great, but what more games need to do. Some that have complained about the difficulty of the game (or certain controls) must not realize that you can adapt the game to how you want it to be.

[video=6364871]

That aside, I'm happy I took the risk. It's provided a great reward. The game I always wanted after all these years. The game I'll be playing for years to come. As for game players like me that have never thought there would be a Sim baseball game worth trying, check this game out. It's the real deal.

Oh BTW, some may wonder about Arcade (or non-sim baseball). For me that was fulfilled in 2007 with MLB Power Pros for the Wii. Fantastic game there, as it's from the makers of the famous Japanese Video Game Baseball series by Konami. Check it out.

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Japanese Version Trailer, lol

This game, featured addictive gameplay, a story mode (!), lots of options, great gameplay, and game control schemes (heck the motion controls in this game is actually great!), some nice music to boot.

Looks like this gen of gaming, has fullfiled both dreams to me, two baseball games that are not only fantastic, but worthy to play for years to come.

WOO HOO!

So... yesterday, on Capcom-Unity's site, info is out on the DLC plans for Street Fighter X Tekken for PS3 and Vita.

*coughs*

Here, we go:

On April 3rd alternate costumes go on sale for $1 each (80 MS Points) or $13 (1040 MS Points). Capcom will also release some free alt colors and three new quick combo slots for each character.

"A free tournament support update will come later, that makes it easier to select gems at the character select screen through some kind of 'dial system.' Following that is a title update that will add 'three new Assist Gem packs and six new Boost Gem packs, which add over 60 gems to the selection pool.' Each character will also get three more customizable gem sets, bringing the total up to five for each fighter." (From Joystiq.com)

Also, the 12 characters that are DLC (that will be available on the Vita Version), will be $20 (1600 MS Points) for all 12.

That means for everything it'll cost you at least $93 ($60 for game, $13 for costumes, and $12 for the locked characters.)

Hmm.

Well.

Usually I'd go in a rant here about all this, but uh...

I'mma grab some popcorn and soda and sit back and let the Internet have fun with this.

This is gonna be a good show.

See the (insert your favorite adjective here) post at Capcom-Unity here.

Hello Gamespotters!

I picked purchased 2 new games from the PSN store last week:

Lunar Silver Star Harmony, PSP/VITA, $15

Hot Shots Shorties Yellow Pack, PSN/VITA, $5

I'm a big fan of Lunar, and Silver Star Harmony is perhaps the best version of the game ever. It sounds fantastic, love the new graphical look, and the game is super polished all around. I'm incredibly addicted to it as of late - and even though I've finished Lunar many times before, I'm gonna play this one through to the end. A great game will never let you go. I'll dive into the game more into my blogs later, but folks, this game is worth the $15 pricetag. A must have for any RPG fan.

Hot Shots Shorties is a series of mini game packs that I've been quite addicted to as of late. You can purchase all 4 packs for a price of $15, but I recommend to go my route and focus on the two I have: The Green and Yellow packs.

Hot Shots Shorties Green Pack features 3 games: K.O. Derby, Rush Hour Master, and Counter Crusader. The main reason you should purchase this pack is due to the K.O. Derby boxing game.

K.O. Derby is simply the best arcade boxing game you've never played, or possibly seen. Featuring unlockable boxers, multiple difficulty paths, and fantastic gameplay this game is a gem. The x button is the punch button, the normal punch, while the square button is the power punch, hold for a knockout or super punch. Up on the D pad blocks high attacks as well as changes your attack to high attacks, while down guards low hits, and can change your hits to be lower as well. Taping left on the D pad at the right town allows you to do an dodge, allowing you to quickly attack, while at the wrong time, leaves you open.

While it sounds so simple, what makes it a gem is how fluid the game is, has hilarious the knockouts can be, and how insane the combos can get. Continuously stunning an opponent can lead you to do a super knockout that can send the enemy flying out of the ring, or set them up for a ridiculous, street fighter like 20 plus hit combo that looks insane.

As the fights go on, the battles get more intense, and above the 60 round tier the opponents get very tough. But overall it's a fun addicting game and worth the $5 alone. If you love punch out, you need to buy this.

The pack also comes with two other mini games, albeit no where near as good as the boxing one. Counter Crusader is a dynasty warriors type game as you try to cut up the legions of veggies and fruit of various sizes trying to clutter the counter. It's fun for a few plays, but quickly wears out. Rush Hour Master is better, but not by much. You race through traffic like the old arcade days trying to pass as many cars as you can. Your car can jump, speed and gain the ability to crash through other cars without penalty. Again it's good for a few rounds but is no where fun and great as K.O. Derby. That said, it's worth a purchase and is quite the gem for the fantastic boxing game. If them had a game like this when i was a Kid, during the 8 bit, 16 bit eras I'd be playing it every day.

Overall, I give Hot Shots Shorties Green Pack an 8.0/10, for the $5 price, K.O. Derby is a fantastic arcade boxing game that is worth every cent, even with the other two games being a throwaway on the pack. It's worth having on your PSP or PS Vita.

Hot Shots Shorties Yellow pack consists of: Clean-Up Hitter, Vacuum Dash, and Tillage Pillage.

Unlike the other pack, this one has two pretty good games and one throwaway. Clean-Up Hitter is a home run derby game. Featuring two players, left or right handiness, and multiple speed modes (Auto, 50 MPH, 62 - 75 MPH,, 75 to 88 MPH, 50 - 88 MPH, and 100 MPH or more) the game is more addictive then you might think. Given 25 pitches to work with you try to either hit the home run signs at the end of the park, or out of the park. X button is normal swing, and Square is power, which if timed right, will always send the ball out of the park (vs the normal swing). In the beginning you are given 10 power swings to work with, but the more HRs you make over time, you can unlock additional ones to use in other playthroughs. Holding the d pad in one of the directions while swinging allows you to guess where the ball will be placed in the strike zone to ensure a good hit. Every ten pitches a special round pops up that changes the signs to special ability signs for 1 throw. If hit it'll active a special ability: Super Size Home Run Panels, Broken panels rover immediately (vs every other throw), down the middle pitches for three throws, 5 Additional Power swings, and the dreaded 100 mph pitches for the next three throws.

The multiple modes, and the special rounds allow for unpredictably in a game that would be repetitive if left out. Overall, Clean-Up Hitter is a pretty fun and addicting mini game. Good stress reliever.

Vacuum Dash is an mini game that could only come from Japan, as a robot, you go around cleaning rooms under a time limit, while not sucking up important objects that the owner of the room deems important. It sounds stupid and boring in text, but is surprisingly fun, and a bit hilarious when you get to play it. As you clean rooms you can pick up abilities like supercharging your vacuuming to "super suck mode" drawing in everything around you. Again it sounds silly, but trust me, it's a pretty interesting mini game.

Tilliage Pillage however is a bore. You go around as a man trying to pick up veggies from numbers 0 to 9 as quick as possible.

And yes that one IS as boring as it sounds.

I give the pack a 7.5/10. While the pack doesn't have a game that is pure genius like K.O. Derby is, Clean-Up Hitter and Vacuum Dash are pretty fun at $5.

Check them out if you want, sadly there is very little pictures or video of the packs on the web - the only place that had even a few pictures and info was IGN and a few vids on youtube.

Hello Gamespotters! I've been enjoying my day off greatly.

On Tuesday, I picked up a new vita Game, a new accessory, and a digital game.

Unit 13, PS Vita, New, $40

Bluetooth AP.3 Afterglow Communicator $30

Motorstorm RC, PS Vita, Digital, Free

I've only got a chance to play a little bit of Unit 13, but so far it has been a blast. The game is really designed as a pickup and go title, and fills a void in the Vita library, the 1st/3rd person shooter. If anything it shows that it can handle a 1st/3rd person shooter rather well. I love the challenges, the fact it has co-op play, and the gameplay. The only thing I dislike, is sometimes the game COD's it by having too many enemies thrown at you at once. I'll talk more about the game In future blogs after I play more of it.

I've been looking for a good bluetooth for quite a while for my PS3 (and my Vita), and I finally found one. The AP.3 Afterglow Communicator is a new product in the line of light-up video game products by PDP. Most are familiar with their Afterglow, PS3, Wii, and 360 controller, among other things. Well now they have released a bluetooth headset for the PS3, Vita, and other mobile devices.

I must say, it's excellent. The quality of the sound from the piece is A quality, and you can be 30 feet from your bluetooth device and still use it. Not only that, it fits comfortably, is very light on the ear, and easy to connect. I was able to connect it to my PS3 within about 15 seconds. The unit blinks to let you know it's on (so no, it doesn't stay lit constantly). The mute button is big enough to easily use for quick access (and lights up to let you know when mute is on), features volume buttons and a power button. Unit also comes with a usb cord. The unit features 10 hours of Talk time, and 180 Hour of Standby time, so each charge lasts a long time.

Rating 9.0/10 I highly recommend the unit, for not only it's cost, but it's battery life, and quality.

Motorstorm RC is awesome. Why is it awesome? 'CAUSE IT'S FREE FOR VITA. Not only that, it's of good quality too. I've been gaming with it on my lunch breaks. It looks good, I like the easy pick up and go gameplay as races do not take long to complete. You control each RC car just like you would with an RC Controller. Left/Right with the left stick, Accelerate/reverse with the right stick. It does take some getting use to if you are like me, who probably hasn't touch an RC car controller is over 17 years. I did change the controls, which the game allows you to do so, to the following: L button for Reverse, R button for Accelerate, Triangle to change cam view, X for action button, and circle for reset vehicle, and D pad for left/right movements. It allowed me to have better control of the car while racing, then via the sticks. There's a version for the PS3 which is cross compatible with the Vita for $9.99. I'll post more about the game as I play more.

When the first games/demos for PS Vita were put up in the US store, one game Michael Jackson: The Experience HD demo had an issue.

It was not a demo.

No, It was the full game.

Ubisoft: "DOH!"

Needless to say it was taken down (and isn't the first demo on a console to be the full game by mistake), but I had actually downloaded the demo, among others, for the Vita release the following week.

So I (among others) got the full game for free due to Ubisoft's (or was it Sony's) error. Trophy's don't get synced to the server, but hey free is free.

So, I've been playing it in my free time, completing every one of the 15 songs on every difficulty, and beating most of the challenges.

Make no mistake, the game is pretty fun. What is there is visually, is good, the 15 songs come out darn good via the Vita, and the gameplay is solid and responsive. What you get to play is pretty good.

What you don't get it enough content to justify the $40 price tag ($36 digital). 15 songs is too short of a setlist to justify the asking price. The game is designed to you replay each song numerous times, to unlock song effects, costumes, gloves, and challenges, but even still, 15 songs is way to short. The game would have been better served as a digital download for no more then a $20 asking price. If it were at that price, it would be much better to recommend. If you browse the Metacritic reviews for the game, you'll see it's the same common thing: the core gameplay is good, what you get is good, but it doesn't have enough content to justify the price.

I give the game a 6.5/10 When the game gets around $20 or so, check it out. But for now, save the money for other Vita games.

With my last two blogs being about Vita features and apps, it's time to get to the heart of the matter, the games!

So, I started where the system first told me to go, Welcome park.

Welcome park is really more of a program, rather a game as each of the 5 activities use some of the new functions the Vita provides: Touch, mic, backscreen, sixaxis, and camera. Digit Chase, goes through a series of exercises that uses the touch and multitouch function of the vita. Hello face has you taking pictures with your Vita, of things that look like Faces (and witness the horror of faces talking back at you). Sound loop uses the mic to distort and create looping sounds. Snap + Slide Has you taking pictures with the Vita then creating puzzle which you try to put the image back together using the touch screen. Finally, Skate Axis, which seems to be the most game like of the bunch, uses the sixaxis of the Vita to guide a skater to score points, jump to collect stars, and avoid balls trying to crush his head in.

Overall, it's a nice taste to welcome you to the vita, it does include trophies, though a few of the puzzle ones do require a bit of skill to do, to unlock. In the end, I do recommend that you play Welcome Park first, before diving into a vita game, even if you just only spend ten minutes with it.

From there, I decided to dive into the AR Games. On the Vita store, there are three free games that use the AR function (Camera) of the Vita: Cliff Diving, Fireworks, and Table Soccer. With you system you should have gotten a pack of 6 AR cards.

Cliff Diving, uses AR card #1 (and 2 for a special part of the career mode). With the card and your cam, a diving board and a pond of water forms in on screen. Diver Dan, comes in via Helicopter to make a dive. You'll have to time your jump, and hit the correct button at the correct time, to score points as Dan makes his dive. Career mode features 7 jump locations to create with your AR card(s) features a bunch of different challenges for each location, and local leaderboard support. It does not have trophies. Overall it's a nice game to play for a little while, but after you complete each challenge, all that is left is to try to improve your score.

I give it a 7.5/10 Definitely worth a download to try.

Now Fireworks, is the best one of the bunch by far. When you first start it up it'll mention a nice bonus, Online leaderboards. Fireworks, has a bunch of modes, the first being Tabletop. Using 1 to 3 AR Cards (I recommend 3 for the most fun), the game generates 1 to 3 houses that shoot up fireworks constantly that you try to pop at the correct time for maximum points. The fun part lies into the visuals, and the fun pace of the fireworks. With over 150 Fireworks to unlock, the game becomes a visual treat as fireworks, and shapes light up your screen. Infinite mode, doesn't use the AR cards. As fireworks shoot up, beyond the normal popping, sometimes you have to swipe, or hit multiple locations at the same time, to trigger events with the fireworks. It's equally fun as the tabletop mode, albeit a bit more frantic, which can be a great thing for this game. Challenge mode, has a ton of challenges to complete, which most involve you hitting enough fireworks within a certain time period. As mentioned before different fireworks can also be unlocked while playing. While it does feature online leaderboards (a major plus) it does not feature trophies.

I give the game a 8.0/10 Not only is it wort a download and try, it's worth keeping on your handheld.

Now Table Soccer...did not hit off so well with me. Table Soccer using up to 6 AR cards to recreate a soccer field complete with stands, and a scoreboard. While that is awesome and all, it does require a bigger play area then the other two games, and can be a bit difficult to set up. Table Soccer works like a board game, each turn, you have a set amount of moves to do, as you guide your players trying to score a goal via the touch screen. There's a single player, 2 Player, and tournament mode within the game. My main problem with the game though, is it's...just not fun. The game moves at a chess match pace with each player taking turns. Not only that the movements to flick the ball don't always work, leading the frustration. The AR Feature is awesome, but one thing that Table Soccer shows, is that when using more then 3 cards, it starts to have issues. Especially when you attach complicated controls to it.

I give the game a 5.0/10 Stick with Cliff Diving and Fireworks. Table Soccer for must of us, is a waste of time even at being free.

Little Deviants, is the first retail game I played. Little Deviants is a mini-game collection based around the Vita's Controls. The story goes that the Deviants were being chased by some alien robot race, and crash landed on earth, now you gotta help the Deviants find parts to their spaceship by earning medals across all 30 mini-games. Simple right?

For a portion for the mini games, Little Deviants shines. When the game keeps it simple, playing is fun. Like in one mini game, you sing (hum, make any noise) into the Vita mic, to match the correct pitch to block bottles and objects being thrown at you on stage.

But for others, including a dreadful few, the game developers tried to tack to many features on at once. Like one mini game that has to using the front touch screen, and back pad to spin a wheel, while rubbing the bottom of the back to light up a little deviants, while tapping the front screen to fend on robots. It's too chaotic when it happens, and leads to a frustrated mess, not to mention a ticked off player. Shoehorning a bunch of features into a single mini game does not work.

That aside, I love the characters and the silliness of the game. You can also unlock gallery pics, and moggers, which are some weird cats, that you can find in each one of the 30 mini games. They appear once during play in every mini game, so the key is finding when and where they appear. The game features near use (you can gift and receive bonuses for certain mini games), leaderboards, and Trophy support.

Overall, I gave the game a 6.0/10. While I like the characters, and some of the mini games, but certain mini games were a frustrating mess, that did a few game design no-nos. Get the game if you want, but be warned, It is NOT perfect.

Super Stardust Delta, now this game is an absolute gem. I'm having a blast playing this game. It's by far the best Super Stardust game yet.

The game's central mode is based around arcade. As in previous Stardust games, you travel through 5 planets, shooting enemies, rocks, while collecting points and maxing out your score. What changes from previous games, is the addition to new powerful attacks. Beyond the emp from previous games, you can shooting a multidirectional assault by tapping the touch screen, or create a assive black hole by using the back screen. Dash function also returns from previous games. The standard weapon system has changed from previous games. Gone is the green shot weapon from the previous games, the fire whip, and ice multishot has remained. Each weapon is effect against certain enemies on screen. A red one, is weak against the fire whip, while a blue one is weak against the ice shot. It introduces a bit of refined strategy to the series, and makes gameplay faster. Not to mention, true twin stick support is now on the handheld vs the previous portable Stardust game

Beyond the Arcade mode, there's planet mode, where you complete a planet for the highest score. The Advanced Star Fighter pack also introduces a few other "main" modes. In endless mode, which send enemies at you at random, endless waves. In Bomber, you try to earn as many points you can by only destroying enemies with bombs. In Impact, you can only dash through sets of enemies to gain points. The highlight is twin stick mode, which you go through the 5 planets of the game using both sticks to shoot (twin whips, whip and ice shot, two ice shots) while using the sixaxsis to to move the ship. That mode was intense, but very fun. I do recommend getting the pack with the game (there should be a bundle for $15 on the PS store).

With the main game you can also unlock mini games. In crush, you using the front screen and back pad to crush rocks for points. Disc slide has you using the touch pad to glide you ship into purple bombs and green rocks to destroy enemies and gain points. Orbit bomber has you firing a laser using the tilt functions and the L/R buttons to shoot. Rock and Roll have you tilting the system as a giant rock, trying to break green cores, while avoiding being hit. Finally, trucker has you using your ship with a tractor beam throwing rocks as enemies and other rocks for points. Lots of variety, lots of fun.

The best thing that impresses me, it the visuals. My goodness does Delta looks amazing on the Vita. The game has full leaderboard support, thophies, and near support.

Overall, I give the game a 9.5/10 It's not only a great game, it's one of the best shoot em' ups I've ever played (and I have played a lot!) A must have for any Vita owner.

Alright, that's it for now. My Next blog should detail Escape Plan, Hustle Kings, and Unit 13 (among possible others). Enjoy the week everyone!

Now it's time for Part 2 of "My Experience With The PS Vita" Blogs. Today, I'll be diving into the rest of the Vita apps.

Let's start today's blog off with the Remote Play app of the Vita.

I'll be frank here, it operates just about the same as the PSP one, Except you can connect via your private network or the internet. After linking your Vita with the PS3 (which follows the same process for the most part like the PSP), you can view your PS3 screen on the vita, play remote play capable games, or PS1 games (which is what most use it for). Visually it's like the PSP and doesn't come in crisp like other things on the Vita, which bothers me a tad. It just seems like a simple add on from the PSP era days, and basically that's all it is.

Now LiveTweet for Vita, the twitter app for Vita, might be the best twitter app I've seen. It's easy to tweet, read and search for tweets, refresh on demand, follow people, change your profile...basically everything, and I mean everything you can do on twitter.com you can do here, and with ease. There's no hick up what so ever with this app, even being entirely touch based. It's super easy to use. So much so, that I prefer using this then any other app of any other device, heck even the twitter website for that matter.

The left bar: Post tweet, view twitter, see replies to you, messages, lists, searches, then settings.

Flicker is a nice bonus as well, available for free from the PS Store. Even if you don't have a flicker account like me, you can still browse people and pictures. The app also saves your search and viewing history, so you can easily find items you've seen in the past. You can also customize the app to show what you want to show, and in the order it is (like maybe you want the upload function to be near the top.) Pulling the screen down from the top like in twitter, will also refresh the page (and nice to see similar app functions go across multiple apps)

A minor blimp is the Facebook app, which has been taken down from the PS store since it's not working for most people. I've gotten mine to work, though to be honest...

I don't like facebook. xD So take my opinion of the app with that in mind.

That being said, you can browse your wall, other walls, your pics, other's pics, write messages on the wall or to them, so on so forth. Unlike the twitter app though, where everything can be done in it, with ease without going to twitter.com, the facebook app is the opposite, as certain confirmations, and any settings to your account has to be done in the internet browser (which the app will direct you to on your vita, or you can go to your computer). That I can see why they did so, but still makes the app feel inferior compared to the excellent twitter app, or flicker app. The from splash screen for the app can also shortcut you to your photos, or messages, instead of pressing the start portion area of the splash page for easy access.

Photos and messages icon on the splash screen allow for easy access.

(UPDATE: The Facebook app is back up on the PS Store. "Facebook service for the PS Vita has been completely restored, and the Facebook app is now available for (free) download on the PS Store." - Via the Official PlayStation Twitter Page)

The Maps app, is a Google Maps App that is straight forward really. you can search for locations, zoom in and out from there...and that's it. Really, that's it.

The internet app though, is awesome. The internet browser on the vita has tab browsing! YES TAB BROWSING! On the splash screen you can shortcut to your open tabs in the browser, but you cna also hit the tab button on the right side of the browser in the app. It functions here like the opera browser, where you can close tabs and open new ones. The browser loads up pages fast on this app. Light years compared to the PSP of course. You can save your favorites, zoom in and out like on a smartphone, and such. It's a great browser, because not only is it easy to use, it's efficient to use. Saving images is even easy on the app. Just press and hold and image on screen and you can save it. The only main downside though is as @JustPlainLucas mentioned in the comments of the last blog, you can't run the browser while you have a game in standby. The other being it does not have flash support. Adobe flash isn't being supported for most handheld devices going forward so, I understand why it isn't here, but I would love to be able to view youtube videos on the handheld. That aside, I love the browser.

The right bar: left and back buttons, tabs, search, history/favorites, and settings.

Tabbed browsing!

Easy access to tabs too on the app's splash page.

Bookmarking is easy to do, and easy to access, as well as history.

Saving images is super easy.

The friends app is straight forward too, you can view your friends list, accept and send friend requests, see their latest activities, near stuff and more. I wish it were combined with the group messaging app. The group messaging app you can message friends, as a single person or group. It's cross compatible with the ps3, so there's no hick up.

Here you can see someone's activity, trophies, level, near stuff, shared play histoy and more.

The party app allows you to chat to up 8 of your friends and play anything the Vita (as long as that app doesn't disconnect network settings, like a few games...Micheal Jackson The Experience I'm looking at you.) It's a simple feature fun one that people have longed for on other consoles and such ever since Xbox 360 introduced it. It's one you'll be using more so then you think.

Now for Near.

Now is a near app, that allows you to see who's been playing near you. Pressing the near button in the app, obtains location, and allows you upload what you've been doing, and choose what you want to share. You can also download gifts, like items for Modnation, see what people think like about certain games, and such. Speaking about gifts, in certain games like Modnation and Little Deviants you can share gifts for other near players to play. I can really see this getting good later in the handhelds life.

The near button is in the top right here in this pic. You can update from the same location once per hour. Out and about details who's been nearby this location, and from there you can see what's been played a lot, and view what they have been playing and any gifts they have to give and such. Friends, allows you to see who's been using near, discoveries highlight important gifts, and new games, and settings allows you to change how much info you want to share among other things.

So I'm gonna cut the blog off here right now. I've still have to talk about Welcome Park, then it's the games! :D

Finally got around to doing this blog, folks. I've had the Vita since the 22nd, the "Official" launch day, and every minute of it has been awesome.

Make no mistake, the Vita is not only an awesome handheld system, it might be one of the best handheld devices ever made. Using the system for a few days now, it's one of the most comfortable handhelds I've ever used. The sticks are great, touchscreen works wonderfully, and the unit is well constructed.

So with that out of the way, onto the details of my experience with the system! This will be on a few parts as I am trying to cover every app and important details about the Vita.

I got the Wifi model as I said before, Taking the unit, cables, and papers out of the box I focused on the quick start guide. Setting it up wasn't much of a hasle at all, though with the start up sets i had to skip signing in with my PSN account as the system needed to update first. Skipping those processes I was greeted by a video showing all the coolness of the system. I was already convinced it was cool long before the vid, but I like the reminder. :P And after that the Vita tells me to Give Welcome Park a try to get acquainted with the system. I pass for not, and in the Vita menu I click on the settings button, and updated the system.

PS Vita Firmware 1.61 details:

• A new application, (Maps), has been added to the home screen.
• In addition to photos, you can now take videos using the Photo application.
• You can now publish stories about the products that you rate in PlayStation Store to Facebook.
• In near, players' information is now displayed on the Discoveries screen. On this screen, a list of the online IDs of up to 100 players that you have encountered, and the number of times that you encountered each player, are displayed. Tap an online ID to display that player's profile screen.
• The Mac OS version of Content Manager Assistant for PlayStation has been released. The Windows version has also been updated.

After that I signed into my PSN account, and activated the system (Sony's way of tying games and Vita data to your handheld. You can deactivated and activate handhelds at any time, but a vita game can only be on two activated Vita handhelds at a time.) All in all it was a relatively painless startup to getting the system going. It was all done within 20 minutes, even though I had to update the system.

So with that out of the way, I scrolled around the screen to see what I had on the system: Welcome Park, PS Store, Near, Friends, Group Messaging, Trophies, Photos, Browser, Music, Videos, settings, Content Manager, Remote, Play, and Maps were all there.

I decided to hit the PS Store first.

I was a bit worried about how the store navigation was going to be all touch, but I must say my worries went away within a minute. navigating the store right now is pretty darn easy. PS Vita games, Cross-Play games, PSP Games, Minis, demos, Apps, Media, and by Genre, are the option to choose from. and from there you can click on the content, and be able to download, purchase, and rate things. It's pretty easy, and anything you download goes to your notifications screen. It's in the top left corner, and is always accessible in the main Vita menu by tapping on it. It's list download progress, installs, saved pictures and items from the browser, friend notifications, trophy notifications, message notifications and more.

Notifications.

Tapping more shows this screen.

Anyway, I decided to download the few apps available: Facebook, LiveTweet, and Flicker apps. From there I downloaded a few demos, including the Unit 13 Demo. Downloaded a few gameplay videos too. Pretty easy. One thing I notice with the system, the wifi seems much stronger then in the Ps3 models, at least the older ones. I was able to download big size files in no time flat, while my Ps3 wifi tends to take much longer to download same size files. Something to note anyway.

From there I decided to try the content manager with the PS3. Taking the usb cable and plugging it in and poof. the ps3 was connected to it, and the content manager button on the vita started pulsing. clicking on it went the the content manager and from there I was able to transfer images, video (if I wanted to), Psp games, Minis and such over with ease. Already easier then the PSP in certain respects. Transferring video or images with transfer you to the video and photos apps on the vita, and from there you can transfer items for each app.

I'm connected to the PC here in this screen. I can transfer files PC (or PS3) to Vita, or Vita to PC (or PS3). A full backup utility is also here making things easy to protect your important files.

Applications, Video, Music and Video and all be transfered from one to another. In every instance I found it easy and fast.

Under applications you can transfer Vita files (Games, content and saves), PSP/Minis, and Saved Data For PSP Minis.

As far as the PSP games go I was able to transfer and run games that aren't on the compatibility list: Guilty Gear Judgement, Ape Quest, Beats, Work Time Fun., Super Stardust Portable, and Pursuit Force. The only PSP I couldn't get on the Vita was Modnation Racers PSP. It would not allow me to transfer the game at all. As far as running PSP games on it, it's fantastic. The look better then they ever did on the PSP, and the Vita gives new life to them. press the touch screen for a few seconds and a menu will pop up: Bilinear filtering, Right Stick mapping, camera choice, and Colors Space (PSP System). Filtering allows for smoothing on the graphics, and Right stick mapping allows for you to map controls to the right stick. Yes that means for Super Stardust Portable, you can control the game as a true twin stick shooter. Camera allows you to choose what camera to use for PSP games that support it: The rear or front camera. Finally, Color Space reverts the colors on the screen to match the original PSP system palette. With those options, and the OLED screen, PSP games play and look better on this system then they ever did on the PSP. Heck they even load faster. Tap the PS button and you can treat it like any other app/game on the Vita. That means while you are playing a PSP game you can easily tweet, or browse the browser, and go back to the game at any time.

The PSP games and Minis I have on the system currently. Modnation PSP could not transfer as apparently that's one of the few non-compatiable at this time.

Speaking of being able to go between app/games/programs, the Vita is able to handle a lot of things at once, up to 6 things open (but only one vita/psp/mini game open at a time. Open another and it'l request you close the other. From the main screen swiping leftwards allows you to cycle from the Vita menu to the open apps. Tapping the PS button again shows the open apps in blade, almost a nod to the original Xbox 360 blade system. Navigating is easy in this thing and I LOVE that. To close any app, just pull the page down (swipe Left to right, downwards).

Navigating is so easy, and Vita is full of making things easy to navigate for you.

Now onto the Photo, Music and Video apps. Clicking the photo app switches to a start screen, that every app/game has. Here is easy shortcuts to the Camera and saved photos. With the updated firmware you can take video now too. While I like that it has cameras, I must admit they aren't high quality, and definitely one of the few low points of the handheld. That aside, it is easy to use, and the saved photo part of the app is equally easy. The video app, is pretty straight forward but easy to use too. The Music app is also easy, but One of the major perks is being able to play music while you use other apps. If you select an app that needs to use the speakers, it'll pause the music. Exit that app, and the music will begin playing right where you left off. A small perk, but a nice thing to note about the app.

Every app/game has a splash screen which you can activate the app from, or hit useful shortcuts. The photo app's is especially useful as you can tap the camera to go straight to picture taking (or video recording) or straight to your albums.

The video app is pretty straight forward, which is good. The spalsh screen before it shows hit tv shows/movies current on the store as well for easy access.

That ends part 1. In Part 2, which will be posted Wednesday, I'll dive into Remote Play, twitter, Flicker, and Maps apps, as well as near. I'll also talk about the browser, which I'm a bit impressed with albeit it lacks flash support (which flash has said it doesn't aim to pursue flash for handhelds anymore.) I'll also detail how the friends and group messaging works on the system and my thoughts on that. Then of course i'll go into detail about Welcome Park and of course...the sweet, sweet games for the Vita! Stay tuned!

Sorry guys and gals, but a few things came up Friday and I couldn't get to writing the blog. AnywayI decided to hold the blog post til Monday, that way it gives me some more time with the device and time to make the article. See ya on Monday! Enjoy the weekend folks!

(Special thanks to @Hart704 for picture)

I. HAS. VITA.

As most of you know, I got my Vita on the 22nd and I am absolutely loving the thing! I'll be posting thoughts, views, and reviews on aspects of the Vita later today.

Stay tuned! :D