Review Of Sony’s Sleek Device – PS Vita TV

PlayStation Vita TV review

Review Of Sony’s Sleek Device – PS Vita TV

The Sony PS Vita TV is a neat box that lets you play PS Vita and PS Classics on the big screen. T3 went hands-on in Japan. It is effectively a Sony PS Vita without the screen and controls, reduced to a tiny and svelte 6cm x 10cm chassis, which plugs into your telly, is controlled by a DualShock 3 joypad and runs games, TV services and ebooks on your big screen on a budget.

Beijing: It is effectively a Sony PS Vita without the screen and controls, reduced to a tiny and svelte 6cm x 10cm chassis, which plugs into your telly, is controlled by a DualShock 3 joypad and runs games, TV services and ebooks on your big screen on a budget.

The unit is minimalist and white, ultra portable and flexible, packing an audio jack, HDMI out, memory card slot, ethernet and USB ports, plus a power button along one side, the rest sleek and lacking intrusion. A very small stand can prop up the unit vertically, with the wires running down like a common or garden router. It’s really quite cute.

Once inside, the PS Vita TV’s menus play out unsurprisingly just like a Vita handheld – same bubble-wrap UI, same selection of Live Tweet, Netflix and photo gallery apps, same choice of games plus a new ‘connect to PS4′ section. You need a PSN ID to log in, but this means any games bought can be accessed instantly from within the new system.

The first appeal is playing PS Vita and PS Classics games on your big screen. The UI looks initially a bit stretched in resolution terms, but games actually run surprisingly well, and if you sync it up to a PS4 you’re quickly into the next gen machine’s new aesthetic layout.

Also, once Gaikai-powered cloud power hits Sony products next year – in a chat with T3, Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida confirmed that the OnLive-esque service would be coming to PS Vita, Vita TV, PS4 and PS3 in 2014 – the Vita TV will become an integrated part of an always connected media hub of devices, letting you stream all kinds of games, films, music and more to room of your choice. But alas, there’s nothing like that at present.

The second appeal, however, is the PS Vita TV operating as a second entertainment box in the house, Sky-like, streaming PS4 games to a spare room in a Remote Play style when necessary thanks to quick and easy connectivity.

Once the boxes are synced you can not only access the PS4 UI, but also use the DualShock 4 controller for appropriate game interaction, and you can also pause and continue your game in any room you wish with the tap of a button.