PlayStation Vita: Difference between revisions

While not as powerful as a PS3 (the closest equivalent to it in terms of computing capabilities is the iPhone 4S or the third-generation iPad, at least with its shared PowerVR underpinnings), Sony intended the Vita to be easy for developers to import assets from their PS3 games to the Vita, and at least some games were cut-down or even unabridged ports of their home console counterparts such as the 2012 ''Need for Speed: Most Wanted'' reboot. Several games outright support transferring saves between the PS3 or PS4 counterpart (a feature technically first seen on the PSP and PS3 with ''[[Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker]]'', and technically included in the older ''[[Pursuit Force]] 2'' but the console version of that game never materialized), but the need to purchase the same game ''twice'' meant this was actually a great deal less than practical.

The console didn't have appreciable internal memory, it must be bought separately, in the format of a Sony Memory Stick, ''a new type'' of memory stick which so far is exclusive for the Vita; the PRO and DUO Memory Sticks used by the PSP won't work on it. This would prove to be the biggest cause for Vita's downfall, as the memory sticks were absurdly overpriced compared to commodity (Micro) SD Cards. This would prove to be a problem as games were fairly large, and the system's disc management was locked down in a (failed) attempt to prevent custom firmware with a bizarre oversight in the file management software that rendered it impossible to easily backup saves while deleting game data.

Sony also released a non-portable microconsole variant of the Vita called the PS Vita TV in Japan on November 14th, 2013. It was intended as a companion device that could play PS Vita and PlayStation Plus games on a TV with a DualShock controller, as well as stream PS4 games onto a different television through Wi-Fi. It too proved to be a critical and commercial failure for Sony as a good chunk of the Vita's library is blacklisted either due to the games' use of Vita-specific features or for no good reason, among them being ''Uncharted: Golden Abyss'', ''Wipeout 2048'', ''Assassin's Creed III: Liberation'', ''Lumines: Electronic Symphony'', ''Tearaway'', ''Gravity Rush'', ''Borderlands 2'', ''The Sly Collection'' and others. Hackers found ways to bypass the blacklist, though compatibility issues remain due to some games' dependency on features such as the rear touchpad; in theory developers could releasehave released updates to add supportaccount for the Vita TV's control differences, but this never materialised (though later ports of ''Assassin's Creed III: Liberation'' to other systems did rework the controls somewhat). Due to low hardware sales, Sony released the Vita TV as the "PlayStation TV" outside Asia, disassociating themselves from the already tainted Vita brand.

Though despite having been a critical and commercial flop, the Vita did gain a loyal cult following especially in the late 2010s to early 2020s when security researchers managed to successfully defeat the console's security (though certain aspects of it are still being worked on), paving the way for a thriving homebrew scene. While some of these hacks are in the form of unofficial ports of popular Android games to the Vita, others focused on quality-of-life improvements such as adapters which allow commodity SD cards to be used as external storage instead of the absurdly expensive proprietary memory cards. An essential modification is the [https://henkaku.xyz/ HENkaku] jailbreak, which basically opens the door for modding the Vita and allows for homebrew (and unfortunately piracy). HENkaku in itself isn't persistent and requires the user to reapply it on every reboot, akin to a semi-untethered jailbreak on an iOS device; this can be remedied by installing Enso, which is a custom firmware based on version 3.60 and 3.65 and permanently jailbreaks the Vita, though not without the risk of bricking if you don't know what you're doing. Also essential is Adrenaline, a virtualised PlayStation Portable environment where games and apps written for the PSP can played.