A few weeks ago when we were purchasing a second XBOX for the house we were hard pressed by the “guy behind the counter” at the Columbia, TN Games Stop to put down money to reserve a Vita. He went on and on for far longer than we wanted about the Vita in the middle of our purchase of loaded Xbox. Wife and I were annoyed because it was late, we had kids with us, we were spending hundreds of dollars already that day and the guy would NOT SHUT UP. Our regular Game Stop is in Spring Hill but they didn’t have the model/bundle of Xbox we wanted and it was the last evening of a $50.00 off said bundle.

So I have noticed people micro blogging about the Vita on various sites as it seems to be have released this week. Jack Hardman on Google+ had this to say…..

“My initial thoughts on Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the PSVita are that it is a very beautiful game, the platforming controls work very well on the handheld, and it keeps the same sense of epic adventure that the console games in the series have. My only complaint is that targeting seems a bit off to me, like the analog sticks are not as responsive as they should be, this could just be because I am being very delicate with the machine or am just not used to how it controls yet.”

The Slash Gear review of the PSVita was very positive.  The only caveat seemed to be when is the best time to play a mobile platform game.  The reviewer seemed to be more phone guy than reviewer.  He seemed to think the only time to play the Vita was while you were travelling or waiting for your food at a restaurant.  I read another Slash Gear article assuring us that the PSVita was the last mobile platform from Sony.

I do not own a handheld other than my iPhone. (edit — Ok I lied. I have an iPad with AT&T 3g. Totally forgot about that, but hey, I am getting old and I don’t game as much on it as I should.) The 11 and 13 year old in the house have 2 or 3 different gaming systems of the handheld variety. (iPod Touch, iPhone, Nintendo DS XL and Nintendo 3d and both have Kindle Fires…) As non drivers they play them a lot in the car but also on the couch. I think there is a still a market for a good handheld no matter what Slash Gear bloggers think. Maybe not for adults, but there are a lot of kids out there who don’t drive and don’t own a smart phone yet….

As a “gamer” I have think we have not seen what the Vita can do yet.  When titles that work on both the Vita and the PS3 are integrated and I can finish my game I started on the console in the car I might be more impressed.  As someone who is not travelling a lot letting someone else drive (train ride, bus ride, wife dragging my sorry butt around) I don’t think I am in the “need” stage for the Vita.  But maybe someday.

PlayStation Vita 3G/Wi-Fi Launch Bundle