PlayStation Vita Hill Social Club
by Orion_NGC1976, HSM team writer
I was racing dolphies one evening with a friend, when she mentioned an event that was occurring in a few days in San Francisco. It sounded interesting and I thought it would be something worth while to check out, so she watched the segment of the Internet program Tekzilla again to get the full details, relaying them to me. Thank you, Dlyrius.
The event was occurring at the Vita Hill Social Club in San Francisco. I had not heard of these clubs, so I googled it. On Sony’s official website there was a page for the PS Vita Hill social clubs.
There are eight social clubs across the United States in the following cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Austin. These clubs opened at the beginning of this year and will operate until February 27th; five days after the US release date.
The clubs were started in order to get the PlayStation Vita into as many people’s hands before its release, allowing them to try out the new mobile gaming device before buying it.
I printed off a map of the location on Google Maps and arranged with my employer to leave early on that Friday afternoon. The club is located on Union street at the corner of Gogh. I had decided to take the rapid transit train (BART) into the city and walk. The hike from the BART station at Market to Union is about 2 miles, which takes you over the hills of San Francisco. It provided me some needed exercise and was a pleasant walk through the city that I haven’t done in quite a long time.
The San Francisco Vita Hill Social Club
As I approached my destination, there were no big signs outside identifying what was inside the Victorian building storefront window. I entered and was greeted by very pleasant young people, who assisted me in registering and entering my three codes for a possible gift. One of the three codes yielded a winner. I was given a key with a number on it that corresponded with a post office box that was among a cluster of boxes. The prize inside was a Vita Hill Social Club drink cozy. I would imagine that at least one of the three numbers would be a winner and was a fun way for them to give out a free gift to each visitor.
At last, I am sitting down in a leather chair and have a PlayStation Vita in my hands. The attendant gave a rundown of the vital statistics of the PS Vita. The Vita comes in two varieties: a Wi-Fi only version and one with 3G mobile network connectivity. The PS Vita comes with many features that are included with smartphones: front and rear cameras (1.3 megapixel), built-in GPS, Bluetooth, and touch screen (five inches, 960 x 444, OLED). However, the PS Vita is not a cellphone. The 3G is used solely for gaming purposes – online gaming wherever you may be, even at places where there is no Wi-Fi, but has cell coverage. Of course this means that in order to use the 3G network you must have a cell data plan for the PS Vita. AT&T is the exclusive cell plan provider for the PS Vita.
A memory card is pretty much required to store downloaded games, game data, pictures, etc., which adds to the cost of the unit ($19.99 for a 4GB memory card and $99 for a 32GB memory card), which already runs at $249.99 for Wi-Fi only and $299.99 for the model with 3G. There is a 3G bundle that includes the 3G Vita, 4GB memory card, Little Deviants game, and a limited edition case for $349.99.
Enjoying the PS Vita
Along with the touchscreen and the normal PS controls, there are the Sixaxis motion sensors and the touchpad on the backside of the Vita. The Sixaxis motion sensors are the same as they are on the PS3 controller (a gyroscope with 3 axes for sensing pitch, tilt, and yaw and a 3-axis accelerometer that registers the device’s movement on the X, Y, or Z planes). Play can be controlled by the movement of the PS Vita. In the Uncharted game, swinging on a rope was controlled by tilting the Vita forwards and then backwards. This is very intuitive. Also aiming the sniper rifle is accomplished by holding the Vita out in front of you and moving it around, as if the Vita was the scope on the rifle.
I played one game that used the backside touchpad, by tapping the underside of the Vita to make an orb bounce up through a hoop. The harder you tapped the touchpad the higher the orb would go up in the air.
Now for the important questions: backwards compatibility with PSP games and support for PS Home. Answers to both of these questions were a bit sketchy on details. Backwards compatibility is partial. Since the PS Vita does not have a UMD drive, only games that can be downloaded from the PSN Store can be played on the PS Vita. This means that none of the games that have been purchased for the PSP can be played on the PS Vita. There is some uncertainty about whether Sony is going to offer a discounted price to download games previously owned PSP games on UMD discs. Not all PSP games will be available for download and therefore there will be some PSP games that will not be able to be playable on the Vita.
Even more sketchy were the responses as to whether Home would be supported on the PS Vita. All the Sony reps would say was that Sony has not said one way or the other concerning the support for PS Home on the Vita.
The games that were available at the Vita Hill club were demo versions of Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Little Big Planet, Hot Shots Golf, SoundShapes, Little Deviants, ModNation Racers, and Reality Fighters. I tried out several of these. The graphics on the Vital is truly impressive and play is very smooth. Some of the games feel like they were merely ported from the PSP to new platform, such as Hot Shots Golf, but there were other games, like Little Big Planet and Uncharted, that utilized all the new features of the Vita in a manner that enhanced the game play and not just attach itself to new trendy controls.
Destructoid Internet Show Live from Vita Hill Social Club, SF
The big event that was occurring that afternoon was the live streaming of the Internet show Destructoid. Cameras and lighting were set up in the back area that was probably used for tournaments. Of course this episode of Destructoid was focused on the Vita.
The Vita Hill clubs are hosting events every week, which are posted on the Vita Hill social club web site. The events include tournaments both open an private, game demos and game developer’s events.
Tekzilla and Destructioid are two of the programs that can be watched from the Revision3 website.
The Vita will be released in America on February 22nd. One can also preorder now.
For more information about the PS Vita see the PS Vita FAQ.
February 18th, 2012 by Orion_NGC1976 | 5 comments
Father, husband, dolphy racer and sometimes Home world traveler.
WOW.this is something really interesting, who woulda guessed..Awesome job once again Orion…
I was surprised at how this is not widely known. I really like the idea of a place for gamers to get together and have events. Some local game stores do this, but it was nice to have an official Sony presence and get a pre-release look at the Vita. It would be nice if Sony considered having social clubs as a permanent place for Sony gamers to gather.
Very cool experience Orion. Thanks for sharing!
That is SO cool! I think it’s a great idea to have events like this. Personally my PSP is still alive and well, so I can’t see shelling out again, but this new portable seems amazing. If you end up winning one can I borrow it? Lol!
Yes, I really like the idea of gaming social clubs with hosted events too. If I win one, I will lend it to you. I hope you won’t the mind the attached security cable.