Back when the Vita was revealed, I remember dreaming about playing a game on my HDTV, then picking up my Vita and continuing to play the same game on the go. Of course, that’s never really panned out on the PS3—though it has with the Asian-only Vita TV.
A bit of backstory: since I wrote at length about the Vita TV back when it was released in November, I hadn't used it much—nor my normal Vita for that matter. But with my trip from Japan to America for the holidays looming, picking up a portable title for my vacation seemed like a good choice. As I was packing up my Vita, I decided on a whim to pack my Vita TV as well. After all, the Vita TV is actually about half the size of a normal Vita and can easily fit in a pocket.
This was the best decision I made all vacation.
The Vita TV is the perfect “home console” for travel. When everyone else was cooking, shopping, or otherwise occupied—or when I just announced that I literally needed to go play video games (something I had always dreamed of getting to tell my mother)—I’d whip out my Vita TV. After the sparse few seconds it took to connect the power cord and HDMI cables, I was playing happily. Then, whenever I was in for an extended car ride (or airplane flight), I simply turned off the Vita TV, popped out the game and memory card, then put them into my normal Vita.
The changeover process took mere moments and then I was back to playing.
I suppose I always thought (feared?) there would be some kind of hassle when it came to switching from the Vita TV to the portable Vita—that it couldn't be as simple as it should be. Yet, I discovered that I was (happily) wrong.
Since coming back to Japan, I have been continuing my Vita/Vita TV crossover usage and reveling in the sheer convenience of it. And since I picked up Persona 4: Golden while in the US, I doubt this is going to end anytime soon.
The PlayStation Vita TV was released in Japan on November 14, 2013. There is currently no word on a Western release.
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