PlayStation Vita

PlayStation Vita ( abbreviated PS Vita or PSV) ( during the development of the Next Generation Portable ( NGP ), unofficially also PSP 2 ) is a portable game console ( " handheld " ) by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation Portable. The console was announced on 27 January 2011 at a press event, and was released in Japan on 17 December 2011 and in Europe and America on February 22, 2012. The price for the standard version was 249 euros and for the 3G variant 299 euros. In addition, through collaboration between Vodafone and Sony is the 3G model of the PS Vita in Germany also available including mobile phone contract. In Germany, the PlayStation Vita 3G in contrast to most other countries like the U.S. (AT & T) and Japan (NTT Docomo ) has no Simlock. The term " Vita " comes from the Latin, meaning 'life'. The name should emphasize the involvement of the console based social connectivity in real life or real life. Furthermore, a long life span of the console with the name " Vita " connected. According to Sony CEO Shuhei Yoshida, the recent sales of the Vita come in below expectations, the Sony handheld of the 8th generation of consoles has since its release in late 2011 sold a total of 3.8 million Vita units. In May 2012, Sony announced that it would sell 10 million units of the Vita handheld system at the end of the fiscal year end of March, 2013, but could be sold only about 4.5 million units.

• 3.1 firmware
• 3.2 Content Manager Assistant 3.2.1 Open CMA

• 3.5.1 safety

Properties

In contrast to the various model generations of the PlayStation Portable, the Vita is a completely new development, significantly different from the PSP. Thus, in the PlayStation Vita, as, instead, even with the PlayStation Portable Go, waived UMDs come the so-called NVG Cards used. It is available in two versions, namely a model with 3G modem and WiFi and one which has only the wifi module. Sony also offers the two PlayStation Vita models still in various bundles. So already white, red and blue variations of the PS Vita is available in Japan. The 3G version of the PS Vita also has a GPS sensor. All PS Vitas are similar to those of a built-in 6-axis gyroscopic sensors Sixaxis controller and PlayStation Move for the PlayStation 3. Game flagships from Sony such as Uncharted and WipEout got time for the release of a new edition handhelds for the PS Vita donated.

Hardware

PlayStation Vita game cards

For the PS Vita own game map has been developed: The NVG Card. It is the successor of the optical UMD. Due to the omission of an optical drive Sony was able to reduce the noise level, the power consumption and the size of the PS Vita. In addition, the new storage media are less susceptible to physical damage. The NVG is available in two versions: One with 2 and once with 4 GB storage capacity. 5-10 % of the memory should be reserved for patches and other downloadable content. The map is of size about the size of an SD card. Front is the game, the rating and serial number on the NVG card. Every PS Vita can accommodate at a time only one NVG. After inserting the card, a link to the PS Vita will be installed, with which can retrieve the game. If you remove the card again, the link is installed, but the game does not start. The Scores are saved on the memory card.

PlayStation Vita Memory card

In order to better protect you from software piracy, Sony has developed its own memory card and offers them in sizes 4, 8, 16 and 32 GB. Each memory card was bound from the beginning to a PS Vita system, version 1.8, in addition also to a PSN system. Bypassing can only by a complete formatting of the card. In December 2012, Sony sold the memory card in the package with a selected game.

Since October 2013 Sony also offers a 64 GB memory card in Asia, which is run in the world all the PS Vita systems.

Specifications

The hardware has been implemented as a system-on -a- chip ( SoC) and is currently being produced by Samsung in the 45nm manufacturing process. Unlike proprietary processors in other devices Sony Playstation renounced costly proprietary developments and licensed products from PowerVR Technologies and ARM Limited.

Except where otherwise noted, all information submitted by the SCEI Press Conference 2011 in Tokyo.

CPU: ARM CortexTM -A9 core ( quad-core )

• Symmetrical 32-bit seed
• Complete cache coherency between the cores
• For applications are still 3 of 4 cores available
• 1.4 GHz clock

GPU: PowerVR SGX 543 MP4

• Quad- core graphics processor
• Based on the PowerVR SGX architecture
• Dynamic load balancing
• Tile -Based Deferred Rendering ( TBDR )

Memory:

• 512 MB ​​RAM

Video Memory:

Screens (touch screen):

The front display uses an active matrix and no separate arrangement of the subpixels PenTile in style. This corresponds to the advertised as an OLED display Samsung's " Super AMOLED " standard.

Weight:

• 3G/WiFi model: about 279 g
• WiFi Model: about 260 g

Cameras:

• One camera on front and back
• Frame rate: 120 fps at 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA ), 60 fps at 640 x 480 pixels (VGA)
• Resolution: max. 640 × 480 pixels ( VGA)

Sound:

• Built- in stereo speakers
• Built-in microphone

Sensors:

• Six -axis sensor system ( three-axis gyroscope, three-axis acceleration sensor, Three-axis electronic compass)

Wireless communications:

• Mobile network connectivity ( 3G)
• IEEE 802.11 b / g / n ( n = 1 × 1) (Wireless ) ( Infrastruktur-Modus/Ad-hoc-Modus )
• Bluetooth ® 2.1 EDR ( A2DP/AVRCP/HSP )

Positioning:

• Built-in GPS ( only available with 3G version )
• Support for Wi-Fi positioning

Input:

• Four directional buttons ( up / down / left / right)
• Two analog sticks
• Four input buttons ( circle, cross, triangle, square )
• Two shoulder buttons, one for each side
• PS, Start, Select button, power switch, volume control

Other:

• GPS module (only in 3G model )
• Permanently installed battery
• Battery life is around 3-5 hours
• (sold separately ) external battery for longer battery life

Supported audio and video formats:

• Music: MP3 MPEG -1/ 2 Audio Layer 3, MP4 ( MPEG -4 AAC), WAVE (Linear PCM)
• Video: MPEG -4 Simple Profile (AAC ), H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Hi / Main / Baseline Profile (AAC )
• Photos: JPEG (Exif 2.2.1), TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG

Slots / Ports:

• PlayStation Vita card slot
• Memory Card Slot
• SIM card slot ( 3G model only )
• Multifunction port (for USB data communication, DC power input )
• Audio ( stereo output, mono input ), serial data link
• Headphone jack ( stereo mini jack) Audio ( Stereo-Ausgang/Mono-Eingang )
• Accessory port

Software

Firmware

The official firmware for the PS Vita is based on the so-called Live Area UI and not on the, PS3, PSP and PSX used XrossMediaBar interface. Live Area is a touch -based user interface includes various social networking features via the PlayStation Network. The web browser does not support the proprietary Adobe Flash. Instead, this has HTML5 and JavaScript functions, and cookies may invest. The firmware is always supplied with updates from Sony, which add, improve or remove features. One of the last major change took place with the version 1.8, as, inter alia, the function for play PS1 games has been added. With the last major firmware Release 2.00 of the PlayStation Vita has been added to the PlayStation Plus offering and various little things.

Content Manager Assistant

The Content Manager Assistant ( CMA short ) is a software that is available for the Windows and the Mac operating system. It allows you to copy video images, music, games and memory levels of a PS Vita to a PC and vice versa. For copying must be necessarily connected to the Internet. This will, inter alia, the version of the PS Vita checked firmware and optionally a message is displayed to update. On PS Vita the appropriate software must be started. For copying with the PS3 is on the side of which no special software required. However, the PS3 can not be operated during this time. If the file you want to copy is not compatible with the PS Vita, the copy operation is aborted. As of version 2.0, it is also possible to connect to a computer via Wi-Fi and thus to transmit its data wirelessly.

Open CMA

The Open Content Manager Assistant is an unofficial patch content manager assistant for the Windows operating system. It allows you to copy files without an Internet connection. However, it is not possible to copy incompatible media.

Games

The PS Vita games are commercially available on NVG Cards or optionally, for the most part on the PlayStation Store in the form of a download. Whether a game is also available in the PlayStation Store, is the decision of the developer. Conversely, it is also possible that PS Vita games will be released only on PlayStation Store, as the title Escape Plan.

For the launch of the Playstation Vita over 25 games were released. Since the release of the handheld quite a few games were released and many more announced.

Apps

Sony shares their apps into four categories: social apps, gaming apps, media apps and apps for exploring PS Vita.

PSP emulator

PSP games can be played with the built-in PSP emulator on the PS Vita. This can be by pressing and holding the Home button or longer touching the touch screen some options concerning the integration of the second analog sticks and the representation of change. Not all PSP games are currently supported by the emulator. To play a game, it must first be downloaded from the PSN. UMD discs can not be digitized. In Japan, it is possible with the UMD Passport program, but Sony will not bring it to Europe and America. The reason the low interest and low cost of PSP games on the PSN store is specified.

Security

At the moment, run any unofficial modifications via the internal PSP emulator of the PS Vita. This has so far a bug was always used in a PSP game or a PlayStation Mini title, a so-called exploit. For this, the user had to transmit only one modified memory state on their PS Vita. The first such published hacks were possible with the games MotorStorm Arctic Edge, Everybodys Tennis, Super Collapse 3, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and Monster Hunter Freedom 3rd. While Sony removed the first three games for about a month from the store to release a patch, it was decided to Monster Hunter Freedom for it to publish an update to the firmware for the PS Vita. These modifications are called VHBL what Vita Half Byte loader is called. With these, however, it is only possible for this hack published or play modified programs, so-called homebrew. On 1 October 2012, an early version of a CEF, what custom firmware emulator is, leaked from the developer Coldbird. The publisher, a beta -user, was of the opinion that all should participate in the CEF. In contrast, however, it turned Coldbird and his colleague Z. The Coldbird then left the scene. The reason he stated that he had to protect themselves from the police. Two days later, the developer Total_Noob also published a CEF. This could play using the PSP emulator a correct PSP firmware with which it was also possible to PSP games to play for free on the PS Vita. This was possible through an exploit in the game Urbanix. Sony responded quickly and removed the game after a few hours. The developer Total_Noob announced shortly thereafter to a new version, which should be possible with any other game. Since the developer has some people already told the game before, the name is also this time become known again before its official release on 9 October 2012. So that game from Sony was removed and patched before October 9, from the European store. In the American Store, however it was available a few hours after the official release of the CEF. With firmware 2.02 exploit a new title was released called Uno with which it was possible to use the CEF of Total_Noob, a few hours later Uno has been removed from the store. Coldbird wanted to get out of the scene actually published his 6.60 ARK CEF for the PSP emulator. A few days ago Total_Noob published his last CEF the 6.60 TN -V with the XMB Menü.Inzwischen are also versions of the CEF for the Monster Hunter games (all versions ) published.