vita

Make a jingle on a smartphone, play it on a computer instantly

Sometimes I get bored with the same old holiday song and dance.

If you do too, you can create your own theme, techy-style, with a unique Web page that turns your smartphone, tablet, or PlayStation Vita into an on-the-fly holiday music loop maker. German design firm deepblue came up with the site, which blends HTML5 and the powerful WebSocket protocol to offer a unique live mobile-to-browser experience that many of you probably have not experienced before. … Read more

Sony: 525K PS3s and 160K PS Vitas sold around Black Friday

Sony sold an impressive amount of PlayStation hardware in the U.S. over Thanksgiving: 525,000 PlayStation 3 consoles and 160,000 PS Vita bundles.

The number of PlayStation devices sold fell short of Microsoft and Nintendo's surprising announcements earlier this week that the companies sold 750,000 Xbox 360 units and 1.2 million Nintendo gaming devices, respectively.… Read more

Compelling PS Plus game collection and firmware headed to Vita

Next week, Sony's PlayStation Vita gets a much-needed shot in the arm as the company has revealed a selection of games for PlayStation Plus subscribers and new firmware that adds some mildly exciting new features to the handheld gaming gizmo.

After months of teasing, the upcoming PlayStation Plus ($49 a year) game collection for the Vita arrives on November 19. The first set of PS Plus Vita games includes Uncharted: Golden Abyss; Jet Set Radio HD; WipEout 2048; Gravity Rush; Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack; and the PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Many of those titles are top-tier gaming experiences and currently cost more than $30. … Read more

A conversation with the first PlayStation Vita hacker

Those hoping to see a PlayStation Vita hack could have their wishes answered in a few months. Some anonymous programmers announced they discovered an exploit allowing them application-level (userland) access into the Sony gaming device.

Before you get all excited about the idea of illegally downloading full PS Vita games, you should know that this purported hack can't grant such abilities. However, if the group of developers creates a loader, the hack could open the door for homebrew, and more importantly, emulation. Which means that one day the Vita could play Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, Sega, and many other games, similar to a hacked PSP. … Read more

Madden 13 on Vita and Kinect: New technology in the huddle

Late August doesn't usually mean much for video gamers...unless you're playing Madden. Like the swallows of Capistrano, the arrival of the next Madden has become inextricably associated with the start of football season for us...and, the start of Scott's endless obsession over the NFL Team We Shall Not Name. Madden as an actual game doesn't really merit much to talk about year in and year out...new rosters, slight tweaks that only a veteran player would appreciate, or game modes that few might spend the time to discover. Still, the NFL fans buy it, … Read more

Sony shines the spotlight on Vita

Sony representatives couldn't stop talking about the Vita during the Gamescom gaming expo today in Cologne, Germany, ushering in the most announcements ever in one day for the handheld since its debut. In fact, most of the first half of the press conference spoke exclusively of new Vita games and features coming before the end of the year.

The event introduced new games for the Vita such as Tearaway (from Media Molecule, creator of LittleBigPlanet) and Killzone Mercenary, both of which look visually stunning. We also learned about some new features coming down the road for the Vita, including … Read more

PlayStation's mobile, multiscreen push

Tuesday's top tech headlines are formatted to fit your second screen:

At the Gamescom conference in Germany, Sony announced several new PlayStation games and new methods for playing. Sony talked more about PlayStation Mobile for Android devices, but we still don't know exactly when it'll hit the market or how many games will launch in the store.

And there are some perks for those that own both a PS Vita and the PS3. For one price, you can get a game for both systems, starting with "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale," "Sly Cooper: Thieves in … Read more

PlayStation Mobile still aims to take on iOS, Android games

Despite Sony's focus on mobile games via the PlayStation Vita, there's been a second, parallel path in the mobile game front taken via PlayStation Suite. That initiative, now called PlayStation Mobile, was detailed with additional hardware partners and promises of indie-friendly openness at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany.

PlayStation Mobile aims to take small-scale gaming to a wider variety of devices: Sony Xperia phones and tablets, select Android devices, and the PlayStation Vita. These games will download on all formats and be cross-compatible, in an attempt to build an ecosystem that can extend beyond traditional handheld game systems like … Read more

There's a DJ in my Vita and its name is Sound Shapes

Since its relatively impressive launch last February, there's been a disconcerting lack of quality software titles available for Sony's powerful portable. Sure, there's a few notable games on the horizon including LittleBigPlanet, Call of Duty, and Assassin's Creed, but it's the downloadable efforts that really hold the true potential of the system.

Sound Shapes first debuted at E3 2011, where it headlined Sony's debut of the Vita. Since then it has slipped under the radar, quietly being developed by Queasy Games and Santa Monica Studio.

Now with the game ready to go, we're wondering if Sound Shapes is the shot in the arm that the Vita needs or if it's a disappointing casualty of its own hype machine.… Read more