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PlayStation Vita proves bolshy and bulky in video review

With the Sony PlayStation Vita's arrival imminent, have a gander at this video review to decide if it's the gaming device for you.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
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Katie Collins
2 min read
Watch this: Sony PlayStation Vita

The arrival of the Sony PlayStation Vita -- the portable gaming hardware sensation every self-respecting thumb jockey has been waiting for -- is imminent.

The Vita will march out in a couple of weeks, bolshy and brash as you like, proudly waggling its considerable price tag at eager-beaver gamers with little-to-no regard for the annual gadget shopping binge that took place two months prior.

But is the Vita's confidence justified or misplaced? In this video review Luke Westaway examines the Vita's credibility as an on-the-go gaming gadget.

The Vita's crisp 5-inch touchscreen and ample, well-spaced controls, including a lovely touch-sensitive trackpad on the underside, make for a pleasantly absorbing gaming experience.

A beast of a quad-core chip tears through the games with all the vigour of an enraged four-headed Cerberus and the smart phone-style interface full of bouncing badges is simple and fun to use.

Alas, the Vita's downfall lies not in how it handles games or web browsing -- although it's a shame its multi-tasking abilities are so limited -- but when you remember that it's a portable gaming device.

For a start it's large -- too large. You've got to be a seriously committed gamer to load up your rucksack with this cumbersome slab of tech every time you leave the house and endure the botheration of lugging it around town with you.

Then there's the battery life, which would just about hold out for the duration of a short-haul flight -- and that's not accounting for transfers, the two-hour wait at the airport and any delays you might encounter along the way.

Taking these factors into account as well as the combined price of the console, games and memory card (proprietary -- ugh), the Vita's appeal is limited and it's questionable as to whether this device would be the appropriate gadget for any but the most hardcore of gaming nuts.

Hit play on the video above to check out the Vita in closer detail and while you're at it, see why Luke thinks the Vita is no match for the iPod touch.

If you vehemently disagree with our assessment or are having second thoughts about whether the Vita is for you, you'll be glad to know we've reserved a special space for you to be vitriolic in the comments below. Or you could head over to the CNET UK Facebook page.