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Sony PS Vita to stream all PS3 games

You'll be able to stream all your PS3 games to your PS Vita handheld, for Wii U-style TV-free playing.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

You're playing away quite happily on your console when someone decides they want to watch something on the TV. If you're anything like us, negotiating such a situation will seemingly have constituted about 90 per cent of your childhood.

We recently heard that Nintendo has come up with a solution in the shape of tablet-style controllers for the Wii U which will let you continue playing without a TV. Now it looks as though PlayStation has got in in the act too. A PlayStation 3 firmware upgrade is in the pipeline that'll let you play all your PS3 games on your PS Vita, Eurogamer reports. Great news for everyone in house shares.

You might be thinking 'Hang on, how's a PS3 game going to look on a PS Vita screen?' Well they'll be downscaled to the same resolution as the original PSP screen, 480x272 pixels. That's for current games -- future releases will have 480p modes specifically for PS Vita. Seems a little strange considering the Vita's screen is capable of showing games at 960x544 pixels, but maybe it's to ensure there's no juddering when streaming.

Sony hasn't made any official announcement regarding the feature, but seeing as it's available for the original PSP, it'd certainly make sense. It's limited to PS1 games and some Network titles on the PSP, but it'd be amazing to enable PS3 games on a handheld.

The functionality -- known as Vita Remote Play -- has been shown off before, but it was thought it'd be limited to select titles. Killzone 3 was demoed streamed to a PS Vita, with DualShock buttons appearing on the touchscreen. The Vita can also be used as a second controller in co-op play on PS3 titles.

The Vita will be available in the UK in February, with the official launch line-up having been announced. The Wi-Fi-only version will cost £229, with the 3G-enabled one costing £279.99. It's also coming to Vodafone -- sign up with that network and you'll get a free copy of WipEout 2048, which isn't too shabby.