Sony's Vita and their vice

This is a bit more behind than I wanted to be, and was quite difficult for me to write (and I hope I fixed all typos). Just a heads up for a small disclaimer. I say Sony a lot when it goes far beyond what I'm truly talking about. Sony makes lots of electronics, but pretty much all of this is about what we really know them for... PlayStation. The fact they make TVs, headphones, and similar devices is cool but I'm pretty much talking about Sony's gaming area. I'm going to have a hard time with this article. It was actually coming for about... a month or so, originally positive, but then took a turn towards a dark negative I don't like admitting. Now... I just don't know. Sony is an awesome company that puts out my favorite brand of choice. They do cool stuff, have excellent developers and games to show off, are usually friendly and fun towards their consumer in a way that makes me feel like they really care about more than just money despite most publisher standards, and then there's just that good string of PR with the PS4 and those awesome flash sales lately that show potential for a better than expected digital age (its not better than steam but its showing that consoles are finally matching it a bit more). However they still have problems, some of which are very painful to bare for some people. It can be senseless, rage inducing, and just goes without enough explanation. I was originally going to talk about how great they've been on a role with a surprise entry of spyro and crash after being reminded from the glorious $0.99 sale. Then they had a great update on the PS4 that added more features to the recording than expected. Oh and did I mention all those flash sales, including a ton of games going for just a dollar? Yeah it was nice... then things changed around a bit to punch fans in the face and now I'm here to talk about that instead.

*sigh*

Part 1: Has the Vita support been cut off?

Lets talk about Sony's latest announcement regarding the Vita's potential future, and then maybe even the major problem with PlayStation overall. First off the Vita. Its been struggling for a while, and while I could have sworn it was picking up steam I think that's always mostly been in the heads of the fans. It is afterall a goldmine for quality entertainment on the go, and its had some incredible hits and enough titles to appeal to just about anyone by now. With a unique hand held experience it should be doing better. That's not to say it beats the 3DS as that's all subjective and it does have a larger amount of general content, but never the less the Vita was an incredible system that keeps getting good titles even if many are ports and indie games. So some like myself naturally assumed it was doing just fine, and sony has spoken out multiple times that what owners were out there adored the machine from survey results. Even though it was slow at getting the major titles and hits like Killzone Mercenary, Tearaway, and Gravity Rush, it was still getting them in and always seen great reviews (Well we can leave out Nihilistic's shooters, right?). That's not counting some of the goodies that you can bring with you from your PS3 experience. The recent big success of a major title was with a giant open world FPS RPG that just so happens to go by the name of Borderlands 2... old and downgraded sure, but the things that make it fun are all available on the go now. So imagine our surprise and dissatisfaction when we were told this sort of thing isn't cared about anymore because streaming and remote play are more money efficient ways to put big experiences on the machine. No seriously, they believe that's the best future for your $200+ portable gaming system.

Image feels fitting for some reason....

I just don't know quite how to approach that sort of statement. Am I to call it out for being very stupid, or as a decent business call that goes way too far to try and justify a solution that is absolutely mind blowingly awful and contradicting to the purpose of their own machine they put so much hard work into making? Or do I call it out as Sony being too proud of features nobody else is all that enthusiastic about? Either way what it all boils down to is them saying that we're not going to get another Tearaway, Killzone, LBP, Gravity Rush, Battle royal, Monster hunter, Mortal Kombat, Borderlands 2, type games and instead they expect us to appreciate a tied and restricted way of getting other system's games on the go. So its pretty much going to be down to Japanese and indie port games to supply the Vita's true library... oh but if you want to and have no other options, you can use its screen to see and run a game that belonged to and ran better on another console you likely already have.

I suppose the same could be said about some of the games already existing on the vita, as it really does have quite a few dedicated ports already some of which were over a year old and likely bought up and exhausting by most wanting it, but even then there's more of a place and reason for them to exist as a true vita game rather than a streamed format. Borderlands 2 is a good example that is coming late with most fans already burned out on its PS3/360/PC counterpart. Lets say that never happened though and you could only play it on the vita within these new perimeters Sony has set up for the future. You need to be subscribed to PSnow's model, and tie yourself to the internet and hope it is up to par to stream the game well. Also you could just use a PS3/4 and maybe PC with a better functioning controller, screen, and likely a stronger connection so you'll probably want to play it on those instead and the Vita will be absolutely pointless as you couldn't go anywhere with it and it has a smaller screen... you know, because its a portable! If you want to go the remote play route you already need to own the main game on a normal console as well as owning that normal console, then you need to tie your Vita's connection to the PS3, and then you'll be running the game in a version that was still mostly developed in mind for normal console controls. All remote play basically boils down to is switching the screen if you absolutely can't keep playing it through your Television. Its like that special Wii U pad mode some games have for that console. So no you wouldn't have Borderlands 2 on the go, you wouldn't have it as well crafted and tailored to the experience of the handheld, and you would probably not be using your Vita for its worth at all as your pretty much just nerfing your own home gaming experience. Actually it wouldn't even be like owning the game at all, its practically like throwing the game into internet DRM. Remote or purely streamed, it requires you to stay connected and the game's response is best on higher speeds. Low speed, flickering, or lost connections will have a terrible time with these experiences. Having fun yet? Well its a good thing you can because Borderlands 2 really isn't restricted to this crap, but I can't promise that there will be another good ending like this.

Ok I lost track of the point for just a second in using the BL2 example, but yet I think I still pointed out the major flaw with this ideal system. Relying on a PS netflix-like service or remote play just doesn't work with the Vita's purpose and capabilities. It instead turns it into a last resort application for other Sony projects. Its not giving you a beautiful and well crafted adventure Tearaway or Gravity Rush presents uniquely to vita fans, and its not taking a loved game and giving you a portable re-etnry or spin off  like Killzone Mercenary or Borderlands 2. This new idea is simply to remind you that the vita is capable of doing things that work with other PS services, but sadly this reminder comes in the form of what seems to be a replacement. Somehow they got the idea in their heads that this is a welcome replacement to games like Uncharted golden abyss and Soul Sacrifice. They find this reason to stop caring about making cross-buy games, or pressuring other publishers to put out their work on the platform. We might at least still get ports of Rayman sequels if they still pop up. This message was them admitting they can't maintain big games, and they have to use this to push some other products on you. Want Triple A game on your vita? Buy a PS4, or subscribe to their future and unproven streaming service to have the illusion that you're getting the Last of Us on the go. That's... sort of technically a triple A game on the vita, right?

Now in defense of this move, I get the core idea that its hard to do this stuff when it doesn't turn much of a profit. Its still a business, and Sony as a whole isn't in the best financial shape as it is anyways. However I'm still a little confused when they make it sound like they're shutting down an entire line of possibility and support for their 2nd biggest console to push right now. Especially given their record and views on success for games. I'll admit some of this distracted by ignorance. I don't know precise sales on the vita or its games. Maybe Soul sacrifice, Unit 13, Killzone Mercenary, Tearaway, and uncharted sold like 15 thousand each worldwide and the vita sales aren't even quite 4 million. I find that amazingly unlikely by now (at least for some of these games), but if that's the case maybe this is a decent response because it is poor sales. Still I'm sure most games and especially the console itself is selling much better than that "what if" bit after this time. Maybe not the best results, but still decent ones that sony would usually accept. We're talking about a publisher that gloats on "success" of selling one of their most expensive, highest budget, and highly marketed games at just 2 million, something a publisher like EA would need double or triple of towards a lesser budget (still triple A, just less so) game to call a success. If you want specifics I'm mostly thinking Shadow Fall vs Dead Space 3. Sony has consistently sold great games at what would usually be deemed unappealing sales by most publisher standards, yet they continue to push on which is one of the reasons I love them. Sometimes they do dismiss games as failures, and they have shut down teams and series before, but on average they're some of the most forgiving publishers out there and one of the few sources of niche entertainment without resorting to indies. So hearing them shut down an entire line of work and basically give up right now sounds like the sales were either consistently miserable or they're just using the doomsayers to their advantage to say that they'd rather push services than games and their portable console. On top of that, another thing to wonder about is the budget itself. Triple A to PS4 and xbox one standards or even PS3/360 probably aren't the same as recycling Killzone 2's engine and making a Killzone portable game. Even outside of that specific case, I'm just willing to bet the budget isn't super sized like the normal Triple A game. The system runs on mostly less hardware, likely less people required on the game at hand, and should discourage online play. It should be a cheaper method of getting big games out. Also lets not forget Sony hardly markets these games. Yet this is being generous, I can question ports to be even less risky yet to count for part of this triple A scheme. I understand the need for better sales, but is it really as big of a loss as it sounds like? Are the "economics" really so bad? Then again I suppose I also need to factor in the $40 vs $60 bit. Again this question is pretty blind, and I can easily be wrong to question the budget vs profit rate.

Triple A fun for much less than the usual Killzone budget

Ok enough with the sales talk directly. There's actually another major problem with the Vita support that needs to be addressed. One that will lead me to the greater overall complaint towards Sony's management of the PlayStation brand. But first... lets take a moment to actually admit that there should be some excitement towards PlayStation Now. Even though they may supposedly wreck the vita by relying on it, there's something cool about opening a new line of market and a new way to access gaming. For what will likely be a subscription fee, you will have access to many console games from PlayStation's history. Beta testers that ran with games like Killzone 3 and I think the Last of Us report back some good news on how well it works. Imagine streaming classic Sony games across multiple platforms, even unusual ones like Tablets, and there's no more of that direct fee standing in your way of trying something interesting. You'll be able to replay classics for seemingly no up front cost, and instead can play games ranging from Uncharted to Resistance anywhere. Maybe even more... how about playing those great PlayStation 2 games like Timesplitters, Battlefront, or PS1 games like Tomba and Spyro and.... oh hi everlasting support problem from Sony where they've never lived up to any promise like this before.

Part 2: Was the support for anything ever there?

This question doesn't go as far as just the Vita, but decent support overall from Sony's less direct services. Think about it, apart from the consoles themselves and maybe a coupe exclusives has there ever been a single thing outside of that to get true, helpful, and fan serving support that satisfies expectations? Nope. Services on PS3 and vita went down for maintenance often, coupled with firmware releases seemingly every month with only maybe 3 out of a year actually adding something you would have found useful, appliances ranging from 3D to PSmove flopped and weren't proven well with any decent games, some games failed to be marketed right at all (but to be honest its not nearly as bad marketing as people make it out to be), Digital versions of their own games used to be either late or possibly non-existent and until recently was the worst place way to pre-order anything, and whenever we have these services that allow us to replay old classics they have been pretty barebones and left with little to no good games or proper attempts to get good games on there. Actually I'll also take back what I said earlier, not even the consoles themselves get what is promised. As details of the PS4 got out we still are lacking key bulletin points for their hype train. Things like getting a sleep-like mode (which has yet to be mentioned again), and I think proper remote play function was also something patched after a couple months.

Look I'm a pretty reasonable and forgiving gamer at the end of the day if you still provide something really fun and unchained. Which is kind of why i really like sony and put up with this stuff, its not often destroying the fun, its just that you have to fact check things a little more, deal with some down time flaws, and will have to accept that some dreams just wont happen. Yet that last one has been happening way more than it should be lately. We had to wait for things like PS2 and 1 classics which is fine in itself since its an nice thing, but when its hyped up and then arrives with little fanfare something went wrong. Thankfully the PS1 library at least got built up over time and you have some great things to choose there as well as to put on the PSP. It was implied this would carry over to the Vita where you could run old PS1 and PSP games off the store, but oh hang on we need to wait for half a year for that for whatever reason. Ok now its patched in and you can now run a small list of compatible games.... darn. Oh but don't worry they'll get fixed..... eventually..... eventually...... ok we got most games now, but we're still oddly missing some major classics including a part of the MGS series, Crash, and Spyro and I don't believe all PSP games were working. Don't worry though, Europe can have their crash and spyro games on the Vita because they waited longer without having them at all. Confused yet?

huh?

So yeah to put that in simpler terms, you get to watch a bunch of Sony's features and services get hyped just so they can deliver poorly on them or do it incredibly half-assed. Europe had no Spyro or Crash games on their stores for years, and finally after that was fixed and accomplished towards the end of the console's life cycle they also simultaneously got it to go compatible with the Vita and PSP from the go. The other regions get... nothing. For over a year. Thankfully the classics in addition to other PSP titles that should have been compatible in the first place slipped out quietly and mysteriously in a functioning state that got people talking on the net, and yoshida himself gave advice for altering the controls properly on the Vita machine to better simulate the 3D camera. It was amazing and people were kind of hinting there should have been an official announcement when instead this was all reversed... as if it was a mistake. A fully complete, fully sensible, and totally functional down to touch page manuals was all wiped like a mistake. Oh you can still play them if you got it in time, and they work perfectly well and in the American version just fine, but for whatever reason Sony is holding them back again.

Some have suggested its a licencing issue.... but I just can't quite make sense of that. How weird and screwed up is the licencing that you need to buy into it every console, that you are no longer able to sell games you published on consoles you made and own, and that you have to do it by each and every region? It just makes no sense. I kind of want to twist the story in some happy belief that Sony leaked it against law just for the justic and fun of those paying attention, and when they absolutely had to the plug was pulled like an "accident". If that is the case, awesome and thanks.... but I just can't have an easy time believing that fantasy as much as I want to, and even if its true I'd rather they just buy the licencing and do it for good already. Even if licencing was the case, and activision held the say in putting Spyro and Crash on the Vita as well as jumbled mess elsewhere like those PSP games, why can't they just come out and inform the press about it. Why can't they just say the simple sentence of "sorry we can't, licencing problems"!? Why can't they communicate a word on such mysterious and silly circumstances as these? Do they enjoy getting hate mail, blog spam, bad PR articles, and forum complaints from passionate fans on these issues? Instead they somehow find the time to jump the gun about Watch Dog's output with false hype on such silly things as its resolution, which they later had to take down as it wasn't true. Oh but don't worry they can still communicate with people to some degree. Like the time they came out to say on this specific Spyro/Crash issue to give out a "stars need to align" sort of hyperbole towards a question concerning it. I wish I was making this up, but its right there down near at comment #14. I would usually be the overly forgiving guy to say its better than nothing, but here.... screw that, its just insulting considering what we all just witnessed. Its outright mocking our intelligence, sitting there suggesting its something impossible when we just saw the very thing leak out, touch our screens, and send waves of joy across the net news only to become shattered a few days later. The stars don't need to align to make it happen, Sony just needs to be more honest and responsible about what they promise. Or maybe they don't.... maybe our expectations are too high.

Clearly by now they can't deliver on the usual things you'd expect with their features, so its time to lower our expectations to their usual standards, and honestly that doesn't look too exciting. I bet PS now will look just like the PS2 classics does on my PSN store. Junk, junk, not interested, played it and it was ok, junk, really obscure junk someone on youtube will make fun of, and we're at the end of the list. Where's war of the monsters, Killzone, twisted metal games, and so many third party hits? Oh but of course the typical expectation on hearing such an ideal service as PS now is that they should have such memorable games as Uncharted 2, Journey, Jak and daxter, Metal Gear's series, and more niche fan hits such as Killzone 2, Ni Nu Kuni, Twisted Metal, Medevil, etc. But they wont. Sure they published them, owned them, and work well with the teams that made them, and they know it made people happy, but they just wont bother having it at any reasonable time if at all just like the way things are now with PS2 classics and such. Instead we'll be looking at Buzz, the games in the beta that tricked you into thinking you'd continue to see such great hits, and half of square's library with the other half missing just because nobody could be bothered. Oh but if you're in Europe you'll be lucky enough to have LittleBigPlanet, and in America maybe you'll have Infamous 3 years before Europe, but for whatever reason they wont cross over to any region like they should.


I think I've made my point by now. I could spread onto other issues, and they do exist in similar forms as my earlier brief summary went on about. I recall hearing of a horrible story where someone (I think greg miller of IGN's PS division) got a new game, made sure it was up to date, and right as they got on a plane and planned to enjoy their game on the trip they were hit with a firmware update block that came out of nowhere and prevented him from playing that game until he could get back to an internet connection. I hope I got that context right, but it was something of similar nature. To speed by some others though there were several complaints around about the interface, each PSN store, there's that infamous download list that makes you manually scroll through everything you ever possibly downloaded, or the download problem of the Vita with pausing if you don't babysit it, and then there's the whole mess behind digital version of retail games that have their own list of complaints or at least did until just recently. At the end of the day, this is Sony's weak point. Even though I'd argue they're some of the most consumer and developer friendly bunch out there, user wise, convenience, and general polish wise it all falls flat. They have server, set-up/patching, error, and general digital management problems, all of which makes it harder to use their products as you would anticipate. Still that's about it save for certain marketing problems and maybe occasional typical bad PR that slips out like it does for any company. That's why I mostly haven't really talked about it a lot either, it rarely feels like its gotten in my way. However recent times have called for something a bit... more.

Now don't read me wrong here....

Guess where I'll be after this rant...

I think I've got it all out now. The frustration, the response to nonsense, and a general questioning of Sony's darker side. Outside of that... its hard to find big problems with them. There's a lot of good. They've put out amazing games, do good PR moves, and possibly destroyed a massive attempt to lock down consoles. Oh yeah and one more thing: Just look at this. The very digital PSN spyro I'm fussing over for not being available on my vita was paid for by that money (well at least the first, spyro 3 is another story). By Sony. I had some left over as well. The cynical side of people or just outright buzz kills speaking out loud will sit and dismiss it as a "sneaky PR stunt" since it was used the day or so before the PS4 reveal when sony wanted people hyped. Ok that might be true as it does work over to pump joy and excitement into our minds in favor of the company, but how the heck can you be trying to use that to defuse the joy in this. They just gave out free money! It wasn't tiny dollar donations or the minimum limit either, it was enough to buy full blown games on the store.... and then some in cases like mine. They just gave it to random millions of players, and you wont believe how big of a highlight it was for me to see this in the news, run up to my PS3 with a big smile, and find a new message. They did it again in a smaller amount of random people, and then later on they bundled this same amount with a PS4 purchase. That's just plain generous, and I can't think of many companies that have done this... especially just directly giving digital cash away like the original message/voucher. They also spent a decent budget on just teasing and making an emotional commercial about how awesome it was to be a big gamer. Remember "Michael"? That was awesome.

Sony has been one of the best parts of gaming to me honestly. Its been behind so many greater parts of what I like within gaming. Its been with me from the first revolutionary play of Spyro the Dragon to leading me up to expect great things with each new Killzone. Its where I started my true interests in gaming, Its been where I played just about all the great FPS games I've enjoyed, it was what I first experienced any feeling of multiplayer through with bots letting me wage unpredictable and replayable battles within battlefront and killzone, its been where I've heard amazing stories and explored inspiring worlds within, Its been where I discovered my favorite sci-fi fiction on (W40k), and its given me something to keep looking forward to no matter how bad the industry seems to be getting with toxic practices. The last one is actually funny to say as I actually went from PS2 to wii in part to avoid a bleak possibility of stale shooters. Eventually as I found the wii not holding me as long as the PS2 did, I started looking back on PS3 as a possibility and noticing how much fun and exciting something like Killzone 2 would be, or how enticing the adventure of Uncharted 2 might be, or the thought that online play also bring new heights of joy that I couldn't access enough of on what I already had. In the end the results on all of those PS3 hopes were positive and its been an amazing console. Even though shooters actually were on a decline in a way I didn't predict the PlayStation side still offered me better escape routes with RPGs, Space marines, Sly cooper, and entirely new experiences like Journey, and Dark Souls. Just as you'd expect some kind of industry crap to interfere and mess up the fun with unwelcomed changes, something goes and proves it wrong to me through PlayStation. At this rate I wouldn't have expected any decent middle tier games on retail shelves for the PS4 by now. Nah, Trials fusion comes in as the first true retail purchase (Killzone and AC4 were gifts) I make and it has everything I love in a middle tier game PLUS a level editor, cheaper price tag even at the deluxe version, and upcoming content I can look forward to so its even better than what I'd expect to be dead by now. Of course PC fans and xbox one fans are able to enjoy it all the same as well, but as with the past its something I've found best suited for the PS experience and found on that path personally, and the best supporters I've seen showing me some good tips for the game are doing so through the PS4 as well in a way that makes it all the more relatable.

Ok I think I'm going overboard here now. In the end I'm trying to say that this is what needed to be said about an otherwise amazing thing. Nothing is perfect, but that doesn't mean we have to settle for terrible flaws when they show a little too much. Lets criticize the flaws, show what we don't like, and humble them to make sure they don't get too arrogant with them all with the hope to try and make it a little closer to perfect. This is where the major difference between a fanboy and a loyal fan comes in. The fanboy goes in with hate and hyper sensitive defensiveness for the brand to the point where they no longer show a true sense of passion and will just aggressively hate something outside the brand. Meanwhile the actual down to earth fans, whether dedicated and nostalgic or newly won over, care enough to stop something they enjoy from being corrupted or hurt by its own hands. It was actually rather depressing and sickening to write about it to be honest, leading this to a slow write, and as I was trying to remember all the good for this last bit it went the exact opposite way. I really questioned this article, and even comments I made on real journalist outlets if things were just too emotional which leads to the common toxic attitude of the gamer culture. However its not by now. We've endured support issues like this for long periods of time to no tangible results or explanation when as customers we probably deserve better. Now its not only effecting updates, patches, and store details, but the very games we've bought. In such a wide open and connected time, how the hell are we waiting 2 years or so to get a game we paid for working on a device that is supposed to play them while another region has had it perfectly fine? That's not about emotional attachment, it truly is just and right to be angry and complain all over Sony's dumber moves. Even though I don't think anyone actually reads this stuff, it feels like it helps to get this down and out there more across the web. Beyond simple comment sections with typical flaming, or exaggerated hatred. It was ripe for an article on here.

It must return

Whether they know it or not they're not only messing up their services, but destroying trust they would otherwise own in stacks, and are scaring away potential customers. Seriously, who's going to buy your new vita edition now when you basically told the world its just going to become one big app? Then there was a comment literally within an article on new compatibility for spyro/crash/old psp games that was saying they were probably going to go out and buy a vita slim that weekend if this was still a thing. Another comment replied to his apparently a day later when they "fixed" this. Lost a sale, oops. I guess they'll get that sale when "the stars align" again. I really wished that guy would have tried it anyways to be honest, but hey its sony's fault they drove him away from a great portable. Meanwhile Greg of IGN wrote on similar sony support issues long ago on to admit that his friends who would take his word on what consoles to buy were sent to go after a 360. He would have told them about how much more he liked PlayStation, but he sent them after 360s because he was worried they wouldn't be able to put up with Sony's problems like these, or that he would have to set up their systems for them because it was so foreign-like to the usual steps. So I want sony to fix this not only for consumers, but because those consumers will drive better sales and more loyalty leading to an overall better overall results. Those are sales the vita needs to be honest.

I don't really know a great way to wrap this up. In the end I'm grateful for a lot of things Sony has done. For all I know there's the possibility I wouldn't bother much with games if it weren't for them. Spyro sat at my mind as the best example of a game series ever for the longest time, and if it were ever replaced by anything it would probably be Dark Souls... which was spun off of Demon Souls, another Sony owned IP that might be seeing a return if the rumors on project beast hold. I also hate bad talking about the fate of the Vita, as even if it were to have all future potential die overnight (not just triple A but indies, Japanese games, and all) it would still be my favorite handheld of all time and I have some games like Tearaway to go and grab. Up until Sony doubted the vision of triple A on the go, I never would have agreed with the doomsayers and those saying the Vita had nothing. Lately I've been absorbed into Soul Sacrifice on the go, and its simply incredible. That combined with Killzone, Gravity rush, LBP, indie hits, old PS1 games that do work, and more make for a very satisfying collection with some games that clearly rival releases across main consoles in fun. In that time of sitting down with Soul Sacrifice, curled up in my bed with a screen glowing and telling me cool monster stories complimented with one of the best orchestrated soundtracks I've ever heard, and dueling across tense strategic battles with giants, I can't be bothered to stop and acknowledge that someone out there has the audacity to trash this device or call it buried. Its a great game, and I'll likely go right back to it and temporarily forget these angers with its well designed game. Too bad now I have more of a reason to think games like these wont happen again and now Sony has actually sided with the doomsayers to tell me this stuff is over.

What I'm trying to say is that I believe in the Vita to be a good machine still worth its value, and I believe Sony to be in a similar light. Its just that it angers me when they start hurting themselves. The vita needs more games, not less, and I don't mean just triple A I mean more in general. The dog game is fine, SS delta is great, Borderlands 2 is nice, the 60 or whatever indie games sound awesome, but keep that up rather than tell people you're quitting after this. And FFS, get your services together and actually deliver the fun rather than pretending you'll get around to it eventually. Also I hope PS now does well, but as an additional thing rather than a replacement. The vita still needs real games for it, and it on its own, not just something I can stream. If a game is made that can run on the vita, it should be ported to the Vita... not just fixed for stream readiness. I hope Sony proves themselves wrong and still come out with more games for the Vita, and in addition fixes things up a bit. The internet was a bit fussy for good reason over moves like what happened with Spyro, and the Vita's general market, and Sony has heard people like Jim Sterling out on it. I hope they listen well, and I will keep believing in their machine for just a but longer even if I'm being told not to.

Some things are too good to die...