New Vita may be on the way, along with reasonably priced memory (finally)

By Anthony John Agnello February 12, 2013

Dead or Alive 5+ Vita — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The game industry is in a hubbub about the impending announcement of Sony’s next PlayStation, and expectations are that Sony will announce the new console at a New York press event on Feb. 20. Many of the studios that have worked with Sony on signature PlayStation 3 games are starting to tease their PlayStation 4 games. Maybe it will be called Orbis, maybe it will block used games, maybe it will have some kind of snazzy new controller; most everything about the machine is unknown. What is known is this: Sony already has a relatively new game console on store shelves and it is floundering. If Sony doesn’t change something soon, the PlayStation Vita will die an early death. Its first year on shelves has resulted in dire sales numbers. Perhaps a new PS Vita model, rumored to be included in the Feb. 20 presentation, can change the device’s fate.

The rumored new PS Vita model will not address the biggest complaint leveled against the device: High price. The new Vita will be able to connect to 4G LTE wireless networks and cost $299, just like the existing 3G model supported by AT&T in the US. The Wi-Fi-only model of Vita will remain on the market for $250. The 4G functionality won’t be a major selling point for the console anymore than the 3G has, as only a handful of games like Street Fighter X Tekken are playable over the network. Based on a patent published on Thursday (via NeoGAF), the new model may allow TV output from the Vita via an HDMI cable port. It may also ship alongside an overhauled firmware for the console, offering new organizational tools.

The new model may not earn benefit current PS Vita owners, but changes to the Vita business plan may. The biggest of which is that Sony will reduce the price of the PS Vita’s unique memory cards. The astronomically high price of memory cards—a 32GB card is a whopping $100, where the exact same SD card, just minus the proprietary locks sells for as low as $25 or less—demonstrates the real cost of a Vita, since many games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss require a memory card for play.

Reducing the price of memory cards may not be enough for Sony to resuscitate the PS Vita. Anything short of a drastic price cut on the console will struggle to enhance its audience.

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Anthony John Agnello

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…

Gaming

Sony’s cloud handheld, the PlayStation Portal, will only stream certain games

Astro's Playroom booting up on the PlayStation Portal.

Sony has unveiled the price for its upcoming cloud gaming handheld, as well as an official name for the device: PlayStation Portal. However, one significant caveat to its functionality might sour people's interest in the handheld: It only supports PS4 and PS5 native games that the owner purchased.
PlayStation VR2 games can't be streamed to PlayStation Portal, which does make sense. More bafflingly, though, is the fact that the PlayStation Blog post states that "games that are streamed through PlayStation Plus Premium’s cloud streaming are not supported." That means you shouldn't pick up PlayStation Portal expecting to stream some PS3 and PS4 games available through PlayStation Plus Premium to the device. That's certainly an odd omission when it's currently PlayStation's most notable cloud gaming effort.
Although Microsoft is more closely associated with cloud gaming, Sony beat it to releasing a dedicated cloud gaming device. PlayStation Portal was first teased as Project Q during May's PlayStation showcase, but now, a PlayStation Blog post more clearly explains what we can actually expect from the handheld. Most importantly, we learned that PlayStation Portal will cost $200, which puts it underneath the cost of a Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S, and other cloud gaming devices like the Logitech G Cloud Handheld.
As for what you're getting for that price tag, it's essentially a decent screen attached to two halves of a DualSense controller. The controllers on each side share all the functionality of the DualSense, including things like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. In-between is an 8-inch LCD screen that streams games over Wi-Fi at up to a 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second. All in all, that's fairly solid for a cloud gaming handheld that is this cheap.
Sony confirmed that the PlayStation Portal will have a 3.5mm audio jack, but also used the same blog post to unveil two new wireless audio options. There's the Pulse Elite wireless headset that features a retractable boom mic and a charging hanger and Pulse Explore wireless earbuds that offer similar audio quality in earbud form.
None of these products are available for preorder or have a specific release date just yet, but they are all expected to launch before the end of the year.

Gaming

PS5 finally gets Dolby Atmos device support in latest system software beta

The Razer Kaira Pro sitting next to a PS5 console.

Sony is rolling out the latest system software beta for PlayStation 5 today, and it brings a plethora of helpful new features to the console. One of the most notable is that the PS5 will now support Dolby Atmos-enabled audio devices.
Select PlayStation users will get emails today inviting them to the beta. If they accept, those players will help Sony test out all of these features ahead of the patch's wide release sometime later this year. It's a beta worth opting into if you have any sort of Dolby Atmos-enabled sound system, as this update will make the PS5's proprietary Tempest 3D AudioTech compatible with soundbars, home theater systems, and TVs that utilize Dolby Atmos.
You'll be able to change this setting by choosing Dolby Atmos in the Audio Format (Priority) menu, which is located in the Audio Output tab of the PS5 Setting's Sound menu. In beta, Dolby Atmos support will only work with games; a footnote in the PlayStation Blog post about the update explains that "media app providers can update their apps on PS5 to support Dolby Atmos audio" but that "these app updates are not currently supported in the PS5 beta."

Dolby Atmos support isn't the only notable feature to come to PS5 as part of this update. New accessibility features that let players use a second controller for assistance and give the System UI haptic feedback on DualSense and PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers are also part of the update. On the social side of things, this update lets players send party invitations to groups, smooths out the process for adding a new player to a closed party, adds a Share Screen preview window, introduces a "Joinable" icon for friends you can join a game with, and adds a more detailed tournaments tile to the Game Hub and the ability to react to player messages with emojis.
Under the ease-of-use category, this patch will finally give players the ability to search for games in their library and mute the PS5 beep sound, makes Game Help cards more helpful, and adds a new Discover Tips menu. Finally, for those looking to expand their system's memory, this update will increase M.2 SSD support to 8 TB devices.
Overall, it's a pretty hefty update with tons of helpful new features, so you might want to try to opt into the preview before the patch rolls out to everyone later in 2023.

Gaming

How to remove a PS5 faceplate and install a new one

A PS5 sitting in a wood toned entertainment center, showing off it's new red cover.

Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. If you’ve beheld a PlayStation 5 you may have noticed it is a massive console that sticks out with its solid white color scheme. Its bright, bold looks may not be for everyone, however. Fortunately, Sony has come out with a series of replacement covers, giving you the opportunity to change the look of the console to match your style. It may sound intimidating at first, but it’s actually one of the easiest customizations you can make and just takes a few minutes.