How to save the Vita?

[SignOfZeta]

What model is your Sony NetMD player? They nice ones were pretty great, the cheap ones though...they ones they were selling for $99 at Target...those were pretty shit. They had a big bulge in the back since they only took AAs, and the low end ones could ONLY record via NetMD which makes them useless for me.

My MZ-R90 is very solid, being the top of the line in 1999. The entire exterior is metal except for the battery door...which is kind of super flimsy if you aren't careful. It only does true synchro record from digital sources but it does a pretty great job of automatically detecting the ending and beginning of songs from analog. I rarely made analog MDs though.



BTW, I literally bought a new Sony battery for this player two weeks ago, for $25, and its probably the same as yours. You just have to look around. I doubt I'll find another one in 10 years though when this one is junk.

[soop]

Which brings up an interesting point; backward compatibility. Nintendo is very good at this, historically. The two most recent Pokemon games were made as regular DS games instead of 3DS games, and the 3DS can still play them. Also, any DS made in the last 8 years can play them. This makes the hardware transition a lot easier, especially for parents. They can buy one copy of a game for two kids who have two different versions of DS in the same house. Sony is just too damned stupid to consider things like this. Sony seems to be on a mission to get you to throw out your regular PSP stuff while at the same time not giving you much new to play. The PSP Go for example...its single defining feature was that you had to buy all your same games again to use it. What a brilliant idea for a system!

Yeah.  I'm sure I'm not in the minority here, but the PSP Go was an absolute joke.

Honestly, they should have just gone and made the first cell phone with decent gaming controls and went with that. Its kind of too late now.

Like the Xperia Play?  That sold like hotcakes, right?

 The Xperia play was a piece of shit.  Hardly qualifies as decent controls.

[Ji-L87]

My Sharp - Battery still holds a decent charge actually.

My Sony - Backlight is truly horrible and the remote, while nice, is hard to use without looking at it. Also mine acts up : /

BTW, I literally bought a new Sony battery for this player two weeks ago, for $25, and its probably the same as yours. You just have to look around. I doubt I'll find another one in 10 years though when this one is junk.

Oh yes, finding batteries for most players/recorders seems possible and not very expensive. Problem with this one is that it doesn't seem to be made to actually be switched out. You can remove it, but it got wires and stuff like...attached to it. To get to the battery you have to use a screwdriver and semi-remove the part of the player with the display & jog wheel since it sits under there.

I got the instruction manual with the player (very helpful as there is a ton of menus & sub menus and options) and the manual doesn't mentioning switching battery, only how to properly dispose of it when throwing your player away : / Can also only be charged in the cradle. Stupid.

I know there are better Sony players, new and old out there, and I'd love to have one of those HiMD ones...

[Necromancer]

.... Apple no longer puts tiny hard drives in their iPods....

They actually keep making the old, big iPods with little 1.6" HDDs inside.  I guess there's enough people out there that just gotta take a couple thousand albums with 'em everywhere they go.

[soop]

I used to obsess over minidisc players.  I had 4 different ones over the years (one my friend actually dropped in a bin - at least he paid me back.  It had 36 chambers in it too >__<)
I still have one, but it's all broken etc.  And I still have blank discs and all my albums.

I remember once finding a really good album in a bar, someone had dropped it down the back of the seat. Good times.

[SignOfZeta]

BTW, I literally bought a new Sony battery for this player two weeks ago, for $25, and its probably the same as yours. You just have to look around. I doubt I'll find another one in 10 years though when this one is junk.

Oh yes, finding batteries for most players/recorders seems possible and not very expensive. Problem with this one is that it doesn't seem to be made to actually be switched out. You can remove it, but it got wires and stuff like...attached to it. To get to the battery you have to use a screwdriver and semi-remove the part of the player with the display & jog wheel since it sits under there.

Oh yeah, that one is permanent. This is only true of a very small number of Sony MD players, maybe three of the most expensive. Most use the "gum stick" battery. With some gumption you could find something else to work in there, I'm sure. Does it have an external battery case?

[Ji-L87]

Oh yeah, that one is permanent. This is only true of a very small number of Sony MD players, maybe three of the most expensive. Most use the "gum stick" battery. With some gumption you could find something else to work in there, I'm sure. Does it have an external battery case?

Yes, it came with the external AA battery adapter thing But it's clumsy that way so I don't use it like that very often. I should give Sony another chance with another player another time...

[nodtveidt]

How to save the Vita? Well, the real question is... why bother? Let it die.

[Necromancer]

I hope it lives because I have no interest in cell phone gaming (not in its current state anyhow) and because the 3DS has too much gimmick and not enough quality.

[Arkhan]

I hope it lives because I have no interest in cell phone gaming (not in its current state anyhow) and because the 3DS has too much gimmick and not enough quality.

Yeah.  Even this new Code of Princess 3DS game is annoying to an extent because there is some irritating slowdown in combat.


So far, everything I have played on the Vita has been acceptable.  In terms of launch libraries, it pounds the 3DS, and it has some promise.



Also, the quality of the Vita in general is really nice.  The screen is motherf*cking badass and a half.

[SignOfZeta]

I think that whole "gimmick hate" argument, if you can even call it that, is starting to lose its steam. Anyone who can't find tons of fun on the DS is clearly just looking the other way. What exactly is a "gimmick" and why is it the opposite of quality? The touch screen was considered a gimmick when the DS was new. Now that we're at a point where nearly every single electronic device being made has a touch screen, is it still a gimmick? Are stereo speakers a gimmick? How about WiFi? Sometimes I think this shit just falls out of people's mouths like turds from the ass of a horse in a Labor Day parade; not a single thought given to them. Plop plop.

Which isn't to say I don't want the Vita to succeed. I do, but it's really just me not wanting the PSP style Bandai games to die off.

I don't have a lot of 3DS games so I still don't have a gauge of its power. I assume it can do something as good as Super Robot Wars Z2, which was on PSP and had some of the best 2D visuals in history, but I haven't seen proof of it yet. If the Vita can give us a better SRW (PSP SRWs were certainly better than DS ones) then I'd prefer them on Vita.

I do agree that cell phone gaming is the devil. Not inherently, but because the controls suck and it makes it hard for anyone charging more than $0.99 to sell anything. This cheapness is drifting over into software price expectations for other platforms now too, and that's not good one bit.

[geise]

I think what some mean by gimmic on the 3ds is "what does playing it in 3d really add to making the game fun or better to play?"  Sure the 3DS can play DS games, but just like people are arguing about the Vita "I didn't buy a Vita to play PSP games"

[Necromancer]

I think that whole "gimmick hate" argument, if you can even call it that, is starting to lose its steam. Anyone who can't find tons of fun on the DS is clearly just looking the other way.

Not once did I say there aren't any fun games on the DS (or 3DS and Wii either), but keep those thoughts a ploppin'.

What exactly is a "gimmick" and why is it the opposite of quality?

Look at how most of the best games on the Wii and DS only use motion control and the touchscreen (respectively) in tangential, inconsequential ways that add little (if anything) to the experience, or look at all the 3DS games where 3D is tacked on as an afterthought and not at all immersive.  That's the definition of gimmick (duh).  There are of course titles that utilize them to great effect, but those are in the minority.

And by quality I meant graphical quality, and there's no arguing that Nintendo doesn't care much about offering a competitive machine in terms of graphical abilities.  Again, that says nothing about games being fun or not.

The touch screen was considered a gimmick when the DS was new. Now that we're at a point where nearly every single electronic device being made has a touch screen, is it still a gimmick?

In the context of a game system where it's nigh useless for anything other than some puzzle games or something like Scribblenauts, yes.  That doesn't make it useless, tough - it's just not an integral, essential part of the experience.

Which isn't to say I don't want the Vita to succeed.

I think you'd be happier than a kid on Christmas morn for the great Nintendo to have the game market to themselves.

[nodtveidt]

Gimmicky stuff involves things like redefining input mechanics unnecessarily or adding concepts which are superfluous. When the original DS first came out, for example, I knew that it would bring with it a whole legion of gimmicky shit that people would buy up anyway because it'd be wrapped in the cloak of their favorite franchises. Using the stylus to control a character that is suited to a D-pad is gimmicky crap.

[kazekirifx]

I have yet to see any practical use for the rear touchpad, and I doubt I'll ever see one. The duel cameras are only useful if you're planning on using video chat or using the Vita as a video/still camera (why?). The game included in Welcome Park where you can take pictures of objects that look like faces and bring them to life is kinda fun to screw with, but I doubt we'll ever see a truly good use for either camera in a serious game.

I feel like the Vita is trying to be an all-in-one portable electronic device for communication, video, music, photos, etc. Of course, they have to put all that superfluous crap in there too, just because they can. Problem is, that's what EVERY other device is trying to be these days. And I'll bet that most who own Vitas already own 2 or 3 other devices that can do all of those things just as well. I can maybe see the use for the front touchscreen and motion sensor. Not the other features so much. The people who are going to buy Vitas are gamers who want something close to the PS3/360 experience in a portable device. That's what they should be focusing on - not trying to market it as another alternative to a smartphone, tablet, ipod, etc.