Sony in 2012

Sony had a great year in 2011. Great titles like Infamous 2, Killzone 3, and Uncharted 3 made for a killer year in software, and Sony have sold over 60 million PS3’s worldwide. The Playstation Vita was made official, and the PS3 price was cut to $249.99. After a stellar 2011 what can we expect from Sony in 2012?

Playstation Vita will be making its North America debut very soon, and I expect 2012 to be the year of the Vita for Sony. The Vita is an extremely powerful device, and is priced aggressively to compete against the 3DS. Sony has already put some major franchises on the Vita such as Uncharted and Hot Shots Golf. And you can expect to see other major franchises to make their Vita debut. Twisted Metal, God of War, Ratchet and Clank, and Killzone are all titles that will be either released in 2012 or at least be announced some time during the year. With the power of the Vita, these games can look and plays as well as their console counter parts. 3rd party support will be just as strong with titles like Madden, Assassins Creed, and Kingdom Hearts coming to the system. Sony has got to keep the games coming in a world where portable games are apparently “dying” according to analysts.

PSN is the issue with the Playstation 3, and Sony needs to realize this. PSN needs a redesign in 2012. A unified system similar to Xbox Live needs to be made for PSN. Sony has said that party chat is impossible on the PS3 due to ram issues, but Sony needs to find a way to make it happen. Being able to play with your friends is the easiest experience on the PS3. Sony has Microsoft beat on one major factor of its online system, price. If Sony redesigns the PSN and makes it as good, but have it for free. I think you would see some people start to pick up some 3rd party games more often on the PS3.

Software on the PS3 is a big question mark for 2012. This is a chance to bring out titles that disappeared like The Last Guardian and Agent. God of War IV is coming in 2012, and an E3 2012 announcement is coming.  Surprises are something I am hoping for in 2012, and I believe that is the only way Sony can “beat” the competition. Sony needs some killer surprises to make people that don’t have a PS3 say, “I have to buy a PS3 right now.” Bring back some classic franchises that have been subpar like Crash Bandicoot or Spyro and get them exclusively on the PS3.

Sony has already said that the Playstation 4 will not be making an appearance at E3 2012. I still feel like a PS4 announcement is coming in 2012. Tokyo game show will be the stage, and that is where I think we will finally see the PS4. I believe Sony will wait till after E3 because of the Wii U, and the possibility of an announcement of the Xbox successor. Sony always talks about the 10 year life cycle of their products, but we got the PS3 before the ten year cycle was up on the PS2. Overlap will occur, and Sony can’t wait much longer to get PS4 news out there.

2012 will be Vita focused, but PS3 owners will still have a lot to play. Hopefully Sony can bring us some big surprises that will breathe life into the PS3 and give it on last push before the inevitable PS4 arrives.

Here's the question: will you buy a PS4?

Sony's PlayStation Vita hits stores in Japan

Sony Computer Entertainment is predicting brisk sales, even though the launch may have missed some holiday shoppers. A successful debut would help the company offset the rest of its struggling business. Sony projects a loss of more than $1 billion for the fiscal year through March 2012, which would be its fourth straight annual loss.

In Tokyo's Ikebukuro shopping district, some 300 game enthusiasts lined up outside a major electronics chain that opened a few hours earlier than usual for the event Saturday morning. Many of the purchasers had made advance orders on the Internet so they could start playing immediately.

The device is a touch-interface and motion-sensitive handheld seen as a successor to the PlayStation Portable. Gamers can connect over cellphone networks and Wi-Fi hotspots, and use GPS location-tracking technology.

Television footage showed some shoppers unwrapping their new purchases and starting to try them out at the store.

"I'm so happy to see so many people lining up for PS Vita so early in the morning," Sony Computer Entertainment Japan President Hiroshi Kono wrote in his official blog after touring several Tokyo stores. "I can tell they had anxiously waited for today's launch."

For the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant, the Vita is the biggest product launch since the PlayStation 3 console five years ago. It's also accompanied by two dozen software products — the largest number of launch titles in PlayStation history.

The Vita has front and back cameras, a touchscreen in front, a touch pad on the back and two knob-like joysticks. It will enable gamers to play against each other using PlayStation 3 consoles over the Internet-based PlayStation Network, a system that was hit with a massive hacking attack earlier this year.

Vita's launch will heat up competition with rival Nintendo Co.'s 3DS. Nintendo Co.'s 3DS had a disappointing start despite the company's efforts to market its 3-D technology, with critics complaining about a lack of interesting games. Nintendo ended up slashing prices on the 3DS within six months.

The companies are challenged by the rise of smartphones and tablets, through which casual gamers play inexpensive and simple games like the mega-hit "Angry Birds."

The PS Vita goes on sale in North America and Europe on Feb. 22.

Final Fantasy Type-0 Delayed Two Weeks

Square Enix announced today a delay in Final Fantasy Type-0's release. Originally scheduled for release on October 13, the game will now arrive on October 27. Pricing remains the same, 7,700 yens.

As reason for the delay, Square Enix said that it hopes to further improve quality.

A downloadable demo of this PSP-exclusive was released on August 10th had earned the game a lot of praise, though the camera control was a near-universal complaint. Some found it a tolerable, minor annoyance while a select few felt it to be a deal breaker, with most gamers falling between the two extremes. Hajime Tabata then personally told fans that he and his staff would fix the problem, as well as the Phantoma System.

With the former release date of October 13th, and review outlets needing the game about a month before street date, Tabata’s August 14th decision left very little time to fix things. Hopefully for fans, this extra two weeks lets the team do what it needs to do.

Going along with the game's delay, the CD release for the game's "Zero" theme song will also be delayed from October 5 to October 19. The game's Original Soundtrack will now be released on October 26.

Final Fantasy Type-0 Gameplay Summon Videos

Ifreet, Golem, Odin, Shiva and a battle video showing the Phantoma system.

These new Final Fantasy Type-0 gameplay clips show off some major self sacrifice as the characters off themselves to bring out summons Ifreet, Golem, Odin a Shiva into battle. I think you'll agree, it's totally worth it!

Is the PS Vita HDD too small?

Sony still haven't announced the storage specs for the PSVita yet, and it is possibly due to the fact that they haven't secured a deal with flash manufacturers for the best price, or they aren't going to offer a large enough amount for gamers' needs.

Currently the PSPgo has 16GB built in flash memory, and after owning one for several months, and with the addition of PS Plus, you quickly realize that this amount is way too little. Also it is fair to take into consideration of the sizes of games for PSP and PSV. A PSP UMD can hold upto 1.8GB of data and typically the download sizes are smaller than this. However, when you compare that to PlayStation Vita games can start at 2GB and are up to 8GB in size and potentially higher. This means that a 16GB or even 32GB amount of storage would be completely impractical.

This begs the question, how much should it have? I personally think that a 128GB amount of storage space will suffice, if not higher, but what seems more likely to happen is a 64GB amount of storage space, which potentially will be increased in later SKUs.

These Games Are Ready For Playstation Vita Launch

Below you will find videos of most of the launch lineup planned for the Vita and it's looking really strong.

Super Stardust Delta

Uncharted Golden Abyss

Little Deviants

Virtua Tennis 4

Sound Shapes

Wipeout 2048

Modnation Racers

Reality Fighters

Gravity Daze

Disgaea 3 Returns

Hustle Kings

Top Darts

Ruin

BlazBlue Continuum Shift 2 Plus

Shinobido 2

Frobischer Says

LittleBigPlanet

The games below are also scheduled for the launch window, but have not released any video footage.-Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysey
-Oddworld: Strangers Wrath
-Falcom game
-Capcom game
-SEGA game