With a marketing campaign that claims the PlayStation Vita as a “#GAMECHANGER,” and the strong push towards cross-platform play, it’s hard to believe that Sony Computer Entertainment could ever go back to the old ways. Sony has multiple reasons to advertise the PS Vita in this way, especially since the PlayStation 3 didn’t have things like Party Chat, custom soundtrack support, and multiple programs running simultaneously. The speculated existence of the PlayStation 4 needs to be much, much more than a graphical boost to be successful at all, let alone be the number one console. And the Vita, or, forbid it, the “next handheld,” can bring the strengths of itself and the inevitable PS4 to new heights.
As it was stated at E3 last year during the announcement of the PS Vita, porting games from PS3 to PS Vita comparably takes a fraction of the time spent developing the PS3 version. An ability like this can strengthen a blossoming asset for the PlayStation brand: versatility. Or, as Sony calls it, Cross-Platform Play. Sony is pushing for its handheld and home console to play together on multiple levels, and this notion is a very appealing one. We’ve had a few promises of console-handheld interaction when the PSP was generally collecting dust, so seeing this functionality presented on the PS Vita brings out optimism in PlayStation gamers everywhere. We’ve reported about the first set of games coming with this compatibility(link), and Sony needs to keep this coming. Honestly, they should use whatever it takes to make it happen, and make it strong like what Sony’s offering with MLB 12 The Show(link). It must start where the program can flourish and refine. In other words, Sony should use the biggest IPs in the industry to really make this a game changer.
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First up, whether you like it or not, Call of Duty could make the biggest impact on this feature. With the recent reveal of CoD coming to the Vita, it’s applicable to make the PS3 and Vita versions play together. Even better still would be the ability to play with and against each other across both platforms. The Vita has officially replaced the PSP in terms of what consumers want, and the biggest thing was having a second joystick. That second joystick opens worlds that handhelds couldn’t touch, specifically the world of first-person shooters.
As any follower of the PlayStation brand knows, many announced featurettes don’t really get their deserved time in the spotlight. Take the PlayStation Move, for instance. It was a huge advertised piece of equipment when it launched, and that advertisement carried through the first set of games like Killzone 3 and Resistance 3. But, since then, apart from the random inklings of Sorcery, the PS Move hasn’t had much fanfare. Why bring this into the picture? Because a feature like Cross-Platform Play could easily be forgotten like the Move functionality did. However, doing so could be detrimental to the success that Sony needs to strive in an increasingly-mobile industry. Games like Angry Birds can be found on every cell phone available, and more game styles are adapted daily to the cellular medium. We, as gamers, need a reason to keep ourselves attached to the hardcore gaming industry. Though the Wii U seems to be attempting something around these lines, implementing a handheld comparison to a home console experience is what gaming consumers need in order for the home console to stay alive.
It’s arguable that hardcore PC gaming is still alive after tablets and laptops have mobilized the computer experience, but it’s not a fair argument. PCs have a flexibility that consoles can’t afford to have, which is the functionality of software manipulation. I can’t possibly go into the finer details of program and game development for either console or PC, but PC games are applicable to a wide variety of PC specifications while consoles have one set of specs and it can’t be changed. In that point, it’s also an advantage, since everyone with the console gets the same experience. The only thing that the home console is missing now, especially since a handheld now has access to the wireless cellular network, is the full accessibility of its content on the go. The cross-platform feature needs to be strengthened and emphasized in such a way that it can live through, and even past, the next generation of technology and social standard of entertainment.
It’s almost too obvious to say that I’ve been a major fan and follower of Sony and the PlayStation brand. I’ve stomached its faults and excused its excuses, but that won’t fly again. The PS3 is now a huge success, but it could have been a major failure. The rumored processor change for the also-rumored PS4 makes for a much more appealing development tool for developers to use, and having a much more simplistic approach would also grant developers more time to utilize the cross-platform availability and properly port the same game to the Vita. Like what was said at E3 last year, the ability to port games from PS3 to PS Vita was a breeze, and having a more powerful but more simplistic successor to the PS3 would make the cross-platform-ability more functional and much easier; getting more content to consumers means more support and more financial intake.
It’s hard to say where progress will take us, but the social standard is definitely pointing toward mobile functionality. With that in mind, at least for now, Sony and the PlayStation brand need to keep with their present direction by promoting, bettering, and elongating the Cross-Platform Play feature, and give gamers the experience they want, wherever they go. It’s not impossible to perceive that mobility will become obsolete, but the times, they aren’t a changing in any other way but out.