We haven't heard much from Criterion, the developers behind the well received Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit back in 2010. Since then, they've released Burnout Crash, a small XBLA game and have been pretty much unheard from other than that.
Most have speculated that Criterion has been quiet because they've been busy working on the next big Need For Speed game. If that's true, and it seems likely that it is, then a recent job posting has likely revealed that the game will be coming to the PS Vita as well as other consoles. The job posting is for a software engineer position and specifically mentioned that they're looking for people that have worked with the Vita and have experience optimizing games for it.
NFS is a big franchise and will do well to push the PSV's game catalog forward. Would you buy a NFS game for your Vita?
Sony just had their most recent fiscal earnings call, and one of the much talked about devices was our favorite portable gaming system, the PS Vita.
During the report, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai announced that the Vita has sold 1.8 million units worldwide thus far. Hirai confirmed that it's a good start but reaffirmed what we all already knew, "We have to reinforce our software". Hirai also confirmed that the Vita is a key part of Sony's strategy going forward and that plans have not changed in spite of the console's somewhat disappointing early sales numbers. Sony is not going to abandon the Vita.
While 1.8 million sales is not poor, hopefully the added focus on software will bring a good deal more in.
If you've not yet seen it, PsVitaGamer.net member LarryT has been running a contest in which you can potentially win some sweet PSN moola.
The contest closes on May 10th, so if you haven't entered yet make sure and head over there now! To win, you just need to meet the entry requirements (which basically entail being an awesome and loyal member of this site) and have a good sense of wit/humor.
Playstation All-Stars Battle Royal is a pretty cool concept. It takes everyone's favorite characters from Sony franchises and throws them together in a fighting game with backdrops from famous Sony games. It's basically the Playstation version of Super Smash Bros, only you get to play as characters like Kratos and Sweet Tooth instead of being stuck with only cartoony options.
Thus far, the game has only been announced as a PS3 release, but it looks like there's still a chance it will end up on the Vita as well. Omar Kendall, game director for the game, was recently asked whether a PS Vita version would be developed and his response was "Maybe...stay tuned". This is far from the flat out denial we usually see with questions like this, and the "stay tuned" may have implied that there is an announcement forthcoming.
It's all just conjecture at this point, but would you be excited about Playstation All-Stars Battle Royal coming to the Vita?
Shigeru Miyamoto, who is legendary for creating games like Mario and Zelda and has become a staple of Nintendo, recently shared his negative overall perception his main competitor, the PS Vita.
Specifically, Miyamoto had the following to say to Edge Online:
Miyamoto was pretty publicly correct during the interview, but letting it slip that you feel your main competition is not a very strong product is saying quite a bit. To be fair to Miyamoto, he went on to say that the PS Vita's biggest issue right now is that it needs more good games (which I'm sure we all agree with), and did qualify that with the statement that the 3DS saw similar early struggles for the same reason.
n-Space, who handled the ports of previous Call of Duty games like Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 to the Nintendo DS, will not be developing the PS Vita version of the new Call of Duty game.
With their history in both Call of Duty handheld games and past Playstation consoles, a lot of people believed it was a given that n-Space would be the company working on the Call of Duty Vita game due out this fall. However, n-Space has now squashed those rumors via twitter, noting that they are not working on any shooters at the moment.
Next up on the list of rumored developers is Treyarch themselves, which would tell us two things
The Call of Duty Vita game is likely Black Ops 2, and not an entirely new game
Call of Duty Vita is going to be a high scale title and not a simple port a la the Nintendo DS versions of Call of Duty games. This makes sense considering that the Vita can get much...
Sony hasn't learned their lesson. Massive many-hour RPGs help put the company's consoles on the map, yet they've launched their last few consoles without filling that niche.
Perhaps they're figuring it out, as Persona 4 Golden will launch on the PS Vita this fall. The original Persona 4 was very well received on consoles (it received a 90 on metacritic) and Persona 3 Portable was one of the PSP's highest rated games. That certainly makes it look like Persona 4 is in a position not to fail.
Luckily, Atlus isn't going to just bank on those past successes when bringing the game to Vita, as Persona 4 Golden will not just be a port, but a complete re-mastering. The Vita version of the game will include...
Remastered graphics and sound
More personas
At least 1 new character
New story additions
"Dungeon Rescue" feature to call on real time assistance from...
Sega has just announced that Sonic will be making his way to the Vita, in the form of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.
The game will, of course, be a racing game, but will also feature vehicles that can transform. You'll get to swap between cars, boats, and planes to best suit the race's current terrain.
Thus far, we know that the following characters will be playable in the game.
Sonic
Dr. Eggman
Tails
Shadow
Knuckles
AiAi
Thunderhead
The release date has been set as late 2012. Hopefully we'll get something more specific than that in time.
