Sony has taken yet another step to try and increase the appeal of its portable gaming device PlayStation (PS) Vita, this time making original PlayStation classics available for the handheld device.
The titles have become playable on PS Vita following the latest System Software Update (V.180) that was released by the company on August 28.
For now, the PlayStation classics will first have to be downloaded on the PlayStation 3 machine before they can be transferred to PS Vita. However, the director of Handheld Consoles Product Planning and Platform Software Innovation at Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) Don Mesa assured in his blog post that the company is working to give PS Vita owners the option to download the game directly from the PlayStation Network Store without having to rely on the console.
According to the official report, the latest PlayStation functionality will only support nine games initially in the North American region. These games have been listed on the official blog entry by Mesa and include Arc the Lad, Cool Boarders 2, Final Fantasy VII, Hot Shots Golf 2, Jet Moto, Syphon Filter, Tomb Raider, Twisted Metal 2 and Wild Arms.
While the opportunity to step into the shoes of Lara Croft as she travels around the globe to uncover the hidden mysteries, or play the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy VII, a game which is still considered as the best in the franchise, is something that the North American PS Vita owners will definitely be glad to have, the excitement deflates a little after comparing the list of games that the European and Japanese PS Vitas will be able to support.
According to the European PlayStation, 129 titles will become available for download today, whereas Japanese PlayStation blog has listed 291 games that become available in the region yesterday.
Unofficial reports suggest that at least 80 PlayStation classics have been found functional on the North American PS Vita, though they will have to be transferred on to the handheld device after downloading them on the PlayStation 3 system.
SCEA is yet to comment on the discrepancy between regions and reveal if and when it plans on officially extending the list of PlayStation classics that is supported following the latest system software update.
Sony has been struggling to find third-party support for PS Vita, a fact that it no longer bothers to keep hidden. Despite acknowledging the potential the powerful portable device possesses, the developers are staying clear of PS Vita, claiming that its software and hardware do not work well with each other. This has resulted in only a handful of games becoming available for the portable device. Sony, however, hopes that the release of Assassin’s Creed: Liberation will help to prove that the concerns over the alleged software-hardware incompatibility holds no real ground.
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