PS Vita TV revealed by Sony, available in Japan first on November 14

Written by Brandon Hofer on September 09, 2013

PS Vita TV News: Sony reveals PS Vita TV which will allow you to play your Vita games on a tv with a Dualshock controller and more.

PS Vita TV was introduced earlier today by Sony during a pre-TGS briefing that they held. PS Vita TV is “...a new entertainment system within the PlayStation family that will allow users to easily access video services, games and various content on their TV at home.” This new device will adopt the chip sets and system software of the PS Vita and its size (6.5cm x 10.5cm) is the smallest of all PlayStation platforms that connect to a TV. It should be quickly noted that this announcement was targeted at the Japanese audience and it hasn’t been officially confirmed for any other market as of the time of this writing.

PS Vita TV will allow users to enjoy various video services such as “TSutaya TV,” Tsutaya’s video service with more than 40,000 pieces of content new and old, “niconico,” delivering an array of content including live broadcasts and Hulu. In addition to the video streaming services more than 1,300 software titles for PS Vita as well as various network services for PS Vita and your PS Plus membership can be enjoyed on the system. Sony has stated that they will deliver the PlayStation experience available on PS Vita TV through system software updates.

PS Vita TV will be available first in Japan on November 14 and will be available at the recommended price of 9,954 yen (including tax). There will be the “PS Vita TV Value Pack” that comes with a Dualshock 3 and an 8gb memory card. This pack will retail for around 14,994 yen (including tax). There will also be a promotional campaign run during the Japanese launch that offers a free three month trial with every “PS Vita TV Value Pack” purchase.

One of the major items that gamers will be interested in is that this new PS Vita TV hardware will allow you to play PS Vita games on your tv using a Dualshock 3 controller and you don’t even have to have the digital versions. The PS Vita TV has a card slot for PS Vita games meaning you can still have a physical copy of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation and still play that game on your tv with a Dualshock 3 in your hand. It was also revealed by Sony that this will allow you to play your PS4 via Remote Play with Dualshock 4 although this functionality will come later via a system update. Additionally you will be able to play PSOne classic games as well as PSP games through it. Sadly it doesn’t appear there is a UMD slot so you will have to have the digital version of your favorite PSP games if you want to play them on your television. The PS Vita TV will support up to two controllers which will allow you to play multiplayer on those classic PSOne games (as well as Vita we assume). This new device will also connect to PlayStation 4 so that you can play Vita games through the PS4 as well.

In addition to the gaming aspects of this device, it will also be able to do many other things. There will be standard network features such as having a web browser, e-mail and “Party,” an application for voice and text chat. You will also have access to services such as Music Unlimited, “radiko.jp,” “Reader for PlayStation Vita,” an e-book application for reading books and comics and “LiveTweet for PlayStation Vita,” an app that allows users to easily find what information they want from Twitter.

Similar to the current capabilities of the PS Vita and the capabilities of the upcoming PS4, the PS Vita TV hardware will also feature a Standby mode. This means you will not have to turn it off completely and can instantly resume your game from the point where you left off. If you own a tv with CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) specification, like the Sony Bravia Sync features, then you can set it to turn on automatically when the PS Vita TV power is turned on, allowing you to resume your game with the touch of a button.

Back to the gaming aspect of this device for a moment, PS Vita TV users will be able to play games with PS Vita users via the Ad Hoc mode. The people who are not playing but in the same room can enjoy the televised gameplay that the PS Vita TV users are playing. Sony has promised that the PS Vita TV will continuously evolve with system software updates that will strengthen its features and services on PSN and PlayStation Plus. With this new hardware it would appear that you don’t even need a PS Vita to be able to play PS Vita games. What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.