The Tokyo Game Show this week might as well be called the PlayStation Vita game show this year, with most of the highlights seeming to revolve around the upcoming handheld. Vita is set to release this holiday in Japan and in Q1 2012 in other areas and has 26+ titles lined up for launch day.
Two of those launch titles are Codemasters’ F1 2011 and Namco Bandai’s Ridge Racer. The Vita plans to have over 100 titles by the end of its extended launch window, with Wipeout and Konami’s Asphalt: Injection (bad name?) joining the library.
The above video shows a work-in-progress of F1 2011. In addition to all the teams, circuits and most modes found in the upcoming home release, Vita gets a challenge mode suitable for portable play, with gamers completing a wide range of objectives including checkpoint, gate and overtaking challenges.
Ridge Racer Vita looks to be slightly different than Burnout-esque Ridge Racer Unbounded from Bugbear headed to big platforms next year. The Vita Ridge Racer is being developed closer to “home” as well, by newly formed Japanese company Cellius, which was founded in 2007 as a venture between Sony and Namco Bandai.
Two titles releasing within the first few months are Asphalt: Injection from Konami and Wipeout 2048. Both have trailers from last month’s Gamescom. The latter title definitely looks impressive and indicative of what Vita launch titles will look like if developers exploit the Vita’s portable processing power.
Both Ridge Racer and F1 2011 are due at launch with the Vita on December 17 in Japan. One can speculate they will be launch titles when Vita hits other territories in 2012 for $249 (wifi model).
No one should be expecting sim heavy titles on a portable device, but at least these look like they will be fun distractions. It will be interesting to see if developers will make use of the Vita to PS3 connection. Using Vita’s accelerometers and gyroscopes, front and back touch panels, and buttons as a virtual steering wheel could be fun, too.
What are your thoughts on the PlayStation Vita?
Gamescom Videos Source: New Gadgets
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