So who's getting a Vita? I was really not planning on it and, really, I shouldn't due to money concerns but I think I'm beginning to come to terms with the reality that I'll have to have one. Not hugely interested in the touchscreen or back touch pad but the graphics look good and the dual sticks will mean that most genres will work well on it.

I know that matters little to some and some equate handhelds with whole different types of games but games are games to me and I'm a huge handheld user so having big console games translate to handhelds really appeals to me. Just as God Of War translated beautifully to the PSP.

Personally, I'm well impressed with the early line-up. Uncharted looks good on it, Wipeout I love generally but some reports are alarming me about this one, Hot Shots Golf I'll take. MvC3. Lumines is it gets a release over here. That's enough to get me started.

So anyone going for one? Or already got one?

Kinda torn on the Vita.  On one hand, it is a super sexy thing and I'm frothing over the new tech.  It also has the promise of the Ys IV remake, which should be an instant sale for me as a Falcom fan.  I'm also super excited that it's actually region free, the lack of which makes me VERY ANGRY at the 3DS.

Those things said, though, I find my interest waning.  As my backlog grows and my time for games diminishes, I see a platform with nothing I really want for it at launch that has been performing rather poorly in Japan AND that's following in the footsteps of a console that ended up pretty good but with a terrible localization record in its waning years.  Combine that with the fact that I fear it's going to get completely forgotten in a market that favors tablets and I am very wary of sinking a bunch of money into the device right away at its U.S. launch.  I dunno - maybe they'll turn things around as Nintendo did with the U.S. market, but I don't get a good feeling for the future with this thing.

...Falcom, I hope you know what you're doing...  :\

I have no plans to get the system until those outrageously overpriced memory cards come down to a reasonable level.  That said, I will buy Ys IV as soon as its released in the U.S. and just hold onto it until whenever I end up getting the system.

I don't know... to be honest I kind of want the Vita to be a success. Nothing against Nintendo but I'd like to see another company lead the handheld market for a generation or a least force a real fight over the market.

I have no interest in the Vita whatsoever at this point, just as I had no interest in the PSP when it was first released. Now, however, I love the PSP and I use it a lot, and I expect that will happen in the future with the Vita as well.

It's just that that future is probably at least 2 years away and will have to be preceded by a considerable price drop.

I have the Wi-Fi model pre-ordered at Amazon w/ release date delivery.  Still need to order at least one game and an overpriced memory card.

So far I'm excited about these games: Hot Shots Golf (perfect for a handheld system), Silent Hill Book of Memories (gonna give it a shot, going in with low expectations), Touch My Katamari (new Katamari with intuitive controls and new music, yes please), Samurai & Dragons, Sound Shapes, Lumines Electronic Symphony, Mortal Kombat, and Final Fantasy X HD.  There's also a "Gradius HD Collection" listed on Wikipedia which sounds amazing, though I haven't seen any official info on it.

Yeah, I'd file that one under "rumor" for sure.

I had the opportunity to try the Vita briefly, and I was pretty underwhelmed. While the system is surprisingly light and easy to hold, it feels too big for a portable. This isn't something you can toss in your pocket or your bag, especially with the analog sticks that basically mandate a case, making the whole package even bigger if you want to carry it around.  The sticks themselves seem ok, but I didn't have a chance to try them in actual gameplay. The face buttons are very small, but I didn't play long enough to see if they'd be problematic or not. As for the much vaunted OLED screen, it sure is huge, but otherwise I wasn't wowed. That said, I will give Sony the benefit of the doubt on this one since I was testing an obviously smudged up in-store setup. As for the GUI, the floating bubble touch interface of the system software is serviceable, but less elegant than similar interfaces found on iOS and Android devices. I expect Sony will refine this over time as the system evolves, so I'm not too worried about that. Lastly, I did not get a chance to test out the "rear touch" feature as the display was all out of lube.

I'm so weak.

Well, at least I traded in a huge bunch of stuff so, effectively, the Vita has no affected my bank balance. I think it's a pretty good sign for a launch that I wasn't able to buy all the games I wanted for it, and wouldn't have had time to play with them. Haven't given it a good go yet but so far I'm impressed. It has that shiny newness. The polished feeling that comes with a little bit of a generational leap. The screen is huge (actually the whole thing is huge) and it does look pretty amazing. Wipeout is incredibly impressive on it.

Not convinced the touchscreen is all that good an idea though. All the touchscreen functions I've seen so far could have been mapped to controls and the problem of the touchy stuff is that there's this really impressive screen that is already covered in fingerprints.

The other downside of the machine is that, being so big and having everything exposed, a screen protector case is a must. Neither of which I have yet and the case will bulk it up even more. Conversely the games are so small, I have almost lost one already...

Looking forward to getting stuck into it.

I went to the Game X-Change to check this thing out and the first thing that struck me was the price of the memory cards. Yeash! I'd have a hard time plunking down that kind of money on something that small. I can see how you could lose one of those buggers if you weren't careful.

Anyway, I probably won't be getting one of these for a while (a year or two unless something that really catches my eye drops which I doubt) especially since I'm just got a DS XL last month. That should keep me more than busy. Still, nothing against Nintendo but I would like to see the Vita be successful and have a more balanced competition in the handheld market than in previous years.

I almost lost a game already earlier today. They're tiny. Yes, the price of the memory card stings. I can't help feeling they've built in some sort of piracy tax here - if some people won't pay for games, at least they'll have to pay something for the memory. Not sure, that's what it feels like.