So you have a PS4 and the PSVita and then Sony came along with an idea of making a small micro console of the PlayStation brand. The PlayStation TV (also named PS Vita TV in Japan) is a device that supports remote play of PS4 which allows you to play PS4 games on another TV which is good if you have a friend who hugs the TV upstairs where maybe your PS4 is plugged into.
The main functionality the system offers is allowing the users to play PSP and PSOne games in digital form but also allowing PSVita compatibility for both cartridges and downloaded, all on your TV screen. There is a slot in the system which you can place in a PlayStation Vita game, a slot for a memory card to save all your games to and a USB slot to plug in either a Dual Shock 3 or Dual Shock 4 controllers. There is also a slot which you can connect the console to the internet and download movies and games from the PSN store. As far as I know it’s compatible with a library of PSVita games but however not all of them are compatible. The games that don’t work with the PSTV are PSVita games that require a lot of touch motions and camera functionality or games that are already on the PS4. Then there are some games that don’t use any of the touch and camera features but yet still don’t have PlayStation TV compatibility for some reason. There is a Wiki Page online which shows what games are compatible with the PlayStation TV, I did look and learn that Tales of Hearts R is compatible with the PlayStation TV which is a good thing for me if I were to consider getting this console. Old PSVita games have received updates and will require them to be downloaded before they can be played on the PSTV. It is the biggest major thing that is likely to turn off some people who want to play their favourite PSVita Games on the big screen. Another thing about it is that they neglect to add compatibility for PSP UMDs which could have been a good idea for those who still hold on to the PSP games.
Many of the games can be controlled like I said with either the Dual Shock 3 or Dual Shock 4, the controls for PSOne, PSP and PSVita games are fitted to suit the controls of the controller itself which is nice. Trigger buttons on the PSP and PSVita can be used with the Trigger and Shoulder Buttons on the Dual Shock 3 and Dual Shock 4 which is pretty good for any of the kinds of games you play which again is nice. The Dual Shock 4’s Touch Pad can be used with the touch features in some compatible Vita games and it can be turned on or off in the App Settings which is helpful if you want to use Touch Features or not.
The PlayStation TV can be used with the PlayStation 4 in Remote Play just like the actual PSVita can and it has options for streaming in 360p and 720p and the streaming functionality surprisingly works well just as long as you have a great internet connection and don’t have anything going in your house using the internet. You can play PS4 games using the PSTV in Remote Play as well as watching movies and they each work well so if you got other people in the house watching TV and if you want to play the PS4 you can go to where you setup the PSTV and turn the two units on and then play the PS4 in another room. It can disconnect after a while of use or if the signal is not very good or lose range but reconnecting is very simple enough that can reconnect to the PS4 system that you were using.
If you can get your hands on a new PlayStation TV you get a voucher which contains a code to download 3 PSVita games on it. These games are Velocity Ultra, Worms Revolution Extreme and Olliolli which makes the bargain all the sweeter. I also looked that there is also one deal where you get a PlayStation TV, a Dual Shock 3 and Lego The Movie The Game for another cheap price but I doubt you can get that. That is because Sony for some stupid reason decided that they should discontinue the console, I’m not joking. They have the right idea of making a console that can play PlayStation Vita games on the big screen as well as making all the new Vita games to be compatible with it but to discontinue it so soon is an idiotic move on Sony’s part. If they added PSP UMD support then this would have been a really superb micro console that is seriously worth owning.
For what it features it’s really an outstanding game console if you want to play your downloaded PSOne and PSP games as well as your actual PSVita cartridge games then you can’t fault it in the slightest. I also read that there is a simple hack online which can allow you to run incompatible PSVita games on PlayStation TV which is pretty cool. Overall the PlayStation TV is a good console for those who don’t own a PSVita or want to play PSVita games on the TV but Sony really should have given the device a bit more of a chance to make the console shine.
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Game Console: PlayStation TV
Year: 2015
Developer: Sony
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Console Score: 6.5/10
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The Goods
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Compatible with various downloadable PSOne, PSP and cartridge PSVita games
Watch movies and does Remote Play with PS4
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The Bads
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No PSP UMD Support
Limited Compatibility with PSVita, PSP and PSOne Games
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