PLAYSTATION VITA "SAVED" MY RELATIONSHIP

By Jamaal Ryan

I use the term saved very liberally, however Playstation Vita has become a surprising asset in helping me engage my girlfriend during our near 8 year relationship.

The Playstation 4/Vita Remote Play feature cannot be understated. The Vita’s value is flourishing rapidly on its own with a price drop, hotly anticipated announced games, and the no-brainer for PSN subscribers, Playstation Plus. But with the Remote Play feature for the Playstation 4, it is an excellent companion for Sony’s new console.

Currently living in a two story, three bedroom condo, my girlfriend and I spend much of our time separate from one another in the house. While she’s downstairs watching the History Channel, I’m cooped up in my office space plugging away at video games. Any spouse of a gamer understands the long hours of dedicated play time of their significant other, however that doesn’t mean that devoted time still doesn’t raise an issue every now and again.

But now thanks to Remote Play, I can take my game from the PS4 anywhere with me in the house and sail the seas and plunder numerous ships in Assassins Creed IV while lying next to my girlfriend downstairs. The PS4 & Vita Remote Play feature is painless and works surprisingly well. By imputing the code displayed by your PS4 on your Vita, within seconds after the one time code-pairing, you can play virtually any game in your PS4 library on your Vita within the range of your Wi-Fi signal.

There are some slight limitations which prevents Remote Play from being an exact replica of the big screen experience. The feature does a great job at taking the trigger/bumper’s most used functionalities and mapping them to the Vita’s shoulder buttons, i.e.: running in AC IV is done with holding down R as opposed to R2 on the controller. However in a game like AC IV, sailing is a pain in the ass. R1, mapped to the right side of the rear touch pad, is useful in identifying ships from afar. I constantly caught myself awkwardly placing my fingers on the pad while using only my left hand to hold the Vita.

I’m sure similar issues arise for shooters through Remote Play with attack buttons and sprinting mapped to L&R3, and grenades used with the rear pad. And that’s not considering the lag issues for twitch heavy shooters as well. Remote Play works wonders with smaller titles like Resogun where the controller layout is less complex, and the action on screen suits well for such a small screen.

Don’t be like me and abandon your significant other while playing video games for long stretches of time. But if you are, Playstation’s Remote Play is a wonderful catalyst and allowing you to spend more time with one another while gaming.