Let me be upfront with one thing before I get too far into this: I’m writing this review as a non-expert on gaming.  I’ve never been an avid gamer, so if this review suffers as a result, I apologize.  So while we recently got the PS Vita, and I’ve played it and actually enjoyed it, my two sons (ages 7 and 10) have played it a lot more than I have, and are really the experts on the system and games.
 
The Basics
Sony’s replacement for their classic PSP is the PS Vita, and it seems to combine some of the best features of the Playstation Portable with the best features of iPhones, iPods, iPods, etc.—the only things close to a gaming device I’ve ever been addicted to.  So you have the classic Playstation controls, with a Playstation button on the left that controls power, sleep,  and main menu functions, arrow controls on the left, and then the Square/Circle/Triangle/X buttons on the right.  There are two thumb joysticks on either side of the screen, and addition triggers at the top of the screen for your index fingers.  All of those feel intuitive, like the video game controllers that you probably grew up with.  Where the PS Vita is a step forward is with the touch screens. 
 
Beyond PSP
The main screen  is a 5” beauty which will feel much larger than your old PSP or your iPhone or whatever you’re used to playing your portable games on.  Like your iPhone, it’s a multi-touch interface, so some games will have you dragging and dropping, pinching or expanding the objects with your fingers, instead of just using the traditional PSP buttons.  Where PS Vita takes even that a step further is an additional touch pad, located on the back of the device.  This isn’t quite as intuitive as the front touch screen has become, and adds a challenging new dimension to some of the games we played.  It functions much the same way the touch screen does on the front, but located on the back of the device, you’re not only moving things blind, but also backwards.  It’s a different experience, and fun.  There’s also a motion sensor built into the PS Vita, so some games will have you twisting and turning the device in mid-air to play the games. 

For a novice like me, the Quick Start Guide and the tutorials were my best friend for about an hour as I was getting things set up, but that set up went flawlessly.  If my Blu-Ray player had been this easy to set up, I'd have a more peaceful marriage.  The tutorials make your interface with the Vita personable and intuitive, and even with two sons champing at the bit to play, it helped us all ease into this new device.  
 
Wifi
The PS Vita comes in two varieties—the $250 version (the one I have) connects to the internet via wifi, and the $300 model uses 3G service from AT&T.  Really, the last thing I want or need is another bill, so I’m fine with the wifi model.  It’s been nice to have yet another device to hop online, and even though the first game we purchased we bought the tiny chip/cartridge for, the other games we’ve purchased or demo’d online through the Playstation Network. 
 
Say Cheese!
The other major feature that wowed me (and my sons) is the front and rear cameras.  As you set up your PS Vita and go through the tutorials, they show you some fun ways that the cameras can be used outside of game play, by making simple puzzles etc., but some of the games, like Little Deviants, use the cameras to bring the action into your living room, so you’re blasting away at a robot invasion that seems to be happening between your sofa and the piano…and your brother’s face.  It’s an interesting feature, and I wonder how other games might take advantage of those cameras. 

Tech Specs
4 Core ARM CPU
512 MB RAM
128 MB Video RAM
5 inch OLED Touch Screen
supports multi-touch
960x544 Resolution
32-bit Color

The Big Suck
The biggest drawback for me as a parent making a gift of this to my sons is that it’s immediately—before you can play it—a money pit.  There’s no internal memory for the PS Vita, so before you even play the first games, you need to buy a proprietary Vita Card.  The cheapest of these—the tiny 4GB card runs about $25, but that’s only enough storage for two games—if you really want to play, you’re looking at an extra $60 for the 16GB Vita Card, or even $100 for the 32GB.  Like my son said, “wow, you could just buy another  iPod AND 100 games for that.” If you're already a devotee of Sony and Playstation, you're used to those "propietary" costs...but if you're new to their game, it's a bitter pill.  Compared to how Nintendo runs things, or even Apple, this comes across as a big money grab.  When you've already paid $300 for the device, you want to be able to play with it.  
 
For a generation that’s being raised on Angry Birds and Temple Run—relatively simple games, but 99 cents each and with upgraded levels introduced seemingly every month-- $40 games are a bitter pill to swallow.  When talking about this with my boys, they were content to check out the free demo games on the Playstation Network, but we’ve only purchased one game outright.  The demos are generous, with multiple playable levels, and downloading the games from the network is on average less expensive than buying the chip/game cartridge in stores.  But when you compare the bang for the buck, my sons kept turning away from the admittedly cool-and-sexy PS Vita, and back to the iPod Touch.  More games for a lower price—maybe I’m not doing the best job raising them.
 
Conclusion
In my disclaimer, I said that I’ve never been really good at video games, and at one point as I was learning to use the PS Vita, I was excited about the possibilities that this new console brought.  There are innovations and features that make this one of the coolest piece of technology I’ve ever owned.  It’s a 21stCentury device that really feels like it, like you have a whole new world of gaming in your hands.  Unfortunately, realizing the true price of Sony’s policies really undermines their PS Vita.  Between all of the proprietary “accessories” you need to actually play the games and the high cost of the games when compared to all of the iOS games that are out there, it’ll be an uphill battle to get new users.  Sure, they’ll get their PSP devotees to get on board, and they’ll have some amazing games…but for a lot of the parents out there, unless you’re raising hardcore gamers, stick with the iPods and iPads.  They’ll have more fun.

Recommended: Yes