Vita TV Can’t Physically Work with All Games

The Vita TV is a pretty exciting prospect, allowing those with no interest in a portable handheld to play a great collection of titles at a low price from the comfort of their TV. There’s one thing that we don’t know, however, and that’s exactly how Vita TV is going to make up for not having a rear and front touch pad.

Vita TV – The Problem

Most games, especially at launch, had some sort of touch-enabled input, often with no alternative. While the likes of Uncharted: Golden Abyss will be able to be played entirely using the controller, LittleBigPlanet will be nigh unplayable. Worse, this isn’t a problem that’s just going to go away. Tearaway, MediaMolecule’s next project and one that can definitely be considered long-awaited by fans, has support for the rear touch pad and would no doubt sell a lot to the Vita TV crowd.

Dynasty Warriors Next, FIFA, Little Deviants, Modnation, Little King’s Story, Metal Gear Solid HD… These are all games that shouldn’t be playable as they are now on Vita TV. Some would lose minor features (Little King’s Story would lose very little) while others would become almost unplayable (many of the more powerful moves in Dynasty Warriors Next are done via touch).

What’s the Solution?

There are a number of ways Sony could get around this. First of all, you can more or less disregard the back pad for 90% of titles. Those that use it heavily are in the minority and those that use it in its entirety are even rarer. Sony could probably just map the Dualshock 3’s functions to R2, L2, R3 and L3 and most probably wouldn’t realize it was an issue. Sure, there will be some games that feel a little uncomfortable (they were designed to have the buttons at the back, after all), but the issue here is basically gone.

This becomes even less of a problem when you consider Sony could just let you access the PS1 menu at any time and have you set your own controls. This would allow you to use L2 and R2 for running away while playing Final Fantasy 7, but R3 and L3 for using moves in Dynasty Warriors Next.

Of course, that’s not ever going to be a 100% replacement, and so patching is one option. On a game by game basis, this might work, but not everything is going to see a patch. Vita TV will work with the Dualshock 4, but this isn’t a replacement for the front touch pad by any means. That’s probably what Sony will do because, well, why not? But for something like Velocity Ultra or Rayman Origins, it just not going to fly.

This means, in short, that no matter what happens, there are always going to be games completely incompatible with the Vita TV.

Conclusion

This is something that Sony didn’t touch on in any of their promotional materials and that most of the press don’t seem to be touching on in their write-ups. That’s because Vita TV is an awesome idea, and one that’ll come into its own as time goes on. If all you want is something to help you with remote play across your house, or something on which to play Hotline Miami for the umpteenth time, it’ll be perfect for you. Otherwise, you might be out of luck when it comes to Vita TV.