We’re not fans of the fact that you have to buy an expensive memory stick separately simply to save games, but if you plan on buying two or more PSN games, you’ll be in serious trouble with a 4GB stick.
Take the Vita’s flagship title, Uncharted: Golden Abyss. It’s slightly cheaper on PSN than in most stores and having the convenience of not needing to go out and buy it, or having to carry around tons of cards means that digitally downloading the game makes far more sense. In theory. See, the problem is that the game is 2.7GB in size (a whopping 3.3GB in Europe), which means that if you bought a 4GB you’re going to be hugely limited in what you download next. On the US Store, highly rated WipEout 2048 is 1.6GB, so you wouldn’t be able to buy that as well, nor the 2.8GB FIFA or the massive 3.3GB BlazBlue. That means you’ve spent $20 on a memory stick and another $44.99 on Uncharted, but now can’t download anything else. Oh joy.
That’s why we’d suggest splashing out on a larger memory stick (the larger the better), even if it means forgoing a few launch games – you’ll thank us in the long run. Think about it: these games are larger than most PS3 PSN games, and how quickly did you fill up 4GB on your PS3? Hell, even 32GB won’t be enough.
Of course, in Europe, this problem is even worse as games are often considerably larger to include all the different language packs. So how has SCEE responded? They’ve decided to not sell the 32GB stick at all. Bafflingly stupid. On top of that, they’re only selling some titles digitally that are available through retailers in other regions, further forcing you to use the PSN. For example, hotly anticipated Gravity Rush will be digital only and weighs in at 1350MB on the JP store. Add in another few hundred for the language packs and you’ve got yourself another game that takes up your 4GB.
And let’s not forget you want to keep some space for you saves, for your photos, screenshots, music and apps.
The 4GB shouldn’t exist other than as a bundle with all Vitas so that consumers can actually save games. Selling it to consumers hoping to join the digital revolution will only cause disappointment, frustration and lost sales. Save yourself from all that by investing in a bigger stick early on.
What size are you getting? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
