I first learned the good news on Twitter. Some people I follow were happily discussing an unexpected windfall. A surprise payday, if you will. The FTC came down on Sony, and early Vita adopters were going to profit.
Basically, the deal is that everyone who purchased a Vita before June 1, 2012 has money coming to them. Sony’s advertising of the handheld’s remote play abilities was judged to be greatly exaggerated, as were claims that its 3G WiFi options would realistically let people play anywhere. As a result, money will be rolling in for anyone.
Which is great! I mean, who’s going to turn down $25 cash or a $50 PlayStation Store credit. I bought the Vita out of the gate, and I have already earmarked that $50 for either Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd or future Dragon Age: Inquisition DLC. Something frivilous and fun, know what I mean? Maybe I’ll even be really silly and get Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit !
Yet, a part of me feels bad about this Vita settlement. Not on the part of Sony, though. If you look back at the advertisements, they absolutely were misleading. I knew right away the 3G version wasn’t going to live up to any of its promises, so stuck with the standard model. Even then, dreams of playing my PS3 games away from home were quickly shattered.
I suppose it’s that I feel guilty about getting this money. I know when the offer comes in, I’m going to accept that $50 credit. Because it’s free and my two Inquisitors (Pikachu and Diancie) are going to need to go on more adventures eventually. However, I don’t feel like Sony had to make amends to me. What the company did was wrong, and it absolutely had to be called out on it. But, it turns out the features it didn’t make good on didn’t matter to me.
Remote play is a nice idea, but I never found a need for it. Even now that it is working with the PS4, I never use it. When I game on the Vita, I do so because I want to experience the unique games it has available. Not because I have to play one of my console games on the go. In the event I am playing the same game on both, it’s generally a cross-buy title and I’m only taking advantage of the cross-save capabilities.
As for online offerings, all of my Vita experiences have been solo. I can count the number of times I’ve played with people online on one hand. The few times I have engaged in multiplayer engagements, it has been with friends offline, when we’re gathered together in one place. The 3G never mattered to me either.
Which leaves me feeling a bit conflicted, and I can’t help but think I’m the only one. I love my Vita despite Sony’s broken promises, because the things that were falsely advertised didn’t end up mattering much to me. Still, I do feel this fine needed to happen, and I’m definitely calling dibs on my payback once it arrives. I’m sure this feeling will fade away once the money actually comes in and the excitement of having cash to burn kicks in.