Well, it's here... do you want one? Do you have one? Are you looking at getting one but can't decide if the games are good enough? Well hush now... and read.

Sony is launching the Vita with one of the largest launch lineups in console history—25 day one titles running the gamut across genres and styles. It's a lineup dominated by ports and sequels of varying quality, as well as a few wholly original gems (and clunkers). After spending a good deal of time with many of those launch titles over the past few week and a half, I thought I'd share my impressions of which ones are actually worth checking out.

Before we get into it, it's important to note that I haven't come close to "finishing" any of these games. In general, I put enough time into each title to figure out what it brought to the table and what made it tick. Sometimes this was as little as a half hour of testing, other times I was drawn in for multiple hours of blissful play. In any case, these summaries should be considered initial impressions rather than full reviews.

Games are all available now unless otherwise noted. Game prices listed here are for the retail versions unless otherwise noted; digital editions downloaded from the PlayStation Store tend to run ten percent cheaper. Also, don't forget to check out my full review of Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

Read the entire review....

Well alrighty then... I guess...

Didn't firmware 4.10 just come out? Indeed, it did. But if you miss watching a creeping progression bar, you're in luck. Sony has released yet another incremental update. And it's one of those fun optional updates.

What the update provides is, once again, incredibly vague. According to the patch notes, the update "improves certain aspects of system software." That's a similar line Sony's been using for most of its incremental updates.

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Great, more good news. 

Last November, Valve boss Gabe Newell informed his customers that an unidentified group of intruders had compromised Steam's database. At the time, Newell said that Valve did "not have evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or personally identifying information were taken by the intruders, or that the protection on credit card numbers or passwords was cracked."

Today, Newell and company offered an update on their investigation into the hacking attempt, noting that it's "probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file" that contained Steam data from years ago.

Newell writes that there's no evidence that "encrypted credit card numbers or billing addresses have been compromised," but that Steam users should remain vigilant about their credit card activity. 

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Well, I was going to buy one but now that I cannot get credit for games I already bought, screw it.

Sony has revealed that Vita owners in North America will not be able to download PSP games they already own on UMD.

In Japan, the platform holder set up a UMD Passport program that allows PSP owners to register their games to their PSN accounts and re-download them on Vita for a small fee.

But Kotaku has received confirmation that Sony will not be making this service available in the US. American Vita owners will only be able to redownload games they have already purchased from the PlayStation Store.

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