Despite being pretty lukewarm on the Vita from the start, I couldn't resist the pull of a new system with cash burning a hole in my pocket. Picked one up on Friday with a 16 GB memory stick, no physical media for me if I can help it.
I know it's been said before, but the Vita is a really well designed piece of hardware. Usually it's fairly easy to tell where a console is seriously lacking and what the inevitable revisions will improve, but aside from battery life, the mediocre camera and the reduced range of motion you get with tiny analog sticks, I really feel they've come up with a winner right out of the gate. Beautiful, sturdy, quiet, responsive. I just disappear into the thing when playing games, and I'm not really left wanting for much while holding it.
The OS is better than I was expecting going by videos and impressions. There's some head scratching UI and system level decisions in there for sure, but it's also snappy, easy to navigate, and surprisingly pleasant aesthetically (I thought the screenshots looked like shit). And I've realized that I am a sucker for the "sounds of future commerce" soundtrack they're going for, puts me right in the mood to relax and buy some shit.
I do wish there was more to do out of the box, the 3DS spoiled me a bit in that regard. Fireworks is pretty decent as far as AR games go, but it's also not really practical to break out at any given time. Near seems cool and it's a neat feature no doubt, but it's also a mess of an application from a design standpoint. Nintendo's StreetPass Plaza on 3DS is not the same thing, but it's a far more successful and entertaining social addition than Near is to the Vita in it's current state. The web browser is shit and I have other devices for music/movies, I really just bought the thing for games.
And so far, so good on that front. Rayman is new for me and absolutely gorgeous, Lumines is as good as that series gets, Mutant Blobs and Super Stardust are both reasonably priced gems. Katamari and UMvC3 round out my launch haul. Looking forward to the future of this device, a little nervous that it's going to lose support quickly if it doesn't set the world on fire, but I'm satisfied with my purchase.