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[Wario64]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/11/28/san-francisco-ps-vita-meet-ups-kick-off-this-week/

If you’re eagerly anticipating picking up a PlayStation Vita at launch, February 22nd probably feels distressingly far away. “But I want to play NOW,” you may be thinking, feeling, and/or shouting. We understand.

That’s why we’re going to be fanning out across the country to give loyal PlayStation fans the the opportunity to go hands on with the PS Vita months before launch, through a series of Vita Social Clubs. And for people in the San Francisco Bay Area, that opportunity comes knocking this Thursday with the grand opening of the Vita Hill Social Club. We’ll be bringing the food and the beverages, but most importantly, we’ll be bringing the Vitas. Dozens and dozens of them. Bring extra hands!

The Vita Hill Social Club will give you the opportunity to play tons of PS Vita games, including UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss, LittleBigPlanet, Little Deviants, WipEout 2048, ModNation Racers, Reality Fighters, and Hot Shots Golf in a relaxing setting. We’ll also be raffling off a few things… maybe even a PS Vita (correction: yes, we will).

Here’s what you need to know:

Date/Time
Thursday, Dec 1st, 2011 from 5:00 – 9:00pm Pacific Time

Location
Vita Hill Social Club
1694 Union Street (at Gough)
San Francisco, CA 94123

RSVP Here

Not in San Francisco? Don’t worry, we’ll be opening up PS Vita Social Clubs all around the US in the near future. We’re also set up in several malls across the country right now. We’re planning more meet-ups in January – many in cities we haven’t been to before – so stay tuned.

In the meantime, see you Thursday, San Francisco!

 

[Kambing]

Welp,

Looks like i am going. Its only 20 minutes away =P

 

[pharmboy044]

Sony starting that grassroots campaign for the Vita. I'm liking it.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Not in San Francisco? Don’t worry, we’ll be opening up PS Vita Social Clubs all around the US in the near future. We’re also set up in several malls across the country right now. We’re planning more meet-ups in January – many in cities we haven’t been to before – so stay tuned.

Hope they have one near me.

 

[Craiji]

RSVP'd, hopefully i won't storm out like I did the uncharted event.... (was a bad night)

 

[Takao]

For some reason I got my hopes up and thought Syphon Filter, but was crushed after my brain digested what I had read...

 

[outunderthestars]

Sony starting that grassroots campaign for the Vita. I'm liking it.

Agreed. I like the concept of getting out and putting the device into peoples' hands early.

 

[Toki767]

Debating on if I want to go. A 4 hour event...there had better be food.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Debating on if I want to go. A 4 hour event...there had better be food.

Eat before you leave just in case.

 

[Xelinis]

It's exactly one week before I move to SF. Dammit.

 

[Wario64]

It's tonight...just heads up

 

[Guevara]

Looks like I'll be swinging by at about 6

 

[Quadraphonic]

There's a month-long one in Santa Monica. They're giving out a unique aluminum coin each week.

 

[Wario64]

 

[pharmboy044]

Impressions anyone?

 

[Tenck]

Come to Phoenix Sony!

 

[DR3AM]

Come to Phoenix Sony!

x2

 

[neojubei]

Come to Phoenix Boston Sony!

Please!!!

 

[kuYuri]

None of these events are in NYC.

Wat.

 

[MrPliskin]

Welp,

Looks like i am going. Its only 20 minutes away =P

So, how was it? Impressions?

 

[outunderthestars]

Wow, so many incredible impressions. Looks like the event was a hit.

 

[BeEatNU]

I need them to hurry up and get the Santa Monica one up and running.

 

[Auron_Kale]

Was nice last night, met some cool people, ate pizza and played both Uncharted (GA and 3 on the 3D Display) and WipeOut.

Very cozy atmosphere and the Sony people were very cool. They'll serve you drinks and get you some KIND bars if you ask them.

System is quite nice but I'm not feeling the analogs... I strangely prefer the nub that was on the PSPGo compared to these sticks (they're definitely not as grippy as I'd like).

A few pics:

Settings:

 

[MrPliskin]

Thanks for the pics! Looks like the settings menu retained to the PSP/PS3 XMB, which is pretty cool. Really excited to hopefully try one of these out.

 

[Auron_Kale]

Thanks for the pics! Looks like the settings menu retained to the PSP/PS3 XMB, which is pretty cool. Really excited to hopefully try one of these out.

I was actually really happy about that actually, plus the OS is very intuitive. They had a whole slew of demos to try out, but Uncharted was easily the most popular - they had to bring out more units to meet the demand to play.

Controls were a bit laggy, as was the camera in Uncharted - but when speaking to one of the reps, the hardware that's there to play are not final units nor was the build of the game. Rest assured, the touch screen parts are pretty cool and Nolan managed to pitch his voice slightly higher to make Drake sound younger.

Will probably go back between now and until launch time - since it's just a bus ride away for me from work.

 

[lazybones18]

Please let this come to Michigan....somewhere near the Metro Detroit area (or anywhere in Oakland County)

 

[Ninja_Hawk]

Please let this come to Michigan....somewhere near the Metro Detroit area (or anywhere in Oakland County)

lol

 

[patsu]

I went to the Vita Hill Social Club this afternoon. It should remain open until Vita launches. The street is a mid-up market shopping area, not crowded like Union Square, which is a big plus. Otherwise, parking would be a freaking nightmare. Anyway, the place is classy and cozy. Went in with my wife and kid.

Too bad their Internet was broken today, so web browser on PC and Vita timed out. The demo Vitas also didn't have PSN account setup. So I couldn't try Internet play even if the Internet connection is up. There was also no memory card in the Vitas, so no luck with the media players. The social apps (FourSquare, Facebook, etc.) were absent from these demo Vitas too. I suppose all these will get resolved once Vita launches in Japan.

What we did try were the games. We sampled LittleBigPlanet, Little Deviant, Sound Shapes, Reality Fighter. They all look like quality products. My son and I like Sound Shapes a lot. IMHO, it's the best game of the lot despite its simplicity. I would definitely buy it when I get a Vita.

LBP is as expected (I <3 LBP series on PS3). Little Deviant was interesting too. What I wanted to try was Gravity Daze, but it's not there.

My wife jumped in when we played Reality Fighter. The AR fighters (created from our photos) were creepy but it was silly fun anyway. I fought with a toilet plunger while my son took a tennis racket.

Other folks tried WipeOut, Modnation Racer, etc. but I am not a racing guy.


They also had Sony's 24" 3D monitor set up there for Uncharted 3. I was pretty mad that they didn't have HMZ-T1 there.

Will probably revisit the place again. Hope they have Internet and PSN set up by then. I really want to eyeball the web browser and the non-games.

The screen is indeed very nice. My wife said it's not as dense as the iPhone 4S display, but it's comfortably bigger and also density is very very close.

The "polka dot" UI looks annoying in screenshots, but functionally, the UI actually perform its functions very well. All they need to do is to give us a sleek theme. I would be even more happier if they make the polka dot layout into a proper grid.

A few notes about its differences from XMB:

* You can rearrange the buttons or add/remove them like iPhone's "wiggle mode".

* To close an app, you press the PS button once, and then swipe from top-right to bottom-left. It's like tearing a page. The app will be unloaded.

* You can run 6 apps in parallel (I didn't try more). You can switch between them by pressing the PS button once, and then swipe the screen horizontally. If you are in an app, and press the PS button twice, you go into a strip layout mode that gives you a glance of all the opened apps at the same time.

* If you swipe vertically, you can go into the LiveArea, which I didn't get to try since PSN is not set up.

* In some screen shots, you see this quarter circle button at a corner. It's the notification button. Should be there if there are notifications waiting for you.

I bought an iPhone 4S yesterday and have been toying with it. Vita's OS UI is similar, but I still think Sony needs to differentiate itself more. Vita is nice but the press won't give it a rest. Sony should pull out all the stops to add universal RemotePlay, HMZ-T1 integration, a sophisticated PSN, etc. From what I can see now, Vita is a very good and solid start, but they are not out of the woods yet. Sony needs an oomph or wow-factor to silence the critics.

The recent PS3 4.0 firmware update is still the old way of doing things. They thought about their backend process but forgot about the end user experience. The Vita itself is actually closer to Android and iOS. Someone in Sony need to whip the PS3 team more.

 

[friskykillface]

lol X smh if they don't at least go to N.Y

come to Boston pleaseeeeeee

 

[patsu]

They said the club will "fan out across the country" before US Vita launch.

That place has free drinks, photo booth, raffles (I won a cup holder. Just my luck. 8^/) and nice furniture. Felt like taking a small desk and chair set back to my own home. XD

 

[Cypher]

So is this Vita Hill Social Club in S.F. now open to the general public? If I head down on a weekday or weekend, it will be open? And if this is so, what are the Club's operation hours?

 

[Agent_J]

.

 

[Sarcasm]

Watched a video.


Saw my friends.


Win.

 

[patsu]

So is this Vita Hill Social Club in S.F. now open to the general public? If I head down on a weekday or weekend, it will be open? And if this is so, what are the Club's operation hours?

Yeah, I simply walked in today without appointment. There are security, female attendents, and tech support dudes inside.

I don't know the business hours. Might want to ask the PS Blog folks. My guess is it should be similar to the other shops on Union Street.

They should hold other events inside, like LAN games. 8^P

 

[demosthenes]

I hope people that go can clear up questions about prices, memory cards, which games require them and PSN account stuff.

 

[Anticitizen One]

Are they doing anymore of these in CA this month? I'd like to go to one

 

[patsu]

Don't expect too much answers from them yet. I think they need to at least settle the Japan launch first.

I spoke to the tech dude. He's not sure if the US PSN is ready to take Vita yet. I feel that they should at least equip all the demo Vitas with a memory card, and a test PSN account anyhow.

 

[patsu]

Are they doing anymore of these in CA this month? I'd like to go to one

The site is already open. You can walk in anytime. That event is only for the opening of the club. You can go every day if you want. :runaway:

EDIT: If you sign up as a "club member" (it's free), you get a code for a lucky draw. When I was there, it looks like drinks was served to all the house guests. I see people bring their friends & family there too. The place is big enough to host 40-50 people comfortably.

 

[Wario64]

Found a video of the opening night on Youtube if you're interested to see what it looks like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj-WpVZTr_M


Some OS setting stuff at this point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj-WpVZTr_M&feature=player_detailpage#t=320s

 

[madmaxx350]

Found a video of the opening night on Youtube if you're interested to see what it looks like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj-WpVZTr_M


Some OS setting stuff at this point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj-WpVZTr_M&feature=player_detailpage#t=320s

Fingerprints

 

[Thunderbear]

There's a month-long one in Santa Monica. They're giving out a unique aluminum coin each week.

Where are the details on this one?

 

[Cypher]

Yeah, I simply walked in today without appointment. There are security, female attendents, and tech support dudes inside.

I don't know the business hours. Might want to ask the PS Blog folks. My guess is it should be similar to the other shops on Union Street.

They should hold other events inside, like LAN games. 8^P

Ok, thanks! I'll try to check it out sometime before Christmas!

 

[madmackem]

Found a video of the opening night on Youtube if you're interested to see what it looks like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj-WpVZTr_M


Some OS setting stuff at this point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj-WpVZTr_M&feature=player_detailpage#t=320s

hahaha destructiod won but gave it back nice touch, the more i see of vita the more i want it memory card price be damned.

 

[slipknot2009]

Seems a little more intricate than the mall demo station here outside of Chicago, but really cool. Do you know where they are "fanning out" to?