PlayStation Vita

At this point, I don’t know what to believe except the fact that Sony needs to put their management in check. You have companies like Microsoft and Apple who come out with clear statements and clear focus when information about a product is revealed. Sony on the other hand has been known for having someone in the US say one thing while another exec in a different territory states another thing. The PS Vita’s multiple PSN accounts is no different in which we’ve now heard three different stories from people within Sony!

Nearly two weeks ago, it was revealed that the PS Vita could not handle multiple PSN accounts. Though we were never bothered by the news, we also never had a chance to cover it. A few days passed and a Sony exec made a public statement, indicating that the PS Vita could indeed handle multiple PSN accounts. We jumped on that Sony, thinking that other sites had the earlier story wrong and were looking to bash a newly launched Sony device as it tends to be the theme, whenever Sony has a product launch. However, since then, Sony has come on record again, indicating that earlier reports were indeed correct and the PS Vita can’t handle multiple PSN accounts (It should be noted that technically, you can use multiple PSN accounts but that the system, requires a full restore, indicating that that this was left for when users wanted to potentially sell the device to someone else and not for casual logging in and out).

 “[The] PSN account is tied to the hardware and the memory card, not just the card,” a different Sony representative said in an e-mail, “which means that if a second person is using your Vita, it’s not just a case of switching out memory cards, it’s clearing out all of your saved data on the Vita itself when you do the factory reset.”

“In other words, PlayStation Vita is intended to be played by only one user,” the representative said. 

As I stated before, I don’t actually care for multiple PSN accounts on the PS Vita. Is it a nice thing to have? Sure but the Vita is meant to be a personal device, unlike a gaming console which tends to be more of a community device. So while I do believe the usefulness of that feature is a little over blown, my frustration is aimed at Sony who cannot get simple information out about their device. Seriously guys, this is a major product launch for you, in a time where you’re hurting in a lot of fronts. Make a simple FAQ sheet and text/email/fax it to all Sony exec with a reminder that speaking out of line can lead to finding a new job and if  the issue is coming from higher up with wrong information being handed down, then they also can start looking for a new job.

Let’s all talk, after the jump.

With every new PlayStation device that tends to launch, there tends to also be a circus that follows where people find limitations, quirks, and, in this case, false information and they begin to smear the system. The PSP launched with many crying foul, claiming that the system’s battery could only game about 5 hours before needing a charge (though that seemed to affect such a minority of users who needed to game for 5 consecutive hours). The PS3 then launched with what will happen with Blu-ray and where is our promised 2 HDMI ports and, gasp, the base 20GB version didn’t have Wi-Fi, despite the competing machine didn’t offer Wi-Fi, HDMI, Blu-ray drive and a dedicated hard drive.

Last week, the same sort of assaults began to arise towards the PS Vita, with claims of lack of multiple PSN account access on the machine. Now first, let’s say that the PS Vita was truly locked into one PSN account: In how many instances do you foresee yourself using your Vita, and having a friend wanting to use one but insisting that they must log in via their PSN account? Unlike consoles which are more social, the PS Vita is meant for more of a personal use, much like your cellphone. However, despite all those crying foul, we’ve now learned that the PS Vita does indeed support multiple PSN accounts. Sony associate brand marketing manager Crystal MacKenzie,

 “Your PSN ID is bonded to your memory card and your memory card is bonded to your Vita,” MacKenzie said. “So if you wanted to change different PSN users but use the same memory card, you would need to go factory reset.” 

However, what this means is that if you and your friend both own a PS Vita, you can simply take your PS Vita memory card, which is tied to your PSN account, insert it into your friend’s Vita, thus enabling your account on that machine. What’s more is, if multiple people in the same house wish to play on the Vita with separate PSN accounts, each simply needs to own their own memory card (starting at $29 for 4GB) and can insert the card into the Vita, and continue their own saved games, trophy counts, and PSN purchases. So, there you have it folks: Multiple PSN accounts exist for you on the PS Vita. Also, many users need to simply look at the PSP and PS3 from when they launched to where they are now and relax a bit, knowing that Sony has always continued to pump new features in their devices, via free firmware updates.