Sony's latest gaming hardware product, the PlayStation TV, received a release date announcement on Monday, months after its official E3 unveiling this summer. Starting October 14, fans in the US will be able to buy the hardware by itself for $99 or purchase a "bundle" that includes a DualShock 3 controller, an 8GB memory card, and a free copy of The LEGO Movie Videogame for $40 more.
The PlayStation TV, which launched in Japan nearly one year ago as the Vita TV, essentially doubles as a Vita system that plugs into your HDTV. Just like the Vita, the system can play both physical and downloaded Vita games (along with PS1 titles and other fare sold via PlayStation Network). It can also serve as a PlayStation 4 streaming device via the Remote Play feature, and it supports the PlayStation Now streaming service, which serves PlayStation 3 games to your hardware by way of the cloud.
One of PSTV's limitations is its lack of touch, microphone, and motion support for Vita games, since neither the DualShock 3 nor DualShock 4 perfectly emulates Vita's features, meaning Vita-exclusive standouts like Tearaway are essentially unplayable (and other games' touch support requires some awkward joystick-clicking-and-aiming moves to emulate the Vita's taps). And while Vita games are upscaled to 720p resolution on the PlayStation TV, so are Vita video apps like Netflix and Hulu Plus. This limits them compared to the 1080p set-top competition.
Even with those issues, we're hard pressed to think of a set-top box that currently sports a gaming marketplace quite like the PlayStation Network, especially with its Vita-specific push for indie games.
Update: We originally reported that the PlayStation TV will require a DualShock 3 controller; as it turns out, Sony announced that the DualShock 4 will work on the new hardware, as well. However, the list of supported games confirms that titles like Tearaway will indeed not work on PlayStation TV.
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