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June Update: PlayStation 6 and PlayStation Portable future visions

 The recent PlayStation video about the "simulated" technology in development, discussed between AMD and Sony engineers that will power the PlayStation 6 was interesting from a geek point of view. But from a gameplay perspective, there is - IMO - no need for a PlayStation 6 for another few years. Especially with the limp Xbox is-it-isn't-it launch .  June 2026 Update : The latest snippet of gossip for Sony's next-gen systems is a modular/external drive that will connect to both devices. Allowing installation on the portable of physical games, and reducing the cost of the PS6 by making the Blu-ray an accessory (like the PS5 Slim).  I prefer the idea of a dedicated dock on the PS6 that connects the next Portable to your entire PSN library, and they'd better make it work as an extra controller, but I'm sure there are practical benefits to the extra drive.   That should also boost sales of PS4 and PS5 physical games, especially on the second-hand market, as folk...

Near is dead, no great loss

The Near service on the Vita has been halted, which will come as no great loss to most Vita owners. You can't delete the app, presumably so that games don't start breaking down, but if you go to Settings, "Delete All 'near' Data" you can free up some memory card space.

Having done that, I'm now trying to remember exactly what I used it for, and a few shared puzzles aside, I really don't recall. It was fun in the early days to see other Vita owners "near" me, but was otherwise an unexplored gimmick by most users. Despite travelling far and wide, I never had WiFi on, or a 3G model, so perhaps never got the best from it.

But "near" was never going to be as fun as Nintendo's Street Pass, it's just a shame that Sony didn't try to evolve it. Some owners are still rather fond of near, with a few mournful tales of its passing around the web. Feel free to comment if you have some near-love stories

Naturally, we can expect a rash of stories about "another nail in the Vita coffin"  but it makes no practical difference to our little Vita lives. I do wonder if the homebrew or indie app crowd would be allowed to come up with something better, but we all know Sony's stance on that!






Currently playing on my Vita/PS3/PS4/PS5


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