The Vita could have been thinner, or huge, or a clamshell

Jordan Mallory — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:00:00 EST

By this point, the shiny veneer of newness has worn off of Sony's rapidly approaching Vita and we're all pretty used to how the thing looks. Not everyone has seen it in person yet, granted, but we've all seen it, and its PSP-ish profile and itty-bitty analogue sticks have settled into that comfortable zone of mental familiarity.

The device could have been remarkably different, however. For instance, Sony designer Takashi Sogabe (responsible for the Walkman, among other things) had originally intended for the Vita to be a much more svelte device: "The original design of the PS Vita, for example, was very much thinner than the current retail product," Sogabe said during an interview with The Guardian. "From a designer's point of view, thinner is better-looking, but the engineers wanted to put all the features in. Maybe it will become thinner in the future, but the engineers would have to come up with a means to do that."

There was also a time when the Vita's shape had more in common with the DS than the PSP: "We came up with various patterns, including a clamshell one. Then we discussed it with a lot of publishers and settled on this shape." In the long run, Sony decided that it would be a better idea to transfer the PSP's brand equity to the Vita by having the devices look similar.

One major difference between the PSP and Vita, however, is the latter's massive screen, which at 5 inches makes it the biggest screen on any dedicated portable gaming device this side of an iPad. That figure had started at 5.5 inches, according to Sogabe, but was scaled back seeing as this is a portable device and everything. We like Sony's ambition with hardware design, but we'd still rather have the real Vita over a giant, wafer-thin abalone.

The Vita could have been thinner, or huge, or a clamshell originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation Vita design rooted in the Sony Walkman

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST

We spent years carrying around cassette tapes, then another bunch of years carrying around compact discs, and most of that time said media formats were played through one of Sony's various Walkman devices. It looks like the Japanese hardware company is looking to recapture some of its past success by employing the man who designed the original Walkman to put together the company's latest handhled: the PlayStation Vita.

When the US PlayStation Blog descended upon Japan for the Vita's recent launch, the site found out that Tokashi Sogabe, a 27-year employee of Sony, was heading up the company's "corporate design center." That same team lead development of the Vita, which apparently went through a variety of different forms before the team decided on the current unit. "The team went through various designs, including one with a sliding back like PSPgo and a clamshell, before settling on the final model after discussion with developers," the post explains. Even weirder? Apparently, one of the prototype models had touch pads in place of the dual analog sticks like an Xperia Play -- we're pretty glad that Sogabe's team ended up cutting that bizarre choice.

Regardless, given Sogabe's past with Sony, we've got high hopes that the Sport and Mini versions of the Vita aren't far off.

[Image credit: 'rockheim']

PlayStation Vita design rooted in the Sony Walkman originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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