Sony PlayStation Vita (Pre-owned) $120 or Less + Free shipping
 

Cowboom [cowboom.com]has preowned PS Vitas (PCH-1001) for $119 + free shipping.

As of now, I see there a healthy mix of grade 4 and 5 with some including everything except the user manual (others lacking charging/usb cables).
As far as I know, people have had positive experiences with Cowboom and they offer a 30 day returns with free shipping as a safety.

Added bonus: coupons for new customers

Sony PlayStation Vita (Pre-owned) $120 or Less + Free shipping
 

Cowboom has Sony PS Vita (Pre-owned) for $120 + free shipping. New customers can save extra $5 with coupon code COWBOOM5. Thanks lotusmonk

Note, Stock changes on the fly.

Review courtesy of Engadget

For an extra 15 bucks you should hop on the Deal of the day. Majority of these dont include the battery or charger. For 134.99 you get all the above plus black ops.

Sony PlayStation PCH-1001 Vita Portable WiFi Console $119.99 FS- Pre-owned
 

http://www.cowboom.com/product/11...-2013-text


Sony PlayStation PCH-1001 Vita Portable WiFi Console


Sony PlayStation PCH-1001 Vita Portable WiFi Console from CowBoom
Pre-owned
- Fully functional
- May show limited signs of use
- May be missing parts or accessories
- May have dents or scratches

$119.99 FS

Just throwing it out that the majority of vita owners have agreed that black ops is one of the worst games ever, they really dropped the bomb trying to rush it out.

Another Sony victory. They'll be giving these away in boxes of Cap'n Crunch in six months.

I keep getting the urge to pick up one of these but it is sad that, even at this price, I still can't convince myself to go for it. I honestly can't think of one must have game for this system (and it would take much more than one to make me spend the money on a system).

I dunno, the vita isn't all bad. I picked it up to travel with MLB the Show. If I did not have the vita, I probably wouldn't get through a full season. Not as good as the PS3 version but definately good enough to knock out a few games in the schedule.

I may bite on the PS3/Vita combo deals for this seasons version of the game.

these dont allow homebrew/emulators do they? Thats one thing I love about the orginal psp

Nope. You mean the one thing that killed off the original PSP?

I love how everyone rags on the Vita as dead after just over a year of sales. Uncharted: Golden Abyss is the best mobile game I've ever played, period. Gravity Rush, WipEout 2048, LBP Vita, Mutant Blobs Attack, all these excellent mobile titles but sure, it's a dead console.

Gravity Rush and Persona 4 Golden are the two best games I have played in the past year for any console.

Actually it kinda does. There is a way to run them using the Uno game I believe. I hope they never fully find a way to hack these though because that's what killed the psp.

I disagree, it was the price, initial lack of quality games, expensive Sony memory sticks, and the terrible UMD format that killed the PSP. The only thing they fixed with the Vita was the game format. Sony's stubborn like that. You could fit a hundred games on an SD card and play them on the DS and it's basically the most successful game system of all time.

Don't get me wrong, I have a Vita and love it, but Sony doesn't seem to learn from their mistakes very often. Here's hoping they finally wised up with the PS4, because they really screwed themselves over on the PSP, PS3, and now Vita. It's almost like they don't want to succeed.

I feel the issue with the cards is that once you make a cheap card for a hackable system (ie generic Memory Sticks and the PSP), more and more people start to get their hands on it to try hacking it. Sony could have easily priced the cards lower but wanted to try as hard as they could to keep the Vita out of pirates' hands. They made it a high-end console but it's not selling like one, and that hurt them. But don't expect them to ever come out with cheaper cards.

They really screwed themselves over on the PS3? How? Yeah, it started too expensive and cut out OtherOS, but.. where else? It's been the highest-selling console the past two years, outsold 360 worldwide for four years, and leads the 360 in install base in every demographic except North America. I don't really see how that's a failure.

Every BB CSR I have called... None of whom even knew what Cowboom was. Even their managers had no idea. Lol...

Most people who played the ds though weren't tech savy enough to use an R4. The majority of psp owners were much more tech savy. So the hardware sold but the games didn't. Developers see the psp as a dead console in America. In Japan they still make brand new psp games even today.

I'm ashamed to say I am also to blame for this. Rampent piracy on the PSP in America is the main reason IMO that Final Fantasy type 0 and Valkyria Chronicles 3 didn't get a release here.

The software update took care of this.

Retro City Rampage actually had more sales for the Vita than Xbox or PS3 so it does show some promise for digital developers.

I love the PSP. So many good games, and I can run just about every system before it through emulation.

Sony has just recently shipped more PS3s than Microsoft has actually sold 360s. By all means, Sony should have dominated this generation but they're still struggling against the 360. This was 100% because of their launch price. The poor Vita adoption has been a combination of launch price and memory card price. Even the poor PSP sales can be attributed to high price. Nintendo made the same flub with the 3DS and quickly fixed it. The issue is that Sony doesn't fix it, they just ride it out.

Sony loves packing their consoles with features that no one really asks for. Had Sony gone the DVD route instead of the Blu-Ray route, used a more reasonable processor, and matched the 360s price, Sony would have basically shut the 360 out in all markets. The failure is that it's only matched installed units of the 360 when, by all means, they should have dominated the market.

Microsoft has xbox live though, I pay 30$ a year and feel like I am getting a good deal. I pay nothing for psn and feel like I am getting ripped off.

That's the thing, though - Sony is REALLY good at future-proofing their devices. They went all-in on Blu-Ray, and they won that battle. In fact, at one point it was one of the most affordable and updateable BR player for sale. Just as they backed DVD with the PS2, they succeed in anticipating where the market will go in terms of technology. To say they should have gone the DVD route for their games is just silly. Absolutely silly.

Blu-Ray, HDMI, gigabit ethernet.. none of these things were on the 360 at the time. Sony doesn't let the PS brand pander down to what other companies are putting out just to compete on price; they put out the best product they can put out and let the consumer decide. It sucks when they fail, but at least they don't put out an inferior product just to get it out the door cheaper or quicker. :dontknow:

It's also matched 360 installed units with a year's headstart to make up.

That's because retro city rampage has cross buy between ps3 and vita. So it was cheaper than the other systems. Great game btw.

$30 a year is an extra game a year, seems quite silly to pay for a service that just subsidizes the cost of your hardware. It's as silly as buying a cell phone on-contract.

As others have said, the Vita does have some amazing games. Persona 4 Golden has gotten me back into JRPGs and is a super-deep and long game. I've 50 hours in and about half way through. It's been engaging the whole time.

Gravity Rush, Retro City Rampage, and Super Crate Box are some other awesome games. MLB the Show is a great baseball game for the Vita, but Madden is a huge disappointment and could have used optimization. Uncharted is also pretty great, and the PS+ subscription really makes the Vita shine.

I'm primarily an XBox/PC gamer, but the PS+ subscription has had me playing my Vita and PS3 more lately. Hoping for some cool things with the PS4!

I bought one of these last Friday for $129.99. It was complete (even included the manual) and rated a 6. Since it had not shipped yet, I contacted Cowboom this morning to see if they would offer a $10 price adjustment to account for the new lower price. Because it was a 6 I had ordered, which are no longer available, I didn't want to cancel and re-order. They offered me a $10 coupon valid for 30 days. Since they actually have a $10 item I've been intending to order from them anyway, I was satisfied with that resolution.

UPDATE: Apparently Cowboom changed their minds, because I just got an email telling me they will be issuing me a credit instead of the coupon. Works for me!

Been tempted to buy one but wont on principle because of the high memory Prices

Lol don't kid yourself, Sony using proprietary cards has nothing to do with piracy but everything to do with trying to push their own proprietary formats. Sony has a long history of doing this and that didn't change with the Vita. Sure, the cards may be more expensive but nowhere expensive enough to keep them out of the hands of most pirates.

I definitely would not say that homebrew/emulation killed the PSP. I know many people who purchased a PSP just for those purposes that never would have purchased one otherwise. What killed the PSP was the lack of quality games and I'm pretty sure, unless things make a major turn-around soon, that will be what also kills the Vita.

360 also has way better servers, and doesn't take years for things to download.

If it wasn't for the fact that i got a 32 gb mem card for 10 bucks plus all first party games for 10 each, i wouldnt have picked one up .. but i enjoy it. I like the fact that if you power the screen down you can instantly start your game from where you left off .. great for when you only have 5 to 10 minutes to play here and there.

Now ask yourself why were there a lack of quality games. It is because developers didn't make them. Developers didn't make them because PSP software sales were horrible. Software sales were horrible because pirates just downloaded all their games and also showed all their friends how to do it as well.

As for Vita memory cards you are underestimating how cheap the average pirate is. The current pricing model is keeping pirates away from the console.

I will agree about the game servers but my PS3 downloads things just as fast as my 360. TBH, My 360 hasn't been touched in almost a year because I got tired of having to pay (in the form of a Live Gold subscription) for features that are either useless or shouldn't have to be paid for. Also, the ever increasing amount of ads on the 360 dashboard has also become a major deterrent for 360 gaming for me.

I agree on that one. The complaint most people have about playstation downloading is that you have to download something and then install it. So it does take longer if you are sitting there waiting for it. I personally don't care about this.:shake:

I'm pretty sure PSP software sales were horrible long before the system was cracked. My friends never downloaded PSP titles because TBH there weren't any worth even pirating. Instead the system was mainly used for emulating older systems (that actually had quality games).

Do a quick Google search of "Sony Proprietary formats" and you will come across article after article about the complaints of Sony trying to push their own proprietary formats through the years. You seem to fail to understand what a greedy company Sony is. Instead of using standard SD card, Sony wants you to buy THEIR CARD at their incredibly inflated prices. They've done this with the Vita, their cameras, camcorders, etc. Pretty much anything with the Sony name on it has been made to accept a proprietary Sony format of some type. I know exactly how cheap a pirate can be but I also know how determined they can be. If you or Sony thinks that requiring a higher priced media format is going to deter pirates, y'all are delusional. It's about profits, not piracy.

It's both for the Vita. Killing two birds with one stone so to speak. Sony is selling the Vita at a loss so they make a tidy profit on the memory cards to make up for that. Plus it has the added benefit of keeping pirates at Bay. All the pirates I know all say the same thing that they won't get a Vita because of the cost of the cards. Something like "The cards are so freaking expensive that I might as well just buy the games". So they don't even consider getting a console. Plus now Sony can control the quality fo the cards in the system. If they allowed people to use any micro sd card. There would be some people that would buy the cheapest quality junk cards they could find. Then they would complain about how slow games load off the card and blame the system. ;)

I like how you are justifying their corporate greed, enjoy your crappy system :lmao:

I have been for months now. I haven't enjoyed a system this much since I first got my very first ps1.

I use it all the time. Been playing FFIV complete edition and Persona 4 Golden since December. :woot:

Only few games it has, wake me up when it can play all PS1 games ;)

It was never the most affordable Blu-Ray player, but it was the best Blu-Ray player at one point.

Also, it still hasn't matched the 360's installed units. It has surpassed the shipped number, though. It will surpass the 360s installed units by the end of this year...but really, that's too little too late.

I think the PS3 is a great product and that it's better than the 360 in every way. And, you're right, they definitely futureproofed the product. But that came at a price...and that was them loosing a drastic amount of market share. I don't think it was worth it to them in the long run. If they can manage to make the PS4 affordable (or at least equal in price to the new Xbox), I don't see why they won't reclaim the #1 seat again.

It's just the trolls and Nintendo/Microsoft fanboys.

I personally feel the Vita has a better library, better screen, and better hardware.

The only thing I hate is the proprietary memory.

It's played everything I've tried on it. I just plug it into the ps3 and copy the file over. Been playing some FFVII on it. Looks great on the OLED screen.

I beg to disagree. :bulb:

http://www.examiner.com/article/p...nst-piracy

Also, Sony accepts SD and microSD on many of their cameras, Xperia phones, tablets, and the PS3 will recognize them with a reader (previously read them natively).

So you need a PS3 just to copy over the limited list of games that are compatible with the Vita? Brilliant!

How exactly did me playing Super Mario RPG while taking my morning shit kill off the PSP?

Back OT (as opposed to just bashing Vita and the memory cards) - IF you buy one of these used ones from Cowboom, be SURE to at least get the charging cable - I'd hold out for the entire charger. The charging adaptor is proprietary - so if it doesn't come with one - plan on spending 15-20 bucks to get one.

A for sure dealbreaker in my world.

No I think the PS3 lets you copy anything. The vita store only lets you download a smaller selection. I don't owe any of the less popular ps1 classics to test this. I know it works with all psp games like this. Plus most people with a vita are pro-sony and have a ps3 anyway.:nod:

Homebrew didn't kill the PSP. It was pirates downloading all of the psp games that killed it. Everyone I knew with a PSP never bought a single PSP game yet downloaded close to a hundred. I feel bad that I was part of this group as well. I was in high school and didn't have any money so I only bought around 5 games but played over a hundred.

I will not do that to the Vita. I am buying every game that I want to play. Every little bit helps.

So Sony is claiming piracy as the reason for using their own over-priced, proprietary format, yeah we've never seen piracy used to justify corporate greed before :rolleyes:. Considering the smashing success this method was on the PSP at preventing piracy, I guess it's no wonder they did it again lol. Seriously, I doubt it will make any difference this time either. Instead of piracy, It seems the only thing Sony prevented was the purchase of their system by many people.

I think the the vita has 2 big things going for it that the psp never had. And that is Playstation Plus, and the PS4.

I just bought a Vita w/ 32GB Memory card on the cheap on Ebay. W/No games. Because I know I will be taking advantage of the PS PLUS games and discounts.

I will be selling my PS3 before the holiday season and keep the Vita(If I'm happy with it) and After M$ launches the new Xbox I will decide which route to go.

The psp memory cards were pretty cheap. I got several 32 gig cards for around 35 dollars each on ebay.

M$ will really need to come out swinging to beat the PS4 this generation. The rumored specs puts both consoles neck and neck where the PS4 has much faster RAM GDDR5 vs DDR3 for the nextbox.

They weren't always cheap, I owned a PSP and can remember for how expensive they were initially. Although, I'm sure that was to battle piracy too lol.

Also, I find it funny that many people would think that a more expensive card would prevent anything. A pirate is paying nothing for their games so what if they have to drop a few $$ on a memory card. They may be cheap but that wouldn't much of an ordeal to most considering their savings on software purchases. With one decent sized card, they can play essentially any game for free. Doesn't seem like a bad trade-off to me. The only people this whole thing hurts is the legitimate consumer who is responsible for paying for both expensive memory cards and software.

I suspect the new Xbox will win handily (in the USA anyway). Sony is on a steady decline. Funny that folks blame piracy for lack of sales of PSP yet the DS thrived despite even more piracy. Since PS2 Sony has not offered a great system. My PS2 gets more play than my PS3 which has not been powered on in years. Xbox has its issues but its controller and competition on Live blows PSN out of the water.

You really don't get it, do you? Hackers need to use the proprietary cards to be able to even attempt to hack the system itself. We aren't talking about keeping pirated-game users from using the system once it's hacked, we are talking about preventing the hacking process in and of itself. :facepalm2:

And.... The vita will be hacked just like every other system. Name one that hasn't been. What makes you believe a more expensive card will prevent anything???? Like I said, So what if a pirate has to purchase a card, They will be saving a boatload of money on software purchases.

It's just an option.

Stop being an ass. Move on if you aren't interested in the deal.

You act like it's easy to hack, like one person with a memory card can just put it in, break it, and presto, free games. It often takes the efforts of many hackers on many bought memory cards to be able to pull it off. The more expensive you make the card, the more you're going to keep less-devoted hackers from even trying. I'm not denying that the Vita could one day get hacked, but they're at least slowing down the efforts of hackers.

I'm not a child and know exactly how hard cracking anything can be. I also know how determined hackers can be and a high priced memory card isn't going to stop anyone.

Sony is only slowing down adoption by regular consumers due to their high media prices. It seems a bit like cutting of their arm for a broken finger. There are far better and more consumer friendly ways to prevent piracy than this nonsense BS.

Gravity Rush and Uncharted are the only Vita games I want.

stated reason:
The reason Sony didn't use general memory cards like SD Cards and instead opted for a custom memory card is because they wanted to make sure they could have something with an equal condition for everyone. Additionally, they were concerned with security. the cards as merely a device for saving games. They're "storage" for the Vita, and are used for patches, game data, download content and more.

not much different than companies omits SD card slots on tablets and charge $50 more for 16gb extra storage

Please, elaborate on what Sony could be doing in place of higher-priced cards.

True or not, thats a very "Apple Like" justification!

Yep, nobody seems to even raise an eyebrow at dropping an extra $100-200 for a larger-capacity iPhone.

Today, when we have systems with updateable software, combating piracy with higher priced cards seems very stupid. They could combat it the same way the PS3 and 360 have, with forced software updates that patch holes and exploits and have all newer games require the newest available software at the time of release. Also, locking exploited systems out of networked multiplayer. True, this is not a fool proof system but please explain what is going to make this method of higher priced media any more effective.

Not low enough of a price. It will hit under $100 by Christmas of this year I'm sure.

Exactly, and I find that just as offensive.

They went on the offensive instead of being defensive. They're trying to proactively deter piracy before it even hits their system instead of reacting when it does. And if they discover something unpatchable? Then what? I understand your idea of patching but it's a shaky path to go down.

I love my Vita. The hardware just can't be touched right now by any other handheld. But the memory prices suck. Playstation Plus has made it cost effective to own a Vita but still memory card prices are crazy. Amazon has the 32GB down to $75 today but I still won't take the leap because it's still too much for a 32MB card. The PSN Vita exclusives have shown that they have commited developers. Looking forward to the new Killzone, Soul Sacrifice and MLB the Show 13. I know everything is hackable but being a year out and it still hasn't been hacked correctly should tell you something.

That Sony did a good job. :)

Unpatchable??? If they have an exploit that is unpatchable then they have far more problems than just piracy. They design their own software. If they design it that badly, they really,really need to get out of the hardware/software business.

Also, if the average consumer needs a memory card just to use the system. What makes you think a hacker with a system wouldn't have one? or that it would even be needed to hack the system?

Great price for a grade 5 product! Thanks OP!

Or that interest is just severely waning.

True saying. I just dropped the extra $$ to upgrade my 64GB iPad to a 128GB. When considering the 16GB is the base at $500, I essentially am paying $300 for an additional 112GB of storage which amounts to aprox $2.67/GB. The 64GB iPad is a $4.16/GB upgrade from base and the 32GB would be $6.25/GB.

Now at $99.99 MSRP for a Vita 32GB Card, that amounts to aprox $3.12/GB. The 16GB and 8GB cards are both $3.75/GB and the 4GB card is $5/GB.

Puts things a little into perspective.

if you don't like how it is priced, don't buy it.

its a tactical move to create/sell another product for each person's need.
gaming consoles is like most printers and are generally produced at a loss, if they use a universal memory card, and people play games off CFW, then how are they suppose to make a profit?

Hard to say. I recognized last week that they had an abnormally large amount of stock of these things. Cowboom's listing prices and Deal of the Days tends to be based on inventory. Just 2 or 3 weeks back these were listed for $169 which is about where I expect the preowned price point to be. I would imagine once inventory starts to clear out, the price will go back up. And as for this coming holiday, I don't think we'll see too drastic of a price reduction (used or new) as demand will surely increase with the release of the PS4 and its connectivity feature. I'm not suggesting that they'll be flying off shelves and setting sales records. But I would be willing to bet Xmas 2013 will be a better sales year for the Vita than 2012.

picked up a unit for $121.xx total used promo code (check around the net - SD is not allowing it to be shown?) for $5 off ... made a new account and used it took the cash back as well ... only 1% though :(

Thanks! Snagged a grade 5 with everything but the owner's manual. Looks like USB cable is special, so do not have to pick that up later.

For those just jumping on the Vita ride. This is the second week of their anniversary sale. On top of making 18 games 30% off. They are making free to everyone, PSone classic Wild Arms, PSP Patapon, Piyotama and Patchwork Heroes. I never played Wild Arms so I may download that one and give it a try. But I don't get the hype of playing old PSOne games on my Vita. They look so bad but I'm glad they made them available for those that do like them.

Yeah, I tried to play JetMoto, one of my favorite PS1 games back when, on my Vita, and... woof. :lol:

Seeing as I worked for a major retailer's corporate office I will tell you this. The older non-HDMI 360s ran about a 40%-50% failure rate and were returned and the ones before the slim models weren't much better with about a 30% failure rate. Microsoft counts the replacement consoles that consumers bought before they actually started replacing systems as a "new" purchase. So after all of this time, if you remove 20%-30% of total sales as the true install base for the 360 then it may be a bit more accurate and the PS3 would have more actual units sold.

I am not a fan boy here, I own the Wii, PS3, and 360. I have much more money and time invested in my 360, but those total sales numbers are very misleading as Microsoft does not remove the returns and adds a new sale on for consoles that were purchased to replace a broken system.

Wild Arms is a pretty awesome game.

Ordered one.. another something i dont need.. thanks OP ;)

This has nothing to do with this deal - per se, but I just snagged the Lego/Vita bundle at target for 209 this weekend. If you have PS+, getting a Vita is insanely awesome. Or get a Vita and immediatley subscribe to +. Either way, the Vita is some seriously neat hardware with some underrated games if you are on the fence.

I don't think everyone that just ordered the Vita now can get it in time for the 4 free games. Cowboom ships pretty slow from my experience,

they are lucky to sell at this cost. there is no future for this product.

if they want to jumpstart this toy, they better pretend to release a loophole or hack so people can get more out of this. with limited games and limited capability, it simply has no future.

gaming consoles are usually produced at a loss. They might as well discontinue it rather than making CFW usable

Well, you can now that Sony has the PSN webstore available you can get them on your account and download them later. :D

for my experience (ordered 20+ times)
cowboom ships by UPS ground the day after purchase.
(or Tuesday if bought on Friday-Sundays)

The top grossing games are always the most pirated. Frankly used games eat more potential profits than piracy ever has --blaming piracy and going draconian just pisses people off. Sony would have never seen the PS3 jailbreak had they remained calm, and left Linux support on PS3s. Homebrew makes devices more useful for many people --and there's no valid line of thought that can say otherwise.

The 3DS is still unhacked (as in, no way to play 3DS roms) and it has an SD card slot. Ultimately, Sony's decision to use these stupid way-too-expensive memory cards is just as dumb as forcing the Memory Stick Pro Duo that the PSP used. In the end it won't deter anything and does nothing but aggravate the consumer base.

I will be picking one of these up and never buying a games for it. PSN+ is excellent...

The Nintendo 3DS implements the use of an SD card slot, has been out a year longer, and have still avoided piracy of 3DS games. And Nintendo is notorious for having easily hackable/modable consoles.

the cost of memory cards to defer piracy is not for the developing group's end, but for the consumer's end who choose to exploit.

if modded software is available, sony can still make money from the memory cards that people have to buy.

All it says is that nobody with the skills cares enough to bother.

Almost every gear head I know told me that Bosch's newest ECUs were 100% unhackable via OBD2. In truth, they just weren't willing to use lN2 and listen listen to the RSA 1028 keys for two weeks so they could disable tuner protection like I have...

Actually, the PS3 at launch was in fact the most affordable Blu-Ray player at the time. Blu-Ray had only been out for 4 months and there were only 5 or so player models available at that time, all of which were around the $1,000 price point. The PS3 sold so well initially because of that fact. People were buying it whom had no intention of using it as a gaming system but wanted it for the player. This obviously was short lived only a few months as more players got released and price points dropped the following year 2007. But for a while, if you were ready to get into Blu-Ray there was little reason not to buy a PS3. Sony knew this which is why they were willing to take a hit on the systems in order to get Blu-Ray into peoples homes and stomp HD-DVD

Or the consumer can just avoid the console, as it seems many have done with the Vita. Sony cut their own throat with this one.

The original post said that "I know everything is hackable but being a year out and it still hasn't been hacked correctly should tell you something.", with a user replying to him saying that means "Sony has been doing a good job." If Nintendo can do the same thing without needing to create overpriced proprietary memory sticks, then by comparison they're not doing that great of a job.

If they want to make a lot of extra money off of potential buyers they're free to, they're a business. But it's going to turn other people off, and it comes to a matter of whether or not the extra money from the memory cards is worth the expense of what would be a larger install base. However saying that memory cards and anti-piracy are mutually exclusive is being proven false by Nintendo. It's not an excuse, so people in this thread need to stop using it as one.

But they have. They've come close but nothing definite yet, last I heard it had to do with the encryption on these damn expensive Vita memory cards. The first version of the PSP was hacked very quickly if I remember correctly via battery. Sony doesn't to repeat that again. I understand both sides. Who wants to spend countless hours designing a game for profit just to have people steal it more than they buy it. On the other hand, like I said before the price of these Vita memory cards are crazy and pushes people away from getting the system.

Grabbed a 4 with everything included for $127. Had scuffs on the case but the screen looked mint (all I care about).

Also grabbing a 8gb memory card for $25 on Amazon. So $150 for the Vita with 8gb memory. If I don't like it I have 30 days to change my mind.

Thanks OP!

What...
Part of the allure for the PS3 was/are all the features you mentioned. It was also at times the cheapest good blu ray player on the market. You need to do your homework.

Also of systems are bundles that come with a card. For the average user this will be enough. I'm still using the 8 gig card that came with my system. I currently have around 5 games on it but can't fit a sixth. I'm looking forward to getting a 32 gig card at some point.

Nintendo consoles have no protection against piracy. They just rely on their userbase not being technically savy enough to use such things. They cater to an entirelly diffrent audience than sony.

ok, and then they get out of portable gaming console business and you are left with Nintendo for your portable gaming needs (excluding phones because app games is not the same)

by overpricing the memory card the only thing Siny is doing right now is to discourage customers from making more PSN purchases.

vita is not going anywhere. It will be integrated with PS4 as well.

I've got to disagree on multiple accounts. The PSP's lack of software was primarily due to the lack of hardware sold. Outside of Japan the PSP just couldn't keep up with DS sales, and thus the developers went to greener pastures.

Secondly there is a fallacy with the pirates are cheap argument. If the PSP was killed by piracy, your saying those that were pirating would have otherwise purchased the games, else there would be no lost sales. If that's the case then how do expensive memory cards help the Vita. If the Vita is being purchased by the same pirates, then certainly a slight increase to the price of pirating won't stop them, as it's still cheaper then outright game purchases. If it's not being purchased by the same people, then it's doomed to even lower sales since even with the pirate install base the PSP did not sell nearly as well as Sony had hoped.

On the other hand expensive memory does do an excellent job at discouraging PSN sales, as the average user will be discouraged from paying more then $2.5 per GB to download a game which can already be as large as 3.35 GB. If you get a 32 GB card for $80, your already paying an $8.38 surcharge for getting a digital only version of the Vitas largest game, and we know games are only going to get bigger. So while this might not a huge hindrance to a pirate for whom $8.38 is a lot better then $40, it may be seem exorbitant to the non pirate who is looking at paying $40 for a retail copy with any included goodies, vs ~$40 for a digital only version that requires a sizable extra investment in memory.

This is a pretty hilariously ignorant statement.

And allow me to clarify, as I stated in my previous posts Nintendo's previous consoles have had no protection against piracy. But to say that there's no crossover in technically savvy persons between the user bases of Nintendo and Sony, or that the Nintendo 3DS has no protection against piracy and that no technically savvy people are trying to hack it, is hilariously ignorant.

Is grade 5 the highest grade you can get from cowboom?

10 is highest.
though anything is rarely above a 7
I've gotten 6 that looked new, but also 5-6 that dosen't look that great

grade 1-10

though the highest I 've seen was 8, I think.

grade 5 should be alright. I've bought grade 5 gadget from them before and got almost new unit.

What makes you think an 8GB couldn't be used to hack a Vita??? Most exploits are fairly small and even an 8GB should be massive overkill. What's to keep a hacker from picking up one of these bundles???

No, I'm not saving that they are losing a sale for every game they download. I'm saying that the pirates might buy a few games but instaed just download them all. Plus pirates tend to mod all their friends systems as well so even more software sales.

Most of these comments have absolutely nothing to do with the original deal posted. Thanks for the helpful insight everyone.

Aside from all these Piracy discussions, can anyone tell me what free games are available for PS Plus subscribers?

Nothing. The advanatage to modding would be to copy tons of downloaded games onto one card. Really 32 GB is kinda small fro this as well. A 128 GB card would be great. Since 32 is the largest currenlty available I'll talk about it. Since will a 8 GB card a pirate would have to switch out games all the time. This would annoy them to the point that they won't bother with it. Yes, the Vita will get hacked at some point but the average everyday pirate won't bother with it since they are too cheap to go buy a 32 GB card to put those games on.

Plants vs. Zombies is this months offering. Wipeout 2048, Gravity Rush, Ninja Giadian Sigma plus, and Uncharted have all been ps plus offerings as well.

So are there new offerings every month? And if that month is over, can you still play the game if you downloaded it in a prior month and still have an active PS Plus subscription?

Yes and yes. I'm re-activating my PS Plus account this month and I'll be able to re-download the games that I downloaded before it expired.

if they are too cheap to get 32GB they will just keep their 8gb cards and swap games instead of buying legit games because of this little inconvenience. They also will not be affected by the dismal psn download speed. They just need to torrent all the games to their computer hard drive and copy them as they like.

besides, I would expect that vita could probably be modded to support other storage, such as external USB drives. I'd be among the first to mod my vita if that would free me from buying their overpriced memory card.

Yes there is new offerings each month. As long as you have an active account you can play your free games. Games you purchase with a ps plus account that are discounted can be played even after your subscription is done.

Also your ps plus account is for your vita and for ps3. You get free games for both systems every month. It's an awesome deal. This month for PS3 is Mass Effect 3 I believe.:woot:

Currently:
InFamous 2
LittleBigPlanet 2
Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One
Super Street Fighter IV Deluxe
Vanquish
Darksiders
Closure
Megaman 9 & 10
Anomaly
Quantum Conundrum
Guardians of Middle Earth
Dungeon Defenders
Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita)
Gravity Rush (Vita)
WipEout 2048 (Vita)
Foosball 2012 (Vita)
Megaman Maverick Hunter X (Vita)
Plants vs. Zombies (Vita)

Leaving soon:
March 5th – Guardians of Middle Earth
March 12th – Quantum Conundrum
March 19th – Dungeon Defenders
March 19th – Foosball 2012 PS Vita
March 26th – Plants Vs Zombies

Entering PS Plus in March:
Spec Ops: The Line (PS3)
Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (PS Vita)
Joe Danger 2: The Movie (PS3)
Tekken 6 (PSP; Supported on PS Vita)
The Cave (PS3)

Exactly, so if they might buy a few but just end up pirating, why would they stop with the Vita. While the cards are a bit more expensive, they are still a lot cheaper then game purchases, and thus the cost of cards does very little to dis-way pirates.

On topic though, I found a grade 5 with everything but manual which I purchased as a gift for my girlfriend. Despite my arguments about how dumb Sony has handled the Vita, I enjoy mine, and would buy it again. (Mine was purchased through an Amazon warehouse deal for 150 with card, I would not spend the 250 Sony is asking)

Thanks and repped!

Only in Europe :sadwalk:

Yours included.


Do you not think a discussion about the product should be included? Maybe someone on the fence would like to know real world pros/cons, rather than "+1 nice deal!" and "rep!" or "thx!!!!" posts.

Lame. Still Spec Ops is a decent shooter.

So let me get this straight, Sony's method of deterring pirates not only affects those that MAY pirate software but also those that legitimately purchase and download their software... Seems kind of odd don't you think. Also keep in mind that the pirates can get their software for free so what if they have to drop a few $$ on a memory card. They may be cheap but I'm sure they wouldn't mind too much. Whereas the legitimate consumer must purchase both the software and expensive memory cards. Which do you think has more of an issue with the high cost of the memory cards??? Do you not see the problem here? Claiming piracy as the reason for the expensive memory cards was a very, very stupid move on Sony's part.

Aww, while I'm happy to hear about the cave I've already purchased Disgaea 3 on vita. To those willing to invest the time, it is a great game, just expect a huge time sink if you intend to go past the main story and get into the meat of the game.

I get ya man. I'm in the same boat this gen since I refuse to pirate any games. It sucks but it does work. PIrates are so cheap that even having to cought up the $$ for a memory card is too much. Since they already bought 32 micro sd cards for their phone/tablet. They'll refuse to buy 32 gig cards for just the vita. I would rather they use this method than the other route which is no used games period. At least now I can buy a cheap game or two for my system or share with a friend.;)

Download it and trade in your physical copy. Your save game should work just fine.

How bad are 4s and 5s?

I've heard the 5s are pretty decent quality. Haven't heard anything about the 4s

You just made a ton of assumptions there. No, pirates are not too cheap for the memory cards. Once someone actually cares enough about the Vita to crack it, you'll see that the high memory card prices have absolutely no bearing on piracy.

My grade 5 Vita was near-flawless. Not even kidding. I don't know who grades these, but anything over a 7 must have been kept in a temperature-controlled vault in sealed plastic. :lol:

I'm just speaking from my experience. Sure everybody's different. The pirates I know are cheap enough that they wouldn't buy the memory cards. Long story short I hope the Vita does well. The Ps4 linking to it will help with adoption rates I believe.

Received a 5 and the casing was pretty scratched up all around. Nothing deep though and there was no scratches on the actual screen. Still worth it though for the price.

Good buy if you'll be jumping on the PS4...

My vita 5 was near perfect. It has signs of human use (eg. finger prints), but lacked scratches and such. Just make sure to read carefully what it comes with and also look at the pics. I bought a Blacks Ops bundle that was supposed to come with the 4GB memory card, but it didn't. A closer look at the picture showed it was missing from the plastic case, but the written description said it was included. Anyway, got $20 off which I used to buy a 32GB memory card.

Honestly, yes I think it should be included, But all the Sony/msoft fanboy crap needs to stop. No one here is going to change anyones mind, and I just think overall, it detracts from the thread. I want info on this product, not what someone else thinks is better.

I'll report back on the quality of the 4 I just bought when I get it next week :D

The pics looked good and there was mention of a few scuffs and light scratches but nothing on the screen....

Where did you get a 32GB memory card for $20?

Man, I feel robbed for getting a scratched up vita, while everyone else who got a 5 was in great condition :( Oh well lol

How did the pictures look? Were there any notes?

cowboom grading varies.
sometimes I make purchase for resell purchase and have already bought over 150+ items from cowboom.
I've had gotten grade 6 (asus transformer prime) that was brand new in open box.
also about 40% of grade 5-6 vitas that I got was near mint
but I've also
gotten grade 7-8 iphones, laptops that could have been better.

I'm hoping that someone who traded in their Vita with all accessories including the owners manual took care of their stuff :D

I meant, that i pocketed the $20 discount and used my available funds to buy a 32GB memory card. In any case, the cheapest deal right now is $75 at Amazon or BestBuy or if you want just the 4GB, you can buy the PS Vita starter kit (which includes the 4GB) from Radioshack for $20.

The pictures looked better than the vita I got. The note left was: Some scratches and/or signs of use.

Here's how the back looked like http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...a/DSC01581.jpg

Gotcha, thanks a lot dude.

I checked out the kit at Radioshack (good to know) but I already have most of that stuff. I think the best deal for me personally is to get the 8gb card for $25 from Amazon.

Oh boy, lots of different experiences in this thread. Looks like buying from Cowboom is like playing the lottery. Oh well, can always send it back. :eek:

Yeah, I just bought another 5 condition one. If it's better, I'm going to return my messed up one lol

Thought too long about it so all the good 5's are gone. Does cowboom refund shipping as well if we decide to return?

They provide a pre-paid shipping label, or at least they did when I did a return just the other day.

Considering within the last two weeks they've had the vita for $109 (WIFI AND 3G) I'm really surprised this posting has been so terribly popular. Oh well, they seem to have an endless supply of these bad boys.

Once these things go down to $99 or something I'll be tempted to get another one so that I can use 2 accounts in different regions at the same time.





maybe:P

I am still toying with the idea of getting one of these because you know the price will go back up once the PS4 comes out.

Definitely wasn't saying it's bad, it's a nice handheld. Like others, I just have issues with Sony's arrogance and their proprietary BS.

Price is good, I TU'd it and repped the OP. Like the PSP (which I owned), I'm sure Sony will sell some of these. They would sell a lot more if their accessories were more reasonably priced.

Two separate things happening here...

#1: They switched to proprietary memory cards to prevent piracy on the Vita. Piracy was rampant on the PSP. The proprietary cards plus the proprietary file system of the Vita keeps the pirates at bay for the foreseeable future at least, so that devs/publishers can make some money and are not scared away. Keep in mind that the memory cards used in the original PSP were proprietary however sony allowed other manufacturers (sandisk, lexar) to make them. The card may have been proprietary, but the file system was not. It could be formatted to FAT16/32/NTFS.

#2: All Vita Games are available as digital downloads, which doesn't make any profits for retailers. In order to persuade retailers to carry the Vita and Games, etc, the memory cards have from a 40% to 50% markup which is profit for the retailers. They make money when people buy physical games, and they make some money when people buy cards to put downloads on.

I have an 8 gig card and from my experience I can get around 5 or 6 games on the card. Mainly psp/ ps1 games though.

I like the vita. Lately I've been playing Persona 4 Golden on it. The library isn't huge, but it has a few decent games on it. I'm surprised there aren't more RPGs though.

Cowboom10 = $10 off $150 purchase for new customers
Cowboom5 = $5 off $50 purchase for new customers

I think it's more likely that if they feel the PS4 coming out will pique interests in the Vita that rather than the price of these going up they'll release an improved Vita (bigger screen, internal memory, something along the lines of the 3DS XL or PSP Go) as opposed to bumping up the price of these older units.

People need to get over initial asking price. Early adopters should know what they're getting into. If you don't like the price, don't buy it. If the price goes down you can always reconsider.

Sony put some cutting edge tech in this thing with a high quality sRGB, non-pentile OLED screeen, a quadcore PowerVR GPU, and finally a second analog stick.

The problem is lack of content but that's always true for the first year of a console's life. I'm looking foward to dark souls and some of Sony's other franchises coming to the system. I'm also really enjoying playing PSX and PSP games on the system with the second analog stick and bilinear filtering.

Sony is also committed to the Vita and said all future PS4 games could be streamed to the Vita and has promised more support.

Hopefully Sony doesn't get sandwiched on the low-end by the 3DS and on the high-end by tablets and ipods. Sony's first party support is enough to keep me personally happy with my Vita though.

I really, really want a Vita but I just feel somewhat skeptical about Cowboom and 'condition 4, condition 5, some scratches, signs of use'.

It just seems too vague, like you click purchase and they just grab one out of a bin and toss it in a box.

how does this compare to Sega Game Gear?

No TV tuner option.

Fixed.

No more 5's!!

deal breaker right there

but then again, analog tv doesn't even exist anymore

So basically, good for them, bad for us. Thats not a reason to buy the Vita.

Even at this price of $120, buying memory cards make it a ripoff. 8GB for $25 sounds good on paper, but noting you can get 8GB flash drives for $6, its borderline rape.

Dark Souls isn't a Sony Franchise. Hell, It's not even a Sony exclusive as it was also released on the 360 and PC.

Having bought the Vita COD bundle on BF I will attest to how bad the game is. I played the single player operations and time trial campaigns thinking they were just the mini games. Was I wrong. That was the whole game! :(

I don't play much multi but I'm assuming that's where most of the value is. A few of the games I tried had just a few people...I'm assuming they were just bad matchmaking sessions.

bought a grade 5.

i will stick to my ipad 3
maybe if this device was 99.00

Bought a grade 5

I rather buy a tablet lol

:vomit:

Yes buying out support from studios to "WIN" the war with a half baked product... (NO picture in picture, NO menu overlays, NO resume. How advanced!)

That ONE point you refer to is the ps3 launch. Any other time there was a stand alone blu ray player for less money with the same features. Also it is ironic that those early adopters of Blu-ray who bought the stand alone player have an unupdatable device from Sony that can't play new movies. How forward thinking is that?

I've bought 2 grade 5's and 1 grade 4 from Cowboom.

The grade 4 definitely had noticeable scuffs on the back but a clean screen. I ended up returning it because the charger/data cable wouldn't keep a reliable data connection and because of that it was really hard to sync with my PS3.

The first grade 5 had some very fine scratches on the back, and one millimeter long deeper scratch on the screen. It was listed in the description, but I didn't think it'd be as deep as it was. It probably should have been listed as a 4. I was, however, able to sell that on CL which allowed me to buy my last grade 5.

That grade 5 was listed as "light scratches on the frame", but it looks virtually new. I am very satisfied with Cowboom.

Just keep an eye out for the Amazon Warehouse deals. There are good deals on the Vita for like-new condition.

I recall a lot of the studios were either supporting both Blu-ray AND HD-DVD or waiting by the sidelines for a definitive winner before jumping into one of the formats. Who exactly did they buy support from? Sony Pictures aka Columbia? :)

cool story

Your recall is lousy. Sony paid up to get Warner to go exclusive and Paramount to jump ship. Then the next month Microsoft started sending everyone $50 gift cards to say sorry for buying the paperweight hddvd drive.

For those that got the 5 conditioned ones, what's a good deal on the AC Adapter? Or does the Vita accept a generic USB connection cable that I can charge from my computer?

Also, Is it worth spending $75 for the 32GB card or should a 8GB card be enough? I plan on downloading maybe 5 games and buying maybe 5 games (eventually).

depends on the games I think. The atelier vita game is several gigabytes if I remember correctly. I was goIng to buy it in psn store but realized that I didn't have enough space left. Bought Ni No Kuni on PS3 instead.

i have the vita from att, and loved it.

there are few games that are really addicting, hot shot golf, uncharted, ninja gaiden, etc... i know most folks says andriod games kills hand held games. it is, however, the entirely opposite to me. i could not bring myself to play cell phone games anymore.

I love it when you get a deal b4 it goes front page!

if only it had Android OS, I would have been able to play all those emulators games. I would pay full price for that.

There's a lot of hate on these things, but I got one last time (condition 5, turned out to be like new) and I've been enjoying it. The memory card prices are a huge scam, and there's no homebrew, but..

You can play (most of) the old PSOne games you loved, priced mostly at $5-$10. Being able to play Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy VII and VIII, and soon the redone HD FF X is worth the cost of admission for me by themselves. And yes, I bit the bullet and bought a 32gb memory card for $99, and I felt ripped off at the time, but since then it has been worth it.

The catalogue of games might seem weak but it has some really great titles. Ninja Gaiden, Uncharted, and Unit 13 have all been awesome so far (the latter especially, since I'd never heard of it before but it looked cool). I hear that COD is bad, but I'll pick it up if I can get it used. And the PSNetwork for the Vita is convenient and sort of Steam-like. I know it's DRM, and I know it's trying to sell me things, but there are 50-75% off sales (I got the entire FF catalogue for like $30) regularly and it works very well with wifi.

Overall, I know the Vita's sales numbers might not show it, but I feel it is a worthy competitor to the DS. Hardware wise, it feels like a high end phone, and the screen while not groundbreakingly high res is just fantastic. It feels like a very solid device in general, and in my opinion the price is the weakest point. Drop the $140ish for the system and the $75ish for the memory card and you're out $215 but you've got a great handheld console that should be supported for 3-4 years to come.

And as a side note - if you're into tactical or JRPGs, you owe it to yourself to get this, cause that's where the Vita really shines - Disgaea, Persona, FF VII/VIII/VIX/Tactics, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story: all the sony classics and even some new ones.

Nice!!

I think all but 2 of the games you mentioned are just ports :lol:

I dont see how people are willing to carry a 2nd device in their pocket, let alone spend the money on it, the expensive memory, and $30-$50 on games. If I want home console quality games, ill use my home console. If im on the go, my smartphone has more awesome games I can play in a lifetime.

I commute 2.5 hours each way every day for work. I spend about 2 hours of that in the train or on the metro. My cell phone battery wouldn't last that long if I played games continuously on it. Besides that, comparing the quality of both is like comparing apples to oranges. Let me know when they make a cell phone game with the production quality of mlb12 the show :)

Who carries these things in their pocket?

I play mine from the comfort of my couch or in bed. I have a travel kit so I can play it during boring car trips, when i'm on vacation, or spending a weekend away from my PC/PS3. :D

Actually Need for Speed Most Wanted (2012) is very good on the Vita.

damn you spend 5hours each day on just travel? that sucks.. you deserve a PSPee:wave:

It's a proprietary cable with a special connector on the Vita side, but a USB on the other. There is a setting on the Vita to allow for charging at computer USB levels, but it should also charge on pretty much any phone charger.

You'll want higher amps if you want to play while charging, however.

You can get the cable for around $10 on Amazon.

Listen to this guy!

Nope :p all of them! But they're still all awesome and 50-100+ hours of entertainment each. Can't top that value.

I pulled the trigger on a ps vita 5 (so many 4's, found one of the remaining 5's). It came out to $125 with taxes after the cowboom 5 coupon. I hope I made a good decision. When it comes in, I'll be buying the memory card/games.

I bought one of these around Xmas for a trip (White one with AC3 and 4gb mem card for $250 w/ $50 GC) and don't regret it. While the game choices are limited, get yourself a nice big memory card and join Playstation Network Plus for a few months. So far Wipeout, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Gravity Rush have been free downloads amongst many others and it's been pretty nice.

If you're a fan of old PSX games it's also worth it. I've bought a few of those (Alundra, a couple Mega Man games) along with Persona 4 Golden (not really my kind of game but it got good reviews, it's alright) and Virtue's Last Reward (pretty cool albeit text heavy adventure game with Saw overtones). Not a big fan of AC3 and Call of Duty Blops2 equivalent is a farking joke.

It's an extremely slick piece of hardware (and the screen makes YouTube and Netflix look amazing), I just hope Sony continues supporting it properly.

i think $120 is a steal simply as a glorified PSP


ive been playing a lot of PSP titles i missed on my Vita like 3rd Birthday, FF Tactics, LBP PSP, Syphon Filter and Valkyria Chronicles 2 and they all look fantastic on the 5" OLED screen and the 2nd analog stick can be set to control the camera and other functions.. a used PSP is around $80 so i think this is a worthy upgrade. i also find myself playing a lot of my PS1 classic titles (FF7, etc) on my Vita instead of my PS3 since its so much more comfortable to play in bed on the handheld before i go to sleep... very similar to the wii u's remote lay function that many people prefer over playing the big screen. if the PS4 truly supports 100% compatibility with the vita for remote play then i will get the PS4 day one

Just my two cents as a Vita owner for more than half a year. Right now it collects a bit of dust but I have enjoyed the games I have played on it ( Uncharted, MK, Super Stardust). I think if you buy it now you are making an investment in the future. Sony needs to get their act together and finally make good on their promise of remote play. If this thing can actually play every one of your PS4 games, then it's an absolute steal.

Damn now i have to spend $52.81 on Amazon for a 8GB memory card, AC adapter and the game I wanted. So now my total is around $170 just to be able to play a game on the damn thing. Maybe not such a good deal afterall.

Hmm....I was just wondering. Where are all these PS Vita's coming from? Is there someone going around buying Vita's, scratching them up, then returning them to Best Buy? It just seems like there are a lot of them.

:lmao::lmao::lol::lol:The Disc Read Error issue with the PS2 says hi, as does the YLOD for the PS3. Sony using cheap lasers and cheap thermal paste the last two gens saved them some money, but frustrated some consumers.

Don't get me wrong. The RROD for the 360 was leaps and bounds above the DRE issue on PS3 imo. But Sony led the charge last gen. I saw far more DRE PS2's than malfunctioning original Xbox systems.

I imagine something more like THIS is happening. I'm pretty sure there's a shortened gif version of this video clip out there minus the news report portion at the beginning, but I couldn't find it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stDWNam7RtE