Thoughts on slim PS vita

imo 3DS is way better, but for some JRPG games PSVita is great.

Its a great system but it has hardly anything interesting to play. Mostly indies.

It's a nice console, too bad there aren't that many great games...
be sure to buy a ps+ subscription, you'll get plenty of good stuff every month!
:D

Consider getting a 3DS instead, better and bigger library IMHO

The memory cards are really pricey, but they do go on sale on Amazon all the time so I'd wait for one of those temporary price drops. I also recommend picking up a 32G card since the Vita has a very digital focus.
PS Plus is a good investment, I've enjoyed at least one of the free games every month (not including the ones I get for PS3/4). Also if you bought any of those PSP games digitally a lot of them can be downloaded and played on the Vita. My friend was able to carry over a decent chunk of his library.
I can provide a list of games I own if you need/want help building a library. I think that covers most of it. I'll edit this post if I think of more.

Really, main point of contention between slim and launch model is the screen. Original's OLED is superior to slim's LCD.

see if you can buy the first one, as far as I know it has a way better screen ^^

I'm kinda sold on the battery life for the slim version, don't mind slightly worse looking graphics, and it seems that Sony is calling the first version legacy, so not sure about the support for that

I would wait till Sony's E3 press conference before buying, since there may be a price drop.

I thought they are retiring the thing.

If you really like anime games, you'll probably love the Vita.

Also if you want to play PSP backups on your Vita, you might consider trying to get an older PS Vita.. and possibly on 3.18. As high as 3.50 could work, but 3.18 is probably your best bet for it.

It might not be a solution you want, and maybe you wouldn't want to play PSP backups on your Vita anyway. You should probably say what type of games you like to see if it'd be worth a purchase.

Also I'm not into Japanese anime games at all, mostly into triple a/indies

Agreeing with most here. I have the original Vita, played the FFX/X-2 Remaster (even though I already had it on PS3) and Binding of Isaac... and that's about it. My 3DS I've bought a couple stacks of games.

Maybe if it gets easy to hack I'll play some NES games on it or something but for now it sits over on a shelf all sad and lonely. I will say the hardware itself sure is nice though!

I have 30 games installed on my Vita right now. Some of the games I would recommend are OlliOlli, Tearaway, NFS Most Wanted, LBP Vita, Rayman Legends, and Motorstorm RC.

As for the Slim VS the Oled it's really only a matter of screen that is a negative to some for the Slim. I have compared my Oled Vita to a friend of mine's and didn't see any big noticeable difference between the two. In fact I did notice a plus is his screen brightness can go lighter and darker than mine depending what lighting you are around.

The Oled can play all the games the Slim can but if you want the newer cases (for example there is a case for remote play where it adds L2/R2 triggers) that aren't made for the Oled you may want to get a Slim.

As a veteran PS Vita owner (1st series bought a bit after launch + it's a WiFi+3G one), I own 11 retail games for it, and about 6 paid, and good downloadable titles. I love the Vita, and I'd love to see more games on it, but Sony has left it to rot. They can develop even PS Vita 5000, if they won't support it with good games. Games I enjoyed the most are: KickBeat (amazing rhythm game from the developers of Pinball FX 2), Persona 4 The Golden (really good mix of JRPG and visual novel), Killzone: Mercenary (best FPS on the Vita, but sadly it's multiplayer is dead), Uncharted: Golden Abyss (best game to showcase the abilities of the PSV, if you are not going to get it, don't even buy a Vita), Lone Survivor (really atmospheric pixel horror, the Vita's small screen makes that atmosphere even more scarier. I tried to play through it numerous times, but I always felt sick after a half hour session).
As far as I heard Binding of Isaac Rebirth and both Hotline Miamis plays really nice on the Vita. I'm interested in getting Helldivers too

Anything you should be aware of? Well, don't ever, EVER think about purchasing Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified. It's not even a Call of Duty, rather than a Resistance: Burning Skies 1.5. You should avoid that game too.
Well I don't know what about the newer models, but the 1st gen PS Vita had a problem, if you used it, and charged it at the same time. The battery went crazy, and after 30 minutes it said it's dead, and then after a few seconds it got back to normal value. The only solution was to completely drain the battery, and charge it for a good 24 hours. I don't know if this problem still persists on newer machines.

So I'd say go for a Vita. For me, these slim new ones looks a bit crappy. The design makes the machine look like it's a poor copy of the real Vita, so I'd never really want to buy that one, maybe if 3000 comes out with built-in HDMI port, or something that lets you to record gameplay.

Install custom firmware.

From a sony fanboy.....get yourself a 3DS.Ps Vita is pure shit and sony has already dumped it.

I have this console.Warez games cant be isntalled :D :/ and not much games on this device.Buy anything better,maybe PS3 will be better and price is the same?!

I have a 3ds xl as well as the original vita. I can honestly say that I've only played about three different games on the vita ever since I got it on release day. I played fifa quite a lot back then, but they have only re-released that every year since (ridiculous), idk if you're into fifa anyway. In my opinion the 3ds is far better, just because it has so many good games, and especially monster hunter now. Sony is being a deadbeat to the Vita, and its a shame given its potential

I wouldn't buy one at this point, I've had PS+ since it was started so I had a LOT of free games to play on it, starting now, you'd have to buy most of the games that are worth having since I don't think they reuse previous games on PS+. I've barely played mine but that's because I have both current gen consoles and a pretty good PC and a smartphone, they all get played more than my Vita with the exception of my XB1 that I haven't played in 4 months.

Oh, and the analog sticks suck on the Vita.

I am a ps vita owner here. (Not slim version though)

Honestly, its a great system. It has many good games like freedom wars , unit13, killzone, borderlands2,little big planet? and many others. I find the biggest problem the expensive memory cards.
Problem here though is it's selling like shit and Sony is admitting its dead. There is also no big exclusives coming for it in the rest of 2015.

Overall its pretty cool, but you could also get a 3ds or waìt because I think I heard rumors of another Sony handheld. You should do more search to see if the games on it interest you and then decide if you want to get it or not.

Do NOT get the slim PS Vita. It's slimmer but the LCD screen is a lot dimmer. I have the original Vita, which has an OLED screen and it's awesome, the colors are just a lot brighter. It's a bit bulkier, but i'd say it's worth it.
I also owned the slim psp back in the day and it was better than the original PSP, but in this case it's the other way around. If you are unsure, you can check some comparison videos on youtube.
PS: get PS Plus if you get a vita. It's the best way to get a lot of games out of the system without spending so much, and most games are pretty fun, even if most are indie.
I agree with pholly, tho, most games you'll have to buy at this point. Still, you can also play psp games you buy on the psn store and it's a good system. lots of good RPGs, especially.

vita is really good for sony ecosystem, all the free games from psn+ are great, plus you can buy vita games really cheap on ebay or preowned gamestop / amazon

The Vita's library is largely made up of JRPGs and Indies. There aren't many AAA games coming out, but there are a couple already out on the system, which are immensely enjoyable.

That's not to say there aren't any good games currently out on the system. Fans of VN's will probably want to pick up Danganronpa 1 & 2 (with more titles coming) and Corpse Party, and even Zero Escape. There's also Persona 4 Golden and a host of fighters on the system like BlazBlue and Guilty Gear. And the controls are really tight so these games feel at home on the console. In the end, it really comes down to taste though. If you don't care for Indies or Anime-esque games, stay away from the console.