Teflon02  |  February 23rd, 2012 at 3:30 pm

They need this, tho In game, Sony has no power over it

mjc0961  |  February 23rd, 2012 at 5:20 pm

Agreed. Just because it has a touch screen doesn’t mean that should be the only form of input. I like to touch my screens as little as possible so I don’t have to wipe off fingerprints.

Dbzlotrfan  |  February 23rd, 2012 at 7:15 pm

If the touch-screen ‘fails’ you can’t probably do anything on the system, which wouldn’t help for support calls.

ElfenSky  |  February 24th, 2012 at 9:19 am

I’m thinking more about controlling “Live Area tm” (=the replacement for the MXB) by using touchscreen/dpad. It really annoys me that I could use only the touchscreen when so much other options are availeble.

DojoMojoMofo  |  February 25th, 2012 at 3:24 pm

Absolutely. Right now, the Vita feels intentionally crippled. What happened to playing and pausing a movie with X or start instead of tapping to bring up an on-screen display then tapping pause?

It’s funny how Sony PR guys talk about how the Vita’s not competing with smartphones and it’s a more hardcore gaming platform, but in the system menu it’s pretty much reduced to the functionality of a smartphone, pretending the buttons don’t exist.

TaiyouGin  |  February 25th, 2012 at 11:08 pm

the problem isn’t in game..i agree 100% i posted this idea as well, their apps and menu need to atleast have the ability to use buttons..like music and video should have the option for psp controls. the browser should as well.

jose213jose  |  February 27th, 2012 at 12:22 pm

i fully agree with you on that, sony please make it happen this dude has awesome idea.

dinosauriac  |  February 28th, 2012 at 12:34 pm

More options are always nice, Sony… I hope that the firmware updates are going to come thick and fast with stuff like this.

QUINTISON  |  March 1st, 2012 at 3:53 pm

If just press x gets the job done better than touch everything is tacked on because it can not because it works better.

spideyal  |  March 6th, 2012 at 2:20 am

This is something I didn’t understand. You would have thought more options = better for the user. But it looks like Sony didn’t see it this way.

I hope they release a firmware update for this asap. It’s not terrible the way it is, but it would be nice to have the option.

Garylisk  |  March 8th, 2012 at 4:10 am

Who doesn’t want more options? Seriously, though, touchscreen is nice but sometimes you want the touch feedback of a physical button.

GURRENLAGANN96  |  March 18th, 2012 at 2:45 pm

mmm this wouldnt work..not with all the bubbles, i mean using the rear pad would be better

furystylee  |  March 23rd, 2012 at 4:05 pm

If anything I would just want up, down, left & right directional button functionality to navigate. The more OPTIONS the better!

SukiNihon  |  March 24th, 2012 at 1:51 pm

A better solution would be just to bring back the XMB. LiveArea sucks

dinosauriac  |  May 7th, 2012 at 6:25 pm

I miss the XMB. Oh well.

Having button inputs for the menus and apps would make stuff like listening to music and watching videos much less of a fiddly chore. Instead of tapping to bring the menu up and hoping my stubby finger presses the right part of the touch interface that is the pause icon, I could just press X and it’d pause. Simple. Same goes for using L1 R1 for skipping items.

And I don’t get why they aren’t making more use of those beautiful analogue sticks…

doug_brit  |  May 25th, 2012 at 11:01 am

This was the first thing that stood out to me as odd when I opened my PS Vita. I understand the Vita has a lot of places its trying to be (iPhone, Wii U, Make a make itself) but I think the anti fingerprint movement would have something to say.

All joking aside, games can do as they please, the third party publishers make the experience they want, but thanks for considering it Sony team.

ALCTRAZ99  |  August 3rd, 2012 at 1:47 pm

Bring back the cross media bar-XMB on the system and let us choose between that and the live area screen. I find the new interface too childish and for such a cool looking device,it lacks the style,simplicity and speed of the XMB that’s on the ps3 and psp. The circular icons on the vita interface look aliased and plain ugly,and somehow using traditional bottoms feels more ‘physical’ and ‘satisfying’

GT_168  |  August 20th, 2012 at 1:34 am

If you didn’t know already, Vita will be getting button controlled menu functionality end of the month!