6 Crazy PS Vita Hardware Modifications
Today marks the 90th week anniversary of the PS Vita platform, and while we play on towards the system’s second birthday gamers can look forward to a steadily increasing game library and the much touted PS4 Remote Play feature. With Sony debunking rumors of having a Vita redesign in the works, now would be a perfect time to take a look at the most creative hardware modifications found around the web.
Let me be the first to point out that any modifications made to your hardware might and probably will void the warranty on your Sony product. Click on the pictures to take you directly to the source.
1.
While not truly a Vita mod, I wouldn’t dare to withhold this information. If only the “inventor” had found a way to make the portable’s native triggers spring loaded.
This showcases the determination of a Vita gamer :
To make the Trigger Grip accessory as comfortable as he can.
2.
Fightstick for PS Vita
Serial modder Imaginlabo is no stranger to hardware mods. His YouTube channel is littered with machinery doing things they weren’t supposed to do. He even combined the Vita with an Arcade Fight Stick.
3.
For me hardware mods are synonym with LED’s placed in and around your device. The video below shows a Vita modified to shine pretty lights through the triggers. The LED’s are sound activated which according to the uploader might benefit you in games.
4.
We all know the Vita is a powerful machine but sometimes the capabilities of the battery leave us wanting more. During long commutes with intense play sessions you just might have to deal with a drained battery. Luckily mods four and five both address this issue.
Sony themselves introduced an external battery pack which you can use to feed your Vita with some extras juice. But because the Vita doesn’t natively supports charging through USB, unofficial external battery packs won’t work. The following mod allows your Vita to charge its battery while USB connected.
5.
This guy “simply” replaced the original internal battery for one that supports longer “play-time”
6.
The current holy grail of Vita hardware modifications must be much talked about Video Out feature. While this modification isn’t perfect in terms of performance /usability numerous gamers use this method capture their Vita play sessions
What hardware modification would you like to see for the Vita? As always voice your opinions in the comment section below.
Thanks a lot
nice when i buy my grips ill make sure to do this
wow some of those are great :))))
I cant wait to see wath will they do in a few years :)))
Great article :)))
The flashing lights mod looked interesting. When the #5 person replaced his/her battery, how much more life did they get? And why would it work better – did Sony buy the cheapest available or something?
Supposedly up to ten hours. But to the owner of this modded Vita himself has safety concerns (regarding overheating of these types of batteries). Also you have to keep in mind that we don’t know what the life expectancy of such a replaced battery is.
Btw the pictures are clickable taking you directly to the source.
i have succesful done mods 1 and 3 and i have to say im very pleased. i love having 4 leds on my vita. really makes it stand out. i wanted to try the increasing battery life but heating issues are definately a concern so I abodoned it.
Yes, soooo niiice having all 4 LED`s on vita. You should check out some of my other mods that are done. Like custom Analog`s and a custom stand as well.
just wow!
I saw the arcade pad i the only think i heard in my head was,imagine if they put 2 instead of just one pad,we can play together with a friend without getting another damm ps vita system,it will be great if they decide to do that,the only think i didnt like was the tick sound of the pad direction i feel like its going to broke and its sensible.If they can only make one Psx,Ps2 gamepad soport it will be perfect.
WOW! I have the trigger grips and use them constantly, if not daily i did not know this modification even existed. I don’t really have trouble with my grips but i will probably do this mod in the next week to have quicker triggers for Killzone Mercenary, i gotta make sure my shots come out as quickly as i want. Anyway thanks for this article, very insightful.
For what the sony port is for? In the top of the vita, beside the card slot?
It actually does. If you ever tried FW 1.06, you’d know for sure. Before 1.50 came, Vita would always show the USB connection with a charging icon just like if you’re charging it normally.
However Sony was a bit paranoic and decided not to show this icon anymore (due to the low power on some PCs’ USB ports), but the charging is still there, maybe not that fast depending on the PC port power. Therefore it’s not the Vita-side problem of not supporting USB charge. Check back in a hour or two and you’ll see the battery level increase.
There should be a L2/R2 Mod which adds springs to the rear touch pad 🙂 will make PS1/Remote Play PS4 even better imo 😀
i can use a nokia charge bank..(forgot what its called exactly, its a thingy that u charge and use later)..
no need for mods… 😀
For $1 on ebay i was able to find a 1 inch adaptor for the usb cable that allows charging of any usb device regardless off the voltage/amperage. My external battery adds a full %100 of charge ontop of my vitas full battery.
i have a big samsung external battery which also works for the vita without any modifications.
where can i find an extended battery? (No. 5)
thanks
That battery mod is where I got the idea for my battery mod. And I made a tutorial too for it in the forms.its for the WiFi version one though. I look every for a tutorial and never found one so I had to do it my self.
for #4 you don’t need to mod a USB port to get chargers working whilst you are playing. I use a Yoobao powerbank and I use plug the Vita cable directly into it and it charges the Vita whilst I play (clearly indicated by the battery icon with a animated lighting animation).
Whilst I’ve never played until both the Vita and the external battery are dead, I’ve played 6 hrs straight once and the Vita was still reporting 100% charge.
SONY isn’t debunking anything – NEW VITA MODEL IS COMING:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/09/sony-reveals-a-new-playstation-vita-model
Today at Sony Japan’s pre-TGS press conference, the company revealed that it will be releasing an all-new model of PlayStation Vita.
Screen Shot 2013-09-08 at 11.58.38 PM
This model was made to be “a more casual and easier to use model” of PS Vita, one that’s thinner, lighter, and that comes in different colors. It’s 20 percent thinner and 15 percent lighter than the standard Vita model, and is more “affordable,” packing a 5″ LCD display in lieu of an OLED screen. Battery life has been increased by an hour, as well.
Interestingly, it also has built-in storage, albeit only a single gig’s worth.
newpsvita_01
Sony also revealed an all-new memory card for PS Vita, one that allows for up to 64 GB of storage.
This new model of PS Vita will be available in all six colors (some new, some old) on October 10th in Japan for 18,980 Yen (or about $190). It’s unclear if and when this model will be made available in the west.
At the time of publishing this article Sony still denied the existence of a redesigned PS Vita
~~ALSO~~
Sony revealed an all-new piece of Vita-related hardware called PS Vita TV, and it lets you play Vita games on your television…
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/09/sony-reveals-new-hardware-ps-vita-tv
…and do a bunch of other stuff, too.
PS Vita TV is a tiny piece of hardware. It’s about as big as a deck of cards, measuring 6cm by 10cm. It’s the smallest PlayStation hardware ever.
The idea of PS Vita TV is to let you play Vita games on the big screen using a DualShock 3 controller, but there’s actually more to it than that. While PS Vita TV has a card slot for Vita games, and accepts Vita memory cards, it will also let you use video streaming services (such as Hulu) and more. It will even let you play your PlayStation 4 via Remote Play with DualShock 4; this functionality will come later via system update.
It will also let you play PSone Classics and PSP games through it, again using the DualShock 3. And it will connect to PlayStation 4 so that you can play Vita games through PS4, as well.
PS Vita TV launches in Japan on November 14th, and will cost 9,480 Yen ($95). A special verison of it, packing an 8 gig Vita memory card and a DualShock 3 controller, will cost 14,980 ($150). It sounds like it will eventually be released in the west, though a specific release date (as well as pricing information) is still unknown.
decookaaron: do you have a link
i m really interested please
thanks
now all we need is a micro sd card mod
You need to include this one from a japanese modder who makes crazy mods for many devices.! This is the mod we need. I have not seen it anywhere else!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GURLhMsZGk
Here’s his instructions
http://imaginglabo.web.fc2.com/PSvita-USB.htm
Of course, you’d either need to know japanese or be good at GoogleTranslate-ish.
I´d love to have a Psvita with Capture board for my gameplay =D
The formatting in this article is plainly horrid….
Mod to take Normal SD Cards or at least micros that aren’t the specialized Vita ones. That’s a hugeeeee barrier that helped it fail. Mods could make it much more accessible.