PlayStation Vita

To do: Document the graphics test mode.

PlayStation Vita
Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Released in JP: December 17, 2011 Released in US: February 15, 2012 Released in EU: February 22, 2012 Released in KR: February 11, 2012 This console has a hidden developer message. This console has unused graphics. This console has unused music. This console has unused text. This console has revisional differences. This console has a prototype article

The PlayStation Vita is Sony"s second handheld console, and the successor to the immensely successful PlayStation Portable.

While it enjoyed success in Japan, it was otherwise a commercial failure, with one contributing factor being the high price of its proprietary memory cards (for instance, a 32GB Memory Card cost $120, half the price of the system itself); adding insult to injury is that SD cards can be used through third-party adapters alongside jailbreaking the console.

The Vita hardware was also repurposed for the PlayStation Vita TV (or PlayStation TV in US and Europe), in an attempt for Sony to wash their hands of the tainted Vita moniker.

Despite the Vita"s failure, which probably caused Sony to back out of the portable console industry, it"s still a good console packed with useful features and fun games to play.

It"s also the sequel to the nut you can play with outside.

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Unused Apps

The Vita has something you don"t really see on other consoles - unused apps! Unfortunately, all that"s left of them is their param.sfo files, icons, and LiveArea graphics.

Topics

This app is the more complete of the two, having a param.sfo, icon and LiveArea graphics. Its purpose before being cut was for news about the PlayStation (Vita) TV, but the app"s files can still be found on the handheld version.

User"s Guide

This app has an icon and param.sfo, but no LiveArea graphics. Maybe the User"s Guide was originally an app instead of a webpage? Interestingly, this icon appears in the welcome video, suggesting this change was made late in development.

Unused Graphics

To do: PSM rumtime icon and LiveArea graphics.

GriefReportDialog (the crash report popup) has a pic0.png that is never seen, although it"s just a barely noticable orange gradient.

Unused	Used

The PlayStation Store app has an unused early version of its LiveArea background.

A bunch of effects that were probably used for testing.

Package Installer

This is an app that was used by developers to install .pkg files, but it"s still on retail consoles, just disabled. To enable it, you can use Fleakler"s vita-PKGEnabler or SKGleba"s PKGinstallerLauncher (which can also be downloaded from VitaDB).

Hidden Developer Message

Present at 0x00007630 in secure_kernel.enc/secure_kernel.enp:

Congratulations! At lash you get the plaintext of the Ps Vita Secure Kernel!
I"m confident that you never see this message though, ha-ha.

This message was added somewhere between firmware versions 0.995.070 and 0.996.070. The last sentence was removed somewhere between firmware versions 0.996.090 and 1.000.071.

Unused Text

Present in second_loader.bin at 0x00016A0.

Donate2Fukushima

This was added in firmware version 0.996.070, and removed in 1.000.071.

Early Music

To do: Upload the final music, compare it to the versions heard here and give proper names to these files

In firmware 0.099.070, there is a slightly different version of the home menu music. It is an ATRAC9 file named home.at9 and it is located in vs0:data\internal\bgm\shell.

This is also true for the music for the near app. The file, named bgm001.at9, is located in vs0:app\NPXS10000 instead of vs0:data\internal\bgm\shell named near.at9 alongside the other ATRAC9 files like the final.

Hidden Copy/Paste Feature

There used to be a neat feature that allowed you to copy, cut & paste in most text boxes. It was present when the system first came out, but sometime later it was disabled for unknown reasons. It can be re-enabled using GrapheneCt"s PasteUnlock.