Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Why is the Vita Still so Disorganized?

Why is the Vita Still so Disorganized?

I had a plan.
It was brilliant, really. I had decided to import a 64GB memory card so I would never have to worry about space again. This was decided after I had to do some frantic scurrying to make space, and saw that I had reached a point where I really couldn’t delete any more. So, I invested.
Which meant I now had 64GB, 32GB, and 16GB memory cards. This is when inspiration struck. My 16GB card housed a number of PSP and PSOne games. The 32GB card was filled with only Vita and PlayStation Mobile games. Since all the 32GB content was shifting over to the 64GB card, I’d make the 32GB card my retro one. Everything would be organized.
I haven’t inserted the 16GB memory card into my Vita in years. I wanted to play those games, sure, but the Vita has this wretched organizational issue. Basically, Sony doesn’t save your icon placements. It doesn’t matter how pretty you have those games laid out on the pages. If a memory card is removed, it’ll be a mess when you put it back in again. At least, that’s how it was the last time I dared mess with the cards.
It’s been 2 years since I did that! I know other people have mentioned this problem to Sony! Surely it has been fixed by now!
It hasn’t.
This is not where my brilliant plan fell short, though it was quite an inconvenience. Silly me, I figured that over 2 years and 2 Vita models later, Sony would have taken care of that problem (I’m sure all of the OCD Vita organizers will rally behind me when I eventually get things together enough to lead a protest against whoever keeps neglecting to add icon position placement code to the firmware updates). No, my brilliant plan faltered when it came to my on-cartridge games.
See, my brilliant plan involved only PSP and PSOne games being on the 32GB card. Anything that wasn’t a PSP or PSOne game? Gone. This meant all of the Vita downloaded games and cartridge-based game icons were removed in one fell swoop. It was beautiful, I tell you. I loaded that memory card with legendary PSP and PSOne games.
However, I needed to work on some downloadable Vita games. Which mean the 64GB cartridge had to go back into the system. This was when my lovely arrangements were ruined (thanks, Sony!). It’s also when I let out an, “Oh shit.” The cartridge-based game icons, and their saves, were gone.
Why is the Vita Still so Disorganized?
Fortunately, I had been using my broken laptop as a Vita storage hub during this entire affair. Replacing the lost cartridge save files was as easy as reconnecting the system to the computer. In my case, the day was saved. I was lucky. But others may not be so fortunate. Especially if they have a plan in mind that involves attempting to keep only one kind of data on one card, and others on another.
That, my friends, is the point of this article. This is a warning. The system is coming up on its third birthday and Sony still hasn’t addressed the important organizational issues. Never delete a cartridge-based save unless you really mean it, because it will be gone for good. Don’t bother trying to keep everything sorted and pretty if you have more than one memory card, because it doesn’t matter. Your Vita doesn’t care if you like to have the icons for your favorite games on the opening screen, or if you try to coordinate and put all the ones featuring characters’ faces on another.
Organization, efficiency, and style is meaningless for people with multiple memory cards. The only way it will ever matter is if Sony ever finally realizes that hey, with the memory cards being so small and expensive, it’s unrealistic to expect someone to only have one. They’ll probably have a few 8GB and 16GB cards. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to release a firmware update that takes these multi-memory card owners into consideration.
Because I can’t be the only one who’s had brilliant plans.
To top