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The PlayStation Vita, usually just called the PS Vita, is Sony’s entry into the eighth generation of handheld gaming consoles. Sony released the device in 2011 for the Japanese market, and it expanded to other territories early the following year.
In terms of competition at the time, the Vita’s primary rival was the 3DS from Nintendo. The primary goal for the developers of the Vita was to give players a way to experience bigger console game experiences on a smaller device, particularly given the upward trend of mobile gaming at the time. Support for Japanese-style roleplaying games and visual novels would become quite strong on this platform.
With all of the different kinds of games you can play on the Vita, some gamers wonder if you can mod the console to expand its uses. Modding involves changing the way a device’s hardware or software functions.
We will delve into whether you can mod the PS Vita in any way, if doing so might get a player banned, and talk about the possibility of still earning trophies while playing games on a modded Vita.
Furthermore, we’ll discuss whether it is possible to still purchase legitimate games from the store to play on the console, and we’ll take a look at what other possibilities open up if you decide to mod a PS Vita.
Table of Contents
Can You Mod a PS Vita?
Yes, it is entirely possible to mod a PS Vita console. Before we get into the subject in detail, there are some important things to note. Namely, there are several guides you might find on the internet for modding a PS Vita. However, not all guides are equal to each other in terms of quality.
Modding is a community-wide practice, but it is not an official one, and each gamer should exercise caution when attempting to mod their own Vitas for extra features. Because modding involves certain community changes made by players just like you, it is important to double-check all of the information you are getting before you do anything to your Vita.
One of the easiest ways you might be able to do this is by checking within the gaming and Vita communities for the guides recommended by players most often.
Because gaming consoles are an investment of sorts, gamers don’t want to risk that they might brick their devices by messing around with them without first having the proper knowledge.
Therefore, most guides or tutorials you will find about this subject, as long as they are old enough, are vetted heavily by the community for accuracy and safety.
While there are no guarantees, using guides that community forums have found to be both reliable and current might be one of the best ways you can be as sure as possible that you won’t do anything negative to your Vita when you mod it. That said, it is important to follow all the steps of a particular guide with accuracy and care in order to ensure the best results.
Can You Get Banned for Modding a PS Vita?
The possibility of getting a ban for doing things outside of the manufacturer’s official guidelines or use cases is always there.
When we talk about a ban, we’re referring to a gamer’s account receiving a ban on the PlayStation Network. The PSN is part of how gamers can connect to the internet for the social aspect of gaming, view gamer profile cards for trophies, keep track of digital purchases, and more.
Getting banned from this network means that you would lose access to these things. You would still keep most games you have already, but you would lose access to PS Plus games that you could have otherwise played through the network itself. Therefore, there is some risk involved in modding the Vita, but this is something that would apply to all kinds of gaming consoles from all developers.
With all of that said, the actual risk of a ban from the PSN appears to be very small. There could be several factors that influence this, but part of it is probably because of the relatively poor commercial performance of the Vita within the first few years of its release. Although there is a dedicated and vibrant community of PS Vita fans to this day, the official support for first-party games had already started to waver as early as 2015.
Independent developers would still go on to make games for the Vita, but dedicated technical support, store updates, and other kinds of perks that are part of most consoles would begin to see a gradual decline around this time.
Because of this, it seems unlikely that Sony would want to bother putting in much effort, time, or resources into monitoring Vita activity for potential bans at this time.
Again, the risk of this is still present, but the likelihood seems to be low. Even so, it is probably best not to use any mods that help gamers cheat, earn trophies automatically, or gain other kinds of advantages, and this is particularly true in multiplayer games.
Primarily, you would want to avoid the possibility of other players making any kind of report on your account for gaining an unfair advantage. Even so, there are still plenty of mods that can expand your Vita’s overall functionality. You can also mod particular games in the single-player experience to open up more avenues of fun there.
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Can You Still Earn Trophies on a Modded PS Vita?
Yes, you are still able to earn trophies on a Vita that has been modded. Again, there is still a minimal possibility of a ban, but this is not likely. There are still a couple of things to keep in mind, however. While it is possible to keep earning trophies and syncing them to your PSN account, it is not recommended that you use anything that makes it easier to stack up trophies.
Part of the PSN’s appeal is in how it can display earned trophies and act as a sort of soft challenge to friends or other players. You’ll also gain points based on the trophies you earn. In order to preserve the integrity of this system, it is best not to abuse it by using any mods that give you an edge here.
There are some settings within the Vita’s own internet connectivity that you might need to mod here. As with anything to do with modding the console, it is best to follow an in-depth guide recommended by the community in order to do this properly.
There may be DNS or other settings you’ll have to follow to ensure that a PS Vita you’ve modded will still be able to earn trophies, particularly if you want to make sure that they sync up with your official online account.
Can I Still Buy Games on a Modded Vita?
Typically, you should still be able to buy games on a modded Vita. The only caveat to be aware of here is the firmware version that the console is running.
You’ll need to make sure that the Vita is running the latest firmware. If it is not, you may have trouble still accessing the store to buy games. At this time, most Vitas should already be updated to the latest version of supported firmware that the console is designed to handle.
If you need a workaround, you should be able to sync games you buy in the web browser. In order to do this, you would need to first copy the games you’ve purchased to a PS3 console, if you have one.
Once done, you can sync the home console with the portable Vita, and you should see that the games are now playable on the latter device.
What Else Can a Modded PS Vita Do? 9 Things
Making mods for the PS Vita is something gamers do primarily to play their favorite titles with extra features or exploits. This can be a great way to expand the functionality of single-player experiences. However, there are ways to mod the software of the Vita to do other things entirely. A few of the things you might be able to mod your Vita to do are:
- Emulating different retro consoles
- Play PS1 games in full
- Customize themes
- Read books
- Watch films or series
- Use as a flashlight
- Create simple documents or codes
- Mod save files
- Access games from other developers
Conclusion
Modding can be a fun way to see what else your console can do, and the PS Vita is no exception. Although it isn’t the most popular console out there, it has a dedicated base of fans to this very day, and there are official guides that can help you mod the system.
Furthermore, you can find mods for individual titles that allow you to do more things in the games than the developers might have intended. Although there is a small risk to modding, you should be okay as long as you follow the recommended practices from guides that have been tested and approved by the community.