If you are an avid Playstation console gamer, then it is highly likely that you have one or more of the many versions that can be had from Sony. If you are a portable gamer, the PSP and the PS Vita can provide you with on-the-go gaming from the brand. If you are into casino gaming however, and are thinking of enjoying your favorite tables and slot machines on your PS Vita, you are out of luck.
The PS Vita, sadly, has very little to almost no casino games for you to enjoy. For those who purchased this portable gaming device, you will have to be content with the few titles that are being offered when it comes to portable casino gaming. You will also need to live with the fact that there are no real money options for this gaming option as well.
Casino Gaming Options for the PS Vita, PSP, and PS4
With portable gaming on the rise and with more people opting to play casino games on their PCs, tablets, and other mobile devices, it is but natural for PS Vita players to expect the same on their devices. No such luck. PS Vita players will have to wait for developers to see the Vita as a viable device for portable casino gaming.
There are a few titles on the Vita that do offer gamers a quick fix when it comes to casino gaming. These titles include the following:
Four Kings Casino and Slots
While this title is actually a game for the PS4, it does allow for gameplay on your PS Vita via the Remote Play capability of the console. This however requires some trickery on your part since you will need a very strong internet connection at home and an equally strong wifi connection wherever you are trying to play using your PS Vita. This title has a few casino games that you are sure to enjoy, such as blackjack, roulette, bingo, and of course, slots.
While this is a casino game that does offer you a lot of casino gaming options that you can enjoy on your Vita, it is not a stand-alone title that you can play directly on your portable device. It still needs the PS4 as an anchor, so to speak, for you to be able to play from afar, and even this comes with a 1,000 mile limit. This means without a PS4, a strong internet connection, and a stable wifi connection, you can’t enjoy this game on your PS Vita.
High Roller Casino
Another title that you can consider for your PS Vita when you are itching for a few casino games on the road is this game from Farsight Studios. This is actually a Pinball Arcade game that has the High Roller Casino table as part of the pinball tables you can play. The game is actually a pinball machine that comes with a few casino games that you can play when the ball lands in the right spots for these games.
The casino games that come with this Pinball Arcade pinball machine add-on for the PS Vita include blackjack, slots, poker, and roulette. Of course, if you are looking for real casino gaming, this title won’t actually satisfy that craving you have for the machines and tables that a casino title will offer. This is, after all, a pinball game that has a casino theme and not a real casino game that you can play on your device.
Vegas Party
While the title will lead you to think that this PS Vita title is indeed one that will give you Vegas-style casino games to enjoy on your handheld console, you are sorely mistaken. It is a casino-themed game that is more of a board game than a true casino type title. The game does have some mini casino games that you can enjoy along the way, but this does not qualify this title as a true-blue casino gaming option you can choose for your casino cravings.
Some of the casino games that have been translated into mini games you can play as you move around the board game include Texas hold em, slots, and blackjack. Weirdly enough, there are some games added into the list of mini games you can play along the way that are not necessarily casino games. Examples of these are skee ball and darts.
Card Shark
This is probably the only true casino gaming title made for the PS Vita and this features five different card games that include blackjack, Texas hold em, five card draw, and high or low. While the last game is not necessarily casino games, high and low is still a game that is regularly seen on slot machine bonus games.
There is another casino gaming title that can be played on a Playstation gadget, but this one is for the Playstation Portable, or PSP. The game called Payout Poker and Casino features a number of popular casino games that you can actually enjoy on your device. These include craps, blackjack, slots, baccarat, and even Texas Hold Em.
Another title that found its way to the PSP and can also be downloaded on the Vita is Hard Rock Casino, which also features a few popular casino games that you can play when the mood strikes you. There are actually 20 casino games that can be played on this game, such as video poker, blackjack, and of course, slots.
There are a few other casino game titles that can be downloaded for the PSP, but to find out whether or not these can be played on your Vita requires that you check for backward compatibility. This can be checked via a list that the company has on their site. You will also find that while some of the casino themed games for the PSP can be used on the Vita, these will still need a PS3 to help with the transition from one portable device to the other, which some people don’t have.
These titles include:
World Series of Poker 2008 – as the name implies, this is a game that puts you in the seat of a World Series poker player. This game can be played on the PS3 and on the PSP. Compatibility with the Vita still has to be determined.
World Poker Tour – another PSP title that pits you against other poker players aiming to win it all in a mobile version of this popular table game is the World Poker Tour game that is in direct competition with the WSP 2008 title. This game however, may not be compatible with the PS Vita.
You will also find that there are a few gambling game titles for the Vita that are sold elsewhere in the world that is not available in the US or in Europe. An example of this is the game Saki Zenkoku-hen, which is a mahjong game that is released in Japan.
Playstation and Its Lack of Casino Gaming Options
Over the years, the Playstation has proved to be one of the strongest consoles ever, with hundreds of titles that you can play on it and 4 iterations to date. There is even talk of a fifth version of this popular gaming console to come out in a year or two. The only problem is, despite there being 4 versions of the Playstation over the years, you can’t really find many casino game titles on these. Does this mean that the next version of the PS will also have little to no casino games on it for those who want to enjoy casino gaming on this device?
The same goes for the portable version of this Sony gaming console. Both the PSP and the PS Vita are sans any casino gaming titles that gamers can enjoy. And this is just scratching the surface of the problem. Aside from not having notable casino game titles for gamers to play on their PS devices, the available titles (which includes the one that you will need a PS4 to play) don’t give you real money gaming.
This trend may very well predict just what you can expect in the next version of the PS and the portable versions of their gaming consoles. Whatever comes next after the Vita, you can safely foresee that there will be little to no titles that casino gaming enthusiasts will be able to enjoy. This is something that game developers and Sony needs to address since a lot of Vita and PS4 owners do enjoy playing casino games and may want to try doing so on their consoles/devices.
This untapped market for online casino gaming warrants some attention and should be looked into by online casino gaming developers. With more and more people turning to mobile devices for their casino gaming fix, this untapped resource should be looked into. It could be a cash cow that can generate huge revenues for those who would dare to venture into the lacking and quiet landscape of PS Vita casino gaming.
Solution for PS Vita Owners and Portable Casino Gamers
So where does this leave portable casino gamers who own a PS Vita and who want to try their hand at casino gaming via this gadget? The only recourse is to play these old games on the Vita, no matter how limited the titles and the options may be. It can provide you with a temporary fix for your mobile casino gaming craving, even if it may prove to be somewhat lackluster.
Another solution would be to write to the developers of the PS Vita to ask for more casino titles for the device. This may or may not work, since the population of players who own the Vita pales in comparison with the number of users that the PSP has. And even though the older portable console has quite a number of casino gaming titles that you can choose from, albeit most of these are card games, none of these allows for real money gaming.
In the end, the only thing you can truly do when you want to play real casino games and to play for real money is to whip out your smartphone and do it from there. It may take a while for the PS Vita and even the PS4 to catch up to the trend of online gambling and real money gambling via consoles. Or it may not catch up at all and may very well leave this to the other devices that people already play casino games on.
Only time will tell whether or not the Playstation family will succumb to the clamor for more casino games on their consoles, so till then, your PC, tablet, and smartphone will be the only mediums for such a pastime.
