Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Trending
  • Pokemon Winds and Waves
  • New Games for 2026
  • GamesRadar+ Replay
  • Mario Day deals
Don't miss these
Close up of PS1 console on woodgrain TV bench next to OSSC with Sir Dan MediEvil figure on top.
Retro If Sony thinks surge pricing won't prompt me to shun new-gen consoles and go back to the PS1, it should think again
Best PS Vita Games
Games The 25 best PS Vita games of all time
Analogue Pocket lying on orange Vans beanie with Pokemon Blue battle on screen featuring Blastoise vs Poliwag.
Retro The Analogue Pocket and its portable peers are all creeping up in price
Hand holding Super Pocket Data East Edition with Super Burger Time on screen.
Retro The Super Pocket is down to a no-brainer price, but I'd hang fire if you prefer N64 platformers like Banjo-Kazooie
Photo of the Astro Bot imagery on the front of the Seagate game drive, with the Astro Bot DualSense to its side.
SSDs and Hard Drives This 5TB Seagate Astro Bot hard drive is an astronomically good alternative to the rising costs of SSDs
WD_Black P40 in situ working with a pink PS5
Tech Best PS5 external hard drives 2026: excellent portable SSD and HDD options
Marathon Rook frame standing over dead Destroyer shell
FPS Games How to pre-install Marathon and get ready for launch day
PS5 bundles on a blue background
PS5 The best PS5 bundles and deals in March 2026
How to download free PS5 games
PlayStation How to download free PS5 games
The best PS4 SSD for 2023
SSDs and Hard Drives The best PS4 SSD for 2026: Improve load times and boost your storage
Leon Kennedy, wearing a black leather jacket, checks his watch in a hospital waiting room in Resident Evil Requiem
Resident Evil I own 23 Resident Evil figurines, and I'd still rather buy Requiem's amiibos instead of a $300 statue
Photo of the microSD Express card slot of the Nintendo Switch 2, taken by writer Tabitha Baker.
Hardware The best Nintendo Switch 2 Micro SD Express Cards in 2026
PS5 restock
PS5 PS5 standby mode and what you can do in PS5 Rest Mode explained
WD Black P50
SSDs and Hard Drives In a RAM-pocalypse world, even your gaming hard drives aren't safe
Cheap Nintendo Switch game sales - get great deals this Black Friday
Nintendo Switch Cheap Nintendo Switch game sales - all the latest deals in 2026
  1. Games
  2. Adventure

PS Vita game load times vary depending on where you buy your games

News
By Justin Towell published 19 December 2011

Who would have thought it?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


Want to add more newsletters?

GamesRadar+

Every Friday

GamesRadar+

Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.

GTA 6 O'clock

Every Thursday

GTA 6 O'clock

Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.

Knowledge

Every Friday

Knowledge

From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.

The Setup

Every Thursday

The Setup

Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.

Switch 2 Spotlight

Every Wednesday

Switch 2 Spotlight

Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.

The Watchlist

Every Saturday

The Watchlist

Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.

SFX

Once a month

SFX

Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter

We're used to there being a difference in load times between games installed to a hard drive and those played straight off their respective media. And it's always in favour of the downloaded title, right? Well, reports coming out of Japan where the PS Vita has just launched suggest that the inverse may be true for Sony's new machine. What fresh madness is this? Take a look at the evidence and see for yourself (the downloaded version is the lower of the two):

Why is this happening? Well, we can only assume the proprietary memory card that PS Vita games come on uses a faster data transfer rate than the system's flash storage cards. It won't make much difference in real terms, of course, especially as multiplayer games on Xbox Live work regardless of which players have installed the game or not (although those that have almost always end up waiting for ages while the disc-users slowly load their games). And we're only talking a second or so here and there.

What surprised us is just how long the game is taking to load on either machine. Vita's rival, the 3DS, may have visible load times, but they're nowhere near as long as this. Still, at least the downloadable versions of Vita games do seem to be selling for cheaper than RRP.

You may like
  • Best PS Vita Games The 25 best PS Vita games of all time
  • Photo of the Astro Bot imagery on the front of the Seagate game drive, with the Astro Bot DualSense to its side. This 5TB Seagate Astro Bot hard drive is an astronomically good alternative to the rising costs of SSDs
  • Close up of PS1 console on woodgrain TV bench next to OSSC with Sir Dan MediEvil figure on top. If Sony thinks surge pricing won't prompt me to shun new-gen consoles and go back to the PS1, it should think again

For now...

Source: Gematsu.com

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
CATEGORIES
PlayStation Platforms
PRODUCTS
Uncharted: Golden Abyss PS Vita
Justin Towell
Justin Towell
Social Links Navigation
Freelance Writer

Justin was a GamesRadar+ staffer for 10 years but is now a freelance writer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.

Read more
Best PS Vita Games
The 25 best PS Vita games of all time
 
 
Photo of the Astro Bot imagery on the front of the Seagate game drive, with the Astro Bot DualSense to its side.
This 5TB Seagate Astro Bot hard drive is an astronomically good alternative to the rising costs of SSDs
 
 
Close up of PS1 console on woodgrain TV bench next to OSSC with Sir Dan MediEvil figure on top.
If Sony thinks surge pricing won't prompt me to shun new-gen consoles and go back to the PS1, it should think again
 
 
Dungeons of Dusk scarecrow-looking monster carrying a shotgun
"If we only cared about money, we wouldn't ship on anything but Steam," says head of indie empire New Blood Interactive
 
 
Atsu rides a horse along the coast in Ghost of Yotei
PS5 download history and how to check what's downloading
 
 
Fallout overseer
Fallout co-creator Tim Cain explains why modern games are eating all your memory, says "the biggest contributor" is art
 
 
Latest in Adventure
a ditto human sitting on some logs with pikachu and pichu
Pokopia's unhinged dialogue is tempting me away from Animal Crossing: "It's a pretty nice butt, don't you think?"
 
 
The Minecraft Live logo over a promotional image for the Tiny Takeover drop.
How to watch Minecraft Live 2026
 
 
Pickmon
Pokemon fan artist alleges new Palworld clone Pickmon "stole one of my designs"
 
 
Hoppip at the till in the Pokemon Centre in Pokopia
How to access the Pokopia Limited Event and get Hoppip
 
 
Key art for Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen showing Venasaur against a swirling green background, cropped for a header image
Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen have been on Switch for over a week, but many players are still stuck in Oak's Lab
 
 
A ditto takes a selfie when visiting the Pokopia developer island
How to visit the Pokopia developer island
 
 
Latest in News
Elsa Bloodshot in Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals devs felt "panic" at the thought of going into the live-service graveyard that just claimed Highguard
 
 
Palworld Pal with shocked expression
"I wouldn't rule out a Palworld 2.0," says Pocketpair publishing head, but don't expect a "No Man's Sky situation"
 
 
Dafne Keen brandishing her claws as Laura/X-23 in Deadpool and Wolverine
Marvel fans are debating whether Dafne Keen should become Wolverine or stay as X-23, and I've already chosen a side
 
 
Peak mesa biome
Peak came about after a bet between Content Warning and Another Crab's Treasure leads to see whose game would sell more
 
 
Key art for Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred showing Mephisto, a spiky and angular demon, against a red, lightning backdrop, arm and claw raised menancingly, cropped to show more of him
Diablo 4's Lord of Hatred expansion will be "really f*cking hard" at its highest difficulty, dev threatens
 
 
Jin, Mugen, and Fuu standing in a row
Samurai Champloo is getting a live-action Netflix series from One Piece studio, and the original creator is on board
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Key art for Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred showing Mephisto, a spiky and angular demon, against a red, lightning backdrop, arm and claw raised menancingly, cropped to show more of him
    1
    "It's going to be really f***ing hard": Diablo 4 is getting 8 new difficulty tiers in Lord of Hatred because Blizzard wants OP builds to actually have to try
  2. 2
    Marvel fans are debating whether Dafne Keen should become Wolverine or stay as X-23, and I've already chosen a side
  3. 3
    "I wouldn't rule out a Palworld 2.0," says Pocketpair publishing head, but don't expect a "No Man's Sky situation" with a "decade of continuous, massive updates"
  4. 4
    "Whoever sells more copies pays for the other's therapy": Peak came about after a bet between Content Warning and Another Crab's Treasure leads, and ironically the friendslop collab that followed sold more than both games combined
  5. 5
    Samurai Champloo is returning as a live-action Netflix series from One Piece adaptation team, and the original creator is on board: "We've learned" after Cowboy Bebop

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...