Reflection: LiveArea Worries and How Wrong They Were

It was last year on this day that I was under the dark impression that the LiveArea screen of the Playstation Vita would not be as customizable as the PSP's, meaning that I would forever be forced to look at a wavy blue background with little circle icons on it without any real input on just where they went or how they were.  A lot can change in a year and since then I've learned that not only are they customizable, they are amazingly so, and are truly worth really showing off.  So I figured I'd do that tonight, not as a "Here's just something" type of post, but just as a post as some of my others attempt to do, by giving you a look into what I think, do and have of my own.  Really, it's not so different about posting what I think about a game because I played it that day or what I think of something that's coming up because I saw a video of it.  So, with that said, Photo Time, and then afterwards, some words.

It's interesting just how different each background can really be, and just what it lends to the overall picture by being used as it is, really.  And Chance, trust me, I know you, so I know you're eying that Okami one (unless you have it already), so Here is the link for it.  The OP (Warning:  Very Not slow-internet-friendly) for NeoGAF's Vita Wallpaper thread is quite helpful and offers quite a bit of variety, with quite a few of my backgrounds coming from there, namely the Okami one, the Chrono Trigger one which is actually part of a collection, the Katamari one and my Lock Screen being from there as well.  The others are screenshots (for Uncharted:  Golden Abyss.  I plan to have a screenshot of whatever game I'm playing currently up as the background, mostly for myself) or just random things I found through searching (The Drakengard and Final Fantasy Tactics ones). 

While I'm perfectly happy with how you can customize the 'cards' however you want, both in background, color (if you're using a default), and what icons are on it and where they are, I do sort of lament the fact that you can't just reorder cards completely.  At least, not from any way I can tell.  I know I'd prefer to have my demos and Games up towards the top, rather than the last cards, but unless I want to devote a good ten to twenty minutes re-arranging things and setting new backgrounds again, I'm stuck with how it is.  And I don't, but at the same time, I'm not really complaining about it.  At least with the way it's set up, I can have some rather pleasing pictures to look at as I get down to the cards I really want to be on.  Not that I'm really ever off of those cards, since I've found it's really easy to just leave the Vita on in sleep mode rather than fully powering it off.  Sleeping seems to do a good job of conserving battery at least, so for now I'm perfectly happy to just do it like that, if only for the convenience.

I just thought it was a neat thing to look back a year and see just what I was thinking and 'worrying' about, knowing what I do now.  Because not only do I not have an ugly LiveArea like the one that's always shown in the promos and such, I have several of them, and they're all exquisite.  And some of them even match the content!  Obviously the screenshot ones (counting FFT as a screenshot one) count, but Daft Punk for the one with Music featured, Okami with its picturesque beauty being there for Photos and Video, and the like.  Caim just gets a pass for being awesome, of course.  Hopefully some more 'custom' Vita Backgrounds get made and it becomes a little easier to search for them because I seem to just be hitting the same places.  And while I could just grab pictures off the web, I like the idea of getting something that was specifically made for the purpose I'll implement it in.  Still, that's certainly something to look forward to!