New Vita Firmware Live, PlayStation Plus Activated

Let the cloud saving and free game downloading begin!

Turn on your PlayStation Vita, because firmware 2.00 is now live, and it brings with it some significant changes. As we reported last week, firmware 2.00 would be necessary in order to bring one major service to PlayStation Vita in particular: PlayStation Plus, which now finally works on Sony’s handheld.

The update is fairly small and should only take a few minutes to download and install over wi-fi (though you can also use your PS3 with your Vita connected to it, which will make the process even faster). Your Vita will have to restart after installation is complete.

Upon installation and subsequent restart, you can see one major PS+ improvement in particular: cloud saving. Head to Content Manager on the Vita’s menu and you’ll be brought to a new screen that shows the PS3, a PC and the Online Storage folder. Click Oline Storage and you’ll be given the option to sync saves in between the cloud and your Vita and vice versa. This service is currently live, so go ahead and begin backing up at your convenience. You have a full gigabyte of storage space for Vita at your disposal.

Unfortunately, PlayStation Plus freebies aren’t yet available, but will be when the PlayStation Store updates tomorrow, Tuesday, November 20th.

Apart from the major addition of PlayStation Plus to Vita, there are other notable updates embedded in the firmware. Players can now hook up their Vita to a PC and transfer files, the map application now gives weather information, the browser has been improved, Near has been updated, and more. But this update is really all about PlayStation Plus and its many perks.