For those of you that are unfamiliar with the game, a key portion of the game is spent on collecting various treasures, such as rare artifacts or bounties collected from enemies. Treasures are put into different categories and the completion of a whole set will reward you with a trophy unlock to get you up and running on your overall Vita trophies.

However, the bounty treasures are harder to obtain as the chances of enemies dropping them are completely random. Sony understands this too and it’s why they have decided to introduce a new feature to Uncharted Golden Abyss called the Black Market. The Black Market will make use of the interesting Near feature on the Vita to allow Uncharted players to exchange treasures with one another.

You can put a request in on the app for a specific treasure or bounty and if other players have it they can pass it on to you, likewise if you have an item that someone else needs. It sounds like a very useful app indeed and also a great way for Sony to get Vita users to use the Near app more. We challenge anyone to find the 300 collectibles in the game on the first play through, as we initially had trouble just looking for a complete set during the first level.

Sony has stated on the official blog that some of the treasures in Uncharted are really rare, and some of which can only be obtained by using the Black Market. Sony has kicked started this interesting feature, and we’re guessing other developers will make use of the Near app in future games as well, which is great.

One feature that we haven’t had any updates on is multiplayer. Uncharted Golden Abyss offers a decent amount of content, but we’re still a bit disappointed that there isn’t any sort of local multiplayer option. If Uncharted on Vita had multiplayer then it would easily be value for money at the $44.99 price that Sony are asking for. Without it, we’re not so sure.

Are you missing a lot of treasures on Uncharted?

For those that have played it, you’ll probably agree that it is a great game. I’ve put a number of hours into the game myself and it is a game that shows off the gorgeous 5-inch OLED screen featured on the Vita, as well as some of the exclusive touchscreen and motion pad features that this handheld version of Uncharted will benefit from too.

While we have no complaints about the full Uncharted package on the Vita at the moment, one area that is noticeably absent is the lack of multiplayer. Those of you who have played Drake’s Deception online will know just how fun Uncharted online can be, and it’s a shame that Golden Abyss doesn’t feature any form of multiplayer as it would definitely be the icing on the cake.

All is not lost though, as we may just have the first hints to bring you that multiplayer is firmly in the minds of Sony Bend, who are the developers for the game. A brief article posted at Destructoid has it for granted that multiplayer is definitely on the way for Golden Abyss, as a developer for the game apparently told them to ‘expect something different’ and that further details on this will be coming soon.

What what exactly do they mean by something different? Does this mean that they are planning to offer a different experience from Uncharted 3 online? Some online co-op missions would be fantastic for the Vita, but we’ll take anything they give us at the moment. There’s also whispers that this online mode may make it into the retail version of Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the February 22 US and EU launch. If this is the case, then expect a lengthy patch update to reach those who already have an Asian copy of the game.

Have you played Golden Abyss yet? What are your thoughts on the game so far? I love the fact that you can take a screenshot at any time, one particular screenshot from Golden Abyss now sits perfectly as my Vita homescreen image.

First things first and we can confirm that the title has also been given it’s proper name, and that is Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Just to recap, the game will take place before the events of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune but it’s understood that this is not a prequel, but rather a brand new storyline in the Uncharted universe.

The game will make use of dual analogue sticks, touchscreen support and also motion controls thanks to the new NGP hardware. Golden Abyss is being developed by Sony Bend, with original developers Naughty Dog overlooking the project. Sadly there’s no release date yet, but you can look forward to seeing much more info on the game at Sony’s E3 press conference next week.

As for the new video, we get to see some brand new gameplay from the game, although the PS Blog reminds us that the game is still running on a NGP development kit, and the final product will look a lot more polished. That’s pretty impressive since the visuals in the video look pretty good as it is, especially some of the cut-scenes – definitely PS3 like.

Check out the video below to see the new Uncharted control system demonstrated on the new hardware, as well as seeing what the developers think of the game too.

Is this game a must buy for you or are you not too impressed?