The PlayStation TV (or PlayStation Vita TV or PSTV) is a great little device that enables you to play PlayStation Vita games on your television. But it has not sold very well due some of the most popular Vita games being blacklisted, and last week it was reported to have been discontinued in Japan. The Vita handheld also has had modest sales: partly because of tablet computers taking over mobile gaming, and largely because of Nintendo flooding the market with cheap children's games for their cheaper (and inferior) 3DS handheld.

The reason for the PSTV's blacklist is because some of the games relied on the Vita handheld's touchscreen, rear touch pad, gyroscope and camera. But then again, perfectly playable games like Wipeout 2048 - which only uses the touchscreen for the menus - were also blacklisted. But of course, the PSTV is able to simulate touch functions. You can go into the settings and enable touch pointers, which allows you to press down on the controller's thumbsticks and use them to simulate the touchscreen and rear touchpad functions. In addition, the PS4 controller has a front touchpad that simulates the Vita's touchscreen a lot more easily.

Last September, a hacker called Mr. Gas hacked the whitelist and enabled the PSTV to load all Vita games. His hack basically works (on firmware below 3.55) by sending yourself a couple of files and then opening them in the PSTV's email app. Mr Gas proved to the world that most of the blacklisted games are perfectly playable, although games that use the gyro and camera have compatibility issues. Still, Sony should be officially embracing this. To save the PlayStation TV and the PlayStation Vita I propose the following to Sony.

1) Get rid of the blacklist. As stated above, many blacklisted touch based games are perfectly functional using the analog sticks or PS4 controller's touch pad to simulate the Vita's touchscreen and touch pad. For games reliant on the Vita's camera and gyroscope, release a firmware update that enables players to use the Vita handheld itself as a controller - which you can already do on the PS3 and PS4!

2) Since the Vita can be used as a controller for the PS3 and PS4, Sony should take full advantage of the fact that it can be used to compete with Nintendo's Wii U, which has a touchscreen built into its GamePad controller which acts like a second screen for inventory or actions. Potentially, Sony could port third party Wii U titles over to PS3 or PS4 and use the Vita as a Wii U GamePad equivalent.

3) Port more PS3/PS4 titles over to the Vita and make them compatible with the PlayStation TV. Some games already released on PS3 and PS4 are also available on the Vita. Vita games are typically about $30 cheaper than PS4 games. So with more and more Vita ports of these games, gamers could potentially use the PSVita/PSTV as a cheaper alternative to the PS4.

4) Release a UMD player attachment to enable playing physical PlayStation Portable games on the Vita and PSTV.