I bought a VITA about a year ago, with full knowledge of how many games are on it etc. I played a couple of games on my night shifts - it's perfect fot that. Now I kind of went back to school (while still working) and realised the nights are much better spent studying.

I have about one more year of school ahead of me and I don't see myself playing anything in that time, but I'd like to pick it up again when I'm done. The question is: do I just let it be, with a drained battery, or should I charge it every couple of weeks or months? Any advice from more electronics educated people would be greatly appriciated.

I've had my Vita for 4 years, no issues with the battery and it's gone 6 months unplugged and 6 months plugged in without being used, I think the battery in it is very good.

Same here, i have had no issue, battery life seems the same.

Awesome, thanks - i was worried to get back to it just to find out I need to replace the battery or something.

Spending all night every night studying is a recipe for disaster.

Turn it on once a month or once a week or something if you're concerned about this. You don't have to play anything on it, just turn it on, set it to where the screen never goes off, let it sit for a couple of hours, turn it off, charge it, rinse, repeat.

I personally think it will be fine without doing that, though.

I am talking specifically about night shifts at work - which is 2 nights a week most weeks. Plenty of time to play a game at home in my off time, no worries!

Put it around 30% charge and put it in a cool and dry place. It should stay fine then. can you take out the battery in a vita? its prob best to store them separate, if that is not possible just make sure the vita is completely turned off and not in some sleep mode.

I basically boot mine up 1-2 times a year nowadays, and it's essentially always connected to the charger. I haven't had any issues at all with the battery life the few times I play it, and I bought mine sometime during winter 2012/2013.

No, the battery is not user accesible. I will stick with this advice, thank you. And it looks like it's not a huge issue by the reaction of others so it should be ok! I know plenty of people had their dual-shocks die on PS3, when left unused and I never had this issue even after years of use - but I was using mine, charging it while playing on that console reguraly... that's why I got conserned with the vita battery.

Me too.

Sometimes I get back from a trip and forget the Vita is in my bag, then I discover it 4 weeks later and it still has full battery in standby.

The battery on standby is nothing short of amazing in that thing.

Well it's not accessible in the sense that you can remove it without tools, but it is very easy to change the battery. I changed the rear touch panel of my Vita (long story) and the battery isn't glued or soldered in, I have the original OLED Vita so it might be different now.