Sony Show Off PlayStation Vita

The second half of Sony’s E3 conference, of course, focused on the NGP, or the ‘PS Vita’ as it is now known.  The new handheld, as revealed some months ago, will feature dual cameras and a 5” touch screen alongside the usual handheld buttons, sixaxis functionality, and front and rear touch pads.

The handheld will be released in two models: Wi Fi and Wi Fi/3G, however, the announcement that Sony had partnered exclusively with US telecom provider AT&T had a very mixed reaction; it is not yet known at this time, who will be snatching up the exclusive rights in the UK.

PS Vita comes with a party room feature which allows voice chat regardless of what games you and your friend are playing, and ‘Near’ which allows you to connect and play with others around you, trading scores, comparing trophies, and recommending games.  Uncharted: Golden Abyss was demoed to applause and looked very impressive, with good use being made of the touch screen, which is optional.

More interesting than even the ever popular Uncharted series was perhaps the reveal about the connectivity.  Taking the in-development Project: Ruin as an example, players will be able to take their games onto the PS3 to benefit from big screen gaming, thanks to the Cloud based saves allowing instant access.

Titles announced for the PS Vita included:

  • Uncharted: Golden Abyss
  • Little Deviants
  • Little Big Planet
  • Sound Shapes
  • Project: Gravity
  • Hustle Kings
  • Mod Nation Racers
  • Super Stardust
  • Project: Ruin
  • Reality Fighters
  • Hot Shots Golf
  • Shinobido 2
  • Virtua Tennis 4
  • Dynasty Warriors
  • Dragon’s Crown
  • Street Fighter X Tekken

The PS Vita will see a Christmas release, with the Wi Fi only model coming in at $249.99 and the 3G/Wi Fi model hitting the $299.00 mark.  Sadly, the prices don’t budge for the European market, coming in at an irritating 249.00 Euros and 299.99 Euros respectively.  Even if it isn’t region locked, the hassle of a US PSN account and the fact that most legit exporters have been scared into refusing to ship Sony stuff abroad (thanks to the Lik-Sang affair) makes an import to save cash unlikely.  Still, with cross platform functionality and cloud based saves, it looks to be a sexy purchase.




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One Comment

  1. Richie richie says:

    Semi-tempted. I only use my PSP for PS1 gaming at the moment though. I’m sure that daft price will drop like a stone, 3DS style, when no-one buys the thing anyway.

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