By Andrew Liszewski
Revealed back in January with the codename ‘NGP’ or ‘next generation portable’, Sony’s lastest iteration of their handheld gaming system is now officially known as the PlayStation or PS Vita. With Vita being Latin for ‘life’, something the PSP has had a rough time at. As far as hardware specs go it doesn’t appear as if much has changed since January, which isn’t that surprising. It’s still got that drool-worthy 5-inch 960×544 pixel resolution OLED touchscreen display, dual analog sticks that have been improved over the PSP’s, a six-axis motion sensor, front and rear facing cameras and of course that touchpad on the back.
But what’s new at E3 is the official pricing announcement which sees the PS Vita available later this year for $249 if you’re happy with wi-fi only connectivity. Or $299 if you’d prefer to have 3G connectivity as well. AT&T was also announced as the exclusive carrier providing 3G connectivity, though the all important question of data plans and pricing won’t be revealed until later in the year. As for games? Your standard PlayStation fair like UNCHARTED, LittleBigPlanet, Hot Shots Golf, ModNation Racers and Wipeout are all on the way, plus a variety of 3rd party franchises that will probably be further revealed later in the week. It could end up being a strong competitor to the 3DS, but the delayed release does give Nintendo plenty of time to implement a price drop on their own hardware. And a lot of people suspect it’s that $250 price tag that has hindered the 3DS’ sales so far.
[ PR – E3 2011: Introducing PlayStation Vita, Starting at $249 ] VIA [ Kotaku ]
