PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) – Sony’s next crack at the portable market

Introducing the PS Vita, Sony’s latest console for the mobile gaming marketplace – packed with motion sensors, front touch screen, rear touch pad, front & rear facing cameras and a enough bells & whistles to keep gamers and tech heads drooling.

In March of 2005, Sony released its first portable system, the PSP here in the USA.  While it supported better graphics than that of any Nintendo released handheld at the time, it was considered inferior mainly due to the lack of actually entertaining software. With the release of the PlayStation Vita, Sony wishes to retake those customers that opted for a Nintendo DS instead of a PSP. One look at their proposed software shows that they are highly invested in this idea.

The title that they are promoting the most is the new Uncharted title. The Uncharted series has been known for their huge cinematic moments. The demo demonstrated at E3 2011 has shown that this title is not a smaller Uncharted game, but, using the PlayStation Vita’s features and strong graphics, the game is turning into a unique experience that still has the feeling of a console Uncharted game.

So what about PS Vita games?

Along with the new Uncharted game, there are a plethora of games that are in development for the system. Games like LittleBigPlanet, Killzone, Call of Duty, Sonic Generations, Bioshock, and Street Fighter x Tekken are all coming to the PlayStation Vita. Check out all of the game titles that have already been announced and will be available when the PS Vita is launches! Sony has done it’s homework here and has a ton of developer support to prove it.

• Uncharted: Golden Abyss
• LittleBigPlanet
• ModNation Racer
• Ruin
• Wipeout 2048
• Killzone
• Real Fighters
• Little Deviants
• Call of Duty
• Lumines
• Sonic Generations
• Hustle Kings
• Top Darts
• Mr. Ink Jet
• BlazBlue Continuum Shift Plus II
• Silent Hill: Book of Memories
• Mortal Kombat
• Lego Harry Potter (5-7 years)
• Pro Evolution Golf 2012
• F1 2011
• Hot Shot Golf (Everybody’s Golf)
• Fifa 12

• Smart Ash
• Broken
• Super Stardust Delta
• Sound Shapes
• Dynasty Warriors
• Rayman Origins
• WWE ‘12
• Resistance
• Dungeon Defenders
• Gelding
• BioShock
• Street Fighter x Tekken
• Virtua Tennis 4
• Ridge Racer
• Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
• Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath
• Gravity
• Dust 514
• Michael Jackson: The Experience
• Dragon’s Crown
• Shinobido 2
• Rugby Challenged

PS Vita Specs & Features

press buttons, flick sticks, touch the screen or tilt the thing

This device has rear and front touchpads and cameras an OLED screen and a SIXAXIS motion sensor. The cameras and the SIXAXIS motion sensor will be used for augmented reality games similar to the 3DS AR cards. The system will also change how it plays its games. Instead of the Universal Media Discs (UMD), the Vita will play games off NVG cards which are basically memory cards with the game on them.

All of these features are offered to make games more unique and engaging. With this new game system, Sony intends to take a bigger share of Nintendo’s portable dominance. And with the 3DS’s sales off to a slow start, they may be in position to do just that.

A lot has been said about the insane performance of the system, but some of us want to look under the hood and see what makes it tick. For you spec-hounds out there we dug up the following specs for the PS Vita. These are the latest specs we could scrounge and we’re pretty confident these are the launch ready specs.

• 2 different models (3G and Wi-FI and Wi-Fi only)
• 5-inch high-res OLED screen
• 2 memory card slots (one for games and one for memory)
• Front and rear touchpads
• Front and rear cameras
• SIXAXIS motion sensor
• Dual analog sticks
• Access to PSP, PSP mini, and PS1 classic games from PSN
• Rechargeable battery
• Bluetooth support
• 4 core ARM Cortex-A9 core processor
• 4 core SGX543MP4+ graphics processing unit
• Microphone
• Compass
• GPS

So how much is one of these going to cost me?

One of the most pleasantly surprising aspects of the PlayStation Vita is actually the cost. This system comes at two price points; there is a 3G and Wi-Fi version for $299 and a Wi-Fi only version for  $249. This is a welcome price considering that most analysts had the system priced well over $300, and looking at all the features crammed into this device it is easy to see why.

So what do YOU think about the PS Vita?

We’d love to hear your comments & feedback on Sony’s latest portable platform – sound off in the comments below!