The PlayStation Vita (PSVita) will be $249 at launch for the WiFi version, and $299 for the 3G version of the system. This announcement was greeted with applause at the Sony Press Conference just moments ago.
Sony says that virtually every major publisher has signed up for developing against the PS Vita, and Holiday 2010 is the release time frame.
The Wifi model of the PS Vira costs $249 US, 299 Euro, and 24900 yen. This is a great price point that the crowd absolutely loves. It's safe to say several members of the press that were expecting a $400 price point were relieved. Further, it matches the 3DS price, which now seems artificially high, especially given the power and additional features present in the PS Vita.
The 3G model of the system will be only $299 - another big suprise that the crowd loves, despite booing Sony earlier in the press conference when they announced that AT&T would be the 3G provider for the PS Vita.
Earlier in the press conference, details of the PS Vita games were revealed:
The first game demo shown for the PS Vita was a new Uncharted game. Some unique controls were shown, including drawing where you want to go, tapping enemies to do stealth takedowns, and moving with the SixAxis controls. While the game looks far better than anything previously shown on a portable, it's clear that the portable isn't quite to PlayStation 3 levels of detail. There's some pixelation visible, and there aren't quite as many effects used as in a PS3 title. I'd guess it's around 80% of a PS3 title - again, pretty impressive for a portable.
Ruin Features Twitter, Facebook, and community site connectivity. Ruin also has a PlayStation 3 version, which connects to the PS Vita version of the game. The dungeon crawler (combat RPG) allows you to save to the cloud and play exactly where you left off on either version of the game.
ModNation Racers was the next game shown for the PS Vita, which is a racing game with a track editor that is completely usable with the touchpads on the PS Vita. The back touch pad allows users to modify the terrain, by "pushing" mountains and terrain upward, and the front screen allows the user to add lakes and trees. The touch screen also allows people to modify lighting with a simple finger press. Owners of PS Vita version of ModNation Racers will have access to all of the tracks etc created on the PS3 version of the game.
LittleBigPlanet will allow for touchscreen, rear touch, tilt, pass n play, and multitouch game types. Like the PS3 version of the game, LittleBigPlanet will allow you to play Online. The PS Vita version of the game allows you to share your costumes with the PS3 version of the game, take pictures with the cameras, and more.
Street Fighter Cross Tekken was also shown for the PS Vita. SFxTK was previously shown for the PS3, and as a partnership with Sucker Punch, Cole from Infamous will be playable within SFxTK. Cole is then shown as a playable character for the game. The game uses the Street Fighter 4 engine, and the PS Vita allows you to use the back touch pads to perform more complicated moves with fewer timing problems, inviting users to more quickly adapt to the game.
Rounding out the PS Vita presentation was a montage of new games in development for the PSVita. Pool, a cell shaded game, a new Dynasty Warriors, Virtua Tennis, dungeon crawlers, and more was shown.
A new Bioshock was also announced earlier in the press conference for PS Vita! No screens were actually shown for the game, but the announcement of the new BioShock title was a welcome one.
StageSelect.com's coverage of the Electronics Entertainment Expo 2011 continues. We'll be bringing you all of the news to come out of the Sony E3 Press Conference, as the event happens. Stay tuned June 6th through June 10th for additional details on brand new games as they're revealed for the first time to the game playing public.
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