Sony’s code-named NGP has been announced with the official title of Playstation Vita for the PSP2 handheld system! The system was officially announced and fully unveiled at Sony’s Pre-E3 2011 Press Conference.
The new portable system will come in two flavors: Wi-Fi and 3G, with prices expected at €299, ¥ 29,980, and $299 for the Wi-Fi Only Model and ¥29,980, $299 in the US and €299 in Europe for the 3G model. AT&T will be the exclusive provider of the 3G support in the United States.
So where did Sony get that crazy final name? “Vita” means “Life” in Latin and Sony promised it will “blur the line between life and your entertainment like never before”.
Hardware-wise, the system features the 2-sticks and a D-Pad, the standard PlayStation Buttons (Square, Triangle, Circle, X), two shoulder buttons (R and L), a PS Button, and Select and Start, alongside two cameras (front and back), a touchpad on the back of the system (making for front and rear touchpads since the screen is touch too), speakers and microphone, headphone jack, Sixaxis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), three-axis electronic compass, built-in GPS as well as Wi-Fi, 3G, and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR connectivity.
The PSVita is a high-tech system that includes a 5 inch OLED capacitive TOUCHscreen, 3G, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi support with a 4 core ARM Cortex-A9 core processor and a 4 core SGX543MP4+ graphics processing unit as well as LiveArea as its main user interface, which succeeds the XrossMediaBar for the PlayStation Portable.
The cameras feature face detection, head detection, and head tracking and supports Augmented Reality and Location-based gaming (using the GPS) as well as a plethora of social features including Party, which allows you and your friends to voice chat amongst each other despite playing different games! Another feature called “Near” uses the GPS to find people who are playing Vita that are literally within your area. It then allows you to interact with them, compare Trophies, see what games both of you are playing or have played, etc.
Here is the PlayStation Vita reveal video from E3 2011’s Sony Press Conference.