The Sony NGP handheld has officially been renamed the PlayStation Vita (PS Vita), and it will come in two varities when it ships to retail this holiday: a $249.99 WiFi-only version, and a $299.99 3G-and-WiFi version that uses AT&T’s network. By having both WiFi and 3G connectivity, PS Vita will let users discover new users and content, connect with said users and content, share user-created materials and engage in multiplayer games wherever they are.
PS Vita incorporates a five-inch multi-touch OLED as the front display and a multi-touch pad on the rear. Together with the front touch screen and the rear touch pad, PS Vita lets users interact directly with games in ways such as building mountains in the track editor of a new ModNation Racers PS Vita game simply by pressing into the back of the handheld. PS Vita also features two analog sticks that support various types of gameplay, including shooters, action games, RPGs and fighting games.
PS Vita will come pre-installed with an application called “Party,” which lets users engage in voice chat or text chat during play or whenever one of their friends is using their own PS Vita system — regardless of the game they’re playing or the activity in which they’re engaged (similar to party voice chat on Xbox Live).
We’ll have more on the PS Vita as we get our hands on it this week during E3. In the meantime, check out this gallery of images:
[nggallery id=19]