According to a recent announcement by Sony, the company’s Nintendo 3DS challenger, the PlayStation Vita – which debuted in Japan during Christmas last year –, is scheduled to for release in Europe on Wednesday, February
22.
Two different PlayStation Vita versions – a $229-priced model with Wi-Fi connectivity; and an advanced model which also uses the 3G mobile network - will hit the European markets, at a time when the competition in the gaming arena has intensified with the advent of mobile gaming apps for smartphones.
As per Sony, there will be over 30 different titles which will be available for the PS Vita – which has received positive reviews from the gaming media – at launch itself. While some of these games will be full-price commercial titles; the others will be less-than-$10 third-party downloads.
In the opinion of Eurogamer video gaming website’s Johnny Minkley, the Sony PlayStation Vita – boasting 5-inch OLED touch screen, and a quad-core processor - is apparently "the most competent handheld gaming system ever made"; though the price of the handheld may be somewhat of an issue.
Nonetheless, noting that the PS Vita would stand out among smartphones and tablets in terms of gaming experience, Jim Ryan - president and CEO of Sony Europe - told the BBC: "We have to demonstrate that our device and the gaming experience is differentiated and we provide great value to justify the financial outlay they have to make to buy into Vita."