Sony PlayStation Vita Unveiled, Specs and Price Detailed

At the just concluded 2011 E3 event, Sony unveiled the highly anticipated handheld gaming device which it officially named PlayStation Vita (PS Vita).

PS Vita is Sony’s next-generation portable entertainment system which enables a revolutionary combination of gaming and social connectivity.  “By blurring the lines between interactive entertainment and reality, our goal was to design a device that offered a revolutionary combination of rich gaming capabilities and social connectivity, bringing users closer to each other and closer to their gaming experiences wherever they are” Sony said in a statement.

The PlayStation Vita will launch worldwide at the end of 2011.  The device incorporates a 5-inch multi-touch organic light emitting diode (OLED) as the front display and a multi-touch pad on the rear. The front touch screen and the rear touch pad on the PS Vita offers new gameplay possibilities.  It uses two analog sticks for control.  The PS Vita will come in Wi-Fi and 3G/Wi-Fi configurations.

The PlayStation Vita appears to be revolutionary, with new features never before implemented in other handheld gaming device.  The PS Vita features include “LiveArea,” an interactive space for each PS Vita software title that allows you to access the latest game information through PlayStation Network; “near,” a pre-installed application that lets you see what other PS Vita users in the vicinity are playing; “Party,” which lets you voice chat or text chat while playing games or using the Internet browser; and “Welcome Park,” a tutorial application designed to guide a player through PS Vita’s new user interface.

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PSP Vita WiFi model will retail for $249 while the PSP Vita 3G+WiFi model will retail for $299.  Are you getting the PS Vita when it hits the Philippines?