On Tuesday, Sony unveiled its next-generation portable gaming device, the PlayStation Vita, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. Sony President of Consumer Products, Kazuo Hirai, said that the PlayStation Vita will “revolutionize the portable entertainment experience.” As the heavily hyped successor to the PSP, the device looks like it will actually live up to the high standards that Sony has already set for its upcoming product.

The PlayStation Vita will feature a high-resolution, 5-inch multi-touch OLED touchscreen, 6-axis motion sensors, dual analog sticks, rear touch pad, dual front and back mounted cameras, built-in GPS, and will run on a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 Processor. Even more impressive, Sony announced that the Vita will give users the ability to enjoy continuous, uninterrupted gameplay by allowing for cross-platform play with compatible games on the PlayStation 3. According to Sony, there are over 80 titles already in development, and the company showed off the capabilities of the system with some of the top-tiered titles like a Diablo-like RPG game called Ruin.

Last but definitely not least, Sony revealed that the PlayStation Vita will start at the low price of $249 for the Wi-Fi only version and $299 for the 3G model, which AT&T will be the exclusive service provider for – much to the chagrin of the audience who openly booed the announcement. Price-wise, this means that the PlayStation Vita will be in direct competition to the Nintendo 3DS, which can’t really be considered in the same arena of portable gaming once the Vita is released later this year, just in time for the holiday season.

 

 

 

Photo via PlayStation