Slashdot Mirror
PlayStation Vita Gets NA, EU Launch Date
Sony's upcoming portable gaming console has now gotten a firm launch date. After arriving in Japan on December 17, the PlayStation Vita will come to North America and Europe on February 22. "The two versions of the console — one with Wi-Fi only and one with both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity — will be priced at $249.99 and $299.99, respectively, in both Canada and the United States. The launch price in Europe will be €249.99 and €299.99." Users will be limited to downloading games no bigger than 20MB over 3G — larger games, which may require up to 4GB of storage space, will need to go over a Wi-Fi connection or be installed from a memory card. Despite abandoning UMD, Sony reportedly has "plans" to allow some sort of transfer of PSP games to the Vita, though it will likely cost money.
Price in AU is $349 or $449 for 3G, NZ is $449/549.
299EUR is 412.27USD today Could be different tomorrow.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
For that price I could get an iPad 2 (or equivalent Android tablet)
I doubt that: currently the iPad 2 is about twice as expensive as the quoted euro prices and equivalent Android tablets aren't significantly cheaper. Tablet prices might drop a bit in the next half year, but not so dramatically.
3G enabled is pointless for modern games if there's a a 20mb cap. It becomes something to only download tiny games on, which don't need a dedicated device.
You can download the games over WiFi and play them online over 3G. Probably the 3G is too slow to download big games anyway even if there wasn't a cap.
No backwards compatability (can't play PS1/PS2 games).
PS1 games could be emulated. Of course, it is very likely Sony will want you to buy the game again instead of letting you put a disk image of your PS1 game on a flash card.
I probably won't be buying one either: for simple games a smartphone will do just fine and for more complex games I prefer a bigger screen.