At its PlayStation conference in Tokyo, SCEJ has just revealed a new model of PlayStation Vita that will ship to Japanese stores on October 10th of this year. Also revealed is a 64-GB memory card that will retail for 10,479 yen (about $105 US — just a few dollars more than the former price of the 32 GB card). Speaking of memory, the new system comes with a gig of built-in memory, so there’s no more mandatory purchase of a memory card just to play certain games. This will come in handy especially in Japan, where the general population still heavily prefers physical media to digital downloads.
The system is 20% thinner and 15% lighter overall. It appears to have the same screen size and same overall width as the previous model. It will carry the same price as the current system, 19,929 yen (about $200 US). Sony said this is to accommodate “a broader range of users.”
Battery life is said to be increased by about an hour and it sounds like the OLED screen is being replaced by LCD.
Models standing on the screen were holding colors than included the usual black and white, as well as bright yellow, pink, red, light blue/green, and silver. Dark blue Vita systems are currently available in Japan, but I couldn’t spot that color on the stage, as I was typing a bunch of this…and then they were gone. The blue in the video below looks like it might be some kind of lighter shade, but that could also be the lighting of the stage. So I’ll update this post if blue is are confirmed to carry over and be available for the new model.
International release dates on all this stuff have not been revealed. The October 10th date is for Japan.
Here ya go:
Finally, a 3G model bundle pack with pre-paid data from Docomo was announced. This was brought forth, in Sony’s words, “To make it easier for players to use the 3G features.” And it’s about freaking time. I spent an hour in a Docomo store trying to explain what a PS Vita was, on launch day, because I was thinking about going 3G and therefore needed a Docomo data package to go with it. They were clueless and helpless, and I just grabbed the Wi-Fi only model. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise, but still, ugh, what a day that was.
