PlayStation Vita Release Date Announced For North America And Europe

Sony took the stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday to deliver some important news. They've decided on a Western launch date for the PlayStation Vita, the successor to the PlayStation Portable.

Beginning February 22nd, you will be able to buy the Vita throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe. As was previously announced, Sony will offer two different models of the handheld. The PSV with Wi-Fi will cost $259.99, while a model with both 3G and Wi-Fi will retail for $299.99.

"Our first-party studios and an army of publishing partners have been extremely hard at work to ensure that PS Vita launches with a vast library of titles that deliver unique gameplay experiences that go beyond any handheld or mobile device on the market," said SCEA President and CEO Jack Tretton. "We have more than 100 games currently in development globally that span many different genres, including Sound Shapes, Resistance: Burning Skies, Uncharted Golden Abyss, Capcom’s Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed, EA Sports’ FIFA, Activision’s Call of Duty, and numerous others that you’ll hear about in the months ahead."

Vita owners will also be able to use the handheld to keep in touch with their friends. It ships with two social applications called near and Party. Facebook, foursquare, Skype, and Twitter are supported by the Vita as well.

The Vita features a 5-inch OLED touch-screen. Dual cameras, dual analog sticks and front and rear touch panels are among the other main hardware features. Vita games will be released on NVG cards rather than UMD's. The handheld is back-wards compatible with PSP games released digitally through the PlayStation Store.