Sony NGP dubbed PlayStation Vita, to sell for $249 and $299

By Jeff Hughes June 6, 2011

playstation vita — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s been one of those terrible, horrible, no good very bad quarters for Sony, with a rash of hacking attempts that don’t seem to completely go away. E3 2011 is the company’s chance to cut the gum out of its hair and prove that it has the resources to stay innovative and competitive. The press conference gave us a look at what the company has planned, including the new Sony portable and a little dabbling in 3D technology.

The new NGP will officially be called the PlaystationVita. The PSP successor will come with front and rear cameras, dual analog sticks as well as touchscreen and rear touchpad. The Vita will come in Wi-Fi models for $249 and 3G models $299. AT&T will be partnering with Sony, making it the exclusive carrier for the PS Vita in the United States.

Sony will also be coming out with its own hi-def 3D display for $499, which will come in a bundle that includes Resistance 3, some nifty glasses and a six-foot HDMI cable. The display offers 2D or 3D and an innovative split screen system that allows each player to only view their own screen. 3D seems to be Sony’s gimmick so far, let’s see if that’s enough to get them where they need to be.

CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Jack Tretton, first walked out and cleared the air by addressing the PlayStation network catastrophe. Tretton apologized and acknowledged the gravity of the outage but remained hopeful that the company’s E3 line-up would win back customers. He thanked retailers and developers for their support and said that the network is now at 90 percent.

Tretton focused on the company image even further, announcing that Sony devices accounted for 30 percent of Netflix streaming and revealing a partnership with Best Buy’s CinemaNow.

There were a few big game announcements such as BioShock: Infinite supporting PlayStation Move, but one of the bigger pieces of news was Sony’s plans for more than 100 titles to be available in 3D by next year including Resistance 3 and the upcoming Uncharted game.

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I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.

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