The PlayStation Vita

Formerly know as the NGP, the PS Vita name was announced yesterday over at that posh and at times really boring thing that is the E3. It will apparently be both very decently priced -especially in the USA where the price for the WiFi model will be $249- and a true successor to the Atari Lynx. Sony, you see, has wisely decided not to pit Vita against iOS devices, but instead market it as a hefty yet highly portable alternative to proper consoles. I quite love what I'm seeing. Have a look at this now: 

The Next Generation Portable / The PSP 2

Admittedly, I was never particularly excited about Sony's original PSP, in the same way I'm not particularly excited about the soon-to-be-released Nintendo 3DS. Shockingly, the recently unveiled PSP2, or to give it its current name Sony's Next Generation Portable, has also failed to excite me. Then again, only time and games will tell how the new, gimmick-laden handheld will fare. The multi-touch pad on the back of the screen does sound intriguing and the fact that UMDs have given their place to proper cartridges can only be considered wise.

Anyway, here are the main features of the machine: 

• Multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) as the front display
• Multi-touch pad on the rear of the device
• Dual analog sticks
• Two cameras (front and rear)
• Software titles on small, dedicated flash memory-based cards
• Three motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass
• Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity
• PlayStation Network access, including LiveArea, Near and Activity log features Trophy Support
• NGP will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store.

The NGP will, performance-wise, sit somewhere between the PS2 and the PS3 and will launch with a rather safe, rather boring line-up, that will include mega-franchises like Uncharted, WipeOut, Killzone, Call of Duty, LittleBigPlanet and Resistance. Yawn.