Sony unleashes new PS Vita and PS Vita TV [video]

Sony has bounced out with two new devices today. First up is a thinner, improved PS Vita, and then a little TV-connected device called the PS Vita TV.

Sony has just announced a new version of its PS Vita, just weeks after announcing a price-drop across both the US and Europe.

The Vita PCH-2000 is 15% lighter and a whole 20% percent thinner than the original model and will add an additional hour of life to the battery. I’m sure our resident Vita boys, Punk and Lizard will be digging those stats 😉

The new (WiFi-only) Vita will land in Japan first, on October 10th priced at 18,980 yen (about £120ish), and Sony isn’t yet ready to say which other bits of the planet will get them, or when.

As well as fresh new colour options of pink, black, blue, grey, lime green, and yellow, the new Vita is equipped with a micro-USB charger and 1GB of onboard storage.

Sony has also changed up the screen tech to LCD from OLED. Not sure if this is going to alter things too drastically and can only imagine that this swap is more to do with that price drop more than anything else.

As well as those colours I mentioned above, it sounds as though Sony’s already planned for three special edition models: Gundam Breaker, God Eater (camouflage) and Otomate.

As for that original OLED model PS Vita, it’s getting a new ‘Play!’ Game Pack, which comes with pre-installed games and a memory card packed in – as well as 90 days of PS Plus, for free.

There’s no launch date as yet for this bundle, but it’s priced for Japan at 24,129 yen (about £155). The company says that it’ll ultimately discontinue the OLED WiFi model, but that the 3G/WiFi OLED version will continue to be available and will find its way into similar discount bundles in the future.

PS Vita TV

This natty little unit is capable of playing Vita games, handling Connected Play with your future PS4 and running a whole host of media and streaming services.

Measuring a tiny 60mm x 100mm, it not only is able to do all that, but also offers access to Sony’s Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited service, karaoke and more — all for 9,954 yen (around £60).

This is Sony’s answer to those young upstarts Ouya, NVIDIA’s Shield, and even Google’s Chromecast – although it’s not a direct threat as the Vita TV is a cross-over device between gaming and online media consumption. Still, this is Sony wanting more play time in your main room.

Other services ready for the PS Vita TV include Twitter (through Sony’s own client), Hulu and NicoNico Douga, with even more media providers signing up to offer their services on the new device, at least in Japan.

It has a port for HDMI output, space for a (proprietary Vita) memory card, a slot for Vita games (on the side), plus USB, power and ethernet ports.

You will also be able to buy a set with a controller (it will play nice with DualShocks) and storage card for 14,995 yen (under £100) and it’s set to go on sale (in Japan at least) on the 14th November.

Check out the PS Vita TV in action below!

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