PS Vita UK pricing and release date announced

So after finding out the impressive specs of the PS Vita, the bad news had to be somewhere.  Sony have announced the UK pricing (it's more than a PS3) and a release date (next year).

£229 of your finest will grant you access fo a wi-fi only Vita, whereas an extra £50 opens the gate fo 3G services (which will have a plan on top of that).  Release date is penned in for 22nd February 2012, although if you want to get one early on the import Japan gets theirs from December 17th (and it's region free).

The tumbling prices of the 3DS show how insane this pricing strategy will really be.  Simply put, it isn't a convergence device.  It's a portable game player (something that the smartphone in your pocket already does, not as powerfully admittedly but we'll address that in a second), that they're charging over the price of home gaming for.  Whichever way you look at it, can't really see many people feeling gratified enough to spend at least £230 on a portable game player (hello £170 iPod Touch).

The power of the Vita and the demos created may also create the illusion of the enticement that is living room gaming in your 'pocket' (if your pocket is 6-7 inches long, so for those well endowed).  This isn't the case, as an entirely different mindframe of gaming concepts is required.  Just take a look at what's on your iPhone, then see what's on your PS3.  It's an exciting concept; but we just can't see it working (regardless of how much we would love for it to).