We knew that Sony was gearing up to release its next-generation handheld console, the PlayStation Vita, which was unveiled at the E3 conference in June. Now the gaming device has a launch date: Feb. 22.
Sony Computer Entertainment's American CEO, Jack Tretton, made the announcement at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco Tuesday. "I can’t wait for you to experience this revolutionary handheld system," Tretton gushed in a blog post. The price tag? $249.
So how revolutionary is it? On the surface, it looks like an upgraded version of Sony's last and largely disappointing handheld gaming system, the PSP. But Mashable got its hands on the Vita in June and found it to be a lot more than it appears -- the screen resolution and touchscreen controls were impressive, the analog joysticks handled well, the front- and back-facing cameras made for interesting augmented reality gameplay, and overall it seemed a more powerful system than the Nintendo DS.