PlayStation TV and new PS Vita

In a press conference in Japan, the homeland of Sony, the Vita TV and a new version of the PlayStation Vita have been announced. While the new version of the PS Vita is an upgrade or a downgrade (depends on how you look at it), the Vita TV is really an entirely new device. But first things first: what’s up with the new PS Vita?

Sony classifies the newer model of the PS Vita as a more casual and easier to use model of the PS Vita. It will also be released in a bunch of colors, instead of the black that we all know from the handheld. But that’s not the only appearance change that the PS Vita has gone through, because the new version will be 20% thinner and about 15% lighter than the older model. But one of the more drastic changes is that Sony replaced the OLED screen with a LCD display. While the battery life has been increased by an hour, some people might dislike the LCD display since the quality of these displays are of lesser quality than OLED screens most of the time. The new PS Vita also has 1 gigabyte of built-in storage, which is not very impressing but still a welcome addition to the handheld.

What a lot of people didn’t see coming is the Vita TV: a console with the size of a smartphonethat you will be able to plug into your TV. It’s comparable with the Ouya, except that this console runs Vita games, but you will also be able to play old PSP and PlayStation One games on it. To control the device you will be making use of the DualShock 3 controller, the controller that is used with the PlayStation 3. The specs of the Vita TV are the same as the PS Vita, but since you will be playing it on a TV the resolution will be upscaled from 966x544 to 720p or 1080p.

But you will be able to use the Vita TV for more than Vita and PS One games: if you own a PlayStation 4 you will be able to stream content to the Vita TV and display everything that is running on the PS4 on the TV that the Vita TV is linked to. What else Sony has planned for the Vita TV isn’t sure yet, but with the launch of the PS4 heading closer there is a big chance we will be hearing more about the Vita TV and it’s functionalities.

The Vita TV will cost around $100 USD and will only be available in Japan at launch. It’s not sure yet if western countries will be getting the Vita TV. A bundle with a DualShock 3 controller and an 8GB Vita memory card will also be sold, which will cost around $150 USD.