In the words of former American politician Ron Paul, it’s happening. As expected, Sony took to a rather small stage at a swanky event in London moments ago to announce the PlayStation Vita Slim for the UK. The smaller, lighter model – which carries the memorable codename PCH-2000 – will launch on 7th February, at around £179.99 ($298).
The new unit – which released in Japan last year – is roughly 20 per cent slimmer and lighter than its bulkier counterpart, and comes with 1GB of on-board memory and a slightly beefier battery. It also drops the original device’s gorgeous OLED screen, in favour of a much cheaper LCD display. The former model will be phased out over the coming months, so you may want to get one now.
We’re still waiting for additional material to come through from the manufacturer, but rumours suggest that the new model will only be available in one colour: black. During the event, the company also announced a new memory card bundle, which will combine a 4GB storage stick with ten games, including Thomas Was Alone and Limbo.
Are you planning to pick up the new portable, or are you scrambling to your local retailer to snap up the original iteration? Push our buttons in the comments section below.
[source vg247.com, via eurogamer.net, computerandvideogames.com]
Comments 24
FACEPALM! No one will buy it! The vita is in most shops 150 euro... Memory cards are ridicilious expensive... I want to buy more games digital but i can't convince myself to buy a card that is more expensive than an AAA game. I buy everything retail... Horrible! I just want Sony to have some great sales... But they have the magical ability to shoot themselfs in the foot...
Offtopic. Glad games like toukiden are coming to the west.
@Sanquine Agreed. This is going to do nothing other than allow them to cut costs.
As I said before, boy I'm glad I bought the original one last year. I reckon they'll get harder to find new on retail by the minute, and I would be very dissapointed if I only had this one as an option. And frankly, keeping this price tag for an inferior model is Sony being Sony at their worst.
£180 will never compete with the 3DS or the current Vita price any one on the fence about getting I would recommend getting the old model at £150 as most come bundled with games and memory cards.
It looks nice, but the removal of a much better screen is a deal killer in my opinion. What's the point in giving us a great screen if the next revision of the item just drops it? You're supposed to improve your product, not downgrade it!
What @get2sammyb and @Sanquine said really. Too bad. I have an original Vita, picket it up new for € 159,00 with 8 GB Memory Card and Killzone Mercenary, unbeatable deal really. While I like the new form factor of the slim, it doesn't look like a good deal at all.
Shopto.net is selling Vita 1000 with 16 GB memory card and 10 games (The pack) for £149.99, so why spend £179.99 on a lesser machine?
The only advantage I can see here over my original Vita is longer battery but even then I bought the portable charger so that's no biggie either...
180 is huge for anyone these days. This will not pull anyone new in, if People have been considering the vita then they would do better to get the 1000 preowned. Marketing, sony. Your doing it wrong.
So what? Those journalists must have been blown away. All they need to do is make the memory cheaper and release a few more AAA exclusive games for the Vita. Something original and not re hashed.
Such a shame.
I was hoping to buy this model over the original.
I'm not going to spend over £230 on a Vita slim when I can get more by paying £154.99 for a Vita and 10 games with a 16GB memory card.
Which is a shame really, I was really looking forward to the better screen (for me) and all the other improvements.
This will push the sales of the original. Wasted oppurtunity to lower the price and boost sales overall.
Are there any news about Vita Tv in the west?
Don't panic people, they'll make it cheaper with time. Also, I don't think that OLED screen is very important. It was selling point in the begining. But I don't think that it is imortant thing for common people =).
Bought an old Vita today.. Sony may have in mind to boost the vita sells and when its sold out the new vita price will drop
@Gemuarto I'm waiting for Vita TV in the states as well. This announcement is yet another example of Sony being lost when it comes to the handheld department. Marketing for Vita behaves a lot like marketing for the Wii U. I don't understand how Sony can be so good pushing the PS4 and so bad at Vita.
Get rid of a good screen but keep stupid expensive memory format.
I can't wait to buy one -_- * Sarcasm *
Seems like the plan is to boost sales of the original I don't think it's a good plan it's a wasted opportunity Damm it Sony
i don't know, guys, why you were waiting for big price drop, it didn't happened in Japan, either.
@Gemuarto Well they could at least drop the price of the dang memory cards!
So is this only coming out in the UK and not the EU or US? Or is London just getting the announcement b/c the PS4 sold so well there? There's probably already another article up, I should stop coming here from email links, it always makes me so far behind.
Oh, and it would never ever be $289 in the US. I know that's just a currency thing, but I would think $179 to match the 3DS would make sense. The old one is $190 at Amazon now.
So there was really no new software announcements to go along with this? And there isn't even a blog post on the US side... EDIT: Theres no blog post on either side.
FFS, its getting real hard to see the positive in PSV anymore when SCEA don't even, the others can't do the heavy lifting by themselves without the key US market.
I don't really follow Sony that often...but it seems to me that they're trying to make the Vita fail. Correct me if I'm wrong though
@rjejr: That is quite the wishful thinking. I don't think Sony understands why the Vita is not doing great
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