Sony has officially announced the availability of the PlayStation Vita (A.K.A. NGP A.K.A PlayStation Portable 2) at the 2011 E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles.

If you’re saving up to get the NGP (or the 3DS in the near future) well you’re in luck, Sony’s pricing on the PlayStation Vita is very aggressive.

Official NGP/PlayStation Vita Pricing:

Wi-Fi Model:
Japan: 24,980 yen
Europe: 249 Euro
US: 249 Dollar

3G Model:
Japan: 29,980 yen
Europe: 299 Euro
US: 299 Dollar

Looks like Europe gets the short stick again with the 1 euro to 1 dollar conversion.

The upcoming portable console has dual touch pads, dual cameras, an OLED screen, GPS, six-axis motion sensors and a three-axis electronic compass. Looks a bit like the specs from a high-end smartphone no? Aside from the souped up specs, the Vita is also equipped with some very interesting features like Near and Party. In case you’re wondering what these are, Near is a location-based gaming app which lets Vita users see what nearby players are playing and share game information. Players can also use the app for “gifting,” which means accessing virtual game-related items that other players are sharing, by checking in at the same geographic location.

Party on the other hand allows you to communicate with other players via voice and text chat. The chatting can be done during a game, and is accessible no matter what you’re doing with your PS Vita (unless it’s off of course).

For full specifications of the PS Vita, check out this post.

Sony is bundling in a Welcome Pack application (not to be confused with the Welcome Back Program for PSN subscribers).

The PS Vita will ship alongside several first party titles including:

• Gravity Daze
• Uncharted Golden Abyss
• Little Deviants
• Hot Shots Golf
• Reality Fighter
• Hustle Kings
• ModNation Racers
• Wipeout 2048
• Super Stardust Delta

Not much of a line up… reminds me of the lackluster Nintendo 3DS line-up. Hopefully that’ll change in a few more months.

For the curious, the PS Vita’s model number is PCH-1000 similar to that of the PSP Phat (PSP-1000). Let’s see if Sony’s trend of worsening hardware over it’s iterations will carry over to the NGP.

The PS Vita is slated to launch at the end of 2011 in the 3 regions mentioned above and successively in other regions worldwide.

Anyone getting a PS Vita at launch?

image via Kotaku