Previously known as Sony NGP when announced back in January in Tokyo, the Sony PlayStation Vita (PSP 2) has been finally released and just made its first stop in Japan a couple of days ago. Coming in two variants (the WiFi-only model and WiFi+3G), this device also said to hit in the US on February 22, 2012 then be available in other countries, including the Philippines, by March 2012 or so.

Running an ARM Cortex-A9 quad-core processor along with a 512MB RAM, the PlayStation Vita definitely provides gamers a whole new fast and amazing 2D and/or 3D gaming experience along with its ginormous 5-inch capacitive touchscreen OLED display with a 960 x 544-pixel resolution.

The PlayStation Vita includes dual analog sticks called the SixAxis controls, front and rear cameras, a six-axis gyroscope motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer) just like the PlayStation Move, a three-axis electronic compass, GPS, WiFi, 3G (optional), and Bluetooth connectivity.

It also features a rear-mounted touchpad, which gives a new dimension to gaming rather than just button mashing. Because of this new feature, accessing the PS Vita’s battery is no longer possible (as it was on the PSP).

Sony revealed that this device, which comes up with a 2200-mAh Lithium-ion battery, will only last up to 3-5 hours for straight gaming or up to 5 hours for straight video playbacks.

The PlayStation Vita will have access to the PlayStation Suite and will be backwards-compatible, which means, you can be able to play all the games you have on your previous PSPs and/or the games from the Sony PlayStation Store.

There are also a slew of games coming, which are made especially for the PlayStation Vita, to take advantage of the new features found in the device including its rear-mounted touchpad. Three of the said games are Wipeout 2048, Gravity Rush and Little Big Planet.

As soon as it arrives in the US, the PlayStation Vita WiFi-only model will be priced at $249.99 only while the WiFi+3G variant has a price tag of just $299.99!

Even though there’s no official word on its availability and pricing details here in the Philippines yet, I’m guessing this device will most likely arrive by March 2012 (or so) January to February 2012  and will be priced at a range from Php13,000 to Php16,000!

Sony has reported that they’ve sold over 320,000 PlayStation Vita units in just two days in Japan. Unfortunately, there were a number of technical glitches or issues reported and complained. Moreover, Sony issued an official apology via a slew of Japanese websites and/or blogs and is now seeding a software update (v1.5) to correct the reported issues.

Sony PlayStation Vita (PlayStation Portable 2) FULL specifications:

• Model number: PCH-1000 series
• CPU: ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
• GPU: SGX543MP4+
• Main memory: 512MB
• VRAM: 128MB
• External Dimensions: Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (tentative, excludes largest projection)
• Weight Approx: 279g (3G/Wi-Fi model), 260g (Wi-Fi model)
• Screen: 5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colours, OLED, Multi touch screen (capacitive type)
• Rear touch pad: Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
• Cameras: Front camera: 120fps@320×240 (QVGA); Rear camera: 60fps@640×480 (VGA);
• Sound: Built-in stereo speakers, built-in microphone
• Sensors: Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Threeaxis electronic compass
• Location: Built-in GPS (3G/Wi-Fi model only), Wi-Fi location service support
• Keys/Switches: PS button, power button, directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left), action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square), shoulder buttons (Right/Left), right stick, left stick, START button, SELECT button, volume buttons (+/-)
• Wireless communications: Mobile network connectivity (3G/Wi-Fi model only), 3G modem (data communication): HSDPA/HSUPA *specification for Japanese region, IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode), Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR ?A2DP/AVRCP/HSPD
• Slots/Ports: PlayStation®Vita card slot, memory card slot, SIM card slot (3G/Wi-Fi model only), multi-use port (for USB data communication, DC IN, Audio [Stereo Out / Mono In], Serial data communication), headset jack (Stereo mini jack) (for Audio [Stereo Out / Mono In]), accessory port
• Power: Built-In Lithium-ion Battery: DC3.7V 2200mA, AC adaptor: DC 5V
• Supported AV content format: Music – MP3 MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3, MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC), WAVE (Linear PCM). Videos – MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC), H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High/Main/Baseline Profile (AAC). Photos – JPEG (Exif 2.2.1), TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG

Thanks for the info on its availability, Andrei!