PlayStation Portable Will Not be Repeated with Vita

Sony has given the official Vita name to the successor to its PlayStation Portable handheld and it seems that the change will extend to more than names when the new device launches, with the company promising that it will be much more active about designing gaming experiences specifically for the platform.

Speaking to Kotaku Shuhei Yoshida, who is the head of Sony Worldwide Studios, has stated, “We were too happy with ourselves, having a PS2-like experience on a portable at that time. We didn’t go too much further from there. The initial couple years were great. People were excited to be able to play 3D graphics on the go, but after a couple years, people get used to looking at pretty pictures.”

He added, “When you compare the gaming experience on PSP to what you get on PlayStation 2 and later on PS3, because of the bigger screen on the TV and the dual analog sticks, feel compromised playing on PSP. You’re not getting much unique on the PSP.”

The new Vita, which will have a price point of 250 dollars and should be out on at least one major market before the end of the year, has more input methods than the normal PSP and Yoshida believes that this will spur development teams to make game more unique.

The Vita will allow control via analog sticks for precision but it also has a touch surface on the back of the device that can be used in many ways.

Sony also says that the device will deliver graphics that are close to those offered by the PlayStation 3 home console and that it is working to make the battery as powerful as possible to increase its autonomy.

At the moment the PSP is selling below the Nintendo DS line on all major markets except in Japan.

Sony expects the Vita to perform better than the Nintendo 3DS.