Vita Screen Size Is a Result of Battle Between Designers and Engineers

The PlayStation Vita handheld from Sony has not managed to perform too well on the Japanese market, where it arrived late in December, but one of the leading developers of the new hardware says that from a technical standpoint it represents a significant evolution over the PSP, especially when it comes to the screen and size.

Tokashi Sogabe, who was the main designer working on the hardware side of the PlayStation Vita, stated, “We felt it deserved to be bigger than the 4.3 inch screen on PSP. It’s almost as if we settled on five inches in order to really maximise the same impact that we felt when we first saw it. There was a great deal of discussion and we even talked about using a 5.5 inch screen, but that had a negative impact on the operability of the device.”

He added, “There is always a battle between engineers and designers and I’m not just talking about PlayStation Vita when I say that. I was pushing through this idea of ‘thinner is better’ but I had to be reminded of things like the feature set, processing power, battery life… the overall package. I actually wanted PS Vita to be entirely made of metal but then it was pointed out that this was impossible due to the internal Wi/Fi, 3G and GPRS antennae.”

The PlayStation Vita is set to arrive in both Europe and in North America on February 22 where Sony believes that it will get a better reception, with Western gamers more interested in both the design and the possibilities of the handheld.

During the most recent week in Japan the device has managed to sell under 20,000 units and many are saying that Sony needs to cut the price of the Vita or launch much stronger exclusive titles in order to attract customers.