PlayStation Vita coming in February

Sony says it will rollout its new handheld games device, the PlayStation Vita, on 22 February in the US and Europe, Stuff.co.nz reports.

The new device, which hits stores in Japan on 17 December, will be priced at $249.99 for the WiFi version, and $299.99 for the 3G/WiFi version in the US market, significantly above rival Nintendo's 3DS, which now sells for $169.99 in the US.

According to The Guardian, PlayStation Vita is the follow-up to Sony's PSP console, which has sold almost 70 million units worldwide since its launch in 2004.

The new console boasts a five-inch touch-sensitive OLED screen, a rear touch-pad, rear and front cameras, and two analogue control sticks. All games will be available for download from the Internet, although some titles will also be released on a proprietary card format and sold through retail.

Sony president and CEO Jack Tretton broke the news at the Web 2.0 Summit, in San Francisco, then followed up with a post on Sony's official PlayStation blog, Time TechLand notes.

Tretton says the system has "more than 100 games currently in development globally that span many different genres"; though note the "globally" part means he's counting games in all regions, several of which probably won't crossover, say, from Japan to the US (or vice-versa).

Vita's ballyhooed arrival comes in the wake of declining dedicated gaming handheld sales, as well as surging competition from smartphones and tablets, whether iOS-based devices like the iPhone and iPad, or Google's flourishing fleet of Android-based phones.