New PlayStation Vita Details From Gamescom 2011

Loads of new details about the PlayStation Vita have made the airwaves at Gamescom 2011 — including Facebook and Twitter apps, plus the final specs for the Sony gaming portable.

Facebook Twitter foursquare skype Apps Image

Sony was in full force Tuesday at their big-stage presser at this year’s Gamescom 2011. The company unveiled a proper price cut for the PlayStation 3, among other things, but that wasn’t all they had on their Cologne, Germany plate to share with the audience watching there and around the world.

Although far, far, far away from a North American or European launch (only Japan will be getting their hands on the PSP successor this holiday season,) Sony still managed to dish out some interesting new details about the PlayStation Vita. Happy news especially, if you’re the kind of chap or gal that likes to keep connected through social media.

It was announced at Gamescom that the PSV will offer online social integration by Facebook, foursquare, Skype, and Twitter as free downloadable apps from the PlayStation Store sometime in the future. The four apps will be joining the other Vita-exclusive apps such as Near and Party — all in a sharp effort to connect PlayStation Vita users with each other.

Moving away from Sony’s keynote and on to details that will surely be satisfying for hardcore gadget-head, a full spec-sheet for the PlayStation Vita was released. And while up to now Sony’s been quite dodgy with the final stats for the portable device, all is truly revealed here in this document provided by Sys-Con Media.

Platform Name     PlayStation(R)Vita
    Model number      PCH-1000 series
    CPU               ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-A9 core (4 core)
    GPU               SGX543MP4+
    External           Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth)
     Dimensions        (tentative, excludes largest projection)
                       5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors,
    Screen             OLED
    ------             ------------------------------------------------------
    (Touch screen)    Multi touch screen (capacitive type)
    --------------    ------------------------------------
    Main memory       512MB
    -----------       -----
    VRAM              128MB
    ----              -----
    Rear touch pad    Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
    Cameras           Front camera, Rear camera
                      Frame rate : 120fps@320x240(QVGA), 60fps@640x480(VGA)
                      Resolution : Up to 640x480(VGA)
    Sound             Built-in stereo speakers
                      Built-in microphone
                       Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope,
                       three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic
    Sensors            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)
                       IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure
                       mode/Ad-hoc mode)
                      Bluetooth(R) 2.1+EDR (A2DP/AVRCP/HSP)
                      -----------------------------------
    Slots/Ports       PlayStation(R)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,
    -----             -----------------------------
                      AC adaptor
                      ----------
    Supported         Music
    ---------         -----
                       -- MP3 MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3, MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC),
    AV content         WAVE (Linear PCM)
    ----------        -------------------------------------------------
    format            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
                      -----------------------------------------

Draw your attention most of all to the two entries above — 512MB for the main memory and 128MB for the video ram (VRAM.) That’s some serious power underneath the PS Vita’s hood — leapin’ lizards it has more main memory than a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360. Of course what this means overall, is that game studios won’t be constrained trying to fit games onto the platform.

And with the other news of super cheap development kits being around $3,000, confirmed by Sony’s PlayStation European hand, the landscape of potential content for the PlayStation Vita looks quite promising, not only from large game companies but Indie developers too.

If anything, Indie developer support is one area the Vita will need the most help from in order to establish a good presence in the current turbulent world of dedicated gaming devices on the go that are “allegedly” being eradicated by mobile devices.

Via: Engadget

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