Notice: The PS Vita goes on sale in North America and Europe on Feb. 22, but first Sony's long-awaited PlayStation Vita portable game machine hit stores in Japan this weekend as thousands of game enthusiasts lined up to be among the first to buy it.
Sony computer Entertainment is predicting brisk sales, despite the fact that the launch might have missed some holiday shoppers. A successful debut would help the company offset the remainder of its struggling business. Sony projects a loss of more than $1 billion for the fiscal year through March 2012, which would be its fourth straight annual loss.
In Tokyo's Ikebukuro shopping district, some three hundred game enthusiasts lined up outside a major electronics chain that opened many hours sooner than usual for the event Saturday morning. several of the purchasers had made advance orders on the internet in order that they may start playing immediately.
The device could be a touch-interface and motion-sensitive handheld seen as a successor to the PlayStation moveable. Gamers can connect over cellphone networks and Wi-Fi hotspots, and use GPS location-tracking technology.
Television footage showed some shoppers unwrapping their new purchases and getting down to try them out at the shop.
"I'm therefore happy to see such a big amount of folks lining up for PS Vita therefore early within the morning," Sony computer Entertainment Japan President Hiroshi Kono wrote in his official blog once touring many Tokyo stores. "I can tell that they had anxiously waited for today's launch."
For the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment large, the Vita is that the biggest product launch since the PlayStation 3 console five years ago. it is also in the middle of two dozen software merchandise — the most important number of launch titles in PlayStation history.
The Vita has front and back cameras, a touchscreen in front, barely pad on the rear and two knob-like joysticks. it'll enable gamers to play against each other using PlayStation 3 consoles over the Internet-based PlayStation Network, a system that was hit with a massive hacking attack earlier this year.
Vita's launch can heat up competition with rival Nintendo Co.'s 3DS. Nintendo Co.'s 3DS had a disappointing start despite the company's efforts to market its 3D technology, with critics complaining a couple of lack of interesting games. Nintendo ended up slashing prices on the 3DS at intervals six months.
The companies are challenged by the rise of smartphones and tablets, through that casual gamers play inexpensive and straightforward games just like the mega-hit "Angry Birds."
source: USAToday
