PlayStation Vita receives an official price cut

Ever since its launch last year, it's been easy to overlook Sony's current portable machine, the PlayStation Vita. While it's a technically impressive bit of kit, pairing a massive screen with all the buttons you could ever hope for, it's never really found the kind of mainstream success that the 3DS has enjoyed of late. Despite sharing many similarities with Nintendo's machine; cameras, touchscreen(s), gyroscopic motion controls and the StreetPass-like 'Near' to name a few, although it launched with an incredibly strong line-up in its own right, it arguably hasn't had the kind of software support that it's needed to stand out ever since. Perhaps as a result of this, and also in preparation for its upcoming role as a second screen to use with the PlayStation 4, the handheld's price has been substantially reduced.

As announced at giant German games-fest Gamescom, the PlayStation Vita can now be had for $199/€199. While there hasn't been a specific price for the UK announced, retailers like Amazon are now offering the WiFi Vita bundled with 10 games (including LittleBigPlanet and Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters) for £169 while Zavvi has the standalone console for £143.99. With the 3DS XL coming in at around £140, the Vita's new price makes it far more competitive with Nintendo's offering and may just tempt those who are on the fence. The other bit of good news for Vita fans is that the cost of memory cards is to come down too. The PS Vita can only use specific Sony branded cards so you can't just pop a cheap SD card in, and as the cards are required to save certain games, or to download titles from the Playstation Store, this has long been a source of annoyance, as the Sony cards are very pricey when compared to the alternatives. Luckily, with all memory cards having had some at least reasonable reductions, a 32GB card can now be had for a bargain £39.99 at the time of writing, even if most other places have it down at a not quite so cheap £60...

With games like the papercraft platformer Tearaway coming out, the Vita's starting to come into its own.

All this wouldn't be much good if there were no games to play of course, and thankfully it seems as though the Vita is beginning to enjoy a bit of a resurgence in that department. Some notable games headed to the platform are the indie hit platformers Fez and Spelunky and the gorgeous-looking Tearaway from Media Molecule. The Vita will also play host to upcoming multiplatform titles like Batman Arkham Origins: Blackgate and LEGO Marvel Superheroes so there really is something for everyone.

With a far more reasonable price to tempt consumers with, an exciting list of games to look forward to and some interesting Wii U-style second screen possibilities with the PS4 in the future, it looks like there's plenty of life in the Vita yet.