At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, announced the news handheld gamers have waited for: The PlayStation Vita will launch in the U.S. on Feb. 22.
Along with playing games, the new handheld will offer native social applications, Near and Party, to connect with friends and other PS Vita users. It will also offer other social networking applications like Facebook, foursquare, Twitter and Skype.
More than 100 games are in development for the system, including Sound Shapes, Uncharted Golden Abyss, Assassin's Creed and much more.
The system has a 5-inch OLED screen, dual analog sticks, front and rear touch panel, and dual cameras.
The cost will be $249 for a Wi-Fi version and $299 for 3G support.
The news comes as preorders have begun in Japan, which will see the system in December.
Will the world be ready to pay $250 for a handheld system? It didn't seem that way when the 3DS released at the same price, which Nintendo shortly after slashed the price to $170 due to under-performing sales. However, the lack of software at the beginning of its lifespan I believe played a major factor in that.