Sony PlayStation Vita hits stores in Japan

Tokyo: Sony PlayStation Portable Vita long awaited game machine shops to hit Japan on Saturday as thousands of gamers lined up early to be one of the 1st to buy it.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. is the prediction of steady sales, even though the launch may have missed some buyers of vacation. The first success would help the company offset the rest of its business in trouble. Sony expects a loss of over $ 1 billion for the fiscal year in March 2012, which would be its fourth consecutive annual loss.

Sony PlayStation Vita hits stores in Japan

In the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo shopping, some gamers than 300 lined up outside a chain-mail, which opened a few hours earlier than usual for the event. Many buyers have pre-orders on the Internet so they can start playing immediately.

The twist is a touch interface and motion-sensitive handheld seen as a successor to the PlayStation Portable. Players can connect to cellular networks and Wi-Fi hotspots, and use the GPS location tracking technology.

TV footage showed some consumers unwrap their new purchases and starting to try them in store.

"I am so happy to see so many people lining up for PS Vita so early in the morning," Sony Computer Entertainment Japan president Hiroshi Kono wrote in his official blog after a tour of several stores in Tokyo. "I can say they had waited impatiently for the launch today.”

For electronics, based in Tokyo and entertainment giant, the Vita is the biggest product launch since the PlayStation three 5 yrs ago. It is also accompanied by two dozen software products - the more launch titles in the history of PlayStation.

La Vita has front and rear cameras, touch screen at the front, a touch pad on the back and two button joystick. It will allow players to play against each other using the PlayStation 3 PlayStation on the Internet, a system that was hit with a massive hacking attack earlier this year.

Launch of Vita will heat the competition with rival Nintendo Co.’s 3DS. Nintendo Co.’s 3DS had a disappointing start, despite the attempts of the company to market its 3-D technology, with critics complaining of a lack of interesting games. Nintendo has finally slashing prices on the 3DS within six months.

Companies are confronted with the acclivity of smartphones and tablets, through which casual gamers play games simple and inexpensive as the mega-hit "Angry Birds".

La Vita PS will be available in North America and Europe on February 22.