Without further ado, we can tell you that Sony are pricing this thing at $249 for the standard WiFi edition, which is fantastic value for money you have to agree. Perhaps even more surprising, is that you’ll only have pay $50 extra for the 3G model, as that will be available for just $299.

Those are obviously the US prices, as those of you in Europe will have to pay 249 Euros for the WiFi and 299 Euros for the 3G version, which is considerably more than the US version but gamers should be used to that by now. For Japanese markets, the WiFi version will be priced at 24,980 yen, while the 3G version will be available for 29980.

Now that pricing is out of the way, Sony also announced that the PS Vita will be releasing in the US this holiday period, no indication on other regions yet sadly, but we’ll update you if more release details slip out this week.

What are your thoughts on the pricing, are you impressed with Sony’s strategy here? Look forward to full details on the PS Vita soon.

It turns out that the list with no source was completely incorrect, which is a shame as it teased some really nice titles that we had hoped to see. Sadly, the likes of Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty and FIFA 12 won’t be coming to the NGP as launch titles, but who knows – maybe they will still be announced by Sony and their respected developers at E3 on June 6th.

As for the official list, it is as follows below, courtesy of VG247:

Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Reality Fighters
Super Stardust Delta
wipEout 2084
Hustle Kings
Sound Shapes
Resistance Retribution
Everybody’s Golf.

As you can see, it’s not the strongest launch lineup by any means, with Uncharted and Resistance the two stand out titles from the list. Reality Fighters may interest those of you who are seeking to test out the NGP’s augmented reality features, other than that we have to say that the list is a bit disappointing.

Don’t forget though that the system will be backwards compatible with all PSP games in digital format. So if there’s a new PSP game coming out that you like, you’ll still be able to play it on the new system which is nice. Give us your thoughts on the launch lineup, are you a bit disappointed as well? Hopefully E3 will add some hardcore games to the mix.

The information has surfaced from PSPGWeber, however they have failed to provide any source for this information, instead preferring to tell users that the information is just ’100% confirmed’, according to the author ‘John Gilbert’.

Without further ado, the list naturally includes some very mouthwatering titles, and we’d be pretty pumped up if any of them turn out to be true. They include the likes of Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter IV: AE, FIFA 12, Pro Evo 2012 and Sonic Generation.

Uncharted NGP which we already know about is mentioned too, along with some less desirable titles like LEGO Harry Potter, Lumines and Hot Shot Golf. As you can see, those games listed first are pretty nice, imagine being able to play a portable version of Modern Warfare 3 complete with Call of Duty Elite stats on the move – it’s stuff of dreams isn’t it? Also, we’d love it if NetherRealm Studios are indeed planning to port a version of Mortal Kombat over to the PS Vita.

Don’t forget there’s no source for the information, so the list is probably likely to be fake. If we hear any more details about possible launch titles for the PSP2 though, we’ll be sure to let you know.

In the meantime, tell us which titles you would like to see launched with the handheld.

We’re giving you the chance to state your thoughts and opinions to Sony, on if you think it’s a correct decision to name the next PSP, ‘Vita’ or not. Our first thoughts is that the name definitely sounds a bit strange when saying the name ‘Vita’ pronounced ‘Vee-ta’ out loud. Then again, we all thought the same about Kinect and that turned into a household name, so perhaps the same thing will apply here.

You may not be too keen on Vita as a final name for the PSP2, but if you call it the Sony ‘PSV’ instead, it has a better ring to it doesn’t it, and once which definitely sounds a lot better than PS Vita. Those are our thoughts on the name, but you as gamers should have the deciding vote on this.

Would you accept the name Vita for the PSP2, or are you strongly against this? We’ve read that many of you would prefer the ‘NGP’ (Next generation portable) as the PSP2′s name rather than the Vita – are you one of these people?

We’ve created a poll below for you to have your say on this, we’ll be following up with the results once we’ve received your feedback. Is Vita possibly the worst name that Sony could have come up for a new piece of hardware, or are you a fan of the name? Don’t forget folks, this is still a rumor until Sony confirms it at E3, but it’s still good to send a message to Sony regardless.

[poll id="358"]

The Xperia Play is the first PlayStation ‘certified’ mobile device in 2011, meaning that users will be able to play official PS1 games, as well as download games and content from Sony’s recently announced PlayStation Suite. The device is also a pretty capable smartphone, with a stunning 4-inch display screen, a customized version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 1Ghz Qualcomm processor, a 5 megapixel rear camera with VGA front camera, 512MB of RAM and 512MB of internal storage, expandable via MicroSD card.

But then we have a potential sticking point – it’s price. Unless you are willing to pick this up on contract, you can expect to pay around £450-500 for one – which obviously isn’t cheap. In our opinion that’s a bit too much for a device which is very likely to be overshadowed once the PSP2 is out at the end of the year. Sony are infamous for bringing in their premium starting prices though, so we’re hardly surprised.

How many of you are still planning to pick up the Xperia Play, knowing that the NGP with better specs, and 3G support which everyone keeps forgetting about, is on the way soon. If you ask us, we’d tell you that you are probably worth waiting a few months for at least a price drop. However, we have spotted this excellent contract deal with T-Mobile UK which you may be interested in.

Who’s getting the PSP Phone, and who’s waiting for the PSP2?

It turns out that a research firm called Toluna are running a survey on the NGP or PSP2, and this survey is in fact officially sponsored by Ubisoft. The question asked though was the most interesting part, as you can see below, as reported from Kotaku:

“The retail price of the Sony NGP is expected to be around $350. Would you purchase the Sony NGP now that you know this retail price?”

The thing is, we don’t actually know this retail price, as Sony hasn’t announced it yet, unless of course Ubisoft know something we don’t. You should be aware that this $350 price relates to the 3G version of the model, while the standard version of the NGP is meant to be set at $250 according to the survey.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you be happy paying $350 for the 3G version? Either way, $250 is a very good price for the standard edition if it turns out to be correct. Don’t forget that Sony has already stated that pricing for the NGP would be ‘affordable’, so $250 sounds about right to us. You can read further information on PSP2 pricing in our previous report here.

Forgive me if I am wrong, but surely people would much rather have one portable device that does it all; it might be nice to have a device like the PlayStation Portable or the Nintendo 3DS, but that’s another item you have to carry with you. We are now entering a stage where we want one thing that does them all, and the iPhone and tablet devices could be it.

Dallas News has raised something interesting, saying that the biggest portable video game of 2010 was Angry Birds, and it was not seen on any of the handhelds. This game was for the Apple iPhone at first, and then Android followed with the app after. This is just one example, take Farmville, this will not be able to be played on the NGP, as it can on the iPhone and iPad.

GameStop’s Bob McKenzie said that there is still plenty of life left in handheld gaming devices, as gamers want games that offer them more than 5 minutes of fun. Having said that, as smartphones become more powerful, so the games will become more complex. We are now entering a stage where the range of phones coming to the market will have dual-core processors and much more RAM – watch this space.

Do you think that there is still a future for portable gaming devices, or will the smartphone succeed them?

We were fearing a potential price point of $300+ for the Quad Core system, but we’re pleased to inform you that some leaked internal shots from GameStop, obtained by MukYou prices the NGP at $299 – definitely an affordable price for most of you.

Considering the fact that the Sony PSP Go is currently priced at $225 over at Amazon, you have to say that $299 is a very fair deal considering the sheer capabilities of the device, providing this price point is legit of course.

To give you a run through of what you’ll be getting for $299, the Sony NGP features a 5-inch OLED capacitive touchscreen, dual analogue sticks, a Quad Core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 3G connectivity and much more. You can check out more specs in our previous report here.

We’re guessing that a lot of you are plesantly surprised with the $299 price point here presuming it’s accurate. Maybe Sony has learned from their mistakes with the PSP Go and are finally willing to listen to consumers. If this thing stays at $299, it’s going to fly off the shelves and really make Nintendo take notice.

Would you buy the Sony NGP if it’s priced at $299?

If you watched Sony unveil the NGP (Next Generation Portable), in Japan recently, you’ll know that the hardware specs are very impressive, and the initial lineup of games that were shown are very promising.

On the other side, Nintendo are raising a few eyebrows too, with the obvious step up in graphics quality compared to the now outdated Nintendo DS. The video below gives a demonstration of some of the graphics on offer for both systems, as well as giving side by side comparisons of some of the same titles on the 3DS and NGP, such as Metal Gear Solid.

It’s true that the NGP will be bringing portable versions of Killzone and Uncharted at some point, but we think the 3DS is equally as impressive with the likes of Super Street Fighter IV 3D almost on par with PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

Which handheld do you think has the best graphics? Take a look at the video below courtesy of RealGamerNewz and let us know your choice. Are you going to buy both systems or just one?

Although we haven’t really heard many details about the upcoming NGP edition of the Killzone game – which according to Darryl at gamingunion.net is being developed by Sony Cambridge – since the initial announcement, we do have news regarding a gameplay screenshot and a recent trailer.

As Debabrata Nath over on the gamingbolt.com website notes, the visuals displayed in the Killzone NGP screenshot look pretty impressive. The Sony Next Generation Portable is slated for a “fall 2011” release, and we assume that the Killzone game will be launching alongside it.

The screenshot doesn’t appear to be the only footage of the Killzone NGP game in action either. According to a previous article by Tom Pakinkis over at computerandvideogames.com, a trailer has also been released. The trailer gives us a glimpse at Killzone, LittleBigPlanet and Resistance.

You can view the said trailer over on the CVG website. What do you think of the Killzone NGP game from what you’ve seen? Will you be buying the Sony PSP2?