If you have been watching Sony’s PS Vita coverage during this year’s Tokyo Game Show in Japan, you may be worried that all the exciting features on the device, not to mention 3G data support may end up bruising consumers in terms of overall battery life.
Well, your fears are about to be eased as Sony has just confirmed that an additional extended battery will be available for the device, promising to offer that extra bit of juice which will be handy on long trips on the road or on public transport.
As most of you probably already know, the Vita will be able to manage three to five hours of gameplay on the standard battery, which obviously isn’t nothing to boast about if you expected a few more hours – the original PSP can handle around 5-6 hours as it is don’t forget. The good news, is that Sony are obviously aware of battery life fears and have revealed to IGN that a solution is under way.
Here is a quote from Worldwide studios president Shuhei Yoshida: “If you have noticed, we have just announced the peripherals for PS Vita. And one of the peripherals is the external battery. That extends the battery life of PS Vita. If you’re flying from New York to San Francisco or vice versa, you’ll have no concerns if you have the additional external battery.”
By ‘no concerns’ does he mean that that the external battery will offer a significant increase in battery life? As that is the main question that everyone will be asking now, and it’s probably the new factor which will make or break consumer’s decision to buy the device when it finally becomes available. Then of course there is the little matter of how much is the external battery pack going to cost as an additional extra?
The real breakthrough will come when analysis is conducted on these external batteries, so we’ll have to hang on until then. If you are thinking of picking up a Vita, give us your thoughts on the standard 3-5 hours of battery life and your opinions on this extra battery that Sony are planning.
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