$249 For The Most Cutting Edge Handheld On The Market? Oh Sony.

The words "five-hundred-and-ninety-nine US dollars" must still ring in the ears of SCE president Kaz Hirai, but this year he had a different price to announce: "two-hundred-and-forty-nine US dollars".

That's the price of the entry level SKU for Sony new handheld, the PlayStation Vita. Earlier in the conference Kaz had explained that "Vita" represented life, and the energy Sony was planning to bring to the portable space. While the demonstrations were rough at times, Sony proved its point — the Vita looks in a whole different generation to Nintendo's similar offering, the 3DS. And yes it's priced comparably.

Sony announced that the Vita will launch globally this Holiday. A 3G SKU will be offered for a similarly reasonable $299.99. Bold prices for a bold system.

The handheld space may have a fight in its hand yet, and Nintendo is going to have to traverse a huge hurdle to stop Sony this time around.

<em>Update: Jack Tretton has said that the PlayStation Vita will not launch globally this "calendar" year.
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