Sony has finally unveiled what it has planned for the online and social aspects for its new handheld PS Vita. From what has been unveiled it's going to be the most connected handheld ever.
Consisting of four online modes Sony has explained how Vita is going to be the most connected handheld on the market. The four areans are called: Near, Party, LiveArea and Activity.
Near is a location-based gifting system, which works in a similar to the Nintendo 3DS spotpass. Each game you play has a Gift Box with a limit of 100kb, which can be filled with gifts; these items consist of items with a game, power-ups, or even in-game challenges
Party is a group chat and gaming feature that will allows you connect to other players on Playstation 3 and PS Vita. You will be able to create a party of 4 people, including yourself, and will work inside and outside of games. So all 4 players can be doing something different, but still can be chatting together a la Xbox live and Playstation Network.
The LiveArea will be the user interface that users will see when they fire up the handheld. This will be the main hub of the handheld where you can change options, launch games, communicate with friends and other users.
Activity shows you what games your friends have been playing and how well they have been doing, displaying reviews, ratings and trophies for you to comment on.
Game developers will even be able to customise the Activity Area that comes with each game through firmware upgrades, allowing each game to be tailored to the target market.
It’s all shaping up to be a great, all encompassing, online experience on the PS Vita. Sony looks like they have taken the best bits of the Playstation Network and Xbox live to create something that will add a compelling layer of content and interactivity to the PS Vita.
Add in the ability to use any of these functions out and about with 3G and the PS Vita is shaping up to be a massive success when it goes on sale next year in the UK.
We can't wait for the PS Vita, can you? Let us know what you're excited about via our comments section.