On June 6, 2011 at E3 2011, Sony announced the name of the device would be PlayStation Vita, along with release and pricing information.[15][39] The name was chosen because "Vita" means "Life" in Italian and Latin. The device itself enables a combination ofaugmented reality gaming and social connectivity, along with the "Near" and "Party" services, nearby networking and cross-game conferencing applications, respectively.
At the Game Developers Conference 2011, Sony revealed some details about the Vita cards during their Next Generation Portable panel. Another storage option, "Removable Memory", was also revealed to be available for the PlayStation Vita. Sony also said they are implementing a "single submission for both formats" to streamline the process of getting games approved for both card-based and downloadable releases.[40] Additionally, it was announced that only 3 of the 4 symmetrical CPU cores will be available to applications[41] along with two cameras, facial detection, head detection and tracking capabilities.[42] Following the Tokyo Game Show, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida confirmed that the console would be region-free.[43]
Sony's Japanese arm told The Wall Street Journal that earlier reports, including those by SCEA president Jack Tretton, suggesting thatJapan's recent earthquake would delay the release of the PlayStation Vita in some territories were outright "wrong". Sony representative Satoshi Fukuoka said he expects "no impact from the quake on our launch plan".[44][45]
In August 2011, Sony confirmed that the system would be released by the end of 2011 in Japan but not until "early 2012" in European and North American regions.[dated info][46] In October 2011, Sony announced that the system would be released on February 22, 2012 in Europe and North America.
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