Sony: We Won't Make PSP Mistakes With PS Vita

Sony has admitted it made a mistake with how PSP games were handled, dropping the ball when the PS3 arrived, and insists that it will not make the same mistake the the PS Vita. ""In the past we launched PSP and then shifted our attention to PS3 when that came on the horizon, which we now concede was a mistake" Sony worldwide studios president Shuhei Yoshida told the official PlayStation blog, "so with PS Vita we are working on this huge range titles and planning ahead for a constant supply of excellent games."

"Generally we look three years ahead when we work on games" Yoshida says, with Sony having a "fairly firm plan" to take it up until 2013. The PS Vita went on sale in Japan over the weekend, selling 321,000 units in its first two days.

Meanwhile, Yoshida was at pains to point out that Sony will not be pushing augmented reality onto PS Vita gamers unnecessarily, despite AR being a key part of what the handheld was designed to support. The company has demonstrated its SmartAR technology several times this year, eschewing glyphs and instead using face-tracking and other systems.

"One thing I know about hardcore gamers is that they hate it when we try to shove new technology down their throats. There may be a perception that Augmented Reality is a gimmick, so we have to provide something that is robust and genuinely enhances the experience ... The more we experiment, I'm sure that we will see real gameplay benefits for hardcore players" Shuhei Yoshida, Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment and President of Worldwide Studios