Sony Japan Has Surprise in Store: Announcement on PS Vita Expected

Just as gamers everywhere were expecting Sony to unveil plans for the PlayStation 4 - at the 20 February event in New York City - the Japanese electronics giant has revealed that a PlayStation Vita announcement will be made two days earlier. A note on Sony's Japanese PlayStation site indicates that a broadcast about the Vita is scheduled to begin at 5pm Tokyo time (8am GMT).

The announcement also indicates the streaming broadcast will be a pre-recorded video and some sections may be age-restricted. Finally, it also warns users there might be technical glitches through the streaming of the video.

The streaming - handled by UStream - will also be available on smartphones and live coverage is expected on the Japanese PlayStation's Twitter account, where this tweet has been posted: "We will inform you the latest information about PlayStation Vita from 17:00 today. Hiroshi Kawano. We are scheduled to broadcast on UStream.

There is no hint as to why Sony are suddenly broadcasting for the Vita, particularly with the PlayStation 4 announcement expected in New York on Wednesday. There have been plenty of rumours floating on the latter subject, though; particularly with regard to a new kind of controller. There is also speculation the meeting could be to announce new developments for the existing console, the PlayStation 3.

With regard to the Vita announcement, it could Sony will announce a drop in prices. A GameSpot report earleir this month confirmed the company had radically revised sales targets for the handheld device. The cut was for 3 million units and came after a 15 percent drop in year-on-year revenue for the third quarter of FY2012; this amounted to nearly £2bn.

The New York meeting could also have been used as boost point for the Vita's announcement. It could be that Sony is trying to use the excitment generated by the PS4 to psuh the Vita into the limelight.

As reported earlier on IBTimes UK, you can catch the event live on Sony's Web page. IBTimes UK will be live in New York to give constant live updates on details of the 20 February meeting.