Sony has confirmed that the PS Vita Slim, announced last fall in Japan, is finally coming to the United States. Sony's PS Vita Slim made its way to the UK at the end of January. At the time, Sony said it didn't have anything to announce for North America. Today, at its February Showcase event in Los Angeles, the company confirmed that the PS Vita Slim is headed for these shores. Sony hasn't offered full details on the launch just yet, but we've heard it will be coming as part of a $199 Borderlands 2 bundle.
A U.S. launch for the PS Vita Slim was inevitable once Sony Europe confirmed that the device would eventually replace the current generation model. The PS Vita Slim is 20 percent thinner than the original PS Vita and 15 percent lighter. Size aside, the PS Vita Slim is available in various colors (though folks in the UK will only have access to the black model and it's not clear what the U.S. will get), has a curvier body, a smaller rear-touchpad, 1 GB of built-in memory, micro-USB support, and an LCD instead of an OLED panel.
Update: We asked a Sony representative whether or not users would be able to buy the new Vita separately from the bundle and the short answer is no. The reasoning behind this is that at $199 it's the same price as the outgoing Vita but with new hardware and Borderlands 2, which presents a better value at the same price point. The bundle also includes an 8GB memory card, which means it's perfectly adequate for storage right out of the box.
Sony seems to deem the $200 mark as the sweet spot, so don't expect to see anything priced higher. This pretty much means no more 3G models too.
Also, it appears that you can have it in any color you like so long as it's black. Expect the line to add more shades and colors as time goes on.
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