Lucky Japan gets the PS Vita on December 17 of this year, for a whopping ¥25,000 (US$326). Its games don’t look like they’ll be on the cheap end, either. Famitsu has revealed that the card version of Uncharted: Golden Abyss will retail for ¥5,980 ($78), while the PSN downloadable version will go for ¥4,900 ($63).
Namco Bandai’s Katamari: No Vita has been similarly priced: ¥4,980 ($65) for the card and ¥4,480 ($58) as a download. North America is looking at PS Vita cartridge games in the $60/$70 range, and it seems that downloads may be the way to go.
Dengeki Playstation has also published an interview with Sony Development Head Yoshio Matsumoto, who begs PSP owners not to throw away their UMD discs just yet. Sony Entertainment is planning to offer a service that allows owners to download their PSP games onto their Vita, at a “special price.” Since the PS Vita only plays cartridges or downloaded content, it appears the UMD will be phased out with the PSP.
