Showtime for PlayStation Vita

In the UK Vita is due to launch this week. As usual, there's the midnight openings across GAME and GameStation, but there has also been a big emphasis on consumer sampling with the Vita Rooms which allow potential consumers to rock up to a PlayStation destination and get hands-on with units. To add to that Sony has made sure that store managers across the UK have a Vita on hand to show consumers who come in and make enquires, giving them the chance to prod, jab and swipe the system. This is what it does, this is how you do it.

"That's the number one in terms of importance," states Yoshida. "TV is still important but there's lots of things we're putting into PS Vita that you really have to try or experience whether it's the screen, the back touch, the analogue sticks. And the only way to do that is to give it to people to try.

"That kind of activity is very crucial to communicate the value that PS Vita brings."

It's not a new concept of course. Nintendo packaged up the Wii and sent it on a nationwide roadshow that helped contribute to its stellar success, and in doing so pushed the entire games business to record numbers. The Vita isn't going to do that because it's not aimed at the mainstream or the family audience, it's targeted clearly between the eyes of the hardcore games player. But it's an audience that some feel has been overlooked since the Wii glory days, followed by the growth of iOS and social gaming, and Sony intends to cater to the core crowd.

We want people to spend more on the content, not on the connectivity, to be honest.

Shuhei Yoshida, Sony

Nothing highlights the intention of selling to the hardcore gamer than the price of the PS Vita. This is not a cheap console. Like the launch of the PlayStation 3 before it, it's a piece of hardware that's marked up at a luxury price of £230 in the UK, $249 in the US. And if that's not enough, the 3G version of the system clocks in at £270 or $299.

"The pricing is really important for a console games system. So that's why we decided to have both. Communicating the value of 3G is not easy because you have to experience it," admits Yoshida. "It's in the core experience of the PS Vita but you have to really experience it and have your friends doing the same thing."

Communicating the value of the 3G Vita hasn't been as successful in Japan as Sony expected, with the hardcore crowd not so keen on a higher valued piece of kit.

"SCE Japan was expecting more people to go towards the 3G side because it's a new launch and core gamers tend to go towards the more expensive. But sell-through was actually 1:1," confesses Yoshida.

Critics of the PS Vita will point to the sheer amount of features it offers, claiming it's a jack-of-all-trades system. The 3G capability plays into that when the value isn't apparent. Which begs the question, considering the costs involved in manufacturing and the extra cost to consumers, was the 3G version of the PlayStation Vita necessary?

"That's a question we asked ourselves maybe 200 times over the course of the development," admits Yoshida. "But from the very outset in early 2008 when we first started the project we had a very high level goal and we looked at all the technology we could and the advancements that we could use in a new system. 3G was always in the top five things we wanted to do. Because of how people are using social networks and how people are connected we saw the opportunity that games can be enhanced by having 3G and an always-on capability."

And yet Yoshida quickly brings up the price and the extra - perceived as unnecessary - expense that entails for the consumer, not just in a hardware sense but for the delivery of the 3G service from a mobile operator, and he's clear Sony wants the consumers spending money on games not services.

"More so than the cost of goods involved to have 3G capability, it's a burden of having 3G, because 3G it's not cheap, it's an investment from consumers and sometimes they have to make a commitment depending on the country. More pre-paid plans are available but still it's additional money that people have to spend on top of the content.

"We want people to spend more on the content, not on the connectivity, to be honest. There's a balance."

Yoshida likens the 3G technology to the broadband capabilities of the PlayStation 2. That console didn't ship with online access but it could be upgraded once the infrastructure was put in place. It's different for the 3G model of the Vita as it's built-in, but the thinking is that hardware has to be forward-looking, and it echoes the PlayStation 3's long-term commitment and the adoption of new services through online updates.

"The adoption of smartphones and looking forward at 4G and advancements on the mobile side, we believe these are very important to put on the platform so the developers can experiment with different usage of 3G and put this asynchronous social activity into our games," continues Yoshida.

"It's like when we started the PlayStation 2, we didn't have the broadband capabilities but we added those features knowing that not all users would have it, but we were prepared to put that in the middle so that publishers and developers could start experimenting with online games so that we can learn from their feedback and prepare for future growth.

"So that's the same stage in my mind by introducing the 3G SKU for certain people who have more money and are more interested in trying something new to choose the 3G version, but also at the same time prepare a wifi version."

Sony Japan was expecting more people to go towards the 3G model because it's a new launch and core gamers tend to go towards the more expensive. But sell-through was actually 1:1.

The only other reason I can see for a 3G version is to test the retail model - to see if it's possible to sell a games console similar to a mobile phone contract. By selling the consumer a monthly plan the retailer gives the hardware away for free or at a very reduced price, something retailers like GAME are considering if they hope to remain part of the High Street. Although Yoshida says that wasn't the original plan, it's a package that some operators are already putting together, including NTT Docomo in Japan.

"That wasn't the central thinking but it really depends on each territory," he offers. "Each country has slightly different plans, I can totally see in some countries there could be an offering from the carrier side if you signed up for a certain number of months that the PS Vita is given out for free."

The PS Vita is an impressive console with a strong launch line-up. It's a hardcore gamers delight, and although there will be early complaints about battery life and loading times, it should initially please the target market. So expect a strong launch for the first couple of weeks and positive buzz fuelled by Sony's impressive marketing muscle. But the true picture will form long term, once the hype dies down and third-party projects begin to make their presence felt, once the price either becomes accepted or slips to a more reasonable rate, and once the early adopters have spent their money on the next big thing and the wider console audience decides if it really does need a new dedicated gaming device. But at this stage Shuhei Yoshida doesn't need any convincing, he's an evangelist for his hardware, and a proud father to a brand new console.