Laying down roots in what is already one of the UK's most vibrant development hotbeds, Sony as unveiled a new 'PlayStation Lab' at Abertay University in Dundee.

The new teachning laboratory comes equipped with 30 new PS Vita development kits as part of the unversity's partnership with SCEE's academic developer programme PlayStationFirst.

"The next generation of PlayStation-savvy developers are now in education and Abertay University is at the forefront of bringing young and talented developers to our platform," detailed Dr Maria Stukoff, head of academic development at SCEE.

"It is these students who will influence the future of video games and we are delighted to work with Abertay University to make this a PlayStation training hub."

Super Vita

The lab already has access to both PS4 and PS3 development kits that are "identical to those used by professional game studios to create games for PlayStation."

Indeed, undergraduates at the university are charged with building a fully-fledged game "exactly as if they were running a small business" in their third year, with two student teams working with FuturLab co-founders James Marsden and Kirsty Rigden on PS Vita projects.

Students Jake Mackenzie and Natasha Singh with Dr Maria Stukoff

"Abertay is very proud to have the largest teaching laboratory of PlayStation consoles in Europe, and it's something our students benefit hugely from," added Professor Louis Natanson, head of the School of Arts, Media and Computer Games at Abertay University.

"Having access to professional Sony development kits is incredibly exciting for students learning how to design and build games, and we've seen a real jump in the enthusiasm of our students since we created this lab.

"Students are routinely staying after class to work on their own projects, with many immediately aspiring to releasing their own games for PlayStation."