GDC Online 11: PS Vita titles to be available in both physical and downloadable form at launch

Much ado was made of the the PSP's failings in terms of both the availability and pricing of its online content, but Sony appear to be addressing these concerns in the build up to the launch of its newest handheld device, PS Vita.

Speaking at a GDC Online session Sony's Chris Norden confirmed that all of the PS Vita's launch titles will be available in both physical and downloadable form from launch day.

Norden stated that "PSN is supported from day one, right out of the box at launch."

PS Free-ta play

In answer to a developer's question, Norden also confirmed the freemium model will be supported on the device.

"You are free to explore whatever business model you want," he said.

"You'll have to talk to your account manager, and say, 'Here's my idea, and here's what I wanna do,' but yes, you're allowed to do that."

PSN Party features will be introduced on the PS Vita in he form of cross-game voice and text chat.

"We know everybody wants it on PS3 so we're doing it on Vita," Norden said.

The PS Vita will be launched in Japan on December 17 and will be region free. There will also be a 20 megabyte download limit on the device's 3G connection, though there will be no limit on wi-fi.

SCEE's George Bain previously outlined price points for the PS Vita dev kit at GDCE 2011.

[source: Gamasutra]