PS Vita to usher the 'social gaming revolution' stateside next February

Prepare to be revolutionized ... or something like that. Sony's American CEO Jack Tretton announced at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday that the PlayStation Vita will hit the U.S. on Feb. 22. Sony's third handheld gaming console will go for $249, and Tretton wrote in a blog post yesterday, "I can't wait for you to experience this revolutionary handheld system."

Of course, the PS Vita will launch in Canada, Latin America, and Europe on the same day. Games that are in development for the "revolutionary" console include Sony properties like Resistance: Burning Skies and Uncharted Golden Abyss. Those are joined by Capcom's Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, EA Sports' FIFA, Activision's Call of Duty and more, Tretton wrote.

Sony has played up the console's social features more than its powerful hardware, which, of course, has piqued our interest. The company seems to consider the PS Vita's social gaming features "revolutionary". While some of us may not buy it, the most notable of which is Near, a feature that allows the system to communicate with nearby PS Vita consoles. Through this, players can compete in local multiplayer matches, share in-game gifts (like on Facebook?) and compare players statistics.

We'll see just how revolutionary the PS Vita turns out to be for social gaming this coming February. (You know, just after everyone and their mother dropped serious green on Christmas?) Considering Nintendo was all but forced to slash the price of its brand new 3DS from $250 to coax consumers, we wonder how gamers will react to the $250 price tag.

[Via Mashable]

Do you plan on buying a PlayStation Vita when it launches next year? Do you think Sony could fall into the same trap Nintendo did with its 3DS?