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Possible new PlayStation Portal model pays homage to the Vita's OLED

While much of the focus on PlayStation's next steps is the PS6 and PS6 Portable , the two-year old PlayStation Portal could be getting a revamp according to those pesky internet rumours.  Update : Hints at pricing are around £/$250-299 for the new model, but everything remains deeply in rumours territory. Presumably the goal is to hit the 10% (currently 7%-ish) adoption rate among PS5 owners, something that would make it a bone fide hit gadget.   The recent February  PlayStation State of Play  saw no announcement. But, PlayStation needs to make Portal more a core member of the PS5 family, rather than the distant cousin that most of its appearances suggest.  As the improvement in connectivity and streaming tech, proven by many gamers enjoying their PS5 or PlayStation Plus streamed content from around the world, an updated Portal Pro could be on the cards.  Possibly featuring a 120Hz display and an OLED screen in honour of the mighty Vita, that'd be coo...

The PS Vita Slim, £180, Sony facepalm

What world do Sony's executives and marketing twonks live in? Your product isn't selling and you have no big games. Instead of being brave and bold, Sony actually announces THREE BITS OF BAD NEWS at an event of its own creation - incredible!

What has Sony done? Offer the new "cheaper to manufacture" PS Vita with its less-impressive LED screen for an SRP of £180, and only in black, as just announced at its UK press event. If there's any more bad news I'll update but for now I'm off to bang my head against a wall. Here's what they could have won!

Getting back onto an even keel for a second, Sony has priced its cheaper Vita above the price of the better model, around £160. To be fair, the new Vita will likely slot in at that price with everyone going "BIG SAVINGS!" Actually, scratch that, the first pre-sales are up at the £180 RRP. If you do want a coloured one, PlayAsia -- with shipping -- is still £10 cheaper.

If Sony has a proper plan, to do that it must have some idea of a few amazing titles to help dig it out of the sales hole. Trouble is, without announcing them, no one will buy it. Over to you Sony!

A third way of looking at this is Sony has given up on the market and will squeeze what it can out of the Vita, and hope something pops up that drives sales eventually. Anyway, if you need a Vita, buy the cheaper, better model now, because once they're gone, its the new model only.

UPDATE: Now I'm calmer, reading around the web, Sony says they expect the price to drift lower, which makes sense but I'm betting we'll only see a proper price cut come Autumn when Sonys one or two big games are released.

Currently playing on my Vita/PS3/PS4/PS5


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