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Europe's getting a 5-game Vita Slim bundle this summer
Sony's bringing a new Vita Slim bundle to Europe in June, this time with codes for a quintet of games. The famous five are Injustice: Gods Among Us, God of War: Chain of Olympus, PlayStation All-Stars, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate and Killzone: Liberation. You'll see it's subtitled the "Action Mega" pack, but with those games we'd call it "Not for Pacifists." The eagle-eyed of you will have spotted two of those games are for PSP rather than Vita - that's God of War and Killzone - and we'd prefer to see Killzone: Mercenary in there. In any case, the 200 euros bundle also chucks in a much-needed 8GB memory card. As for which countries, the pack's confirmed for Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, UK, Bulgaria, Croatia, Iceland, France, Greece, Poland, Russia, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Spain. There's no word yet on a concrete release date. [Image: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe]
Vita 2000 lands in Oz next month
The Vita 2000's journey around the world takes it to Australia on June 4, Sony announced today. It's taken it a little longer than 80 days to make it from Japan to Australia, with stop-offs as North America and Europe along the way, but it'll finally head downunder in three weeks' time with a price tag AUD$270. The new model is 20 percent thinner and 15 percent lighter than the original, and it has a LCD screen. The battery life is upped to 4 to 6 hours for gaming and 7 hours for video, and there's also a new micro USB Slot and a 1GB internal memory card. After launching in Japan back in October 2013, the slim Vita finally hit American shelves earlier this month, and you can pick it up now with a copy of Borderlands 2 for $200.
Football Manager 2014 scores Vita Slim bundle in the UK
Football Manager 2014 Classic is getting its own Vita 2000 bundle in the UK, although it's launching a week after the game on April 17 - if you're just after the game, that hits shelves on April 11. There's no word on a price, but the regular Vita Slim price is £180, and going by the box art the FM bundle includes a 4GB memory card in addition to a digital voucher for the game. If you're in need of some translations, here we go: FM2014 Classic is the latest edition of Sega's soccer/football/sportsball coaching sim, and it's a portable timesink for enthusiasts who think they can do a better job than the real managers (in some cases that's not saying much). As for the Vita 2000, it's the slimmer, lighter version of the Sony handheld, and it's expected to hit North America sometime this spring. [Image: Sony]
Joystiq Weekly: Titanfall, The Last of Us DLC and Mario Kart 8 rivals
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Did you see that the Koopalings are going to be new characters targets in Mario Kart 8? The Koopalings, the brats responsible for loads of deaths dealt to Mario and Luigi with lava, twirling hoops and rings of death from magic wands? Yup, we've got new rivals. You're annoying, Baby Mario, but you haven't stopped us from moving on to the next world of a Mario game before. Watch your back, Koopalings. There's something about family-friendly, inclusive Nintendo games that bring our most competitive spirit. Have you ever calmly congratulated a friend after their star thievery earned them the title of Party Champion in Mario Party 2? Have you nodded in admiration of your opponent's strategy in Mario Kart Wii, right after they steal your victory with a red shell a few feet away from the finish line? We have a feeling your dialogue might have been more ... "spirited" than civil. We're not judging though - heck, we just threatened a bunch of baby turtles one graf above this! Of course, a lot more happened this week beyond the Koopalings opening themselves up for a world of hurt. This week brought NPD data for January, a review of The Last of Us' "Left Behind" DLC and video previews for Titanfall and Evolve! There's lots more beyond that after the break though, so jump the break and dive into the biggest stories of the week!
Joystiq Weekly: News, reviews and original content from January 27 - February 2
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" recap of the week's most happening ... happenings. Yes. We'll summarize the biggest news, freshest reviews and original content from each week every Sunday, just in case you missed it while tending to your weekday grind. We'll also segue into each section with a reaction gif to the top story, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Now that we've reached life's designated "timeout" known as the weekend, let's dive in to this week's biggest moments:
Slimmer Vita remodel announced for UK, arriving February 7
We've had liftoff for Sony's slimmer Vita breaching the west, after Sony UK announced the thinner, lighter PCH-2000 is coming to the isle on February 7. As revealed at a conference attended by UK press this morning, it'll be priced around £180 in the country (that converts to just under $300) and will replace the older model there. The price is a big markdown on the launch figures we saw for the original handheld: around £230 for the Wi-Fi only model, and £280 for the 3G+ models. That said, it's a big markup on the PCH-2000's price in Japan of 19,929 yen, which converts to around $195. The remodel, which was introduced to Japan in October 2013, is 20 percent thinner and 15 percent lighter than the original Vita, and replaces the OLED screen with a LCD offering. There's also a new micro USB slot for data backup and charging, a 1GB internal memory card, six hours battery life, and new power and notification indicators on the top. There's no news yet about the slimmer iteration coming to other countries in Europe, let alone North America and beyond. Sony UK's other announcement this morning was a 10-game indie pack for the whole of Europe, featuring Alien Breed, Thomas Was Alone, Velocity Ultra, Men's Room Mayhem, Coconut Dodge Revitalized, Limbo, Hotline Miami, Total Recoil, Superfrog HD, and Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims in HD. It'll be priced €25, or in a Vita bundle that also includes a 4GB memory card for €200 - no word yet if the Vita in this bundle is the original or new model.
Hands-on with Sony's lighter, slimmer PlayStation Vita
Sony's recently announced remodel of the PlayStation Vita (the PCH-2000) was both on-hand and in-hand during this week's Tokyo Game Show proceedings, and after having spent some time with the device we can directly confirm that yes, this new unit is indeed a slimmer, lighter Vita. We didn't notice an astonishing difference between the 2000's LCD screen and the last model's OLED display, nor did holding the thing feel tremendously different, save for its aforementioned svelteness. Face buttons did feel slightly more raised, but whether that was a design change or simply the byproduct of holding a crisp new unit is uncertain. The new Vita will be available in Japan for ¥19,929 on October 10 – no announcements have been made as to availability in other territories.
