Vita Vita!

Sony spent lots of time chatting up new games and features coming to the PlayStation Vita during its Gamescom expo press conference today in Cologne, Germany.

About six months after the Vita's U.S. debut, we've often observed Vita enthusiasts and early adopters on forums speaking critically of Sony’s missteps with the launch and its various technicalities (e.g. expensive memory card). It didn't help matters much when critics and consumers additionally found Vita's presence at the massive E3 gaming expo in June lacking, as the Japanese company spent barely any time talking up the newly launched handheld at the show.

It seems obvious now that the people at Sony's PlayStation wing heard the Vita criticism loud and clear, as they used the first part of their presser today to reaffirm 60 games available for the handheld this year. However, the event really kicked off when Sony showed off two never-before-seen Vita games -- Tearaway (from Media Molecule) and Killzone Mercenary -- and gave a time frame for PlayStation One classics, new firmware, and other several compelling enhancements (such as Cross Buy) coming to the handheld.