Vita Pushed Back to 2012 Release in USA, Europe

Kazuo Hirai, Sony Corp. Executive Vice President, announced today that the PS Vita will be launching in early 2012 in the US and Europe and 2011 for Japan. Sony delayed the Vita in order to secure a better software lineup come launch. This could be a very wise move considering Nintendo 3DS user's frustration with the lack of new titles for the system.

For those of you outside Japan who were as excited about the Vita as I am there's always the option of buying a Vita in Japan and having it shipped to you. Vita has region-free gaming, meaning that where you buy the console and games won't matter. Uncharted and Wipeout:2048 have both been confirmed as launch titles in Japan. However, there are some downsides to buying overseas; The system may have hardware issues that could be worked out by the Europe release but aren't apparent until after the Japanese release (Sony frequently uses Japan to test their new systems before other releases) and the Japanese 3G model wouldn't work in your country because they use a country-specific provider. Price is also a factor, as shipping could easily cost upwards of ten dollars. For Americans the Vita will cost more due to currency conversion (313 USD for a wi-fi model) while Europeans will save a good chunk of money, getting the wi-fi vita for only 224 euros.

How do you feel about the delay? Will you take the risk of buying a Japanese Vita for the sake of rubbing in everyone's faces months before launch?

Why You Shouldn't Get Excited Over Vita Release Dates

As many of you probably know two PS Vita release dates have been leaked. GameStop UK is saying September 1st and BlockBuster UK has it listed as October 28th. Neither release has been confirmed by Sony and I'm betting that neither is accurate for a few reasons: First off, GameStop's date places the release at only a month from today, which seems all too soon especially after the Vita only recently received a major hardware change (The RAM was cut in half). Also, it's hard to imagine that Sony wouldn't have announced it already if it was only a month away. As for BlockBuster's date, the site's integrity is hurt as they have Modern Warfare 3's release date falsly listed as 11/11/11. It would also be a bad decision on Sony's part to release their portable on the same day as Dice releases Battlefield 3, a highly anticipated title. Ah those crazy brits.

UPDATE:
The Blockbuster UK site has changed their listing to TBA

When do you think the Vita will be released?

Sources:
http://www.gamestop.ie/core/common/default.aspx?advancedSearch=list
http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/ps-vita-release-date-leaked/