PS Vita TV is coming to the West as Sony preps PlayStation Now for launch

Sony launched the PlayStation Vita TV micro-console in Japan last year, and today it announced plans to bring a version of the hardware to Europe, the U.S. and Canada this year as the PlayStation TV. The company plans to sell the console by itself for $99, as well as a $139 PlayStation TV bundle that includes an HDMI cable, a DualShock 3 controller, an 8 GB memory card and a PlayStation Network code for a copy of The LEGO Movie Videogame. That's roughly in line with what Sony charges for similar packages in Japan. It's worth noting that the original PlayStation Vita TV hardware sported 1 GB of internal memory, along with a cartridge slot that allows users to play PlayStation Vita games on their TV, and there's little reason to think the Western version will be any different. The micro-console can also play PlayStation 1, PSP and Vita games downloaded from PSN and stream games from a PlayStation 4, as well as run PSN media streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, PlayStation TV will also support Sony's upcoming PlayStation Now game streaming service, which the company has been testing in closed beta for some time. The service is currently capable of streaming PlayStation 3 games (more variety is expected to come later) and will enter open beta on PlayStation 4 at the end of July. Sony plans to bring it to PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and select Sony televisions sometime thereafter.