Wince at the confirmed PlayStation Vita UK pricing

Little Jimmy’s dreams of finding a PlayStation Vita under his Christmas tree had already been squashed by Sony following the news that they would bring the next-gen handheld games consoles to UK shores on February 22, 2012, months after it hit Japan.

Now little Jimmy may have to wait a lot longer, as he’s going to have to save a lot of pocket money to be able to afford one of these things.

The PS Vita with 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity will cost a whopping £279.99 at launch, with the Wi-Fi only model costing £229.99.

Jim Ryan, the boss of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, said, “PlayStation Vita is an incredible device that offers the best possible portable gaming experiences.”

That may be the case, but that doesn’t excuse the massive mark-up UK consumers always have to stomach compared to their US counterparts.

Looking specifically at the cheaper Wi-Fi model, in the US you’d pay around $250 for it. Our quick calculations put that at directly converted prices around £155 in the UK, or £186 with or 20% VAT added on top. It’s an almost £50 mark up for gamers in Blighty.

As proven by the lukewarm response to the Nintendo 3DS, handheld gaming is already on shakey ground thanks to the rise of smartphone and tablet gaming apps. Sony’s UK pricing for the Vita doesn’t do much to turn people away from Apple’s growing App Store monopoly.