Vita Japanese launch originally planned for early December, admits SCEJ boss

PlayStation Vita was due to release in Japan on December 3 instead of its since-confirmed December 17 release in the country, SCEJ boss Hiroshi Kawano has said in Famitsu this week.

The reason they moved it to December 17, according to Kawano, was to make sure it had enough units ready for launch, adding it's preparing hardware stock for the release.

No shipment numbers were given to the mag, but Kawano did say to Reuters at TGS that he expects the first 500,000 units to fly off the shelves. As noted by Andriasang, the first 500,000 3G units will have 100 hours of free 3G use.

Kawano made note in the Famitsu interview that at its core, Vita was a gaming machine first before anything else, not a smartphone. Got that?

Vita's out in the west early next year.