PS Vita price cut must happen everywhere

Finally, some good news for the PlayStation Vita. Sales of the handheld quadrupled over the past week in Japan as it recorded its best figures for months. 62,543 units were sold for the week ending 3 March, up massively from the measly 11,456 units the week before. And while it still didn't manage to overtake the ever-strong Nintendo 3DS at the top of the hardware chart, it does bode well for the future. The reason for the massive uptake in sales? Well, the much-needed price cut might have something to do with it.

Bringing the Wi-Fi and 3G Vita models down in price to 19,980 yen (£139 GBP) from 24,980 yen (£174 GBP) wasn't taken lightly by the decision makers at Sony. It seemed that not one press conference or interview could go by without someone asking if the handheld would ever be given a price cut to help boost sales a little bit. In all honesty it was far too early to consider cutting the price until now - the Vita is little over a year old - but the latest figures show that consumers are responding positively to the change.

Let's not get too carried away just yet, after all the first few weeks after a price cut usually see stimulated sales, even for the shoddiest products. But it does bode well for the future of a platform that many believe doesn't have what it takes to go the distance. The Vita is obviously a superb piece of technology, but in a day and age when money is hard to come by, spending hundreds of pounds on a handheld is difficult to justify.

Time will tell whether the Vita's surge in popularity has any lasting effect in Japan. However if similar figures are recorded over the coming weeks then Sony must consider a price cut for other regions as well. Talk of selling the Vita for cheap in America and Europe has so far been ignored, but it is struggling to make an impact in these markets as well and a sale would almost certainly help matters.

At the time of writing, a quick glance through online stores reveals that the 3G model is available for over £200 GBP on average in the UK. That's just for the Vita, no games or memory card included. Add an extra £25 GBP if you actually want to play a game on the thing, and it's not as if there is a plethora of choice for Vita owners as quality titles are few and far between.

Apply the same sort of discount to the Vita here as in Japan and you'll be looking at a much more desirable package overall. Bringing it down to around the £150 GBP mark would suddenly make it very tempting to those that have been sitting on the fence for the last year. The key thing for Sony is to get the Vita in as many people's hands as possible, and then they will realise how good it is and be hooked. It's hard to argue whether it's worth the current asking price.

Of course, any good gaming system needs to be supported by a raft of exciting, innovative and entertaining games. This is another area that Sony has to focus on, but it's encouraging that there have been talks about improving the software line-up by working with third-party developers. Original titles are also needed, not just rushed ports of console games.

The Vita has a chance to really excel over the next year with the PlayStation 3 Cross-Buy promotion and a greater integration with the upcoming PlayStation 4. Now we as consumers just need that extra incentive to go out and buy it, which would almost certainly be provided by a price cut.