1.2 million PlayStation Vita sold worldwide

Sony's PlayStation Vita has sold over 1 million units in about two months of availability. The game company announced today that it has sold over 1.2 million Vita units worldwide since the portable launched in Japan on December 17. Sony didn't break down the sales figures by country, but acknowledged that this month's launch across the U.S. and Europe helped the Vita "exceed expectations" at this point in its lifecycle. The PlayStation Vita boasts the familiar PlayStation action buttons on the right side and dual thumbsticks. It can connect to the Web via Wi-Fi and 3G and features both front and rear cameras. The device's 5-inch OLED display doubles as a touch screen, and on the back, Sony has added touchpads for "greater hand control." Sony's sales trumpeting comes two months after Japanese game-tracking firm Enterbrain revealed that just 321,400 PlayStation Vita units were sold during the device's first two days on store shelves. Nintendo, on the other hand, sold 371,000 3DS units during its launch period earlier in the year. Now that the Vita is available worldwide, the real battle between Nintendo and Sony is heating up. In the last generation, Sony's PlayStation Portable was beaten handily by Nintendo's DS. For now, a similar scenario is playing out in the mobile space, as Nintendo reported last month that it sold 11.4 million 3DS units worldwide during the nine-month period ended December 31. It wasn't always that way for Nintendo. After launching the 3DS last year at $249, few consumers jumped at the chance to buy the device. The sluggish sales forced Nintendo to drop the portable's price to $169. Although it helped total adoption, it proved to be a major drain on revenue. The Vita starts at $250 for the Wi-Fi-only version and the 3G-equipped model sets customers back $300. If the Vita's sales start to tail off like the 3DS' did, Sony could be faced with a tough choice: press on and hope for the best or bring the price down. One other tidbit from Sony's announcement: total Vita software sales have reached 2 million units at both retail and on its PlayStation Network. From: Cnet