PlayStation Vita’s Memory Card Pricing Revealed

Following a Tokyo Game Show bursting with all kinds of great news about the PlayStation Vita, Sony has revealed the planned pricing structure for the system's first-party memory cards.

A 4GB card will set you back ¥2,200 (about $29), an 8GB ¥3,200 ($42), a 16GB ¥5,500, and 32GB ¥9,500 ($124). That's a bit pricey when up against other storage formats, but it's about even with the per-gigabyte costs of Sony's own Memory Stick Duo, both in the US and Japan. Even still, there's always a chance that Sony will adjust the prices for the US market, and third-party offerings will likely be available for much less by the time the system launches here next year.

Since the Vita will be shipping without on-board storage, anyone who wants to take advantage of the handheld's robust downloadable game support will have to buy a proprietary memory card. (Those of you who prefer physical copies of games can still save your data on the game itself.)

Sony's official press release has more details on the memory cards and also sheds some light on the other accessories Japanese gamers will be able to buy for their handheld.

The Vita is currently scheduled to launch in Japan on December 17, with the rest of the world getting the system sometime in 2012.