Sony had previously said the highly anticipated console will hit Japanese stores by the end of the year but will miss the key Christmas holiday shopping season in North America and Europe.

In Japan, the PlayStation Vita will sell for 24,980 yen ($325) for the Wi-Fi version and 29,980 for the 3G model, which will be available in partnership with Japan's biggest mobile operator NTTDoCoMo.

In the US, A PS Vita model that connects to the Internet only using Wi-Fi will be priced at $249, while a version of the gadget featuring 3G connectivity to telecom data services will be priced at $299.

Both Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo are under increasing pressure from smartphones and tablets such as Apple's iPhone and iPad, onto which cheap or even free games can be quickly downloaded and played.

Nintendo cut the price of its 3DS game console, which displays three dimensional graphics without the need for special glasses, by up to 40 percent after only six months due to weak sales.

The PS Vita features a five-inch (12.7 cm) multi-touch OLED (organic light emitting diode) screen with a pad on the back for "touch, grab, trace, push and pull" finger motions. The handset also has front and rear facing cameras.