Confirmed – Vita is region free

Sony has finally confirmed that its PlayStation Vita handheld console will be region free, according to the president of Sony Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida.

The news is all the bigger, of course, as Nintendo decided to region lock the 3DS – the first time it has ever locked one of its own handhelds.

Sony’s decision means that keen gamers will have the option of importing the device when it releases in Japan on December 17th. A UK release is not expected until some time in the New Year.

However, while a Japanese unit will quite happily play games purchased in the UK there’s always the chance that DLC will be region locked, as is the case with many of the region-free PS3 titles.