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A few months ago, Sony announced that they were going to be releasing a new handheld gaming system. The “NGP”, as they called it, would continue in the company’s trend of delivering high-quality portable products that deliver an experience similar to what you can get out of a home console. This week in LA, they finally unveiled details on exactly what gamers have to look forward to. It’s called the Vita (it means “life”), and it’s ready to rock your socks clean off.

It sounds like the dream of everyone to ever play a game. It has a multitouch screen, a multitouch back touchpad, two cameras, a gyroscope (similar to the one in the Wii and PlayStation 3 controllers), and two analog sticks, along with a healthy supply of buttons. If that wasn’t enough, it also has the power to play games that look almost as good as the ones found on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and is to come with a slew of online features. There’s even a version in the works that will work with AT&T for 3G gaming! How cool is that? This thing is the next-generation of cool.

I had a chance to play with it today, and I was absolutely floored. The screen is beautiful, and the games they showed off took full advantage of all of the unique features. One game, Little Big Planet, was especially fantastic. It played like the old Mario games, except I controlled a cute little “Sackboy” (like a doll made of burlap) who ran around jumping through obstacles. When things got in my way, I could push them away with the touchscreen. If that didn’t work, I could knock them away with the BACK touchpad. It felt like I was poking my finger through their world! I even tilted the screen to rock a rope back and forth to get to a new area, it was awesome.

There were other games that showed off the use of the camera for some augmented reality action. Not unlike the game that came on the 3DS, it had me spinning around (in the real world!) and shooting bad space ships that appeared in the room I was in. I’ll write more about some of the news surrounding this neat device in the coming weeks, but just know that the coolest PlayStation 3 games are coming to the Vita in a big way this year.

Best of all, it’s out this holiday season at a price that’s competitive with the Nintendo 3DS! That’s right, there are two big, new handheld gaming consoles in 2011! If you’re going to be buying gifts for gamers (or yourself), you’re going to have plenty of choices come Christmas, and it’s going to be worth paying attention to the Vita. I know I am.