Many gamers are currently aware that Sony's highly-anticipated successor to the PlayStation Portable, the Sony PSVita, is launching in the United States, Europe and Australia on Wednesday, February 22, 2012. What some of these gamers might not realize, however, is that the costs of purchasing downloadable games from the Sony PlayStation Network will be significantly cheaper than purchasing their physical retail counterparts at GameStop and other major retailers.

According to a recent interview between ShackNews and a Sony representative, "there will be a discount on the downloadable PS Vita titles from the PlayStation Network. Exact details have not yet been revealed, but be on the lookout for an announcement in the very near future," said the representative.

In terms of game content delivery, physically-bound software for the PlayStation Vita is distributed on a proprietary flash memory card called "PlayStation Vita card" rather than on Universal Media Discs (UMDs) used by the original PlayStation Portable. The company's PSVita memory cards will be available in size from 4 GB to 32 GB, with 4 GB versions currently available.



Proprietary Sony PSVita Card (left) and Sony Memory Stick for PSVita (right)


There are currently a few Sony PSVita games listed on Best Buy's website with MSRP values adjusted roughly 10-percent lower than their retail counterparts. For instance, MLB 12: The Show (March 2012) is listed at $35.99, while Reality Fighters (February 2012) is listed at $26.99 and Uncharted: Golden Abyss (February 2012) is listed at $44.99.

In addition to seeing lower prices on downloadable games, Best Buy will also sell codes that can be redeemable on the PlayStation Network. The retail chain currently has a number of PSVita games listed in its pre-order machine, and we can only assume at this point that they include codes for digital downloads from the PlayStation Network.