Sony: 3DS proves that people want gaming handhelds

Sony Computer Entertainment boss Andrew House has pointed to sales of Nintendo 3DS as proof that there's a market for dedicated gaming handhelds.

"Normally we don't really reference the competition a lot when we talk about the PlayStation business, but in this case it's perhaps a little salutary that the sales of the 3DS - you know, having the advantage of releasing a little bit ahead of us - have been exceedingly good," he told the US PlayStation Blog at CES in an interview you can check out below.

"I think that shows that there is in general a lot of demand for a gaming primary portable device, which is how I would describe Vita.

"But you know, our device in contrast has just so much more to offer. What I think we've done is point to a market that really has started out with potentially casual games that are on other devices, but now wants a deeper, a better or more premiere gaming experiences."

Sales of PlayStation Vita in Japan have been relatively slow so far, although the handheld passed the 500,000 mark last week.

House also said that the slightly later launch in the west would mean more games and hopefully make a bigger splash. European boss Jim Ryan has previously described the European Vita launch line-up as "comfortably the strongest line-up we've had for any platform launch".

We're loving the PlayStation Vita, as you'll know if you've read our PlayStation Vita Review or tucked into Digital Foundry vs. PlayStation Vita.

The console's out in Europe on 22nd February.