Chris Nordon, senior staff developer support engineer for Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), has confirmed previous reports that PlayStation Vita 3G downloads will be limited to 20MB.
Nordon confirmed the news during a 2011 Game Developers Conference Online sponsored session this week, where he also dispelled the myth that Sony’s new handheld is as powerful as the PlayStation 3.
"That’s not true. That couldn’t be true. The things would burst on fire in your hands or something," he commented. He specifically cited the impact on battery life and heat output as reasons the PS Vita won’t be matching its console counterpart’s horsepower."
Nordon did, however, confirm that the Wi-Fi version of Vita would be able to download games over 4GB in size. Meanwhile, Vita retail software will come on 2GB and 4GB game cards.
Lastly, in a brief Q&A session, Nordon shed some light on whether the new portable would allow developers to make microtransaction-driven free-to-play titles. Specifically, he said developers are “free to explore whatever business model they want,” confirming Vita is capable of accommodating such a feature.
PlayStation Vita is due out in Japan on December 17. A western launch will follow in early 2012.