After the issue of hacking of a game network, Sony came up with a new handheld device called Playstation Vita for this holiday season. Earlier company was in the news as its online network was repetitively hacked by some unknown hackers and customers private information were stolen from the network. Sony had to shut down its network for almost a month because of these issues.

The new PlayStation Vita will go on sale for $249, or $299 for a 3G mobile version, starting in the holiday season, the Japanese electronics giant's No. 2 executive Kazuo Hirai told reporters on the eve of the E3 games convention. Playstation Vita device will work with exclusive AT&T carrier for network that some users  might don't like it, as many users using Apple's iPhones have complains about the poor connectivity of AT&T network.

The upbeat presentation was a far cry from Hirai's last public appearance, a May 1 news conference in Tokyo at which he bowed deeply and repeatedly to show the company's contrition after data on tens of millions of user accounts was stolen by hackers.

The company just managed to restore the PlayStation Network in full in its main North American and European markets ahead of E3, which runs from June 7-9.

Jack Tretton, the head of the company's U.S. videogames division, told reporters activity on the network was back up to 90 percent of what it had been before the security breach and that last week's PlayStation sales were up 27 percent on last year.

Restoring services quickly was seen as essential because connectivity is one of the main selling points of the Vita.

For serious gamers, the ability to take up games where they left off, even while they are are away from home, could be a key differentiation point from main rival Microsoft, which does not offer a portable device.

The global games market is expected to grow to $65 billion this year, up from $62.7 billion in 2010.

( Source: Reuters )