At their Gamescom showing today, Sony announced the European launch for two upcoming PlayStation products and services that people have been looking forward to for a while.

The first of these is the PlayStation TV (the rebranded PS Vita TV microconsole), that will be launching in Europe at a price of 99 Euros, and bundled with three digital games; Sony has confirmed it will be available in Europe starting November 14, exactly a year after its launch in Japan. The PlayStation TV plays a selection of Vita games, PSP and PS1 classics, and it also acts as a TV Remote Play extender for your PS4.

The second one of these is PS Now, which has been in beta in the US for a while now, and is scheduled to launch fully later this year- PS Now will be coming to Europe some time in 2015, with the UK getting first access to the streaming service. No other details were announced, but if we’re lucky, Europe will get a version of the service that has had all the kinks ironed out, thanks to feedback from North American players. Such as maybe having a subscription plan.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more Gamescom coverage.

Sony launched the PS Vita TV, a small microconsole based on the PS Vita hardware and OS that plays PS Vita games on the TV using a DualShock 3 and acts as a PS4 Remote Play extender, in Japan last year, but they’ve been pretty mum regarding the possibility of a western release for the device.

Well, no more! Today at their E3 conference, Sony confirmed that the PS Vita TV will be releasing in the west this fall, only rebranded as the PlayStation TV (presumably to disassociate it from the less than stellar perception that the PS Vita brand enjoys here). The microconsole will be available in two retailer SKUs- a base $99 unit that just comes with the hardware, and a $139 configuration, that includes the system, a DualShock 3, an HDMI cable, an 8GB Memory Card, and a copy of The Lego Movie Video Game.

While most people might buy it as a cheap media player or a PS4 extender, I highly recommend getting one to play Persona 4 Golden on the big screen. It’s an amazing game that deserves to be enjoyed at all costs, and on the big screen if at all possible.

While the PlayStation Vita TV has been a decent addition to the handheld, allowing one to play their Vita games on a TV via HDMI, it’s newest feature may be its greatest. You can now stream PS4 games directly to your TV using Vita TV with a new firmware patch.

The PlayStation Vita already supported PS4 Remote Play but this now means you connect the Vita TV to any screen in the house, wirelessly connect it to your console and play PS4 games on said TV. The only issue thus far seems to be that the patch is only available in Japan.

The Vita TV has seen some decent success in its initial run, though sales have reduced heavily in the past few months. But like the Vita, which receive a boost thanks to the launch of the PS4, maybe the Vita TV will also see improved sales. Currently, there don’t seem to be any plans for Vita TV to arrive in the West, although Sony is interested in the same if demand is high enough.

(Source)

The PlayStation 4 has been a success for Sony, it came at a rather hefty price. In the company’s recent financial report for the fiscal year ending March 31st 2014, Sony reported ¥128.4 billion ($1.25 billion) in losses. Net sales were ¥7,767.3 billion ($75.4 million) which indicated a 4.3 percent increase.

Total operating loss was ¥8.1 billion, with video games and the release of the PS4 contributing heavily to the same. Nonetheless, Sony reported a 38.5 percent year-on-year sales increase for games, with total sales at ¥979.2 billion ($9.6 billion).

The PS Vita continues to be a cash-drain from Sony as it reported a total of 700,000 units sold in the fourth quarter, down from 1.3 million units in the previous year’s quarter. This includes sales of the recently released PS Vita TV. Portable hardware sales for the company decreased from 7 million units to 4.1 million units in the total year. What does that say about the Vita’s continued future? We’ll find out in the coming months.

It’s Christmas week and that means lots of last minute shopping. Whether intentionally or not, plenty of people had the same idea in Japan when they decided to gift their loved one a gaming console. According to the latest hardware charts from Media Create for December 16th to 22nd, sales are up across the board for each platform, with the 3DS XL leading with 164,078 units. That’s 30K more than the week prior.

But much more surprisingly, the Wii U – which sold 74,903 units the week before – managed to sell 109,113 units this week. This may perhaps be the most successful week for the console in…well, it’s been a while and it was enough to cement the console at second place.

Other substantial gains include the 3DS, which sold 68,522 units this week (compared to 50,846 units the week before), and the PlayStation Vita which shot up from 30,440 units the week prior to 50,087 units this week. The sales of Vita TV have remained roughly the same though with 5,504 units sold this week.

The Nintendo 3DS XL maintained its supremacy this week in Japan, with Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2 debuting at number 1 and selling 88,708 units according to the latest sales charts from Media Create.

Pokemon X and Y meanwhile climbed back up to second place, selling 86,391 for a total of 3,089,129 lifetime sales. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3 fell to third place with 60,073 units sold this week and 337,155 lifetime sales. Considering the bumper numbers seen by the previous two entries, this should send the message to Square Enix that fans are well and truly done with FFXIII.

Sadly, Super Mario 3D World couldn’t muster up a good sales total despite being in third place. It sold 39,812 units for a lifetime total of 139,400 units. With Knack outselling the game in the UK, this marks the second instance of Mario failing to find favour with fans. Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends debuted at fifth place with 35,472 units sold.

Hardware sales were fairly typical: The 3DS XL sold 82,409 units this week, while the Wii U slightly rose up to sell 28,518 units (compared to the prior week’s 21,002 units sold). PlayStation Vita TV continues to plummet in sales, going from 7,868 units two weeks ago to 5,391 units this week. The PlayStation Vita still seems to be doing fine with 20,202 units sold.

The PS Vita TV is an interesting proposition- repackage the failing Vita handheld as a microconsole, and sell it at a greatly reduced price. It still offers access to the bulk of the Vita library, and if it catches on, it proliferates the platform.

Its been met with very mixed success in Japan so far- the only territory where the system has been confirmed, and then released- sales fell off a cliff after its first week, which in itself was middling. But that isn’t stopping Sony from pushing their new SKU, of course.

The new commercial trumpets the return of TV gaming to a country famously averse to consoles, and preferring to stick to mobiles and handhelds. It’s a good commercial (from whatever I can understand of it, anyway: it’s in Japanese). It remains to be seen, however, whether it can stimulate interest in the Vita TV, and in the PS Vita platform as a whole.

The 3DS XL managed to sell 63,709 units this week, with previous week’s sales being 47,852 units. The PlayStation Vita managed 21,044 units, which is significantly down from the previous week’s 46,350 units while the Wii U managed to sell 21,002 consoles which is up from the previous week’s 15,906 units. Meanwhile, PlayStation Vita TV managed to sell a meager 7,868 units. Consider that the week prior, the platform sold 42,172 units on its debut and you’ll get an idea of how big a fall this is.

The Wii U has had its own ups and downs since launch, so we might see an increase in sales for the PS Vita TV following the release of exclusives over the years. As always, time will tell.

Sound like a step down? The important thing to consider is that after the above date, games on Sony handhelds could only be activated on up to two devices. Any new devices to be activated meant deactivating older ones.

Sadly, the activation policy remains the same for videos and PS3 games. You can still only access games on up to two consoles if said titles were purchased after November 17th 2011. It will be interesting to see how this policy fares when the PS4 receives backwards compatibility in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Pokemon X & Y occupy fifth place in the charts with 82,705 units sold and a lifetime total of 2,929,806 units. Monster Hunter 4 at seventh place is also going to surpass 3 million units in the coming months, selling 26,358 units this week.

This past week also marked the debut of PlayStation Vita TV, which allows you to experience Vita games on your television. It sold a whopping 42,172 units in its debut, with the PS Vita selling 46,350 units – nearly double its prior week’s total. The 3DS XL is still reigning supreme but just barely, with 47,852 units sold this week (down from the previous week’s 53,190 units). The ordinary 3DS managed to sell 22,250 units this week.