We’re already thoroughly excited about the launch of Sony’s newest home console, the PlayStation 4, but news reaching us today suggesting that the Japanese electronics giant has yet another trick up its sleeve has set us buzzing anew.

Since the PS4’s grand unveiling earlier this year, Sony has been keen to push the fact that the console will be fully integrated with its portable platform, PlayStation Vita, ensuring that all developers make their PS4 games fully playable remotely via Vita. It would seem, though, that rather than just a cool extra feature, Sony is planning to make PS4/Vita crossplay a cornerstone of the PS4 experience, with industry sources suggesting that a special PS4/Vita bundle will be made available for US$500 by the end of the year.

Machinima’s Inside Gaming Daily maintains that a “well-placed source” has confirmed Sony’s plan to make Vita available to PS4 adopters at a bargain price at or soon after launch. If this proves to be true, as well as potentially boosting currently mediocre Vita software sales, Sony would essentially trump Nintendo by offering a similar experience to that of the Wii U, which allows games to be streamed directly to its touch-screen controller.

PlayStation Vita currently retails for around $250 in the US. As PS4 is set to launch at $399.99 later this year, by purchasing the rumoured PS4/Vita bundle for $500, gamers would theoretically save a whopping $150 compared to buying the two pieces of hardware separately, as well as ensuring that they get the most of out of the PS4’s remote play features, which allow them to pick up and continue their games wherever wi-fi is available or play with the TV switched off.

Despite occasional spikes in sales, the Vita has yet to truly win over gamers, with many pointing to the cost of the proprietary memory cards and comparatively small software library as the main reasons for not getting on board. Even so, this writer is very much in love with the console, and through it has rediscovered a ton of old PS1 titles and a whole host of indies in recent months. Here’s the little guy in the flesh, which I usually keep on my desk at work to play on my break (and during unskippable YouTube ads, and whenever my boss is out); it’s probably the main reason why my afternoons are always strangely hectic while my mornings are so much fun.

vita desk

Also, in case you were wondering, that’s jasmine tea you can see beside it, not a cup of wee.

We’ll be sure to bring you more on this exciting story as it breaks!

Source: Inside Gaming Daily via My Game Newsflash (Japanese)