The king is back. After the troubled launch of the PlayStation 3, it’s fair to say the PlayStation brand has suffered its fair share of knocks, but the PlayStation Vita proves that Sony still has the magic touch. Officially the sexiest handheld ever made, Japanese gamers will be lucky enough to receive the Vita months before anyone else, but you can also be a part of the December madness – as long as you are willing to pay top dollar.

With the PSP having been extremely popular in Japan, the Vita is sure to have severe shipment issues for the first few months after release, so it’s no surprise that some gamers are prepared to pay as much as a thousand dollars to get the handheld before the rest of the West.

Over on eBay, early pre-orders have reached as high as $1,111.94 with shipping, and $969 with shipping. With gamers willing to spend over $1000 for the $249 Wi-Fi only PlayStation Vita, it’s clear that some PlayStation fans are desperate to get their hands on the Vita, no matter the cost. In addition, Play Asia has begun taking pre-orders for the Vita, so even more gamers are sure to import the handheld. Online stores Amazon Japan and Yodobashi are both already out of stock, after only having the device up for pre-order for a short time.

While importing the region-free handheld gets you the portable PlayStation first, it’s important to note that the X and O buttons are reversed. With that in mind, how much would you be willing to pay to get your hands on the Vita this December 17th?

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some mothers do have 'em so it makes sense that some rich ones would

Why would you bother? just wait a little while long you numpties.

didn't this happen with the 3ds also?

I will wait and see how much the PS-Vita sells for 1 month after release ... After all, there were PS3 systems that sold for far above retail (most likely due to astroturfers or people with more money than braincells) when the system did not sell that well to start.

Wow people are sooo dumb. I would never pay 3-4x the cost of a console just to get it a month or two earlier than others.

Plus if you do this for the Nextbox/PS4 or whatever, you'll have nobody to play online with because your friends won't have it yet and it probably won't have that good of launch titles :/ The good games aren't usually for 6 months-1 year or whatever

well many paid 10k for a PS3 on ebay the day it launched, and one person paid paid 10k for a 360 box without the console in it!

i'll wait for it to hit state side, with an additional 4 to 5 yrs added for redesign.

I never understood the need to want a system so bad that one would spend 3-4 times the retail price on it.

I strongly disagree.

1. For many people single player is much more important than multiplayer. I mean we were having fun without it with super mario 3 and we still do with God of War 3.

2. You need to take into account the number of filthy rich people. People who spent 2-3k for a session with their personal trianer. Britney Spears' kids, Will Smith's and so many other non celebrity but rich people's kids or even grown ups (e.g. the creators of South Park). Why should they wait for months when money is not an issue for them?

I personally don't even buy games day one, but instead wait for about a year till the price drops significantly, since there are so many other awesome games at cheap prices. But if I could easily afford them, I would ever import RPGs from Japan.

Glad to see its doing well, hopefully it stays that way.