PS Vita – The London Midnight Launch Event

The staff of the PS Vita RoomsAs the clock ticked ever closer to 12pm, Zohaib Ali, a 21-year-old student could hardly contain his excitement. This is a man who’d camped outside GAME Oxford Street since Sunday just so he could get his hands on a PS Vita before anyone else.

Being first in line also bagged him a free copy of all the first party Vita games for the rest of 2012 and a Sony home cinema system.

The staff of the PS Vita Rooms, just a few doors down from GAME, were on hand to keep the 70+ enthusiastic gamers well fed, watered and entertained. Tray after tray of coffees arrived during the evening along with a metric ton of pizzas.

The PS Vita launch in London was an enjoyable affair, which surprised me, as midnight launches don’t look like a lot of fun – especially in winter.

There were a couple of MotorStorm: RC developers from Evolution Studios handing out 20 codes for MotorStorm: RC to people waiting. The presence of Michael Denny, Senior VP of Worldwide Studios Europe certainly added some gravitas to the night’s proceedings.

Inside the GAME store Karl Jones, Senior Designer at Studio Liverpool and Ami Nakajima, WipEout 2048’s FEISAR test pilot were on hand to meet everyone who’d just bought their Vita’s.

Finally, it was back to the PS Vita rooms for the afterparty, which admittedly was skipped by a few who just couldn’t wait to put their shiny new hardware through its paces.

PS Vita is out now – Wi-fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G models. Check out all our PS Vita coverage.