Contrary to the assumption (and inevitable, uncontrollable excitement) made based on recent reports that Sony's next handheld gaming weapon, the PlayStation Vita would launch in Europe in October, it's somewhat disappointing to hear today that the chances of that are apparently slim to none.

Bloomberg has reported today that Kazuo Hirai, the exec. deputy president of Sony Corp. is making it clear that the Vita will not launch in the US or Europe until early next year, which means the only folks to get their hands on it in time for Christmas will be in Japan.

It seems a little odd if true, as the console has already passed through the FCC and Sony would be missing out on the booming festive trade by making this decision.

The PlayStation Vita, once eventually launched, will come in two variants - a WiFi-only model for $249 and a 3G equipped model at $299.