Sony has successfully built up a lot of hype for its new handheld, the PlayStation Vita. Now we know that the system will arrive this year in one territory at least.

At its Tokyo Game Show press conference, Sony announced that the Vita will launch first in Japan on December 17. The publisher has not yet provided a release date for the handheld in Europe or North America, though at this point 2012 seems almost certain.

Sony also announced that they will be partnering with Japanese communications company ntt Docomo for the 3G version of the Vita in Japan. Docomo will allow users to pre-pay for a set number of hours using the system. At E3, Sony announced that they will be partnering with AT&T in the U.S.