A decade ago today saw the Japanese release of Sony's last dedicated gaming handheld, the PlayStation Vita. It wasn't quite as popular as its predecessor the PlayStation Portable (or its main rival the Nintendo 3DS), and Sony is still trying to bring its gaming experience to mobile, but the Vita still holds a special place in the hearts of those who owned one. At Engadget, that's Nathan Ingraham and Devindra Hardawar, who have both extolled the virtues of the system in our internal Slack many times over the years (yes, I checked). So on the Vita's 10th birthday we've asked our resident experts what their favorite games for the system were, and inspired them to dig the shiny little handheld out of their closets for another go-around. The freedom of Gravity Rush's acrobatic gameplay, which lets you fall through the air in every direction, as well as walk along the sides and bottoms of buildings, went hand-in-hand with the Vita's portability.

It's the end of an era for at least some handheld video game console fans. PlayStation has just announced that it will cease production of its handheld PlayStation Vita console in Japan in 2019. The announcement was made at the 2018 Tokyo Game Show on September 20. Sony Interactive Entertainment Vice President Hiroyuki Oda confirmed that production will soon cease and revealed that the company currently had no plans for a successor to it. 'Currently, we do not have any plans regarding a new handheld device.

The PlayStation Vita is hanging on by a thread. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida said in 2015 there was no hope for a follow-up to the handheld console, and since then, the Vita machine has been quietly winding down. Sony is halting production of physical Vita games across Europe and North America on March 31st, 2019, though Sony Japan will continue to churn out carts in the domestic market -- for now. The Vita has garnered a cult following since its Japanese launch in 2011 (2012 for Western audiences). It entered the scene pitched as a powerful handheld with a digital marketplace, OLED display and a broad variety of touch- and movement-based input methods. Major franchises flooded the device, including Persona, Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed and LittleBigPlanet, and it became a welcome home for indie games like Hotline Miami, Murasaki Baby, OlliOlli and Fez.