NGP 'PS Vita' speculation reaching critical mass

Source: See below.

What we heard: When Nintendo renamed its Revolution console the Wii, the rebranding was met with disbelief and derision. Now, an increasing number of clues indicate Sony may be prepping a similarly offbeat name for its upcoming handheld, currently code-named the Next Generation Portable.

Speculation began over the weekend, when Games Pundit leaked a photo (above) of the NGP bearing the name "PS VITA" on its bottom. The image apparently comes from a proof sheet for Sony's upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo press briefing, where the new name will reportedly be unveiled. Since then, gaming blog Joystiq has uncovered a blurry scan of more printed materials (middle) that appear to show the NGP with the PS VITA logo next to it--a logo that shares the same "PS" font as the "PS3" logo.

This week, the evidence continued to mount. Several outlets discovered that the URL "vita.scedev.net" redirects to the Sony Computer Entertainment Developer Network site, just as psp.scedev.net, ps3.scedev.net, and ngp.scedev.net do. However, the URL psp2.scedev.net yields a "page not found" error, apparently eliminating that name from the running.

Finally, this week Sony launched the official PlayStation.com page for its E3 2011 presence. Though not visible from the front, inside the page's code are numerous references to "PS Vita." However, the index page the tags point to--http://us.playstation.com/psvita/features/--leads to a "page not found" error.

The official story: Sony had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Though the series of clues is pretty convincing, it overlooks one fact. As far back as January, there have been rumors that the NGP was internally code-named "Vita" at Sony.

Also, Sony has had past successes using code names to throw journalists and Internet sleuths off the scent. Last year, the company used the code name "PlayStation Arc" for its motion-sensing system when talking with third-party publishers, and even went as far as to trademark the name in Japan. That system was later revealed to be named the PlayStation Move at the last minute.