Just ahead of the PlayStation Vita’s US release, Sony has issued a new firmware update v.161 for the portable console. The PS Vita system update v1.61, which is now live and ready for download for those who may have imported or gotten their console ahead of time, is designed to bring some new features like maps while enhancing previous apps like the Photo application.

• A new application, Maps, has been added to the home screen.
• In addition to photos, you can now take videos using the Photo application.
• You can now publish stories about the products that you rate in PlayStation Store to Facebook.
• In Near, players’ information is now displayed on the Discoveries screen. On this screen, a list of the online IDs of up to 100 players that you have encountered, and the number of times that you encountered each player, are displayed. Tap an online ID to display that player’s profile screen.
• The Mac OS version of Content Manager Assistant for PlayStation has been released. The Windows version has also been updated.

For those lucky enough to have a PlayStation Vita already, simply navigate to Settings > System Update and download away. The majority of those who pre-ordered will have to do this starting tomorrow, when the PlayStation Vita officially launches.

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Discuss:

Do you like some of the new enhancements from the PlayStation Vita system software update v1.61?

[Via PlayStation Blog]