Sony will not release its PlayStation Vita in the United States and Europe until 2012, the company said Thursday, meaning the powerful new portable gaming system won’t be on store shelves during the vital holiday shopping season.

The handheld will be available by the end of 2011 in Japan, and early next year in the United States and Europe, said Sony Executive Vice President Kazuo Hirai in Tokyo, as reported by the Associated Press.

PlayStation fans who watched Sony’s E3 press conference this year might be a little surprised by the new launch date. After all, didn’t Hirai say something a little different last June?

“This entire package of all these incredible features will be available starting from the holiday season this year,” Hirai said then.

Though perhaps Hirai meant “starting in Japan,” Sony executives have had a tendency to make statements that can be read in multiple ways.

It’s oddly reminiscent of E3 in 2009, when Sony President Jack Tretton said PlayStation 3 would be “the only console you’ll be able to play Final Fantasy XIV on when it launches in 2010.” Turns out he forgot to say, “until our timed exclusivity window is up.”

Two models of the PlayStation Vita will ship at launch. One will support AT&T 3G wireless internet and be available for $300, while a second, Wi-Fi-only version will retail for $250.

When asked whether Sony intends to respond to Nintendo’s recent 3DS fire sale with a price cut of its own, Hirai said it wasn’t in the playbook for Vita.

“We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable,” he said. “There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the videogame business decided that they were going to lower their price.”

Photo: Carl Wilson/Wired.com; Photoshop: Jon Snyder/Wired.com