PS Vita may double as PS3 controller

Sony's forthcoming PlayStation Vita handheld may be used as a PS3 controller for certain games, according to comments from a company spokesman.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe R&D manager Phil Rogers told delegates at the recent Develop conference that gamers would be able to use the PS Vita to "drive a display from a PS3 game, for example."

"PS3 can send data down to Vita and Vita can display it. You could use the unique features – gyroscope, touch front and back – as a control device for a PS3 game," the Sony exec added.

Gyroscope and touch control for PS3

"You can run software on both devices and use the network to sync the game states. And that's pretty good, because you then have the processing power of PS3 doing that work, Vita [doing] fancy graphics – however you want to do it. You're not sacrificing the PS3′s CPU to be able to have a rich experience on Vita."

It's a good indication of where Sony hopes to take the new PS Vita in the future to give it a competitive edge over iPhone, iPad, smartphones and other handheld gaming consoles, such as the Nintendo 3DS.

Rogers also confirmed that developers will be able to add in support for Vita into their current roster of PS3 games.