Amir Khan among stars at videogame party in Manchester (From Asian Image)

Amir Khan among stars at videogame party in Manchester

9:14am Friday 13th January 2012 in Sport

A host of celebrities gathered in Manchester last night ahead of the launch of a new handheld games console.

Bolton boxer Amir Khan rubbed shoulders with DJ Tim Westwood - and were spotted exchanging phone numbers - at the PS Vita Rooms, a temporary venue set up on Deansgate to promote Sony's new PlayStation Vita device.

They were joined by Manchester United players including Tom Cleverley, Danny Wellbeck and Phil Jones and former Happy Mondays bandmates Rowetta and Bez.

Members of the public can now visit the venue until January 18 to see the PlayStation Vita for themselves.

The PlayStation Vita, which was launched in Japan last year and has sold 500,000 units so far, will go on sale in the UK on February 22.

It is essentially a remodelling of the five-year-old Sony PSP with some neat additions including the long-awaited second thumbstick which gamers said was lacking on the original machine.

The handheld also has a large screen and clever features like the rear touchpad which open up the prospect of truly innovative games.

The PlayStation Vita will come in two flavours: the base model, with built-in Wi-Fi, and a more expensive model with built-in 3G as well as Wi-Fi, retailing at £229.99 and £279.99 respectively.

The PS Vita Rooms in Manchester is part of a multi-million publicity attempt to garner interest in the product and Sony has been keen to ensure a strong gaming line-up at launch with handheld versions of the popular Uncharted franchise and another iteration of WipEout.