Sony PlayStation Vita

A refresh of Sony's most compact gaming console will hit North America this spring with more battery life, a new LCD screen, and an 8GB memory card for $199.

PlayStation users in the US are about to have the option of buying a slimmer, lighter handheld console. Sony announced Monday that its redesigned PlayStation Vita is coming to North America this spring.

The Wi-Fi PCH-2000 series console will come bundled with the first-person role-playing Borderlands 2 game, six downloadable content packs, and an 8GB memory card. The whole shebang will cost $199.99. For now, the console will only come in the color black in the US.

"The new PS Vita Wi-Fi model is approximately 20 percent slimmer and 15 percent lighter than the original version, with rounded edges to fit comfortably in your hands," Sony Computer Entertainment America's vice president of marketing for home consoles and handheld platforms John Koller wrote in a blog post.

Sony says that the battery life of the new PlayStation Vita can now provide up to six hours of gameplay -- previously the battery maxed out at five hours. The new console also replaces the older OLED screen with a 5-inch LCD panel.