Though the Vita isn't available stateside until February 22, new information on the hardware has been popping up online.

Following a report listing titles that required external memory card saving on the PlayStation Vita, Kotaku Japan has learned that games with internal storage will never give gamers the ability to save to an external card.

According to the report, which was reportedly confirmed by SCEI, titles that require external memory storage will not even launch without a memory card inserted into the Vita system. Sony tells Kotaku Japan that in addition to save data, some Vita cartridges may use external storage for downloadable content. The decision to select internal or external memory will be up to publishers, it seems.

This process is significantly different from the PSP, which saved progress on external cards allowing for gamers to return to a title if a game was re-rented or purchased again after it leaves their collection.

[via Andriasang]