Sony's soon-to-be-released ultra portable handheld could have Wii-U like ambitions by acting like a controller for the PlayStation 3. 

Sony R&D manager Phil Rogers revealed the technology at the 2011 Developers Conference. 

"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," Rogers told Eurogamer. 

"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 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."

Even cross platform play is possible, with a version of Wipeout 2048 interacting with Wipeout HD on the PS3 via PSN.

The PSN itself will have some functions that work on both PS3 and Vita at launch including things like scoreboards or data.

The juiciest of them all, however, is the Vita's remote play function. This is where things get particularly Wii-U like, allowing games from the home console to be pushed and controlled via the handheld. Continuation play means you can simply walk off and continue playing on your Vita.

Ruin is the only announced Vita title so far that supports the continuation play functionality. No date as of yet for Ruin, unfortunately. 

The Vita itself is rumoured to arrive on the 28 October.