After a summer in which PlayStation Vita owners may have started to fret over the handheld system's paucity of new releases, today saw a number of announcements that should lighten their spirist -- and wallets -- in the coming months.

First off, the Earth Defense Force team confirmed on Twitter that Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable will be getting a North American release this winter. The game was released in Japan today.

In further localization news, Tokyo-based games publisher GungHo announced it will be opening an American division, and will release three Vita games in Europe and North America. GungHo will ensure that action-puzzler Dokuro and F2P RPG Picotto Knights see the light of day in North America, while they'll be responsible for bringing Ragnarok Odyssey to the other side of the Atlantic.

On top of that, EastAsiaSoft revealed via IGN that it's currently in the process of porting PS3 JRPG Rainbow Moon over to the Vita. No word on an exact release date (beyond sometime in 2013), but they do confirm in the story that 1) the ported version will support cross-saves, and 2) if you bought the game for PS3, you'll have to buy it again for the Vita.

And finally, it's not exactly a new game announcement, but it is welcome news for anyone eagerly awaiting a Vita version of Need For Speed: Most Wanted: contrary to some strange reports out of Poland, the game has not been pushed back to next year, and will be released alongside its console counterparts in November.