Australian PS Vita owners woke up today to find a new free app nestled within the ‘Social’ tab of the PlayStation Store – the long-awaited Vita version of Skype.

Vita owners can now video call between Vita systems using 3G or Wi-Fi as well as to anyone with a Skype account on another device (such as a computer with webcam, iPhone, etc). A unique feature for the Vita version of Skype is the ‘background mode’, which allows gamers to receive calls while playing games, by virtue of pausing the game and sliding over to the Skype app (although this will not work with some games which shut off network connectivity during use). Of course, since the Vita also features dual cameras, you’ll also be able to switch between them during a call as you like.

You can also see professional gamer Fatal1ty explain the app in a nice, happy, brightly lit set, here in the following video:

[youtube id=”X3pHNj78UGs” width=”600″ height=”350″]