This article is for those people -- the people who don't care about the PSP. See, earlier today, an IGN reader Tweeted me.
I'll be honest: I started writing a sarcastic response about how the Welcome Back program -- Sony's batch of free games for folks who suffered through the PlayStation Network outage -- would be over by the time Vita came out and that it would be dumb to "welcome" you back to a brand new system. However, about halfway through my Tweet, it hit me -- Warren Pawlowski is a genius.
The PlayStation Vita is going to play PSP games. The PlayStation Vita is probably going to use your current PlayStation Network username. If you've ignored the Welcome Back PSP games because you don't play your PSP or don't have a PSP, stop. Go choose your free games while they're available, and you'll have two free games the first day you buy the PlayStation Vita.
When you buy something from the PlayStation Store, the purchase is saved to your account. You don't have to download it at that moment; the service just knows that you own the content and you can download it when you want. So, you could go on your PlayStation 3 right now, redeem your PSP games, and they'll be listed on your account forever. Then, when you get the PlayStation Vita, you can scroll over to your Account Management screen, find the games, and download them.
Of course, I have to say that this should work. I don't have a PlayStation Vita, so there's no way for me to test this theory. However, as someone who downloads content and shares it between my multiple units, I can tell you that I don't see how this wouldn't work unless Sony drastically changed the PlayStation Network come PlayStation Vita.
So, give this a shot. You're probably going to end up with a pairing of LittleBigPlanet PSP, ModNation Racers PSP, Pursuit Force or Killzone Liberation for nothing.