[How To is a recurring feature in which we demonstrate techniques designed to improve your game, and make your skill set more than a little bit awesome. This time out, we’ll help you pimp out your PS Vita with wallpapers.]

The PlayStation Vita is one damn fine portable gaming machine in terms of hardware. One of its most attractive elements is the bright and colorful 5-inch, 960 x 544-pixel resolution display that makes games, videos, and photos absolutely pop. It’s glorious, really.

The system, by default, as a candy blue background that’s suited for the Lil Jimmies and Suzies of the world, not a dedicated PS Vita owner. But fret not! You can apply wallpapers to hide the hideousness, and it’s remarkably easy to do.

Before I dive into the step-by-step wallpaper installation process, I must state that there are two ways to get images onto the portable. The first method is to simply launch the PS Vita’s browser, key in a search term (such as “ps vita wallpaper”), press and hold the image of your choosing found at one of the dozens of PS Vita wallpaper sites, and save it to your memory card. This route lets you download new images from anywhere.

The second way is to find a PS Vita wallpaper, save it to your Mac or PC’s hard drive, and transfer it over with Sony’s content management software. Unlike the previous option, this method demands that you physically connect your PS Vita to a computer, therefore limiting your mobility.

You should now have PS Vita wallpaper images on your handheld. Let’s get started.

1. Go to the PS Vita home screen.

2. Press and hold an icon until the PS Vita shifts into home screen edit mode.

3. Tap the small, rectangular icon that resides in the bottom right corner of the home screen page.

4. Tap the first rectangle, the one that lets you add images from your memory card.

5. Tap “All,” and then the image you want to set as your wallpaper.

6. Boom! You now have a new background. Cool, right? Even cooler is that you can set a background for each individual home screen page.

Feel free to share your wallpapers in the comments section below!

Founder and Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey L. Wilson’s love of all things shiny/digital has led to jobs penning gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for 1UP, E-Gear, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, PC Magazine, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. Besides overseeing the editorial content at 2D-X.com, the Brooklyn College grad hosts New York City’s monthly Bits and Bytes video game media and public relations meetup. You can find him at a bar sampling foreign beers, or on Twitter doing twittery things.