PSP-4000 rumors, PSP2 software already being developed?

A fan-made mock-up of a PSP2.

(Credit: Kotaku)

While we just met with Sony Hardware Marketing Director John Koller, he had nothing to say about the possibility of a PSP-4000, let alone a successor to the PSP itself. According to Eurogamer, it's possible he was holding something back.

It seems that a PSP-4000 is very much in the works for 2009. We'd imagine the updated PSP would address the screen interlacing issues that the PSP-3000 suffers from, but we're just speculating. We're still going to chalk these details up as rumors, but it does make sense for a new iteration of the PSP to debut as there have been updates quite steadily for some time now.

The site also claims that PSP2 games are already in development. If this is true, that would mean we could see a new portable console in about 16 months--following conventional development time cycles.

What would you like to see in the new PSP2? Let us know in the comments section. We'd love to see some onboard memory, two analog sticks, and a touch screen.

Thanks to Jake B., a Crave reader who first saw this on Eurogamer.

[cyclonica1980]

First off the thing that has to be improved the most on the PSP is the battery life. The PSP 1000 had good life but for some reason the battery was downsized on the 2000. Next I would add a second joy stick, this would make shooters fantastic on the psp. Throw in a 30 gig internal hard drive its not an expensive thing to do. Sony is getting the idea with additions like skype but lets see a nice web browser in the psp like firefox. That would make this an awesome wifi system. Touch screen im against for the psp it would make it more of a fingerprint magnet than it already is.

[chipsacat]

i dont care what it looks aslong as its somthing diffrent like mabey a flip but i agree no touch screen and wifi and bluetouth would be cool also that would be great like a 30gb 1.8" hhd like the ipod video had they could probley get those for cheap might make it biger thowe. and ya improbed batter is a must also another anolg stick and a camera would be sweat. haha trash ipods it its small and has 30gigs and a camera althowe cameras will just add to the price so screw it make it flip, add another anolg, bigger screen, 30gig+ harddrive also screw the umd and go with a memory card type think if it had 2 or 3 memory card slots and one for a game and one for extra memory ill pay 250 for that and if it is a flip type like the ds it realy could be used as a mp3 play

[taylorr93]

- I would love to see it touch screen. I don't think it'll turn into a fingerprint magent if the screen is anything like an iphone. But if it is a problem, I'll just get a screen protector.
- Since it's touch screen It will need to be flip of slide. I prefer slide to avoid Nintendo Ds similarities.
- I still want all of the main face buttons along with a dual analogue stick.
- A 16-32 Gigabite internal hardrive with the option of expanding would be a great idea. Plus it has to support memory stick duo as well.
- The web browser needs to support video and audio streaming.
- I have a few psp games and I don't want to have to walk around with both my psp and the psp2 to have access to all my games. An accessory that allows you to play umd's on the new system would be great.
- A bigger screen with better graffics.
- I would like a camera but I don't mind it as an accessory.
- A music organizer. Or something like what the ipod has that you can browse through music by author, album, or title.
- I want it to look simar to this http://gamehunter.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/psp2_00.jpg

[planblove]

OK, here's my dream list for Sony PSP2, I'd like to see them do away with UMDs and go with DVD, and while there at it throw in backwards compatibilty to PS2/PS1 games. 16-32gb of flash memory built in upgradeable through the memory stick. 2nd analog control, touch screen, and motion sensitivity, wi-fi, bluetooth and 3G connectivity, full web browser and I think thats about it.

[j_boss_14]

just wondering how one could possibly fit a DVD onto a PSP2. The would greatly have to increase its size which would then not appeal to everyone else.

About the topic, I would like to have a second analog stick, an accelerometer, internal flash memory, bluetooth would also be nice.

[lifelonglego]

If they made that it wouldn't be a Playstation "Portable"

[ctre22]

this may be the stupidest thing i've ever read.
dvd?
i assume you mean full sized.
to which i would slap you across the face if you said that to me.
UMD are essentially mini DVDs and they seem to easily match the PS2s
generation of graphics, if you notice, for most of the mainstream games released on PS2
was a counterpart PSP title. so one may say PS2 & PSP are parallel ably compatible.
in the world we live in, don't expect not to have to pay twice, if you want both.
however, about the PSX on the PSP... hahaha, that's already possible.
look it up. its quite fun playing the original Final fantasy VII on your psp.

[icecoldkilla301]

are you crazy. dvd's? first of all dvd's would require the psp's size to greatly increase. and second of all a umd is pretty much a mini-dvd. what they need is mini blu-ray.

[sulexk]

well, if they are in the process of making games specifically for the psp2, i would love to see an improvement in graphics, that would be amazin. They could possibly make the screen a little bigger.
They should also make games like tag force 3 and others work via infrastructure mode i.e. playing glonally, not just with people literally right next to you. They have to make a final fantasy for it, as crisis core, personally, is the best game on the psp. Built in hard drive would save external costs for everyone, so that is a huge favourtie. But better graphics would be amazing. As sega is going to compete. Lets see what sony is truly made of!

[artoine]

I would like to see Halo on the PSP xD
That will never work wit microsoft and sony.
But there has been a halo for the DS which wasn't released.
Why not? :)

[Virg6451]

Because shooters suck on the DS, I just got Moon, it is terrible. The screen is just too small, the graphix aren't good enough. I love my DS, but not for FPS's.

[J-P007]

Stop complaining about the interlacing on the PSP 3000 you can't even notice it when your playing games it's not a big deal. As for the PSP2 blue ray games would be the ultimate, I bet thats were SONY will be heading in the near future. Make the PSP2 with a hard drive get rid of the UMD, SONY could make it were you buy your games load the disc in the drive on the PS3 / 4 or PC and load it to the PSP2 via USB were we could play blue ray games stored on the hard drive on the PSP2, there problem solved with graphics & noisy disc drive loading times, also no repairs on the UMD then SONY would charge you $1000 for it and the DS & X-Box will rule because of price.

[ctre22]

dude... whats wrong with you?
your talking about a blue ray-technology based handheld, (which is a good idea don't get me wrong)
But you dont want the umds? instead, an internal harddrive....
if all it had was a hard drive there would be no chance of the games being on Blue ray,
or in this case Blue ray-UMDS (which sony could very likely do), blue ray is merely a technology for EXTERNAL memory storage.
Blue-ray is the DISK!
DVD (& UMD) Use a red laser to burn and read The disk.
Blue ray uses a Blue Laser to burn the disk, which allows them to write the disk much much smaller (because the light waves that make up blue, are way smaller), allowing for much much more information to be written of the disk.

[fbicking1]

I personally have not purchased one because of the lack of dual analog sticks. If they finally put dual sticks on the thing to make controls in First Persons Shooters better I will be the first in line.

[DeathOfChaos]

I think they could keep the UMD compatibility and make PSP2 games have Mini Blu-ray Discs, and yes, they're real. Touch screen would be stupid and only be criticized for copying the Nintendo DS. One joy stick is enough, I don't think it really needs another, but I guess it would be nice. It would be nice to have an interchangeable hard drive to be able to change it out. Also, maybe some USB ports. Maybe a few that are male ports and a few that are female ports so that you could also connect the PSP with USB devices and connect it with a PC/PS3 or PS4 system. Edit the XMB to make it more unique to the PSP and be more suitable for handheld option, rather than it being so close to being like the PS3 XMB. Hell, maybe the choice to install another OS like the PS3. I can't think of much more, but that would be a perfect handheld system, in my opinion. I also found a cool concept picture of a PSP2. Looks a little blocky, but the whole idea of the adjustable screen and everything would be really awesome.

<a href="http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j172/Death_Of_Chaos/?action=view&current=PSP2Idea.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j172/Death_Of_Chaos/PSP2Idea.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j172/Death_Of_Chaos/PSP2Idea.jpg

[Jyakotu]

2nd analog stick is all the PSP2 would need.

[gatorguynik]

The PSP2 needs 2 analog sticks we all understand this. A good feature that sony should exsplore is calapsability or slide together or something. And that fan art up there what about a slide out key board for the internet emials and all that good stuff. accelerameter is one of the worst ideas of the psp2 i have ever heard. If they put that in there game desiners will focas way to much on programing for that instead of just good games and what ever sony does do not make touch screen games and bottons BAD IDEA come on guys.

[Armaced]

The second analog stick is obvious (or some other version of analog control)

Also, I would really like to see a clamshell design and a shorter footprint along the X-axis. That would allow it to fit in a standard pocket and not require a case.

[UseCase]

They had better touch enable the screen, add some gyros and internal memory to that bad boy. Not to come off as a fan boy but I bought the PSP when it first came out and would love for the next gen version to kick a$$ in the "new handheld world order". I really want the PSP to finally live up to its potential and blow everything else away.

The cheese has been moved SONY and Apple moved it.....

[machete 650]

I seriously think the next-gen psp should have backwards compatability for old psp games, even though it might be useless since everybody knows UMDs suck and the new games should look better but it might put my psp games to use. Another thing is that they should get rid of those godforsaken UMDs. Like I mentioned before, they suck! They should consider making mini blu ray discs or using memory sticks for games since they have more potential. Also they should improve the screens three ways. First of all, they should make the outer casing of the screen scratchproof like the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Second of all, they should increase it in size. Finally, they should improve the actual screen with better LCD technology. Dual analog sticks are neccesary and so are L and R 1, 2, and 3. It should also have some sort of vibratior like the dual shock 1-3 controllers and a PS2 emulator. It should also have an interchangeable hard drive of at least 30 GB to a possible 300 GB for PS2 games, music, videos and blu ray movies, photos, and whatever else they want to add. A customizable graphic equalizer for music would be nice and so would be support for a variety of music and video formats like xvid and such. I don't know, they're just thoughts.

[freaky toad]

You can't have a second analog stick or a touch screen because this makes all previous psps incompatible with the new games.

[machete 650]

it would'nt make it incompatible it would just be useless

[atomD21]

@ freakytoad: That would be like saying the second screen on the DS makes playing GBA games impossible. In the case of BC, one of the analog sticks would not be used and the touch screen wouldn't be responsive, just like if you have a GBA game on the lower DS screen. And these ideas aren't for the next iteration of the PSP, but a wishlist for the PSP2.

[idahoflirt]

PSP2 upgrades,
Longer battery life
Skype headphones adaptable
USB thumb drives adaptable
Protective slider, or flip to protect the screen

[chipsacat]

o come on give up on the touch screen ever sence apple made a touch screen ipod every thing has been "i want a touch zune a touch blackberry" ok so i realy dont care if it has touch or not infact i dont want touch for it but 2 anolat sticks would be nice mabey thiner o hey i got it make it a flip like 3 inches verticaly and 3.5 or 4 inches horizontal and as think as the ds but keep the umd and had a memory card reader or what ever and like 8gbs or internal space o and the screen be like 3.7 or 3.8 inches mabey 4 inches diagnaley not the 3.5 inches i want somthing new i sick or looking at the current psps and thats actually keeping me from buying them also no good games and lets not forget a remote play for ps3 and not for the 360 come on sony make a flip like ds but not square like psp for us and the new games would be like little memory chips just like the ds but be like the actuall sd card slots or somthing and have like dual or tri so you can a your 8gb internal memory you 16gb card memory and your game in it that sound killer to me and lets not forget about color hmm mabey a white and black... ok now im think or a ds hahahaaha if only they had games like ratchet and clank and god of war and could play music and data movies on them then i get one

[godoftheuniverse]

i would like to see 2 analog sticks for gaming and touch screen so it can be easier to surf the web

[DKinnerk]

An add on TV Tuner would be incredible. They have them in Japan.

[DRIFT4]

touch screen is not a bad idea, but it needs to be optinal. it should be able to be turned on or off at the users desire. it would be great for surfing the web as it would make it much easier but for gaming, it would be a distaster.
2 analog sticks are required for shooters and an internal hdd is a great i dea.
longer batterly life
bigger screen. like in the picture posted above or http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j172/Death_Of_Chaos/PSP2Idea.jpg
louder speakers
if sony does make a new psp its main focu will be putting an end to the cracking of psps. this has costed sony and game companies literally millions if not billions. it will most likely change its language and also add in extra securrity measures.

[DrNicket]

ADD:
Proper Remote Play functioning... weren't we told in the early days of PSP/Remote play that we'd be able to play games and everything through the PSP? How come we're so crippled? What are the limitations? Programming or processing... resources... connection speed... response time?
-Second analog stick - adding one will not make new games useless, as they will have single stick options... just won't be as good as two. Not a big issue... if you want two... buy a new PSP, old ones will still be in demand.
-Vibration - Cellphones use teeny tiny ones, so why can't the PSP. It will NOT fall out of your hands folks.
-L2 and R2 buttons. In tandem with the second analog stick and vibration this makes for an excellent Remote Play experience.
-Accelerometer - only if full DualShock function replication is to be achieved.
-Bluetooth! - wireless mic and headphones! A2DP is a must folks... use your Cell/smartphone as a net connection where no WiFi available (PSP shouldn't be a cellphone, besides, I don't think it'd fly with every carrier anyway)
-Wireless G (and N 'IF' it's a viable option based on power consumption, etc.; 802.11b only kind of sucks.)
-Perhaps a double battery (one on each side; one included, extra slot for hot-swap-ability???) A New battery style is more than acceptable to me in this case. I'd buy the second battery! (I did last time with the longer life PSP battery). Could you just use Cybershot G or D batteries?
-BluRayMinis (UMBD?) - many developers have mentioned cuts to game content due to lack of space on a UMD.
-Internal Memory - Always a plus, especially for 'installing' games for faster load times. Even if it's only as an extra cache that allows for pre-caching levels or whatnot to save wait time or performance lag. With the current glut in the market, this shouldn't be too expensive at all.
-Larger RAM - Browsing sucks on the PSP most times because of miniscule RAM. Give us 1Gb.
-Move USB to the bottom centre of the PSP. Better PSPDock design options and better for add-ons such as key/thumbboard and more. It'd also make it more comfortable when using the PSP while connected via USB cable.

DO NOT ADD
-Flipscreen/clamshell - One more thing to break or go wrong. The less external moving parts, the better. Keep it simple (from the form factor point of view anyway) Even The DS is not immune. The DS Phat was very prone to hinges cracking and breaking. Mine is cracked and won't lock into place when open. It flips to far back and makes play less fun.
-Touchscreen - This would just make it more awkward to control as more and more variations on control will more likely muddle the development process. Honestly main control OR touch would be fine, but the two together would be overkill and ridiculous. Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should do that thing.
-Built-in Cellular capabilities - Too expensive; not a viable option. Retail Cost is very important. Sony is notorious for taking a big loss at product launch, but I doubt they ywould see this option to EVER pay off.
-Accelerometer - alone, a waste of money... possibly a good idea if merged with the second analog, Vibration and L2/R2 add-ons making it a viable controller when in Remote Play mode.
-TV Tuner - From what I understand, this is not realistic in North America due to upcoming changes in the way signals are being delivered. Feel free to enlighten me if you truly know more about this.

[droolski]

Ditch the lame Sony navigation system, browsing music/video/photo libraries are a pain in the rear. If that would have been better from the start, the PSP could have secured and held market share that the iPod now owns... for now I'll stick with my Touch for media. Dual "joysticks" would be nice, but the PSP is not the best platform for shooters, drivers and other games that would benefit from that addition. Sony is the master of product ergonomics, they need to redesign the PSP to feel better in our hands and move some of the buttons that are easily triggered accidentally during intense game play. Boost the audio output for music and video playback. Fingerprints... personally they don't bother me, but since so many people continue to whine about it... make the case a grippy, matte finish and the screen anti-reflective. Internal hard drive... DVD... bluetooth... get real! But enough onboard flash memory would be nice. If they stick with UMDs, let's hope they redesign the case to make 'em a little sturdier. Blah, blah, blah...