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Artist's rendition of the PSP Go.

(Credit: 1Up.com)

In advance of E3 next week, rumors continue to circulate around the possibility of a new PSP and a new, slimmer PS3. Here are the latest:

• Ars Technica is reporting that the next-gen, UMD-free PSP Go! is "indeed real," according to a "trusty inside source" and should be announced at E3.
• The same Sony "mole" claims that the new PSP will be "lighter than its UMD-sporting predecessor, along with lower power consumption and possibly a lower price."
• The new PSP will be sold alongside the older version of the PSP (PSP-3000), according to the Ars report.
• The alleged source says, "A good number of titles will be released with both retail releases and digital downloads, with some games like Unbound Saga forgoing a retail release altogether."
• As for the slimmed-down PS3, it, too, is real, according to the mole--but Sony won't begin selling the new PS3 until stock dwindles on the PS3 currently on store shelves. The source is targeting August or September for possible launch dates.
• There's no word on if Sony plans to strip any features out of the alleged PS3 Slim or if it will cost less than the current model.
• The mole claims that Sony isn't expected to announce a price cut on the current PS3 to clear inventory, "but the possibility is certainly there." (This obviously has the biggest no-duh quotient of any of the statements.)

As always, feel free to comment and make your own predictions.

(Source: Ars Technica via Gizmodo)

Artist's rendition of the PSP Go.

(Credit: 1Up.com)

For the past couple months, we've been covering the ongoing rumors that Sony is prepping a new PlayStation Portable.

Well, more details are emerging, with game site 1Up.com reporting that Sony will trot out its new Universal Media Disc-less PSP at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June, targeting it for a September release in Japan, followed by a U.S. launch in October or November. While the potential name for the new unit hasn't been confirmed, there are indications that it might called the PSP Go.

As previously reported, the new PSP will allegedly slide open to reveal its controls. But those hoping for dual analog sticks may be disappointed--word is the new PSP will retain the same control scheme, as depicted in the mock-up above. Whether or not it has a touch screen is still up in the air, as 1Up says (much as I had previously) that it wouldn't be shocked if Sony borrowed "many design features from their Mylo 2 handheld Internet device, which is seemingly dead in the water."

1Up claims that the new PSP will come in two configurations: one that features 8GB of internal memory and another that has 16GB. There will be a memory card expansion slot, but that old-school UMD drive will disappear, with Sony moving toward a digital-download delivery system for games. "Since the UMD is going away, Sony will have over 100 classic and new PSP titles available for download at launch (Gran Turismo Mobile is said to be one of the premier launch titles)," 1Up says.

Apparently, Sony is looking to E3 to reinvigorate the PSP platform, which has seen fairly strong hardware sales but has lagged in the software department and now must contend with Nintendo's DS refresh, the DSi, and iPhone gaming.

Recently, Sony announced that such titles as Rock Band, Soul Calibur, LittleBigPlanet, Tekken 6, and MotorStorm would hit the console, and earlier this month, Sony Computer Entertainment America's director of hardware marketing, John Koller, told GameSpot that more than 50 percent of the PSP's 2009 lineup had yet to be announced.

This all sounds good, but naturally, we'll wait until we see official specs and pricing for the next-generation PSP before we get too excited.

What do you guys think? If these rumors are true, should Nintendo be worried?

(Source: 1UP via Kotaku)

Will the new PSP look more like the Mylo?

(Credit: Sony)

After rumors surfaced last week that the next-generation PSP would do away with the UMD optical drive in favor of direct downloads to flash memory via the PlayStation Network, Eurogamer is reporting something similar and adding a new twist to the mix: the new PSP will have a "sliding screen" and will feature a more compact, narrower design.

In typical fashion, this is all according to an anonymous "development source close to Sony," so take it for what it's worth. Said source claims that the next PSP--it may be called the PSP 4000 rather than the PSP 2--will allow you to play games using only the shoulder buttons while the sliding screen is in its closed position. Apparently, most of the controls will be inaccessible when the screen is closed.

The Eurogamer article notes, "The screen is basically the same as the one in the PSP 3000--except it slides."

Personally, I don't care much about playing LocoRoco style games; rather, I'm hoping that underneath that screen there will be a keyboard along the requisite PSP gaming buttons. I've been begging Sony for a couple of years to marry its Mylo Communicator and the PSP into one highly versatile unit, but alas, the chatter doesn't include any talk of a keyboard.

(Source: Eurogamer via Kotaku)

As always, feel free to comment.

Ah, it's funny how rumors get started--and this one is truly back-channel if there ever was a back-channel rumor.

One of the concept designs for the PSP2.

(Credit: Joe Thomas and Rocco Devenanzio)

Kotaku is reporting that a developer at Acclaim, David Perry, wrote this message on his Facebook and Twitter accounts:

"I hear Sony FINALLY has the PSP 2. And thank goodness, they've removed the stupid battery-sucking UMD disc drive. I'm excited!"

Now that message is rapidly making its way through the blogosphere. Of course, it's unclear what it means exactly. As Kotaku says, no one knows if Perry has seen the new PlayStation Portable or is "just hearing rumors through the development community."

At the same time, it wouldn't be surprising if Sony were to shift away from a cumbersome optical disc system and move completely to flash memory storage (Memory Stick Pro Duo) and digital downloads via the PlayStation Network Store. Kotaku does bring up a good point in wondering how such a device would be backward-compatible (perhaps if you have the UMD, you'd be allowed to download a digital version of the same game?).

While there's been a lot of chatter lately about a totally new PSP system, it's still up in the air whether the next version will be a complete redesign (a true PSP2) or just another another incremental upgrade to something that would be called the PSP-4000 (we're on PSP-3000 right now).

Kotaku and others are pointing to E3 in early June as a moment that would be ripe for a PSP2 announcement--which does seem logical. However, I for one hope it will do a lot more than play games.

As always, feel free to comment.

Update: Kotaku has some new quotes from Perry, who claims the PSP2 is indeed real and could hit this fall. I'm sure Sony isn't all that happy to have a developer leaking unverified information--but we don't mind.

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.