Sony’s PSP2 – Mum’s the Word

The rumor mill has been working overtime these last few months regarding the next generation PlayStation Portable. Will it have a touchscreen? Will it have 3D like the Nintendo 3DS? How about HD graphics over a 4 inch screen with the processing power of a PS3? Does it even exist? All the while, even the developers have been left in the dark. Leaving people guessing only works up until a point, there comes a time when details are needed.

The latest rumor is that Sony will be holding a special event in Tokyo, Japan on January 27th, with one of the main announcements to be the PSP2. This event could just as well be the unveiling of the equally rumored PlayStation Phone, no one knows. In any case, Sony really needs to pull it’s finger out after a year of declining PSP sales and the imminent release of the Nintendo 3DS.

Sony’s last couple of years have been sketchy at best with regard to consumer confidence. With public outrage, it removed the ‘Other OS’ feature from the PS3, resulting in a class action lawsuit and a renewed interest in hacking the console – to which we have the USB based jailbreaker and fail0verflow cryptography hack. The PSP Go was for all intents a slap in the face for consumers, claiming compatibility with existing PSP titles, but only with digital copies of games, resulting in player’s existing libraries of UMD based games worthless. Storage was limited to 16GB and a single expansion port, using yet another new proprietary memory type. All games had to be purchased within the PSN store, meaning no competition over prices and no 2nd hand market. To Sony, this is all to do with piracy prevention, however, consumers see otherwise. While plenty of new features and such have been added, especially to the PS3, it’s bitter sweet.

There is a lot more riding on the release of the PSP2 than just a simple expansion of the PSP range, it’s a case of whether or not Sony has actually listened to public demand and learnt from past mistakes. We’ll find out if any of the rumors hold up at the end of the month and whether or not we’ll see a release sometime this year.

The long-awaited PlayStation Portable 2 (PSP2) could be unveiled at a special Sony event in Tokyo later this month, reports claim. Citing unnamed sources, gaming sites VG247 and MCV say Sony will unveil the updated portable on January 27. Details are slim so far, and Sony won’t say for sure that it will show off the PSP2 at the event. It would only tell CNET’s sister site GameSpot that it would be “sharing [its] business overview and strategy.”