All those improvements seem pretty obvious to me. That is, all but the touchscreen thing. Once again, upgrades of an existing console won't include entirely new control methods that'll make the old ones obsolete.

Strangely enough....I got nothing.

A PSP re-design is LONG overdue. Personally I think they should do it up "clamshell" style like the GBA SP.

Well, whatever happens, I hope they find some way to reduce the size. The existing PSP is WAY too bulky to carry around in your pocket, and isn't that the whole point? The Playstation PORTABLE

Whatever they do, I hope they find a way to reduce the size. The existing PSP is _way_ to big to fit in your pocket and isn't that the whole point? The Playstation PORTABLE

Why a touch screen? Ugh. Stop copying EVERYTHING. If they were really using the PSP to its full potential, it wouldn't NEED a touch screen. I don't mind using it on the DS, because if the screen gets scratched over time (yes, I use a screen protector), I can replace the entire system for like 120 bucks. I'm not too keen on raking a stylus across the screen of a $200-$250 PSP, especially when Sony's customer service is notoriously terrible.

Depending on the layout and style of the controls, I may check it out. If they stick with the analog nub and godawful d-pad though, forget it.

Actually it proves Monster Hunter is far from dead, not anything really about the PSP because once monster huter falls off the charts the PSP sales will drop, only the PSPs ability to remain at its current level of sales would prove its health, in addition a PSP2 risks alienating the fans of the original PSP, since this appears to have different hardware, and therefore games made for the PSP2 may not be playable on the original PSP.

So more of the same from Sony, huh. They never learn, do they.

"The recent blockbuster success in Japan should prove that the PSP is anything but dead and deserving of a make-over. Stay tuned!"

The same way the Gamecube was never really dead?

PSP2......well that's a most unoriginal name :p

I suppose a touch screen is an obvious upgrade really, we'll see loads of DS style games now.

This had better be cheap. As Nintendo has shown, for a portable to be profitable, it has to be cheap. Not cheap as in "The PS3 is 600, the PSP2 is only 350!" But cheap as in not breaking 150 dollars.

touchscreen will prob. be for XMB navigation, a la iphone. They wouldn't add it for gameplay when all the existing PSPs cant utilize it.

It's easy to see that it will be a "PSP with phone" capabilities beating the iPhone to a worldwide launch at the end of the year. Entitled either as PSPhone or PSP Phone but definitely it would be more of the latter. Of course there will be exclusive games for it.

Way to shaft existing owners sony. thanks for buying our useless brick of a system. Now here is another, better one. Yours is now completely obsolete.

While I don't doubt sony would do this, I'm suspicious about thge 8gb HDD. Would sony really make it so that people don't have to pay extra for a memory stick? I don'think so.

Why would Sony want to announce a product when they still have something like 3 million PSP's sitting in warehouses? Wouldn't it be smarter to wait until your first batch is sold out and then introduce the new one's kinda silently?

I for one am not sold on purchasing an expensive game handheld. They would have been better off bringing us a slightly redesigned one at a much better price. The price is the killer for most people.

I'll call bogus on most of the specs you've mentioned in the article. Touchscreen invalidates everything that went before and would be expensive for a screen of the psp's quality. Smaller would also increase the price. Fasterloading yep as the drive could be speeded up. Internal flash of 8gb..nope as this would add extra cost. Probably a 2-4gb flash.

The machine will cost more than the original with this spec and given how hard it was to shift the first one, which now costs as much as a Wii. I highly doubt Sony will want to shell out another huge Rand D budget on this project.

Bottom line. This will probably turn out to be a machine with a smaller form factor, faster loading and an internal flash instead of using falsh cards.

Woot! Glad I held out for so long. The library is starting to finally shape up, too.

Personally I'm hoping it lets you cache the game onto the flash memory or something for faster loading/lowered battery consumption. If not, well, there's always homebrew ;)

Are you now dis-un-not-invited to all of Sony's functions for leaking the PSP2!-notpsp2-PSP2AFTERALL!?

Don't understand why having touchscreen means Sony is copying Nintendo. I love the DS, but really, there has already been touchscreen games running on seven year old Sony Clies (yes, some of those has a resolution greater than the PSP).

I'll believe it when I see it. People have been saying Sony will reveal a PSP2 since last year already when DS LITES came out, and all these changes were noted back then already as well.

As for PSP success, the system itself still is selling well, no matter what fanboys may want to spew, the system has been doing quite well for itself. Software sales is where the PSP has been struggling, they get a hit here or there but other all the software sales are pretty meh. In Japan they have had quite a few good selling titles that have lasted weeks in the top 30's, but really its only a handful of titles and devs just see DS software selling far better.

Odd isn't it that it seems like most western developers keep supporting the PSP yet seem to just ignore the DS? Same with the Wii and next gen systems, with western devs focusing more on 360 and PS3 over the Wii.

Well, you guys were right that last time...

Actually, for my two cents I think a price drop makes more sense. I'm a big fan of it's current design, happily bringing it around whenever I travel. Any new functionality from a redesign would devastate the few fans they have, like me for instance.

@penhalion: Sounds about right.

@Avinash_Tyagi: PSP isn't dead in Japan even ignoring Monster Hunter sales; it's quite successful, reliably selling more than PS2 for years. It only looks dead when you compare it with DS... or with Sony's expectations that they would jump in and dominate the handheld market too.

8GB of internal would be nice. why not just crank it up to 15GB or something. toshiba has a flash drive that size.

if they did that, it may be a contender for an Ipod killer.

touch screen, unless it is a dual screen than forget it. just like kanerobot said, why would i want to drag a stylius over a 250 dollar unit?

sony has to realize that the touch screen isn't magical or anything. its all in developer support make a good game with solid hardware and you have something good. i like how the ds is alwasy trying something new. like with nintendogs and the bubble blower. the first time my daughter(4) tried it she was completly blown away!! that's innovation.

Hmm, a touch screen? How orignial. I can't wait for this spectacular device! Oh! The innovation!

Lol @ Sony.

The original PSP is just fine the way it is. It doesn't need a touch screen, a built-in camera, or a faster UMD drive. Developers just need to learn to depend less on the loading screens. Built-in flash memory would be nice, yes, but it wouldn't make me buy a whole new PSP. That's something I would like to avoid, after having paid $250 for mine. I'm not made of money.

@penhalion

We're not exactly pulling those figures out of thin air here...

* The screen is gorgeous (okay..)
* The loads are faster (Good!)
* Improved buttons (Wow, FINALLY!)
* Internal flash - 8GB (hmmmm... ok?)
* Possible touch-screen (Huh? Familiar...)
* Possible built-in camera (WTF would I ever need one?)
* Uses UMD (Fuck Sony, Fuck PSP2)

what about dual-analog sticks so we can get a REAL FPS on PSP?

Ah but the question is, will it have rumble???

I kinda think that they will add the SixAxis functionality to the PSP2 tho.....

An updated version of the PSP makes perfect sense this long after the initial launch. Consolidating components in a major redesign should allow them to reduce overall cost, and including some upgraded internal flash would encourage use of an upgraded PSP store.

On the other hand, actual additional functionality, like a touchscreen, seems like a bad idea which I'm not convinced Sony is willing to try. In the past they've managed this trick once, by making the DualShock standard on all new PS1's, but you didn't have to get an entirely new console to experience that.

My guess is that touchscreen is a no-go, but everything else looks plausible and good.

Does Monster Hunter sell anywhere outside of Japan? (Answer: No) I agree that it's too early to claim PSP isn't dead based on one game. Especially a game that only appeals in Japan. We've all read about the publisher support dropping on psp because the software sales are so abysmal so I don't know if a redesign will actually do much either way.

Anyway, here's what I'm looking for: SD card support (I will NEVER buy memory sticks), video support from SD that actually uses the whole widescreen, smaller (actually portable), lower price.
And of course more GAMES that are not ps2 ports.

I do NOT want builtin flash or camera. It will just add to the price on an already expensive device.

ALL they need to do, to make the current PSP successful is to ALLOW Homebrew.

They are even doing it with the PS3!

I call bull. First off, they wouldn't add a touch screen, for reasons already mentioned by others. 8GB of flash memory would be prohibitively expensive, IMO. Same with the built-in camera. "Uses UMD" what the heck? Ok, so they're keeping the same medium, and that's somehow an improvement? Besides, why would they redesign it so that it wasn't even compatible with current media? "The loads are faster" That would be nice, but it is a very generic claim. "The screen is beautiful" That's not even worth saying. It is already beautiful, and it is a completely non-measurable stat.

Besides, Joystiq said it was false:

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/09/no-psp-redesign-planned-...

I guess the only thing SONY can do is bite off of everyone. It's pathetic.

The screen is gorgeous - why bother changing whats already good :)

The loads are faster (Excellent!)

Improved buttons (I kinda got really good at the old ones, maybe their less slipery)

Internal flash - 8GB (how is 8Gigs of internal flash ram not cool. No more shilling out for memory sticks, yay!)

Possible touch-screen
- Not sure I like the touch screen thing idea either though......unless SONY can create a special stylus that wont scratch the hell outa the beautiful thumbprint/dust loving screen.

Possible built-in camera (could careless, really, but sure fill your boots SONY)

Uses UMD - (Backwards compatability, sounds good2me)

I love my PSP, awesome for when lyingdown in your rack, headphones on, watching a movie/porn or MP3's or hell even gaming, after another repetive day/watch aboard ship.

wait.... does this mean, considering that thirt parties wants to tie their games to this, that it's an actual psp2, not a redesigned psp? I mean is it going to be more powerful? Like actual PS2 or even Xbox level graphics on a handheld? And what about battery life?

Apparently, it's just a redesign -- like the DS Lite. Personally, I doubt the touch screen bit, but that's what we've heard, so.

I actually just got rid of my DS and replaced it with a PSP (I know, I know). While the DS is a better system with a better library in most regards, the PSP has a lot to offer and is great fun. It looks like this would address most of my complaints about the PSP (huge size, hidden cost of memory, load times and likely battery life).

Usually a redesign precipitates a price drop, especially with Sony, and the PSP really needs to be cheaper (and have a better bundle - seriously, has there ever been a more worthless bundle than the entertainment pack?).

I know it's fashionable fanboism to pronounce the death of the PSP, but I don't see a handheld with an install base of 20 million+ going quietly. Yeah, you'll never see a DS-like library on it (mostly because of the abysmal tie-in ratio) but there's plenty of room for profitable games with an install base of that size.

I've been wanting to buy a PSP but have been putting it off for just such a list of upgrades. Can't wait, I hope it's true.

I'm thinking this is, as it says, a re-design, and not a next gen PSP. If this is the case, I can believe:

* The screen is gorgeous
* The loads are faster
* Improved buttons
* Internal flash - 8GB
* Possible built-in camera
(I don't think this is likely
* Uses UMD

You guys realize this thing is going to be as expensive as shit! Even if you drop the price of the current PSP Core system to $149 you then add the touch screen functionality, the 8gb embedded memory, the camera and then a faster umd drive and that all equals to "holy shit!"

My ass is already swollen from the PS3 price gouge.

Does anybody have an vaseline?

Ok, that went terribly wrong. TAKE TWO!

I'm thinking this is, as it says, a re-design, and not a next gen PSP. If this is the case, I can believe:

* The screen is gorgeous
* The loads are faster
* Improved buttons
* Internal flash - 8GB
* Possible built-in camera
(I don't think this is likely, but there was a camera add on, so it is certainly possible.)
* Uses UMD

The faster load times could be achieved by a faster UMD drive, and all the other upgrades are easy. (I'm a little disappointed by 8GB of flash though... they should have gone with HDDs, and got 20-80GB.) The touchscreen won't happen. No games could use it, unless they were PSP2 exclusive, which would make it pointless not to overhaul the whole system to build a backward compatible "next gen" PSP2.

cost, cost, cost, why would they charge that much for something like that. I would have picked one up, but I couldn't justify the cost. Too much for too little.

This is the one thing that always blows me away about Sony. They have no real idea of what consumers want. Their premium stuff never sells well compared to stuff that is priced affordably.

Recipe for success:
-Kill the 8GB flash memory (too expensive)
-Kill analog nub (replace with two poppable analogue sticks)
-Touch screen yes (multi-touch fingers)
-Accelerometer
-Games on Memory Stick Duo read-only flash (plus 128KB save or whatever)

If it's just a redesign, I doubt it would have touchscreen. You have to keep it compatible with the previous models and games.
...and if it is a touchscreen, then all I REALLY have to say is, "Good god, Sony. Can't you do ANYTHING original??"

Sony needs to realize that portable systems sell because they're cheap. This new PSP, if it includes a touchscreen and 8gb flash mem is going to be psychotically expensive.
If Sony wants to make a portable gaming system, then make it and make it right.
If Sony wants to make a portable media center, then make it and make IT right.
They're doing this with the PS3, too. They're half-assing it, in a way. It's not appealing to consumers.

@DSaddict: "if they did that, it may be a contender for an Ipod killer."

lol. I remember when the original PSP was also going to be the "iPod Killer".

PSP2 needs a 2nd analog nub. How else will they be able to port XIII effectively?

Yay for faster load times, and BOOOO for keeping UMD.

And for everyone worried that a touch screen means their precious screen will get scratched - relax! This is what they make screen protectors for. I have a screen protector on my DS Lite touch screen, and it looks fine and has kept my screen scratch-free.

UMD isn't dead? Improvements most likely include dual analog thumb sticks. HDD option is needed or they are just shooting themselves in the foot again after reloading.

I get the feeling that the touchscreen was tacked on to the rumour to give it that bash factor.

My girlfriend loves her PSP, but I've held off on getting one. If this proves true, and the price drops, I might buy one as well.

Oh and to clarify on my last post, I don't think it was tacked on by anyone here. I've seen this list of rumoured features on other sites as well.

Screw all those other improvements; I would like them to deal with the *horrible* audio on the thing. For a device that's supposed to be an MP3 player and UMD player, you'd think "great" sound would've been a priority.