Developer backs up PSP-4000 chatter

[Kiss Of Death]

The next iteration of Sony's PSP handheld will feature a sliding screen, will no longer carry a UMD drive and will allow shoulder button-only games to be played when the screen is in its 'closed' position.

That's according to a development source close to Sony, speaking to Eurogamer on condition of anonymity. We first broke the news of a new update to the system late last year, revealing that PSP-4000, the third incremental hardware revision of the console, is planned for release later this year.

While Sony has refused to comment so far, further rumours have emerged in the past week claiming that 4000 will represent the first major overhaul of the system, with a sliding screen added and the UMD drive removed.

Our development source today confirmed these reports, adding: "The screen is basically the same as the one in the 3000 - except it slides." When 'closed', we were told, the screen won't cover the entire face of the console, but the unit will be "significantly smaller in width" as a result.

With the console in its 'closed' state, most controls will be inaccessible. However, our source claims that games which use the shoulder buttons exclusively - such as LocoRoco - will be playable, as these inputs will still be accessible. It's expected that the unit can also be used for media playback in this configuration.

Eurogamer further understands Sony is approaching developers for ideas for games that only require the shoulder buttons.

Sony said this afternoon it does not comment on rumour or speculation.

Source

[Ostinato]

This has been a particularly active area of discussion on every PSP board i've been on of late....doesn't really sound like it'd interest me at all, but i can see that the whole 'convergence' buzzword is like a honeytrap for Sony. I'm still of the opinion "i'll believe it when i see it" at the moment though...seems too soon...

[CLoudysteve]

shoulder button only games and a slider...riiight. thats definatly worth selling the model i currently have for peanuts and then adding an insane amount of cash towards it to buy an advanced retard edition of something that was already loved by the fans in the first place..

im wanting something that has way better graphics and ps2 emulation support. then id shell out the cash. personally i dont see why they cant do that..release some software and let you rip your own games directly to a hard drive on the psp that has some advanced security options and such.

[Ostinato]

Rumours say that the internals aren't going to be upgraded to that degree...it's supposed to be just a rework of the current system.

[CLoudysteve]

yeah i get that its just being reworked but im talking about the next generation of handhelds. i rekon the next one sony release is going shift the balance of the handheld market.

[Sir C.E.K.]

making it smaller in width they say?! Thats bloody bollocks! I see no problem with the width of the current PSP, I myself had to buy an extendible grip for it because I have large hands making it smaller would just put me off even wanting to consider putting the money out for a new one. If they're going to overhaul it why don't they integrate a camera ? or a chat pad as shown in the infamous red PSP picture we all had a laugh at? I hope this is just stage one speculation on the next version of the PSP...

Oh yeah, I also agree with Cloudy, if theyre going to change it they should also update the hardware to support enhanced graphics since theyre doing the wise thing and moving away from UMD's.

[Ostinato]

Well it's Dave Perry shooting his mouth off about some of these things....it's not exactly like he's a Sony insider.