Just got yourself a shiny new PSP-3000? You’ll probably want to look away now. Sony is already believed to be planning its next handheld refresh, the PSP-4000. We don’t know when it’ll arrive, we don’t know what it’ll do and we don’t know how trustworthy the source of the rumour is, but what the hell? PSP-4000! Yay!
‘Publishing sources’ speaking to Eurogamer, were unable to shed any further light on the new handheld, save for the fact that it’s on its way. Judging from the release dates of other PSP upgrades, we’d expect it late next year, once again in time for Christmas.
We feel we should hazard a guess at what it will actually do too. The main complaint about the recently released PSP-3000 model is that the enhanced LCD screen has been throwing up unsightly scan lines. It’s a hardware issue rather than a software one, so Firmware patches can’t iron out that kink.
Therefore we expect a new PSP to come with an even better LCD, which has the brightness and the depth of colour but less of the screen artifacts. We’re calling it the Slim & Lite & Brite & With a screen that’s not shite. Sorry.
Or who knows, maybe Sony will step up a pace and unleash OLED technology on its handhelds? It’s possible, but we suspect that’ll be saved for the PSP 2, which has also been rumoured. Again, we can’t put a date, a price, or any further details on it whatsoever. But hey, PSP 2! Yay!
Sony is breaking the habit of a lifetime and not commenting on rumour and speculation. SCEE president David Reeves has said that “there are no plans for a PSP 2”. Sure there aren’t. It probably never even crossed their minds.
