The PSP 2 is imminent. The online rumour mill is winding up to fever pitch and now this official-looking image has appeared online. If ths PSP 2 is appearing this month, is this it? There’s some evidence to suggest it is, and some more to suggest it isn’t. Take a good look at it, then read on and we’ll break down the case for and against it.
YES! This is the PSP 2
The button layout, the SD card compatibility, the sliding design. It all echoes the rumours we’ve heard up until now about the PSP 2. OK, so the thumbsticks have moved slightly since previously rumoured designs, but since we’re dealing in pure hearsay here, that’s no surprise.
What is a surprise is the stylus. Sure, it’d let the PSP 2 go head to head with the Nintendo DS (and 3DS, for that matter) in the accuracy stakes, but in the age of the iPhone and finger-friendly gaming, it’s an oddity.
Moreover, this new PSP 2 bears a striking physical resemblance to leaked images of the PSP Phone, or Sony Ericsson Experia Play. Is Sony planning to offer a PSP phone and a PSP non-phone? Sounds similar to Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch strategy doesn’t it?
NO! It’s definitely not the PSP 2
Update: We’ve been chatting it over with Engadget’s Richard Lai, who’s adamant this latest image is based on the PSP phone leaks first published there. What do you think? Is this a photoshop mash-up?
First up, the quality of this leaked image is ropey. Kotaku points out it’s been scanned in, which suggests it’ll form part of a hand-out to the press. The trouble is, we have never been to a Sony press conference and been handed paper copies of photos. Ever. And we’ve been to a lot.
Press images are always on a CD or USB stick, or more likely in recent years, stashed on an online image service, protected by a password or obscure web address that’s handed to journalists along with paper copies of the press release text. That aside, it’s a good way of disguising shonky photoshopping, and mis-matched resolutions.
Then there’s that Memory Stick. It’s an old-style memory card, and the PSP 2 branding upon it seems slapped on. Compare it to the more intricate and detailed design work on the SD card and you’ll see what we mean.
And, of course, there’s that stylus. Is Sony really going the way of the DS with touch control? We’re struggling to believe it, if we’re honest.
What do you think? Answers in the comments section below, if you please…
