Sony announced, just prior to the beginning of this year’s E3, the PSP GO, shown below. The PSP Go does not feature a UMD drive as previous PSPs, but will be able to store downloadable media on 16 GB of internal flash memory. It will also support Bluetooth and wireless connectivity and be 15% lighter and 43% smaller than the original PSP-3000 (43% lighter and 56% smaller than the PSP-1000).
The PSP Go features a 3.8″ LCD (compared to 4.3″ on previous PSP models) and is similar to the iPod Touch (at 3.5″) The PSP Go will offer 16 GB of built-in flash memory, with additional space able to be added through a Memory Stick Micro slot. There is no UMD drive on the PSP Go. At the time of the initial leak through Qore, no methods were announced of transferring UMD content to the PSP Go.
Controls for the PSP Go have changed slightly in design and placement from its predecessor. PSP Go features the standard PlayStation control scheme (four-button directional pad, four action buttons (cross [commonly referred to as X], circle, square, triangle), a single Thumbstick next to the directional buttons, L and R buttons, Start and Select buttons, and a PlayStation logo button to the left of the screen.
In addition to wireless support, the PSP Go adds Bluetooth capability. In addition to support for standard Bluetooth headsets, John Koller also specifies the ability to tether the PSP Go to a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone.
On the leaked Qore video, Koller specifically mentions PSP versions of LittleBigPlanet, Jak and Daxter, Gran Turismo, and “a new Metal Gear Solid.” Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier had been previously announced and a PSP version of Gran Turismo was originally shown off at the 2004 E3 Expo.
Koller also emphasizes casual games in the interview, implying that Sony would like to see the PSP platform become home to shorter, simpler “pick up and play” games that can be downloaded from PlayStation Store.
Koller mentions that the existing interoperability between the PlayStation 3 and the PSP hardware lines will be carried over to the PSP Go.
