SCEA CEO Jack Tretton is the new frontman for PlayStation
happenings in North America. However, it was former America Chief Kaz Hirai, now president
of SCEI, who briefly took the stage at Sony’s E3 press conference to announce and
show a slimmer and lighter PlayStation Portable system.
When Hirai first unveiled the new PSP hardware he was holding
it appeared nearly indistinguishable from the current iteration, but the SCEI
head assured the crowd that the improvements will be immediately apparent once
the device is in our hands.
The new PSP is 33 percent lighter and 19 percent thinner,
though the rest of the handheld’s dimensions appear to remain mostly status
quo. Another considerable change is a more efficient
battery. However, how much of an improvement over the current PSP battery was not
detailed. Hirai also said the new PSP would load games faster, presumably
with an improved UMD drive. Unchanged are the size of the LCD display and
button layout.
The most notable change from a functionality standpoint is
the addition of video output capabilities. The new hardware can output video to an external display, such as a television, for all media. At the conference, Sony demonstrated playback of a Spider-Man movie
trailer played on the PSP, which was switched in real-time to displaying on the
big projection screen inside the theatre. The video output may also be used for
displaying photos and playing games on an external display.
Jack Tretton then reclaimed center stage to debut a
silver-colored PSP, which will be available alongside the piano-black model. Tretton
also introduced special guest Chewbacca onto the stage to help him announced a
special Star Wars-themed PSP with an image of Darth Vader printed on the back.
The Star Wars PSP
will comprise one of two new PSP bundles for North America. The Star Wars pack will include the
special-themed hardware along with the Star
Wars: Battlefront Renegade Squadron game. The second new PSP bundle will
include the new hardware, including the silver-colored PSP, the game Daxter, a
1GB memory stick Duo, and a Family Guy Freakin’ Sweet Collection UMD.
Both bundles will retail for $199.
Sony says that the new PSP will be released in North
America in October, but didn’t offer any launch details for other regions.
Word of a slimmer and lighter PSP first came straight from the
mouth of Sony UK boss Ray Maguire. The executive said in March the
current PSP hardware would just be the “first iteration” of the handheld. Later
that month, Maguire retracted
his earlier comments, saying at that time, “there is no next iteration of
the PSP.”
In April, sales of the PSP jumped following Sony’s official price drop of the core
package down to $169. In June, new PSP and PS3 system
software enabled Remote Play, allowing owners of both consoles to access
media from home via any Internet access point. Sony also released new developer
tools that allow game makers to unlock the full
potential of the PSP’s processor, going from 222 to 333MHz.