So no major game announcement at Leipzig Game Convention ‘08 but another new model, but it will be the one that I will actually ended up buying, since I skipped PSP-2000 (Slim & Lite) and the upcoming Dissidia Final Fantasy bundle (which is almost certain to come with PSP-3000) will surely be too hard to resist.

The biggest upgrade is obviously the LCD screen, as this comparison shot from Famitsu with PSP-2000 shown. The official line says it “will have a wider color gamut and higher contrast ratio to deliver deeper, more vibrant colors, as well as anti-reflection technology so you can see the screen more clearly when playing outdoors“. While I appreciate the color and contrast enhancement, reflection is my biggest complaint when gaming inside my car or outdoor with my near launch PSP-1000, so this is really nice. Read on for more comparisons and some thoughts.

Source: Famitsu

As noted by the Famitsu staff, another nice touch to the new model is it feel more rounded and as a result, more comfortable when holding. The hard edges of the old model, which does make the system looks ermm… edgy, always freak me out when I accidentally hit it on something else. One final minor differences pointed out is the UMD “ring”, which as the picture below shows, has become smaller.

Although I had my doubts earlier, these upgrades plus interlaced video output (great for those who don’t have HDTV like me) and built-in microphone just convinced me to buy the same system twice for the first time ever. But I’m going to be greedy and hope there will be more upgrade to it than what has been announced already, especially the mysterious looking PS home button. Will there be more reasons for a hardware revision than these? Integration with PlayStation Home and other PS3 related stuff perhaps?

As far as launch dates are concerned, it will be Oct 14th for US, Oct 15th for Europe, Oct 16th for Australia and mid October for Asia. I am almost certain to pick up a Japan version, which has no confirmed date and interestingly, this Nikkei article says that colors for Japan are still undecided, so we might see some more weird but nice colors from the country.

Posted in PSP on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 9:58 am |
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