Yet more PSP redesign speculation

PSP redesign rumours began kicking around last October. Since then they have resurfaced more than once, with the hitherto most recent coming directly from UK Sony exec Ray Maguire.

The latest: speaking about a new iteration of the PSP in an interview with Next-Gen, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian remarked: "I can tell you the from industry people I've talked to that [Sony] definitely has something in the works."

Sebastian refused to name his sources, but his comments could be potentially revealing of something big and PSP shaped coming soon.

Indeed, it might seem trite to say there is no smoke without fire, but in this case the phrase is apt. In spite of the lack of an official confirmation from Sony, the smoke signals, combined with comments from our own industry sources, are becoming clear to read: Pocket Gamer is convinced that the PSP we know and love will be joined or replaced by a lighter, leaner brother before long.

We're not talking PSP2 here, remember. Rather a reworking of the original Sony handheld's design.

Actually, given Sony's history of revising its hardware, the only thing surprising about a PSP refresh arriving this year would be the speed of its release after the original's debut.

But don't get too excited. Despite repeated promises to sink more time, energy and money into the success of the PSP, most announcements so far have been fairly minor, so we don't know how exciting such a relaunch would be to the existing PSP faithful.