The image has been uploaded over at Kotaku, and apparently surfaced over at 2ch – Japan’s largest online forum. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the picture.

This could well be a photoshop, but we’ll presume that it’s real until we hear otherwise. Sony has already responded to the image, by saying ‘we don’t comment on rumor and speculation’ – interesting, since they could have flat out denied it if they wanted to send out a message.

What we see here is a slide out design similar to the PlayStation Phone, two analogue sticks as previously leaked and similar control options to the PS phone as well. We also see an SD card, a stylus for the touchscreen display and also, a memory stick-type storage option which could be a brand new media specific to the PSP2.

Definitely exciting stuff for sure. We’ll obviously update you if we hear any more news on this image, but for now give us your reaction to what ‘could’ be, the very first image of the PSP2.

If you had read the report last month which suggested that the upcoming handheld would be able to run Uncharted 3, you were probably thinking at the time that it would be impossible.

But now, Codemasters boss Rod Cousens has backed up claims of the PSP2′s power, with the following statement:

“In portable areas you’re going to have statements, which already out in the press, saying PlayStation Portable 2 is as powerful as the PlayStation 3 – which is true.”

If Cousens is to be believed, then we can’t wait to see what Sony announce this week at their special conference in Japan on Thursday – Just imagine for a second guys, a PS3 sitting in the palm of your hands could be a reality before the end of the year.

However, as we all know too well, the PSP2 is unlikely to come in at an affordable price point. If the system can indeed manage to churn out games of PS3 quality, then Sony are obviously going to command a very high price for it – so don’t be surprised if the PSP 2 ends up more expensive than the current price for a PS3 console – $299.99 at least.

What are your thoughts on the price for the PSP2? What price do you think Sony will announce for it?

Now it appears that the upcoming PSP2 and Nintendo 3DS are also receiving the comparison treatment. For example, an interesting article over at computerandvideogames.com (by Tom Ivan) takes a look at the processing powers of both the Nintendo DS and Sony’s second generation PSP.

As Tom notes, recent rumors suggested that the PSP2 will be as powerful as the PS3. In the meantime, the Nintendo 3DS is said to sport two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs, as well as 1.5Gbs of flash storage, 64MB of RAM, 4MB of dedicated VRAM and a 133MHz GPU.

This is pretty much the same comparison that’s seen in a recent article over on the eurogamer.net website. As the author of the article notes, the Tegra 2 – which is expected to be included in the new 3DS handheld – is said to provide a significant jump in performance compared to the DS.

Reports have also suggested that a multi-core (possibly four-core) variant of the SGX543 could well be the GPU choice for the upcoming PlayStation Portable 2. A PSP2 vs. Nintendo 3DS comparison video has also surfaced over on YouTube, which you can check out via the link here.

As for which handheld console will be the more popular, Shobz from the webscopia.com website believes it will be the Nintendo 3DS. Although at this stage, we don’t really know enough about the Sony PSP2. Rumors have suggested the PSP2 will have front and rear cameras and a HD touchscreen.

Have you decided which console you will be buying yet?

As previously thought the PSP2 will not have a UMD slot and will indeed continue along the same lines the PSPGO, which is downloadable content running from the HDD. Front and rear facing cameras are included along with its HD screen and the much rumored rear touch panel is a reality according to IGN.

Whilst the specs of the PSP2 don’t really start to compare to that of the PlayStation 3 they are still fantastic for a handheld device. The processor is just over half as powerful as the PS3 although we still don’t know the clock speed or how many cores it has.

Due to it being a handheld the screen is much smaller and will not require the 1080p output of the PS3 meaning will require a lot less power to smash out the intense graphics of the PS3 so they should be as good on the PSP2 because of the smaller resolution. You can learn more about the PSP2 by visiting ign.com here.

We are still unaware of the pricing but a device like this is obviously going to be pretty juicy because of all its features, so keep up with us and we will let you know. What do you think of the PSP2 developments so far, does it impress you?

The news comes from Akihabara News, who say that the patent application points to a forthcoming device which closely resembles that of the PSP 2, something that has been in the rumor mill for quite sometime.

Details are scarce, but the listed hardware configs include “slidably connected” halves, or a duel-sided device where the display is situated on the top side, and the touch screen resides on the back.

The purpose of the device is also left with question marks. The patent states that the device in question “may be configured for use as a game device, a phone, a portable media player, an email device, web browser device and the like.”

Regardless of what it is used for, the application comes from the gaming division of Sony directly, therefore we can only suggest that it will most definitely carry the PlayStation brand.

Source: 1up

This is not intended to be the devices final form by any means, but what we can see is that the device intends to have a “sliding screen” that covers the physical controls, a HD screen, front, and rear facing cameras and we are told that it will have twice as much RAM than what’s currently in the Xbox 360.

According to VG247, where these images came from, they have since updated their article and have stated that these images are infact from the previous kit.

The newer one is said to have a single, non-sliding block and have switched back to a form that resembles a PSP-1000 to prevent it from overheating.

What are your views on the PSP2 dev kit?

Source: VG247

According to this report from VG247, the Sony PSP 2 is meant to be hitting sometime during Fall 2011 and will apparently be rocking 1GB of RAM – the Xbox 360 only comes with 512MB. That also makes the current 64MB of RAM seen in the PSPgo and PSP 3000 look rather silly.

Furthermore, VG247 also reports that the PSP2: will not have a facility for UMD discs (yes!), will come with dual analogue sticks, mouse trackpad on the back, HD display screen and support memory sticks like current models.

Well it is safe to say that the PSP2 will come with greater processing power than the current PSP models, but if it comes with 1GB of RAM – then it is seriously going to be able to churn out some awesome games.

These are just rumors don’t forget, but let us know your thoughts on them.

According to a recent article on GamersMint, Sony has begun to hand out dev kits for use with the PlayStation Portable 2, so surely a release date will be much sooner? Some fans believe that not much will change with the new version, while most agree that a major redesign inside and out is needed.

Having looked over all 14 concepts I believe that I have found my favorite, which you can see an image of below. This looks as though it could be a smartphone, but instead of a QWERTY slider, it hides the control buttons and d-pad needed for gaming.

We cannot say for certain if Sony will go for any of these designs, but let us hope that it is a radical change to the current model. View all 14 concepts, which is your favorite?

According to this report from Eurogamer, a series of unnamed developers have already seen the new handheld in action, adding that Sony are also getting feedback from publishers on the PSP 2 and it’s new form factor.

While the display screen isn’t thought to be coming with touch support, Eurogamer’s sources claim that the back of device will feature some sort of touch pad, which will be controlled by players behind the display screen.

Furthermore, Eurogamer’s sources say the PSP 2 will be out at the end of 2011, although another source states that it could be pushed into 2012 – we hope not.

Will we get a formal announcement at TGS in September? Let us know your thoughts on these exciting rumors. Do you like the idea of a touch pad located at the back or not?

We have to take what we are about to report at face value, Charlie Demerjian from Semi Accurate reported a week ago that Nvidia’s Tegra 2 will power the rumored PlayStation Portable 2 and that it will make an appearance at CES 2011. If this is true, then it goes against most of the other rumors that it will be released late this year.

It is also being reported that the handheld will see a few of its spec features downgraded, but only time will tell if this is true. The reason why the Tegra 2 could cause delays is due to the fact that it is not a simple CPU to make, and takes much longer to manufacturer.

We do not know much more, but we did recently ask what OS would you like to see running on the new Sony portable gaming device? Well, that is if it is a PSP 2 Phone.