Roughly five minutes after the PSP hit store shelves whispers began circulating around the net that a redesign was in the cards, these rumors rose to a mild rumbling as gamers began to realise that while the PSP was sexy looking piece of kit, it did have a number of design flaws.

- Only one analog knob (one knob to rule them all): Nintendo figured out back in the 32bit era with the N64 that a single analog stick is inadequate when it comes to articulate control in three dimensions. Intelligent developers like Sony Blend and Zipper have managed to work around this by mapping functions traditionally allocated to the second analog stick to the PSP's face buttons, with varying degrees of success. A second analog stick would free four buttons up, giving the console greater functionality and making it more suited to fluid control in 3D environments.

- Nub placement: Bad enough that there's only one stick, but did they have to stick it in a position where it'll cause sever thumb crampage? I have no idea what sort of placement would be better, but that's why I'm not a highly paid hardware engineer, this one could use some finxin' boys.

- The UMD Disc format: They look cute as all heck, and people "oooh", and "ahh," when you pop 'em out to show 'em off, but the UMD disc format has caused more bad for the PSP than good. First off is the fact that it's just too darn slow to load, granted this could be improved with a hardware revision that upgrades the drive seek time but it still takes time to start spinning the drive. Speaking of spinning drives, this and the laser needed to read the discs uses up a fair amount of the PSP's already precious battery power that most of us would rather conserve if we had the choice. Lastly, the UMD format has a fixed capacity at 1.8GB, we're already seeing flash memory that more than quadruples its storage capacity and has lower power consumption and faster seek times.

So now we've listed some of the problems that need to be tackled but what's the best option for the job, a redesign or a full blown successor to the hardware? That's still a tough question, let's have a deeper look shall we?

The Redesign: A redesign could take care of most of the problems if not all of them, and it would probably be cheaper for Sony to manufacture as they'd be able to implement new power saving technology developed since the PSP's launch and possibly shrink die sizes. However, a redesign would mean that a very large percentage of PSP gamers would be left with the original older units, units that have only one analog nub (ruh-roh!) This would effectively split the user base in half, granted it's been done before with the PSOne and its move from the original controller (which had no analog sticks) to the Dual Shock, (which had two) but that was a $40 peripheral, not the entire console.

Releasing a redesign would be akin to asking your entire user base to chuck their current hardware down the poop shoot and plonk down some hard earned dough to get a swanky new PSP - Lite. The reason Nintendo's been so successful with their GBA and DS redesigns is that the basic functionality of the system was carried over. For a PSP redesign to work Sony could conceivably get away with changing the position of the nub, and possibly even nixing the UMD drive, but every console would still have only one nub and that's a problem.

The PSP2: For the record, "PSP2" would be really lame name, but in the absence of something more creative we'll go with it for now. A PSP2 would be Sony's best bet for fixing all the design flaws in the PSP and they could include upgraded hardware components, increased memory, faster processing chips, include a hard drive, the whole deal. Plus they'd have the benefit of hindsight and experience in the handheld sector to better design the beast. The big question is whether gamers feel the time is right to purchase the PSP's successor, the console's only been out for just a little over a year and many feel it's only now beginning to gain some momentum. There's also the fact that we're yet to see the full potential of the PSP, the clock is still locked at 222MHz and dammit, I want to see some 333MHz games before I have to drop another $250 on a new handheld!

In the end it's almost a given Sony's explored both possibilities, and if I were a betting man I hedge my bet on Sony not releasing a PSP2 or a PSP - Lite for a while to come. The PSP is doing just fine at the moment (it actually beat out the DS in sales for the month of May) and the platform is finally starting to get some good games, Sony realises this and knows how much time and effort developers are putting into the system. Releasing a PSP2 or a PSP - Lite right now would be pulling the rug out from under developers and worse, consumers.

So what say you guys, PSP2, a redesign, or just leave it as it is?

Thanks to a friend on pspupdates for of this info.

This was a hard question for me. I think that a redesign will come in time because there are many improvements that can be made. But this come with almost everything that comes out these days. Theres always room for improvement. A totally new redesign? Thats asking a bit much but Nintendo did it, and so far its doing well.
I guess for now I will just say leave it alone and keep upgrading the Firmware on it. In a year or so I would want to see a new design but by then the next portable sony product will be on the drawing boards!

Edit: If they were to make a redesign I would love to see them put motion sensors in it!! Like the new PS3 controllers!

Quote: Originally Posted by PhLaKz'R Thats asking a bit much but Nintendo did it, and so far its doing well.

I think they are going to have to redesign it. Just because of that...

Also, I really think that the UMDs are goign to go 'bye bye' within the next 5 years. It's not cost effective for them anymore (in my opinion). Movie studios are not seeing the sales that they'd wish, and are dropping the format because of that.

Like you've alraedy said, they could go the cartridge route ala Nintendo (which for a portable system, is the best option IMO) and use sony memory sticks. Already they hold more and have faster seek times. The only detriment to that is how much will they/could they cost.

Also...the DS redesign wasn't a total wacked out different thing compared to the original "phatty" DS. It's just a retooling...Sony would have to figure out a way to still allow early adopters, or at least PSP1.0 users from not having to buy a whole new PSP to play the newest games.

I think it'll happen, but not anytime soon. How long did it take Sony to redesign the PS1 and PS2? Almost the last full year of their release...

Oh, and BTW, because of the new Nintendo DS Lite...the fiance and I went out and bought one last night with New Super Mario Bros. I love it

I've always been annoyed with handhelds that have an open screen because they are designed to be carried in pockets and pockets generally contain things that scratch unprotected screens. As such, the GBA SP was a good design; as is the DS and the DS Lite (the DS Lite is really cool). While the PSP has an amazingly crisp display, it certainly needs some kind of cover or lid to protect it. That's what I would like to see most.

I have also thought that it was a dumb idea to make UMD movies (apparantly retailers agree as they are pulling UMD format movies off their shelves).

The UMD is failing because they charge outrageous prices for movies. I am not going to pay $25 for a movie I can only watch on a 6" screen. The PSP has been a huge money maker for sony though. I mean think about it, a device that uses only ms pro duo, a format made by sony. Sony then sells a crap ton of their expensive memory sticks. With the release of GPS and the camera you will see a big jump in psp sales. They will ultimatly come out with a new handheld due to the success of this one but I think that will be years from now.

Vertical_Zer0.... now linux can handle word documents and even create them pssh.



Oh and phlak, some games already clock the psp up to 333mhz, you just dont know it.

Umm... how about not a nub? I hate that thing

Yeah I dont like to use it either but if there were two it would make FPS easier.