PSP-3000 features enhanced screen & built-in microphone

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 20th 2008 at 11:15AM }

Sony just announced at their Leipzig press conference the PSP-3000 series. It will look exactly the same as the current PSP-2000 (Slim & Light) model, but will add a built-in microphone and enhanced screen. Apparently, the screen will work better outdoors, being able to resist glare. The built-in microphone will be a huge plus for regular Skype users, and those that take their PSP online via Infrastructure.

Video-Out has also been enhanced, with the system now able to interlace for televisions that don't support a progressive output (that means non-HDTVs).

The PSP-3000 series will be available on October 15th in Europe and will retail for €199. There will be 8 bundles, each adding one game to the package.

Tags: leipzig, lgc08, psp, psp-3000, psp-brite

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

asd @ Aug 20th 2008 11:28AM

if they make a dissidia bundle i hope they make it with this psp

strike @ Aug 20th 2008 11:27AM

Yay, I just traded my psp in yesterday. I was going to get a psp lite, but the store didnt have any, now I'll wait for this instead, or a ps3, which ever comes first.....

RockerAnimeFreak @ Aug 20th 2008 3:16PM

Damn this new psp is sexy! good thing I didn't give in to the slim as I own a phat! well looks like I'll use the phat for homebrew and this 3000 series for legitimate use.

emirabal @ Aug 20th 2008 11:32AM

So, this is just a hardware update really, ok, no dice, im good wit mine as is.

kingofwale @ Aug 20th 2008 11:37AM

8 bundles????

God of War.
Crisis Core
Monster Hunter
Soccer
Hockey
Madden

what else?

will @ Aug 20th 2008 5:19PM

Ratchet
other platformer
PSN games
Rhythm game
"Girl" game
no game, but big Memory Stick

gurbinder @ Aug 21st 2008 3:25PM

daxter....

gumby @ Aug 20th 2008 11:44AM

the mic would be nice..but they really needed to do something about the screen outdoors as it is now it is unplayable.

vivelemal @ Aug 20th 2008 11:47AM

well i still want the madden bundle but the lees glare outside screen is good and i dont really care bout the mic but i think ill still stick to buying the madden bundle lol

mikelhend @ Aug 20th 2008 11:46AM

I suspect the biggest "upgrade" here is going to be harder-to-flash firmware... they needed to make it attractive enough to attract buyers as they phase out the old model that is uber-hackable.

Christopher @ Aug 21st 2008 9:44AM

Yeah, but they know just as well as anybody else, they not going to have it nailed down for long. It'll be hacked somehow.

mikelhend @ Aug 20th 2008 12:03PM

I wonder... if they do make it "unhackable" (or at least much harder to hack), will that kill the PSP? I suspect a lot of people buy the PSP knowing they can hack it and then play most of the console's library for free.

Nintendo is wise to target the "family" audience... who is more likely to hack their console and pirate games? The 8 year old kid and/or his/her mom (DS...), or the 20 year old college student (PSP)? Yes, piracy is rampant on the DS, but it's a SMALL portion of their audience, versus the PSP which I think draws more tech savvy owners that can find/use hacker tools for it.

Riley @ Aug 20th 2008 12:28PM

I know this isn't the norm, but I was on a shuttle traveling from a med school to a hospital with a 8-10 year-old kid and his dad who was at least 40. Sure enough, he was playing a DS with an R4.

mikelhend @ Aug 20th 2008 1:23PM

Groovy... I've never seen an R4 in the wild. I have a CycloDS and love it, but I show it off (and use it) as a "my entire library on one cart" solution. (I do own physical copies of every ROM I have on there. Yep, that makes me perfectly legal! Yep... yep yep yep. Yep. There, I'm convinced. :)

aj @ Aug 20th 2008 3:23PM

....actually, people only buying the PSP because they intend on playing PSP games for free will probably kill the PSP.

Just a thought.

Christopher @ Aug 21st 2008 9:48AM

No. It will be hacked. They always leave a back door into these systems for repair work. All it takes is for somebody to figure it out and then exploit the code in such a way to run homebrew. The only true way to make it unhackable would be to require online authentication for each package that was installed. It's barely tolerable for on PC's let alone on a handheld.

Christopher @ Aug 21st 2008 9:53AM

@AJ,

No, if this were true, the PSP wouldn't be selling so well in Japan. You can buy archives of PSP games cheap from what I have read in akihabara market which is right on their doorstep. Piracy online just makes it more convenient. Why do you think that most of the homebrew flash carts for the DS are made in Japan? Coincidence? I think not.

guardianknight2 @ Aug 20th 2008 12:00PM

strike.how much did they give u for ur psp phat

strike @ Aug 20th 2008 12:16PM

@guardianknight2

The psp itself sold for 55 pounds ($100), but with some old games, it went up to 75 pounds ($150)

I traded it in Gamestation, for credit, not cash. For cash, I think it would go down from 75 pounds ($150) to 50 pounds ($100). Gamestation is also a UK company.

Hope it helps.

tehpwner @ Aug 20th 2008 12:07PM

woahh dang a new PSP already. i was planning to buy the white darth vader in a week....should i wait for this one?

J. Tal. @ Aug 20th 2008 4:01PM

I planning on selling my White Star Wars PSP on Ebay. This is what happened last year, as soon as I heard about the PSP-2001 I sold my phat on Ebay. Got all the money I neaded to buy one of the new ones too! Anyways, check out ebay for the White Star Wars PSP. I think I going to sell it for around $179.99.

HAAS599 @ Aug 20th 2008 12:07PM

this new psp will go great with the GPS kit

Awesome news. Will get this as soon as it hits the U.S. shelves

strike @ Aug 20th 2008 12:16PM

Frastoglegnia @ Aug 20th 2008 12:43PM

If Sony has made the form of the 3000 interchangeable with the 2000's, they were shrewd to do so. Peripherals for the previous model have only now gotten interesting. Logitech, who make smashing cases (though, thankfully, not literally), is about to issue a 2000 version of the Playgear Pocket at last.

Third-party support would die off if Sony gave other companies the sacred pulsating shitzhu. Lack of peripherals would annoy potential users as well, which would nose -- you heard me, nose! It's a professional marketing term! -- all over Sony's sales.

Frastoglegnia @ Aug 20th 2008 12:30PM

If Sony has made the form of the 3000 interchangeable with the 2000's, they were shrewd to do so. Peripherals for the previous model have only now gotten interesting. Logitech, who make smashing cases (though, thankfully, not literally), is about to issue a 2000 version of the Playgear Pocket at last.

Third-party support would die off if Sony gave other companies the sacred pulsating javelin of disdain. Lack of peripherals would annoy potential users as well, which would nose -- you heard me, nose! -- all over Sony's sales.

vivelemal @ Aug 20th 2008 12:37PM

yall know how much r they sellin it in uk 299us dollars
dang i gonna buy a psp 2000 madden bundle

lonesomefolly @ Aug 20th 2008 12:41PM

I hate you sony, I reaaaally do. I just bought my microphone.

Don @ Aug 20th 2008 1:12PM

The only new feature in that list I have use for is the glare-reducing screen.

I don't like this trend of Sony introducing a new model with just very minor additions. As of this writing, the PSP Slim has only been out for less than a year.

But integrating the mic into the system, and the PS logo on the HOME button might be a sign they're going to do something big with those. but then again, it could just be the PSP Slim's version of the IR (on the old PSP)....

Austin @ Aug 20th 2008 5:35PM

This is awesome im so glad I didn't trade my PSP-1000 up for a 2000 but now im gonna trade for the 4 gig 3000 pack thanx for the tip guys

rikki @ Aug 20th 2008 2:14PM

Damn! Screen improvements and interlaced video out...that's something I might actually use!

Can't say I care enough to trade in my red case though. Sorry, Sony. :/

It's good to see they're working on actual hardware improvements rather than just anti-homebrew internal changes.

atastysammich @ Aug 20th 2008 2:32PM

Well, good thing I just bought a 2000 three months ago.

WhiteShield @ Aug 20th 2008 3:36PM

can't you actually BUY something to use for both glare reducing and keeping your screen from getting scratched? and at the rate that sony is pumping these things out, i'll wait till the 4000 (next year probably XD) so i get 2 batches on improvements and i get good use out of my slim (still got a phat, use it for homebrew/testing stuff). they are pumping these things out faster than nintendo shot out pokemon games!

Ogre722 @ Aug 20th 2008 3:48PM

I can't believe that they are releasing a new iteration of the psp. Why couldn't they put these things in the original? I bought the 1000, and the 2000. Sony should just implement these features in its next gen handheld and stop torturing PSP users.

will @ Aug 20th 2008 5:05PM

awesome. i bought my PSP-2000 less than a week ago.

1.3.1.4 @ Aug 20th 2008 5:27PM

I need one.

But I'll have to stick with what I've got for now. *_*

Kilo @ Aug 21st 2008 7:19AM

Woot Cant Wait For It
So Is It Also Coming Out in Oct Also For The US
I Might Get The 4GB Memory Pack or Mayb The Core

DarkAssaszin @ Aug 20th 2008 8:19PM

noooooooooooooooooooo i bought my slim 3 days ago!

DarkAssaszin @ Aug 20th 2008 8:20PM

noooooooooo i just bought my slim 3 days ago

1stladyofkrypton @ Aug 20th 2008 9:41PM

Wow. I just broke down and got my slim like 3 weeks ago. -_-

me @ Aug 22nd 2008 2:06AM

I kinda thought the PSP-3000 was going to be a whole new machine with a slew of features neither of the other PSPs had. Oh well..

andwhyisit @ Aug 20th 2008 11:36PM

I wonder how much ram it has...

Ben @ Aug 21st 2008 2:48AM

Well that's stupid. I haven't even had my Star Wars PSP for a year. If Sony is looking for loyal customers, they're definitely not going to get them this way.

I mean, the Slim still has at least 8-10 months of life left in it, especially with the impending releases of things like Resistance: Retribution. Releasing a new hardware platform less than a year later is going to create some serious resentment among its wide and varied userbase.

And if Sony is only doing this as an attempt to block people from doing things like Pandora's Batteries, they're sadly out of luck. I don't use CFW myself, but I know it's one of the largest draws for the system (for both legal and illegal reasons). Sony is dumb to attempt to demonize that (huge) market. When will the old giants learn.

bigboy88 @ Aug 21st 2008 4:32AM

There's no Home button. It's now a PS button. Also, the start & select buttons have a different design

LM2007 @ Aug 21st 2008 10:44AM

Sony disappoint me with the lcd screen. they should put a protector film already, but no, you must spent buying this extra things.

X @ Aug 21st 2008 6:59AM

Seriously, WTF? Adding some minor semi-useless feature and call it a new version? You fail, $ony.

Billy Añonuevo @ Aug 21st 2008 7:19AM

New PSP, but game releases that are too few and far between.

We need games, good games.

J. Tal. @ Aug 21st 2008 4:38PM

Cool! Some lucky dog was at the Leipzig Event and got a video of the unveiling! Here is a link to the PSP-3000!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnqNDvx_BlU

antgarcia62 @ Aug 21st 2008 9:18PM

Seriously. Why get a NEW psp, when there's hardly a line of games to go for it. Most of the good stuff wont come until early 2009, and they're releasing this... in 3 months. They should AT LEAST add some extra stuff to it while they can, or create an awesome update during the release...

And I got my 2000 slim 4 months ago. wtf :( And the Madden set came, like what, 1, 2 weeks ago???