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Last week's digital issue of MCV featured an advertisement for an accessory bundle mentioning the "PSP-4000." The listing has since been described as being nothing more than a mistake. Negative Gamer contacted A4G, which placed the ad, and the company's license manager said the mention of a new iteration for Sony's handheld was a "mistake on [their] part." The spokesperson was unaware of a new model.

Rumors of the UMD-enabled PSP-4000's existence have been floating around for a few months. These are not be confused with the longer-standing PSP-4000 rumors, which ended up heralding the PSP Go. Would a real PSP-4000 be considered a mistake?

Alas, we've gone yet another decade without a single jetpack, hovercar, hoverpack or jetcar. We've got high hopes for unimaginable technological advancement in the 2010s -- for instance, if a recent advertisement for a bundle of LittleBigPlanet-branded PSP accessories that ran in MCV's latest "Digital Edition" is any indication, we're thinking that a new model of the old-school, UMD-equipped handheld might not be out of the question.

Proudly printed on the ad is a lineup of PSP models the accessories are compatible with -- including the PSP-4000. Now, this could just be a mistake on the ad designer's part, or it could be an accidental hint of things to come. Maybe not things as awesome as sky-based personal transportation, but hey -- we'll take what we can get.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

No, the lingering rumors of a new PSP haven't been confirmed, merely joined by another rumor. According to 1UP's "sources," the PSP is going to get a lot more exciting this E3, with the unveiling of a new hardware design (and an exclamation point!) In both a news story and the at1UP podcast (reportedly -- if it was there, the podcast has since been edited to remove it), the site describes a new PSP called the PSP Go!, which loses the UMD drive and adds a fancy sliding screen. The system will come in two variants: one with 8GB of internal memory, and one with 16GB.

1UP says that "over 100 classic and new PSP titles" will be available for download at the system's launch -- including Gran Turismo Mobile, which instantly makes this rumor harder to believe. The PSP Go! will purportedly Go! to stores in Japan this September, with a North American release to follow "in either late October or early November."

Rumors pertaining to the PSP2 (sometimes called PSP-4000) seem to be getting wilder and more exciting as the days go by. First, we heard about the UMD drive's removal and the addition of sliding screens, but now it's all touch screens (that slide) and dual analog nubs. According to PocketGamer, who apparently spoke with a developer working on the new hardware (and not Dave Perry), all of these new features will be available later this year when the PSP2 ships sometime before Christmas.

If we're following Sony's usual timeline of events, we'll see the new hardware unveiled at E3 -- just like the PSP-2000 and PSP-3000 in the previous years.

Judging by last week's torrent of PSP headlines, clearly Sony has big plans in store for its handheld in the coming year. One popular rumor making the rounds of late centers on a possible redesign in the works for the portable, one which purports to drop the UMD format altogether. It's an idea that Ready at Dawn boss Didier Malenfant seems wholly in favor of seeing, if only because it looks to point towards a platform dedicated to digital distribution.

The exec admits that he doesn't have the inside track on what Sony is up to with the PSP, though he told Edge in a recent interview that he'd "love to see anything that can help distribution move quicker toward a 100 percent online model." Like Bungie's Marty O'Donnell before him, Malenfant has been feeling the financial crunch put on the industry by the used game market, and confessed that "it's not piracy but used games that are killing us."

Ready at Dawn may have a more personal stake in a possible PSP redesign as well, with rumors of a PSP sequel to God of War: Chains of Olympus in the pipeline at the Irvine, CA studio. Unfortunately, Edge wasn't ably to pry any details out of the company co-founder, with Malenfant saying only that "the PSP was a great platform to work on and it's certainly been really good to us, so we have no complaint there." However, if Ready at Dawn is back to working with the PSP, we suggest maybe holding onto a few of those dev kits after the project is out the door instead of spending all of the company profits on stamps.

A sliding screen and no UMD drive for the rumored PSP-4000? If Eurogamer's "close to Sony" source is to be believed, these are the changes you can expect to see in the next iteration of portable PlayStation. The screen is supposedly the same as the PSP-3000, with the only difference being that it can slide. When in the "closed" position, the unit will be "significantly smaller in width" and most controls will be inaccessible; however, shoulder button-only games like LocoRoco will be playable while in this state.

The noted hardware change, which would make the PSP a UMD-less device, mimics statements made by former COO of Acclaim Dave Perry last week -- to which Sony's PSP marketing head John Koller offered a vague non-denial. With the PSP-4000 rumored to arrive later this year, it won't be long before we get more verifiable information.

Eurogamer reports that "publishing sources" indicate that Sony is planning to release the PSP-4000 in late '09 and will eventually launch a PSP2. This news is sure to come as a big shock to Sony Europe president David Reeves, who stated last week that there were "currently no plans for a PSP2." Eurogamer sources divulge that titles are currently in development for the unannounced handheld.

Obviously, we hope the PSP-4000 fixes the current iteration's interlacing issues. Sony UK informed Eurogamer that it would not comment on the story, due to the classic tag team of "rumour" and "speculation."

According to Eurogamer, numerous publishing sources have confirmed that Sony is at work at a third hardware revision and it's planned to come out next year. Not only that, but software developers are reportedly busy working on games for a "PSP2." There were no specific details revealed involving either hardware. The PSP2, unlike the PSP-4000, has not been given any sort of timeframe.

Despite how assured Eurogamer is on the credibility of the information, Sony continues to give the usual "won't comment on rumors and speculation" response. In fact, it was not too long ago that SCEE head David Reeves denied the existence of a PSP successor as rumors unfurled from a tech deal.