CrunchGear

It’s been a couple weeks since the slimmed down PSP made its debut, but CrunchGear now has a few hands on pictures, some details about future firmware upgrades and when we might see VoIP. Oh and there’s a special edition white PSP for the Star Wars fans.

The new PSP weighs about 100 grams less than its predecessor, now weighs 189g, and the D-pad and analog stick are much improved. I was actually surprised by the weight and controls when I got to fiddle with it. The backing is now glossed in enamel and lost its humps (where you would grip it) to reinforce the slim and stylish look. The Wi-Fi switch has now been moved to the top railing. Inserting your UMDs are much easier thanks to a drop-in method that even a five year old can figure out. Speakers were moved to the upper corners of the screen. Of course, there’s the TV output that lets you watch movies and play games on the big screen. I know you’ve already heard this, so let’s move on to the juicy stuff.

This will be the final hardware setup for the PSP until the next generation and future firmware updates will pack huge features that will tantalize you even more than the price drop. When asked about VoIP, I was told it wasn’t currently in the works, but it’s definitely something they’re thinking about doing. In other words, it’ll probably be a future firmware upgrade. I wasn’t able to glean any more info, so we’ll leave it at that for now.

The last bit of exciting news surrounds the white PSP. It’s exciting because it will be packaged with Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and Darth Vader will be screened onto the back. This will be a limited edition and won’t be available for very long. We’ll let you know as soon as it launches, so save up the $200 for it. We’ll get a high-res picture of the unit itself real soon.