s the UMD finally dead? That's what Shiny Entertainment founder David Perry suggests in one of his Twitter tweets (I sound like Tweety bird), where he says that Sony finally "removed the stupid battery-sucking UMD disc drive" in the PSP2.
Rumors of a new PSP model have been circulating wildly lately, the last one being a sliding screen. None of them have been directly linked to solid names in the industry though, so Perry's tweet strikes as odd. Was he commenting about the circulating rumors, or did he say something he wasn't supposed to because he knows something we don't?
It's also of note that Perry has a history of strongly criticizing Sony, saying that they have "pretty much no chance of making money on the PS3" and that they need "new business models." I'm curious to know if his source is that credible to get him so excited.
*UPDATE*
David Perry has spoken. The PSP2 is real. Believe, or else a PSP angel will lose its wings.
I spoke to a developer who is working on it right now. I know this developer is already working on it, so that means they have a prototype. That would sound like a fall release to me.
I've been pounding on Sony for a long time to make the Playstation Portable relevant and not to let Apple stroll away with the portable game market. Look at what Apple is doing now.
Why are so many investors investing in Apple game development? Trying to pitch a PSP game to investors right now is brutal.
The ultimate goal is for the PSP to go 100% digital, he says, and this will kill the used game market (a big issue these days). Perry also believes that Sony will initially sell games on Memory sticks, and that all current PSP titles will show up on PSN (calm your fears for backwards compatibility).
Remember, a lot of what he says comes from his source, but a lot is also speculation. And we don't even know if any of it is real. But if it is, I expect we'll find out soon, maybe during GDC or E3.
