It’s one of three concepts he did; including an “Xbox 720″ which looks like – I dunno what the hell it looks like. And a “PSP2″ that looks like a reading glasses case, until you roll out its OLED screen.

Remember: These are not real. The design isn’t created or commissioned or endorsed by Sony or Microsoft. But these may be for sale in the Phillippines, who knows.

Tai Chiem’s Gaming Systems of the Future [Core77 via UberGizmo]

They claim that the new handheld could output games on the same level as the original Xbox, and is built around a newer version of Imagination Technology’s PowerVR SGX543MP (which you can read up on here), which in its improved state would be a quad core chip. It’s claimed this thing would be able to run Open GL 2.0 and, amazingly, DirectX 10.

Sounds just a bit too good to be true to us, but then, who knows! All we want to know is if it has a second analogue stick…

Exclusiva: Características gráficas de la PSP2 [Eurogamer Spain, via VG247]

According to Pocket Gamer, who cite a developer working on the hardware, an all-new PlayStation Portable will be out and on store shelves before Christmas.

This source repeats earlier rumours surrounding the design of the system – such as the fact it features a sliding screen (which reveals game controls) and also boasts touchscreen capabilities – while also mentioning some other stuff, such as the release window and the fact that, once you slide the controls out from under the screen there will be a D-pad, face buttons and two thumbsticks.

Yup. Two thumbsticks. Finally.

As of writing, Sony have yet to respond to requests for comment. Though you have to wonder, with the rumours increasing in number and gradually zeroing in on a common set of features, whether Sony will have something to reveal at E3 in a couple of months.

PSP 2 coming pre-Christmas will be an iPhone beater [Pocket Gamer]

The new Playstation Portable won’t feature a UMD disc drive, according to Acclaim developer David Perry.

“I hear Sony FINALLY has the PSP 2. And thank goodness, they’ve removed the stupid battery-sucking UMD disc drive. I’m excited!” Perry wrote on both his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

It is unclear if he has seen the rumoured new Playstation Portable himself or is just hearing rumours through the development community.

This rumour is the latest in a series of rumours to hit the net in the past month or so, including one from IGN and another from VG247.

If it’s true that the Playstation Portable 2 won’t feature a UMD disc drive, than I’d say it’s likely it will instead rely on Memory Sticks and downloads through the Playstation Network Store. The bigger question is whether such a device could be backwards compatible, and if so how it would work.

There has been an awful lot of news about the PSP coming out lately, so I think it’s a safe bet to say that we can expect something from Sony about the next iteration of the Playstation Portable at E3.

Sony may be readying a proper successor to the PlayStation Portable, reports IGN, with a “widescreen multi-touch interface” equipped PSP2 “on the horizon.” If you’re expecting further details on the rumoured hardware, bail out now.

As IGN points out though, things like an iPhone-esque multi-touch interface wouldn’t come as a surprise to virtually anyone. It’s practically guaranteed to have one, so we’d consider this more than a safe bet — it’s an inevitability. Sony’s been fishing for public opinion recently on what PlayStation faithful would want from a follow-up to the original PSP, surveying its customers on potential hardware features. These included a touchscreen, naturally, as well as a smaller form factor, Bluetooth support, and built-in storage, among many other things. With the PSP’s fifth birthday rolling around this December, a full-fledged hardware update wouldn’t be out of the question, just unlikely. With the company focusing on software updates for the current PSP and a transition to digital distribution still ongoing, plus a money losing PlayStation 3 still weighing down the PlayStation business, we’d think a proper PSP2 is still some time off. But I guess it depends on what your definition of “on the horizon” is. With a good 18 months between the announcement of the first PSP and its ship date in Japan, we’d think 2010 at the earliest. Who wants to take bets? Rumor: PSP 2 Coming Soon [IGN]

Sony may be testing the waters of public opinion on the direction of the next PlayStation Portable, surveying gamers on a host of new hardware and software features for a possible PSP2.

Kotaku reader Charlie forwarded us details on the survey, which asks a the participant to rank a suite of currently unavailable features from least to most desirable. Some of the more interesting technical aspects it looks like Sony is looking into are things like touchscreen functionality, built-in GPS features, Bluetooth wireless support and internal data storage.

Most of that we’ve heard in rumour form at one point or another. Possible features we have heard less conjecture about include services like an “e-comic/book download” via the PlayStation Network and social networking functions for the PSP, including Home support.

The survey asked about possible PSP features including, but not limited to:

• Was smaller, yet retained most of the current PSP’s screen size
• Offered social networking functionality on the XMB
• Included a keyboard for easer internet browsing and communication
• Offered Bluetooth wireless support for easy pairing with other devices
• Had a touch screen
• Had an improved screen for more dynamic graphic displays
• Offered the ability to find others near you who want to connect for online gaming
• Offered an e-comic/book download service through the PlayStation Network
• Included a hard drive for memory storage

We’re checking in with other sources to see if there’s any truth to these feature adds, but expect that much of this fall under speculation.

Time for another episode of “No Plans Watch”! This week, we feature Sony’s John Koller, who takes recent reports that PSP2 games are already in development and does his best to pooh pooh them.

He says that numerous development sources have it all totally wrong! According to Koller, all Sony are doing is “pushing developers away from its “Universal Media Discs” and towards digital distribution of games via the PSP store”. That’s all!

In other words, Mr. Koller would like us all to believe that a number of developers who develop for the PSP could not differentiate between this “push” and developing for an all-new handheld.

Not the strongest “no plans” denial we’ve seen, then, but it gets points for its creative “explanation”!

Exclusive: Sony PSP2 Rumours Bogus, No New Handheld Gaming Gadget Coming (SNE) [Silicon Alley Insider]

If correct, this means Sony’s second handheld console is, what…a year away? Two at the most? Sounds about right, when you consider the original PSP launched in 2004. Five-to-six years is a healthy lifespan for a handheld.

Still, that’s all pie-in-the-sky stuff at the moment. It’s for the distant future. Closer to the present is news that, in the meantime, Sony plans another iteration of the current PSP, the PSP-4000. Due for release in late 2009, no other details were mentioned, though with a new PSP on the horizon any changes would surely be minor ones.

PSP-4000 in 2009, PSP2 later [Eurogamer]

They claim that a recent announcement by Britain’s Imagination Technologies – in which the company boasted of having licensed their “high-performance graphics processor core to a major international consumer electronics company” – actually meant Imagination had inked a deal with Sony to supply the graphics processors for a PSP successor. That’s according to EETimes’ sources, at any rate.

On the one hand, it’s certainly plausible: Imagination are also the team behind the iPhone’s graphics processor, though the one mooted for the PSP2 – the unannounced SGX55x – is obviously more powerful. But on the other hand…this is some vague, vague stuff.

Anyway, neither party is going to come out and provide confirmation on this, so don’t bother waiting for any. Instead, spend your time wondering what this news/rumour even means to you, since it doesn’t hint at a release date and concerns a processor that’s not even out yet!

Has Imagination added Sony to Apple consumer design win? [EETimes, thanks Bruce!]

Screw cloning Harrison, if only we could patent or trademark that shiny noggin of his! Then we’d own him. Phil Harrison®, All Rights Reserved.

HAND-HELD WITH TOUCHSCREEN [US Patent & Trademark Office via Register Hardware]