With Valkyria Chronicles 2 and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep coming out over the past few weeks i have been in a few eb games, GAME and JB hi-fi stores around Brisbane looking for these games. Well the GAME near me only has a handful of old PSP games, JB Hi-Fi no longer has a "new releases" section, and is only going to get more stock once or twice a month - while eb games no longer has a PSP section -- the PSP games share a section with Pre-owned Xbox/Gamecube games.

 So what this mean for future PSP sales? I can't see the handheld surviving another 12 months here as retailers have basically decided that its dead. What do other you think SONY is going to do given difference between the handhelds western sales and Japan sales? Will SONY announce a PSP2 at TGS or early 2011?

Well i still see PSP and PSPGO listed in the latest JBHIFI junkmail catalogue. Its still viable i guess.

Will a PSP2 be shown this year? I don't think so, because Sony need to figure out their cost/reward value on their next system. Too expensive and they'll have another PS3 (or arguably another PSPGO), too cheap and they'lll have to compete with the DS and 3DS. Its a tough choice to make.

Being phased out? It seems so

Being rapidly phased out and it is domed? Probably not.

The PSP really isn't selling a huge amount of software outside of Japan at the moment, it is inevitable that shops will start giving more space to the other consoles, and it will only get worse when the 3DS comes out. Still, it's had an incredible life for a non Nintendo handheld, and I'm sure it'll hang around for a decent length of time still

Yeah they've also got rid of the PSP sections in Asda in the Uk, well at least in my area they have. Not sure about the rest of the country.

PSP feels like the GameCube in 2005 right now in Australia. Basically retailers have a limited amount of space and want to stock the product that moves more quickly as to maximize turnover and therefore profit.

It's basically dead here, the only reason they still sell them is because Sony don't have a successor, as soon as the PSP2 hits, PSP will be dropped instantly and maybe even before that seeing as a successor could be quite a while off.

All in all the PSP is still alive here in Canada, however its section is pretty small. I'm sure once 3DS launches that it will begin being phased out here as well. Sony is desperatly trying to keep the PSP alive with tons of ads on TV however so they don't want it to go down.I bet world wide the PSP will be dead by spring 2012 with possibly the exception of Japan.

Will Sony announce PSP2 at TGS? No they won't. I am 98% sure that Sony will not announce a PSP2 at TGS. Infact I think the next PSP will likely come in the form of a phone much like the I-Phone. Sony will release a new gaming phone possibly using the PlayStation brand. That new phone could be at TGS this year but no conventional sequal to the PSP as a gaming device.

I think software sales on PSP were too poor for Sony to launch another conventional portable gaming device. In order to boost sales I think a phone will be nescessary.

My specs bet, the PSPhone will have graphics abit superior to PSP. It will use UMD's likely being cross compatable with the PSP. Instead of having number buttons it will use a touch screen similiar to the I-Phone. It will probubly retain a form of Joy stick and D-Pad with the traditional PlayStation buttons. However Sony will market the device as a phone probubly giving them away free or nearly free with a 3-year contract. Sony will use its phone capabilities to boost its hardware sales then using a smaller 8-gig internal hard drive it will be able to play cheap indy games like the I-Phone for about 1$-5$ each while consumers also can purchase full priced UMD's for 39.99$.

Thats my prediction!

PSP phone will have much better specs than PSP - even the 130-150 euro entry level smartphones have graphics and screens better than current psp and you can get them for symbolic 1 euro/pound even in very low tariffs.

Anyway PSP seems to be doing more or less fine in Poland - it still is on shelves on all major Media Markts and similar chain stores, you can buy them in sony centre shops and they are carried by small gaming shops. There's even plenty of space dedicated in Media Markt small advertising catalogues with PSP essentials or cheap EA PSP software. Of course stuff like VC2 is almost exclusively import/online stores only.

Gotta clear the shelves for 3DS this holiday.

I haven't seen a psp in months... are they on the verge of being extinct? :(

I think Sony's prepping another revision of the hardware and maybe a new store model (Layout of games in stores and such maybe a whole new Greatest Hits line).  We'll find out next week at TGS. On a related note the video rental store up here in Canada, a pretty big one, cleared out everything PSP for half price.