The next iteration of Sony's PSP handheld will feature a sliding screen, will no longer carry a UMD drive and will allow shoulder button-only games to be played when the screen is in its 'closed' position.

That's according to a development source close to Sony, speaking to Eurogamer on condition of anonymity. We first broke the news of a new update to the system late last year, revealing that PSP-4000, the third incremental hardware revision of the console, is planned for release later this year.

While Sony has refused to comment so far, further rumours have emerged in the past week claiming that 4000 will represent the first major overhaul of the system, with a sliding screen added and the UMD drive removed.

Our development source today confirmed these reports, adding: "The screen is basically the same as the one in the 3000 - except it slides." When 'closed', we were told, the screen won't cover the entire face of the console, but the unit will be "significantly smaller in width" as a result.

With the console in its 'closed' state, most controls will be inaccessible. However, our source claims that games which use the shoulder buttons exclusively - such as LocoRoco - will be playable, as these inputs will still be accessible. It's expected that the unit can also be used for media playback in this configuration.

Eurogamer further understands Sony is approaching developers for ideas for games that only require the shoulder buttons.

Sony said this afternoon it does not comment on rumour or speculation.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/developer-backs-up-psp-4000-chatter

awsome, i hope so. it has to have a simple and versatile design and utility but a tecnologically complex.

so how is the gamer gonna play current games without UMD drives?

oh, if it has no umd drive then it sucks!

All games downloadable of course.

Good question - I suspect games will be downloadable from PSN.

Sven from Capcom said all their PSP games will become available on the network.

I really hope all of these rumors are true. I have a huge back cataloge of PSP titles that I have just been waiting to see on PSN. Having to carry around a system and a bunch of games is outdated, and risky. With a PSN download, I never have to worry about loosing the games, and I can buy it one time, and allow my brother and my dad to use one of my four other DL's.

I think PSP is going to get a huge shot in thge arm at E3. All games avilable on PSN, and music/movies aviilable directly to PSP. If they were to add 3G communication, then we would be looking at a device that can hit the mainstream.

That still doesnt answer the question. Thats cool and all for new releases but what about all the games already out that ppl have bought? I dont want to have to buy a digital copy of a game I already have on UMD just so I can play it on the updated system.

a model every year hmmmm

Is it so crazy that I still prefer owning games on disk rather than by download? If the 4000 rumors are true, I hope there's still enough older models available for UMD users.