Gamers are probably wetting their pants all over with the announcement of the PSP Go. The new PSP looks extremely distant from the initial rumor. I, however, am not convinced that the sliding device is what Sony can come up with. Ditching the UMD drive is careless enough, I wonder what option they’d be giving to previous owners of the PSP in porting their UMD games? And even if they do give a viable option for UMD owners, they’d probably have to burn hours of their time in transferring or converting their games to be playable on the PSP Go.

The purported PSP Go looks very much like Sony’s internet device, the Mylo 2. I would’ve thought that Sony would be more original in conceptualizing a new body for the PSP.

The PSP Go will officially be introduced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 (or simply E3 2009). The device will feature 16GB of built-in memory, Bluetooth capability, a Memory Stick Micro Slot, a huge 3.8-inch screen and will have no UMD slot.

The new PlayStation portable will reportedly be 40% lighter than the current PSP and will feature PlayStation 3 integrated along with PlayStation Network (PSN) support.

Update (June 2, 2009): Apparently, it’s for real. The PSP Go will be priced at $249.99 and will be available in the United States starting October 1, 2009.

[via Uncrate]