Originally, it was believed that the battery life of the PSP 3000 would be worse than the original, but Gamespot has learned from Sony that it will actually be the same (about 4 to 6 hours for games and about 4 to 5 hours for UMD videos). While the new screen does require more power, Sony has compensated by reducing the power draw of other components. The weird thing here is that Sony originally suggested that re-releasing the discontinued PSP extended battery pack was the solution. Is there some confusion here or did they just reverse ground? [Gamespot via Playstation Blog]

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The PSP 3000 will have a brighter LCD with a wider colour gamut and 5 times the contrast ratio of the PSP 2000. From the shots we've seen, it blows the old screen away—and that screen was already pretty decent. There is, of course, a catch. And that catch is that the PSP will lose somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes of battery life compared to the old PSP, putting its playtime to 3 1/2 to 4 hours. But to compensate, Sony will be rereleasing the just-discontinued PSP extended battery to the market which should still provide 8-10 hours of play. [Gamespot via Maxconsole]

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Following last week's announcement, CrunchGear found the PlayStation 3 Wireless Keypad listed on Amazon which, if accurate, will be available on November 30 for US$50. The PS3's saviour is near! OK, maybe not. [CrunchGear]

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The combination isn't exactly the most obvious, but hey, I'm a gamer, and hey, I like paying US$5 a glass for a pretentious beer that tastes identical to Budweiser. The Stella Artois PSP was manufactured in a limited edition for the Fosters employees who'd be brewing the "import" in Australia for Australia--part of the official "please don't spit in our delicate European beer" bonus. [Lowe Rivet via Kotaku]

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The updated PSP 3000 didn't seem all that jaw-dropping, save for talk of its dramatically improved screen: But now pics of the screen in action have surfaced, and boy oh boy, it's dramatically improved alright. Check out that contrast in the pic, comparing it to the PSP Lite: Game playing in brightly-lit situations looks like it won't be a problem with the new machine. In other pics you can see the redesign has other minor changes, like a slightly more curved profile at the edges near the control pads... whether this makes for more comfortable handling will have to wait for a hands-on review. [Famitsu via Kotaku]

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You know all those big Playstation announcements that Sony made yesterday out of Liepzig? Well the local branch of Playstation has dropped some info on what they mean locally, and the bad news is that when it comes to getting the latest and greatest, Australia is on a severe time delay.

For a start, we're not getting the 160GB PS3. Considering we're only just getting the 80GB model next week, this doesn't come as a complete surprise, especially considering Sony's willingness to let users swap in their own hard drives. But having a higher-end model might have been nice for hardcore gamers, especially if we see the same Rock Band 2 features appear on Playstation (and we actually get Rock Band 1 or 2 at some point, I guess).

The new PSP-3000 drops on October 16 for $299.95, and the wireless keyboard peripheral will land by the end of the year for an undisclosed sum.

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We knew the PSP-3000 was on the way, but now Sony has made it official. We don't have a full spec sheet yet, but the big two updates are going to be a new, brighter screen ("highest-level contrast ratio, response time, and wider colour gamut possible on a portable LCD screen" Sony claims) and an integrated microphone (making those impromptu Skype chats a whole lot more practical). No word on US release yet, but the PSP-3000 will be available in Europe on October 15th for €199. Hopefully we'll have a better picture for you soon, but it looks a lot like the existing PSPs. scriptgalleryPost("psp3000", 6, "");UPDATE: It's coming to the US on Oct 14, and it will hit with a new pack, click through for the update: [Kotaku]

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We were semi-surprised that the PSP hardware update contained so few external changes, but now that we've seen Sony's plan for the system, it all makes sense. Their ten year shelf-life plan for the PS2 and PS3 apparently also applies to the PSP platform, which according to them, "[does] not have a planned obsolescence strategy." Good news for current PSP owners since they won't have to upgrade their units for another three to four years at least. [Gama Sutra via Kotaku]

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The FCC has come through again, giving up testing info on Sony's upcoming PSP-3001 redesign. It's still the same generation PSP and still has most of the same parts (802.11b Wi-Fi) and still plays the same games, so we're guessing most of the changes will be internal and focused on lowering costs and making the thing harder to hack. Why do we think that? Because that's exactly what Jack Tretton of SCEA said in the roundtable at E3, that Sony's working on securing the platform from piracy. We'll just have to wait and see whether it's worth upgrading to this version if you've already got a PSP. [FCC]

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When we heard that PS3 PlayTV DVR recordings would be transferable to PSPs and PCs, we we're absolutely thrilled, proclaiming, "For the first time in a long time, we want to grab Sony and kiss them square on the lips." Well, put away the Binaca, because Sony has taken back their promise for undisclosed reasons.

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