Where on Earth is the PSP2?

MCV wasn’t alone in keeping a particularly close eye on Sony’s Gamescom briefing last night in the hope that Sony would use the venue to at last reveal all about the still mysterious PSP2.

But, despite persistent rumours and many developers having admitted to recently signing PSP-related NDAs, yet again there was no sign of Sony’s next handheld machine.

I don’t really know what they have planned for PSP,” analyst Michael Pachter told MCV.They seem eerily complacent about the device, which, as we all know, is not selling well.”

So what did Sony have to say about PSP at last night’s gathering? Well, global sales of the portable in the most recent financial year hit 9.9m while sales of downloadable Minis titles have hit 1m in less than a year.

Other than that? Nothing, other than the reiteration of the same message – Sony believes in PSP and will stick with it.

The sentiment echoes the enthusiastic backing of the device given to MCV in May. SCEE admits that the PSPgo has not been the hit it might have hoped for, but details of the new machine – which we are not alone in being certain is in development – remain unknown.

In May MCV predicted that PSP2 could form the basis of Sony’s E3 presentation. Shortly after VG247 claimed to have unearthed further details of the device and predicted either a Gamescom or Tokyo Game Show reveal.

So all eyes now turn to TGS at the end of September. I suppose if they are going to debut a new hand held device, Tokyo makes more sense than Cologne, as they probably would launch in Japan first anyway,” Pachter added. ButI wasn’t kidding, I really don’t understand their PSP strategy.”