A few days ago a rumor popped up that the next iteration of the PSP may come with a sliding touch screen (see the concept above). It’s just a rumour of course, but now Acclaim’s David Perry is saying that the PSP2 is real and they already have a prototype. Not only that but it apparently doesn’t have a UMD drive.

Earlier today Perry wrote this on his twitter account;

“I hear Sony finally has the PSP2, and thank goodness they’ve removed the stupid battery-sucking UMD disc drive.”

Later he spoke to Kotaku about his comment, saying that he had “spoke to a developer” who is working on the update right now. He believes that Sony would initially sell games on memory sticks to please retailers, but would eventually move to a full download only system. Bear it in mind that this is pure speculation, but it would make sense considering that Sony has ramped up availability of downloadable games through the Playstation Store during the last year. Of course, a download only store would also allow for the full back catalogue of the PSP so you wouldn’t be missing out on any older UMD only games.

Put this down as a rumour for now, but Perry believes we will see a PSP2 as early as this autumn. I would certainly agree that Sony need to ditch UMD however, as it’s not exactly been the most financially viable move they could have made. UMD films failed miserably, and consumers are starting to come around to the idea that downloads are a far more efficient way of playing the latest games.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should put off buying a PSP if you’re thinking about buying one. It could be a while before a new PSP hits the market, so you should get good use out of any PSP you buy now. Plus, with some great games in the line-up can you really afford to miss out? £110 is a pretty good deal right now.

UPDATE: Sony says that the UMD business is “critical to us this year and beyond”, although Sony is “making a concentrated effort for digital distribution” (source).