I suspect if this is true, Sony will be releasing games on Read Only MS PRO DUO style Flash. Much faster then UMD and uses less power. The could even be ecrypted format so they're not readable in a standard PC. There's plenty of possiblities here and no longer limited to 2.1GB UMD discs. Final Fantasy XXX could fit on a single 8GB or 16GB flash...

Why does everyone jump on every rumour as if it's proven truth?

Blimey, if there's one thing we all KNOW, it's that the internet is full of untruths, half truths and downright lies.

I can see the sense in removing the drive, but I can also see it'll be hard to get shops to sell a zero margin console with no way of selling high margin games too, so let's see.

Sony aren't stupid (usually...).

So, Let me get this right. You want stores to carry your console that barely makes a profit but not carry any games to sell with that console? What about people who don't have full internet access? What if something glitches on your side of the service or someones PSP2 storage unit doesn't work properly? Whats to stop people from modding the psp2 again and using illegal roms on it? (what most psp's ended up as)

Too many what if's might make the PSP2 a failure in the making.

I always welcome being wrong, but sony- why do you think this is a good idea?

*sigh* Of course. They want to sell you NEW games. Reducing the hardware production cost is just a bonus.

In other news, Nintendo quietly got rid of Game Boy Advance support on their new DSi. (Mind you, I never upgraded past GBA because the original DS didn't have compatibility with my GB/GBC)

i like the no umd idea. as long as they offer a way to back up psp 1 umd's in a psp 2 readable format. they could just follow the sceners and allow iso dumps on to a memory stick. also allowing homebrew would definitely push the psp in the right direction.

The PS2, was one exception. It could still play PS1 games. Then the PS3 came around, backwards compatability was horrible. I bought a Wii instead (and then sold it this past November for a 360).

If I'm not mistaken, the PSP has trouble playing previous games from it's own system. Wasn't that a CPU clock change?

Sony fanboys don't care about backwards compatibility....or so they always say...

Or Sony could do some kind of disc verification that would allow you to obtain a downloadable version of the game...

"And thank goodness, they've removed the stupid battery-sucking UMD disc drive."

I'm not sold on the 'thank goodness' part. Those with shed loads of PSP games on UMD might feel differently. Said same customers might be reluctant to splash out for the PSP2 if they can't play their old games on the new device.

Cheers,
John