Sony might bin UMD in PSP2

If you believe anything on the Internet...

Sony hinted that it might be dropping UMD drives in its next Play Station Portable 2 (PSP2) design.

Read between the lines, add a healthy does of speculation and you might reason that Sony will bin its unpopular UMD format. In an interview with Gamespot UK over the weekend, local Sony Computer Entertainment bigwig, Michael Ephraim was called in to discuss Sony Playstation sales.

The interview was relatively innocuous until Ephraim was asked about PSP Go and how it fared in the market. Ephraim said it had performed "Okay", with about 20,000 units sold here in Australia. But Ephraim went on to put things in perspective.

"It was the first device of its kind where you did not have packaged goods or pre-recorded media."

"And I think that PSP Go will blaze the trail for future iterations of handhelds. The handheld space is very crowded - not just in the games category but also with smartphones and so on. We're happy we launched it so we can understand the market."

Let us put that in to context for you. At no point did Ephraim say the PSP2 will have a digital download system only. However, it makes sense to assume that Sony was testing the content delivery system waters with the PSP Go for the next iteration of its PSP2.

Sony has also dropped UMD support on some of the PSP's titles, opting for digital download only. Factor in the tweeted clanger dropped by Shiny Entertainment founder, David Perry. Perry said he had heard Sony would stop using the battery sucking UMD format.

Does it all add up? Fanbois have often berated Sony for desperately trying to build a new proprietary format in nearly every piece of consumer hardware it designs. The PSP was a good idea held back the UMD and firmware designed to restrict its excellent multi-media capabilities. We're betting that Sony's marketing droids heard the cries of dejected fanbois and we'll be saying goodbye to UMD.