14 DAY TRIAL // Sony made quite a few big announcements at its pre-Gamescom 2011 conference yesterday evening, and, while the PlayStation 3 price cut was the biggest of the show, the company also made a pretty major announcement with the confirmation of a new and cheaper PlayStation Portable console.
Sony is hard at work promoting the PlayStation 3 home console, which just saw its price be cut to $249, as well as busy polishing the PlayStation Vita portable device, set to appear later this year in Japan and in early 2012 in the rest of the world.
This doesn’t mean the Japanese company has forgotten about its old PlayStation Portable device, which, according to the company’s conference, has seen a rejuvenation of sales due to the release of the PSP Essentials packages, great games made for the device priced at just 10 euros.
In order to further accommodate the growth, Sony has confirmed that a brand new PSP model, the E-1000, will be released later this year in Europe.
“While most attendees to the SCEE press conference at gamescom will have anticipated some announcements around PlayStation Vita, our upcoming next generation portable, few would have predicted the unveil of the brand new PSP E-1000,” said SCEE blog manager James Gallagher.
“Value for money is the goal with this new model that will retail at just €99.99 (RRP), accompanied by an exciting range of PSP Essentials titles that will retail at only €9.99 (RRP) and will include Invizimals: The Lost Tribe, EyePet Adventures, FIFA 12 and many more.”
Bear in mind that the E-1000 isn’t a replacement for the full pledged PSP-3000 device, as Sony confirmed that it won’t have a Wi-Fi connection included. Still, the rest of the features, like UMD support, are still there, wrapped in a stylish Charcoal Black finish, the same one as on the PlayStation 3 console.
North American users shouldn’t expect the E-1000 to reach their shores, as this is mostly a replacement for the lackluster success of the PSP Go, which was discontinued in Europe earlier this year.
No word yet on when the PSP E-1000 will be released, but stay tuned for more details, straight from the Gamescom 2011 floor, as part of our extended coverage here at Softpedia.
