Former America Chief Kaz Hirai, now president of SCEI, briefly took the stage at Sony"s E3 press conference to announce a slimmer and lighter PlayStation Portable system to be released in North America in October. The new PSP is 33% lighter and 10% thinner, though the rest of the handheld"s dimensions appear to be the same (button layout and LCD display are unchanged). The battery is touted to be more efficient, although by how much was not detailed. Hirai also said the new PSP would load games faster, presumably with an improved UMD drive.
The most notable change from a functionality standpoint is the addition of video output capabilities to the PSP. The new hardware can output video to an external display, and may also be used for displaying photos and playing games on an external display. A silver-colored PSP will be available alongside the piano-black model. A special Star Wars-themed PSP with an image of Darth Vader printed on the back will be part of the Star Wars pack along with the Star Wars: Battlefront Renegade Squadron game. The second new PSP bundle will include the new hardware, including the silver-colored PSP, the game Daxter, a 1GB memory stick Duo, and a Family Guy Freakin" Sweet Collection UMD. Both bundles will retail for $199.