In somewhat of a surprise move given their vehement denial of a revamped PSP only weeks ago, Sony have launched the second version of their popular handheld gaming device at the E3 gaming conference today.

The enhanced design for the PSP has a more streamlined form factor, which was hoped for, but the only major feature change is the addition of a video-out port.

So the basic functions remain the same, including the 4.3-inch wide high resolution LCD screen, but the new PSP is 33% lighter and 19% slimmer than the original.

The new PSP, which will be known as the "PSP Slim & Lite" in the UK and Europe weighs just 189 grams (compared to the 280 grams of the current model) and is just 18.6mm thickness (against 23mm).

The addition of a video-out port will let PSP users watch their movies, view pics and more importantly, play games on their TVs at home.

The impatient among us will be glad to note that the PSP Slim & Lite can temporarily store game data from UMDs, reducing load time during game play.

Sony has also added the ability to charge the unit through PlayStation 3 or PC via USB cable during data transfer.

The new PSP comes in three basic colors of "Piano Black", "Ceramic White", and "Ice Silver" as well as three pearlised colours (that will go down down well with the tweens and teens) "Felicia Blue", "Lavender Purple", and "Rose Pink".

The PSP 2, PSP Slim, PSP Lite, PSP Slim'n'Lite (whatever you want to call it) will be available in stores from September in Japan, North America and Europe.

>> Link to original PSP Slim story - see how much was correctly predicted - on Pocket-lint.co.uk
>> Link to story about Sony denying PSP Slim in blog - on Pocket-lint.co.uk