The nice gentleman above is showing off the new 1.8 GB UMD format disk which will be used in an upcoming Sony handheld games console dubbed the PSP [Warning: .doc press release link]. The new console – which the company hopes will be ‘the Walkman of the 21st century’ – will feature a backlit colour screen, built in speakers, USB 2.0 and Memory Stick sockets and the same kind of graphics capability as the current PS2.

Planned for delivery late next year (any bets?) but no word on price or whether the batteries will last longer than 3 minutes per charge.

The folks at Playstation.com are also hinting that the new box will morph into much more than just a handheld games console – ‘Think games, think music, think video. Longer term, the potential uses are fairly mind boggling; radio, wireless communicator, digital camera, Global Positioning system…’

Mmm, maybe 3 minutes battery life is a tad optimistic.