Slim PSP dated for Japan

Sony plans to launch the new slimline PSP in Japan on 20th September at a pre-tax price of 19,800 yen (GBP 79 / EUR 118).

Announced at E3 last week, the new PSP is 33 percent lighter, 19 percent slimmer and 67 percent more sexalicious. It has video-out for watching UMD films or Memory Stick videos on the TV or, more likely, playing games on one.

It can also buffer game-data a bit to reduce load-times, and charge itself through USB (PC and PlayStation 3, obviously - and probably even Xbox 360 if you cross-dress).

Sony's Japanese announcement makes no mention of the rest of the world, but Sony's E3 conference told us to expect European and North American launches in September.

Launch colours, judging by Sony's Japanese website, will be Piano black, Ceramic White, Ice Silver, Rose Pink, Lavender Purple and Felicia Blue.

The announcement also prices the individual video-out cables you'll need to buy to hook it up to your TV. Even the old PSP was hardly big enough to fit a bunch of AV outs, so in Japan at least you'll have to pay 2,200 yen (GBP 9 / EUR 13) for composite or S-video cables and 2,800 yen (GBP 11 / EUR 17) if you want D-terminal or component.

There's also a fancy little TV tuner, due out on the same day, which goes for 6,980 yen (GBP 28 / EUR 42) and plugs into the USB port.

For all that in Japanese and the chance to squint at tiny photographs, head off in this direction.