Gaming website VG247 have declared that the ‘official’ release date for the next incarnation of the PlayStation handheld device, the PSP 2, will be “in time for Christmas 2011″.

Sony themselves have said nothing about a firm release date of a PSP 2 but, it they intend continuing with their PlayStation Portable gaming range then the PSP 2 will come at some point and a pre-holiday release would seem to make sense.

Apparently developers and publishers have been informed about the release date and the VG247 source told them that, “We’ve been told it’s coming in late 2011”. We will wait for the official word before getting too excited however.

Sony have announced that they are releasing the VAIO EB, EA and EC series of laptops with new configuration options, more specifically CPUs and graphics. They have also reintroduced the purple color configuration which has proved popular among many. Specs wise, the laptops will be available with Intel’s latest CPUs, the 2.66GHz Ci5-580 and the 2.53GHz Ci5-460M. A 2GHz Pentium Processor option has also been added for those looking for a more affordable option. Both the EA and EB series will also have the option of a 1GB graphics card, which the EC models already have. Another change for the EB series and one for the EC range, is that you can have add a HD display and is a free upgrade for a limited time on new customized EB and EC laptops. The offer will expire on October 9th.

Software supremos Electronic Arts (EA) have stated in an interview with gaming trade magazine MCV, that they think that in the long term, the Sony PlayStation 3 can catch up with the Xbox 360 in terms of sales and popularity, in the UK marketplace.

“We could certainly see Sony come back – in the UK it’s still a head-to-head competition between PlayStation and Xbox, but on the continent Sony is traditionally stronger than Microsoft”

Senior vice president of EA in Europe Jens Uwe Intat made the prediction, although he also indicated that EA are happy to see the Xbox 360 and PS3 compete and that the Xbox Kinect and PlayStation Move controller hardware are “both very interesting ideas”.

The latest update for Sony’s PlayStation 3 has gone live. Firmware 3.50 brings the promised support for 3D Blu-ray movies. The PS3 now supports both 3D movies and games. Along with the update, the PS3 has jumped on the social network bandwagon, with Facebook integration being put in place for supported games and a “grief reporting function”.

• Facebook Integration: Developers will be able to create PS3 games that have more interaction with Facebook. Once compatible PS3 titles are available, PS3 users can choose to access public information on Facebook – including user name, profile, uploaded photos and friends list – to enhance their gameplay experience.

While games on the PS3 have supported 3D for a little while now, Sony hadn’t added 3D support for Blu-ray movies. This is set to change on the 21st of September though, when Sony will release a new firmware update for the PlayStation 3. Firmware 3.50 will allow all PS3s worldwide (38 million of them) to play Blu-ray movies in 3D, as long as you have a 3D TV of course. Other features should be included in the update as well but, we’ll have to wait until the update is released to find out what.

Source: PlayStation Blog

September 9th is the 15th anniversary of the North American Playstation console launch and we wish the original PlayStation a very happy birthday!

Since the PlayStation was launched the brand has grown and grown and has sold almost 377 million consoles (which includes the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3) and 2 billion software units since 1995.