To start December off with the count down to Christmas, Sony are offering their customers 12 different details, each lasting 48 hours with the last one ending on Christmas day.

The deals will only be known once the deal has started. Each deal starts at 12pm GMT and finishes at 12pm GMT 48 hours. The deals will take place on the following dates:

Christmas Deal 1 – 1st to 3rd December
Christmas Deal 2 – 3rd to 5th December
Christmas Deal 3 – 5th to 7th December
Christmas Deal 4 – 7th to 9th December
Christmas Deal 5 – 9th to 11th December
Christmas Deal 6 – 11th to 13th December
Christmas Deal 7 – 13th to 15th December
Christmas Deal 8 – 15th to 17th December
Christmas Deal 9 – 17th to 19th December
Christmas Deal 10 – 19th to 21st December
Christmas Deal 11 – 21st to 23rd December
Christmas Deal 12 – 23rd to 25th December

Christmas Deal 1 included Little Big Planet 2 and 10 DLC costume packs for £24.99/€34.99 with a 10% discount for PlayStation Plus members. Deal number 2 will be unveiled today.

It’s been a long time coming for many but, at the PlayStation Meeting 2011 in Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment have at last announced news and information on their upcoming device codenamed the NGP, thus confirming the existance of a successor to their handheld gaming device, the PSP (PlayStation Portable).

Technical specifications for the NGP are as follows:

*  CPU ARM® Cortex™-A9 core
* GPU SGX543MP4+
* External Dimensions Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth)
* Screen size – 5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, approx. 16 million colors
* OLED Multi touch screen (capacitive) and Rear touch pad Multi touch pad (capacitive)
* Cameras Front camera, Rear camera
* Sound Built-in stereo speakers
* Built-in microphone
* Sensors Six-axis motion sensing system
* Three-axis electronic compass Location Built-in GPS
* Wi-Fi location service support Keys / Switches PS button
* Power button
* Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left)
* Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square)
* Shoulder buttons (Right/Left)
* Right stick, Left stick
* START button, SELECT button
* Volume buttons (+/-)
* Wireless communications Mobile network connectivity (3G)
* IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode)
* Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）

Game releases confirmed by Sony are as follows:

* Call of Duty
* Uncharted
* Killzone
* Monster Hunter Portable 3
* LittleBigPlanet
* Resistance
* Hot Shots Golf
* WipEout
* Gravity Daze
* Reality Fighters
* Smart As
* Broken
* Little Deviants
* Dynasty Warriors

We’re excited, it seems like a lifetime ago that our PSP was glued to our hands. There was even a rumbling belief that Sony would ‘give up’ and abandon handheld gaming. Clearly Sony have other plans and with a powerful new handheld like the NGP, they are out to pummel their rivals in the future. The NGP (Next Generation Portable) will take over the reigns as Sony’s number one handheld gaming device from the ‘aging’ PSP at the end of 2011.

There’s been numerous rumours in the past surrounding a PSP2 from Sony. Many thought that Sony’s next portable device after the PSP 3000, aka PSP Brite, would be the PSP2. Instead we found another “PSP1 model” to complete the range of PlayStation Portable devices, the PSPgo.

EA recently revealed in an interview that as developers, they had gained early access to the next gen portable gaming device from Sony. Patrick Soderland, Senior VP has added that ” “Obviously as a developer we have had that access but, I’m not allowed to talk about it.”

Unfortunately in what way the access was provided we don’t know, whether they were given just specifications, a prototype, or a near finished product. It’s quite possible that it would be either the specifications, or an early prototype that developers are given access to, as many believe that the PSP2 will not begin shipping until late 2011, in time for the holiday season.

When it launches it will have to compete with Nindendo’s DS, both DSi and 3D models, as well as Apple’s iPod Touch and iPhone. Sony has led the way before in the portable gaming market but, will the PSP2 be enough to revive that energy and support that the original PSP had?

Sony haven’t confirmed the existence of a PlayStation Portable sequence and the above picture is one of many concept images of the PSP2.

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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.

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Sony’s Digital Comics service for their PlayStation Portable handheld console has included a new publisher to it’s line up in the form of the almighty DC Comics and to celebrate the union there are a number of free comics on offer from the service for users to pick up.

There will be over 80 initial titles available to dowload including Batman: Hush, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Fables: Legends in Exiles and Planetary: All Over the World and Other Stories. There will also be exclusive Superman, Batman, Resistance, Free Realms and God of War content and of course, some of which is also PlayStation based gaming content in the first place which is great news for gaming fans.

The free titles on offer are Mirror’s Edge #0, Fringe #0, Resistance #0, Bayou #1 and a 10 page preview of Superman #700.