Sony planning new PlayStation Portable with a 50GB hard drive? - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Not sure how legit this is, but Engadget (well, their sister site Joystiq) is claiming that a second generation PSP would include a 50GB hard drive, which should begin production next year. It's worth noting that this came from an "analyst" at a game conference, and doesn't appear to be directly from Sony.

That said, this is what will kill the PSP: Product Skew. An included hard drive would have been a nice way to get around load times, although adding a second spindle would absolutely demolish the already lackluster battery life.

The Engadget piece brings up other good issues, like the price. At $249, the PSP is already a pricey gadget. Adding a hard drive is not going to do much to help keep this device affordable.

Plus, the PSP is already large, albeit relatively thin. Adding a hard drive is going to necessitate a redesigned case, since there is simply no place to put a hard drive in the existing unit. (Maybe that will give them the chance to fix the problem with the square button sensor.) Regardless, I can't see how they're going to avoid adding bulk to the PSP.

I just don't know what to think about this. One minute, it looks like they're going on the attack and plan to take Nintendo's knees out from underthem in the handheld market, and the next, they're pushing the thing away from any mainstream viability.