Source: Posts on Joystiq and Evil Avatar citing an article in the October issue of PSM.

　　The official story: Sony had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.

　　What we heard: This week's big rumor comes courtesy of a series of blogs, such as Evil Avatar and Joystiq. Both sites reported that the latest edition of PSM--which touts itself as America's only "independent" PlayStation Magazine--had rock-solid news of a PlayStation Portable redesign.

　　According to both sites, the October issue of PSM contained an article announcing that a new PSP will ship in March 2007, have eight gigs of built-in flash memory, sport a slimmer form factor, include a built-in camera, and have two--count 'em--two thumbsticks!

　　Though news of such developments sounded like the answer to many frustrated PSP owners' prayers, it turns out it was premature. GameSpot's supersecret investigative unit took extreme measures and went out and actually bought a copy of PSM.

　　On page 34 (pictured) of the magazine is the article, titled "The Next PSP Comes Together," that many sites cited as gospel. However, the piece is actually largely speculative. It says that a new, camera-equipped PSP is "expected" next March, but doesn't give a source. It mentions "numerous reports in the semiconductor press" regarding Sony buying large amounts of 8GB flash-memory units--presumably the same reports mentioned in Rumor Control back in February. Nowhere does it say that the new PSP will have 8GB of memory, only that such a move is "likely." The addition of two thumbsticks is mentioned in a clearly marked "if we retooled the PSP" subsection listing changes the PSM editors would like to see in a PSP 2.0. However, the article itself says such an addition is unlikely.

　　The PSM article does cite "PSP developers who have been briefed on Sony's plans" as saying that the handheld will have "a high degree of connectivity" with the PlayStation 3--something Sony has stated publicly on numerous occasions. Also, "sources familiar with its development" confirmed the new PSP would be "thinner and lighter" than the current model. However, that’s all the article said was set in stone, and PSM is upfront about the rest being speculative--not that such distinctions make a difference in the blogosphere.

　　Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus.