Sad news folks. Sony has announced that the PSP's extended life battery kit has been discontinued. Find out what Sony had to say about this bit of news after the jump.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan is announcing the upcoming release of a 2200 mAh battery for the PSP Slim & Lite. It's still bulkier than the system's default pack, but it does come with its own extra-large cover.

Pricing and release date details can be found in the full article.

It seems that a new PlayStation Portable Slim and Lite motherboard has been discovered which prevents users from creating Pandora batteries. According to the reports, this was found by none other than Dark AleX himself.

Want to know more? Head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

Third-party PlayStation Portable accessories over at DealExtreme are offering something new for gamers out there. Currently there are two offerings: one for a solar-powered battery; and another for a PSP Sim battery pack dock.

We said something new because the battery, according to the website, is solar-powered. If you want to know more, check out the full details right after the jump!

The days of having to deal with saving your game due to your PSP's short battery life may soon be over with Sony's recent revelation of its new Extended Battery Pack kit and cover compatible for both the old PSP and the PSP Slim and Lite.

The recent announcement guarantees significant additions to your present PSP's battery life, enabling gamers to play their games longer than ever before. Details at the full article.

The battery pack for the Sony PSP-2000, better known as the PSP Slim, has been priced and dated for its Japanese debut.

The PSP-S110 battery pack will be available on September 20 for a tax-inclusive price of 4500 yen (US$ 39). This new battery pack will only work with the PSP Slim, so you won't be able to use it with your old PlayStation Portable units.

Even though the PSP-S110 is a 1200mAh battery, the battery life of the PSP Slim will still be the same as the old PSP since the former has been designed to consume less power. If you don't care a lot about aesthetics, you can still pop your old PSP battery into the PSP Slim for an extended ten hours of gameplay. You won't be able to close the battery cover, though.

Attention PSP owners: here's a reason why you should always, ALWAYS take care when hunting for a replacement charger for your portable piece of PlayStation gaming joy - else, the same thing that happened to PSP owner Bob Nixon may happen to you as well, causing no small amount of grief for both your pocket and gaming needs.

And if you ask, no, it's not about bricking - it's about the inadvertent destruction of your PSP, as Bob's handheld literally exploded off his nightstand.

So what actually happened? It seems that Bob had bought a generic replacement charger for his PSP, after losing the original on a trip. The PSP had been left to charge for an hour or so, while Bob chilled out in the living room watching television.

Suddenly, he smelled something burning - and as he walked around the house to investigate, he heard a loud bang. Yes, that was the PSP exploding, with so much force that it popped off the nightstand and into the floor.

Upon further investigation, Bob found out that it was the battery itself that exploded - the pack reduced to tiny bits and pieces all over the room floor, with the explosion leaving a black mark on the nightstand itself. Bob believes that it was his choice of what charger to use that led to the battery's demise - he should have checked first with Radio Shack staff before purchasing it.

Let this be a lesson for all of us who want to keep our handhelds safe: third party products may be convenient and affordable, but some of them may cause more harm than good to our gadgets.

Five hours of gaming not enough for you? Looks like there is a way for the new Playstation Portable slim to gain double its play time, giving you about 10 hours of play.

Apparently, the new PSP slim will be compatible with the batteries of the old version so gamers who want to play all night long ("You can do it! You can do it all night long!") will be able to put their old batteries into their new units, doubling its play time.

Slim units will then be able to do it run as long as the original fat unit. The downside? The PSP slim won't be, well, slim. Slimmer unit, smaller battery. If you put in the old battery, it's gonna stick out.

Well worry not, for Sony will be releasing a new backplate for you modest PSP gamers out there who don't want to show their curves.

A lot of people have been complaining about the battery life of the Sony PSP. Well, there's really no work around because of the amazing features that were packed in the handheld console. All things considered it's a small price to pay for having a machine more powerful than a PS1 in your pocket, right?

If you've been planning on picking up your very own PSP, Best Buy may just have the perfect workaround for the problem. They're currently bundling a battery pack with every PSP you purchase from their shop.

Yup, just like that you'll have enough power to last you through an extended gaming session or to watch a movie on your next road trip. So how do you avail of this great deal? Simply follow these steps:

1. Select the PSP.
2. Select the battery pack.
3. Click the Add Items to Cart button (on Best Buy)
   

Of course there's a small catch to the whole thing. The free battery pack may ship separately and would thus include a shipping charge. Of course, free stuff is always a good thing, so click on our read link to head over to Best Buy where you can check out the promo for yourself.

PSP battery pack woes, begone! Given that you have around US$ 100 lying around to buy this baby off the shelves, that is. From the Blue Raven accessory labs, we have the PSP 15hr Extended Battery. Just as the name of the product implies, it promises and allows gamers (and to quote the press release) "to enjoy playing "on the go" with up to 15 hours of play time between charges."

At first glance, my impression of the third-party accessory seems a bit bulky. It'll make your PSP look, well, phat (in the DS-phat sense). But is this really going to matter? At the end of the day, it's up to the PSP owner if he or she will be willing to compromise phatness with extended game-ness. It's your choice, really. But for what it's worth, here are more details and pics:

• up to 7 times the battery life of a standard PSP battery
• mounts directly on the PSP game player seamlessly
• supports the standard PSP charger and fully charge in as little as 5 hours
• utilizes Lithium-Polymer technology
• rated at 4500 mAh capacity