Hey now, lookee, lookee: the box for the PSP-3000 was just spotted at Amazon, and what do people find interesting in the picture?

For one, there's the screen of the PSP itself. It shows the PlayStation Store - a PSP-native PlayStation Store, perhaps? - and not just the PC Store site.

Next, there's the PSN logo at the bottom (kind of like how the PS3 box has a PSN logo too), which is very different from the way network connectivity was presented in previous PSP boxes.

So what exactly are we looking at here? What do these associations with the PSN hint at?

It's quite probable that we might get confirmation on all those "direct-PSN access" rumors we've been hearing about lately. And guess what, there's TGS this weekend, so if you put two and two together... *wink*

All of this sounds highly probable, especially after hearing about the features in the beta version of FW 5.00. None of the features in FW 5.00 indicated direct PlayStation Store access, however, the precedent of getting to play via PSN (not just via ad-hoc) was already there.

And then, there's that other rumor about PSP games in 2009 being made available as downloads too. If they were all made available as DLC, wouldn't it then sound more logical for Sony to have the PSP itself directly connect to the PSN rather than go at it via PS3 or PC?

You can check out the product listing through the Amazon link for PSP-3000 below. If you want, you can cross check the PSP Brite's box with those for the PSP-2000 and PS3 too.

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Related articles:

• Rumor alert: all PSP games in 2009 will be available as downloads, more
  
• Who said it was fake? Watch PSP FW 5.0 in action
• Rumored PSP FW 5.0 has PSN access, new RSS reader, built-in screen capture?
• PSP to get direct download from PlayStation Store, online play through PS3
  
• E3 2008: Sony 'looking into' native PSP store
  
• New Firmware features found in PSP-3000

Buy: [PSP-3000 4GB Entertainment Pack]
Buy: [PSP-2000 Piano Black]
Buy: [PlayStation 3 80GB]