It's very rare that a gadget comes along that gets me genuinely excited, but I always suspected that the Sony PSP2 – or PlayStation Next Generation Portable – was likely to do just this. And I'm delighted to say that I've not been disappointed.
Unlike most of the population, I was a massive fan of the original PSP – a truly lovely gadget despite some hefty flaws.
The first generation unit was beautifully constructed, and when I feel like digging out my aeons-old save of Football Manager Portable it is the heavy but sexy original that gets switched on.
And from what I've seen of the PS-NGP, this is a gadget that should evoke the same feelings.
Screen queen
The first thing that should be mentioned is the screen. Sony has wisely opted for an OLED 5-inch touchscreen.
Five inches is considerably larger than your average phone screen; not only is this a lovely size screen for gaming on, but also for watching movies on.
The touchscreen option is also significant; as mobile games rise and rise, this is a platform that can cope not only with games that require the traditional analogue sticks (more on those later) but also games like Angry Birds that are designed to operate on touchscreens.
Rear talents
Directly behind the touchscreen, on the rear of the device, is a touchpad. We've seen this on phones in the past, and it will be fascinating to see just how games developers utilise this extra functionality.
Outside of gaming, the rear touchpad could make the entire device more friendly for reading documents or whizzing through web pages.
Time will tell if this is a pivotal inclusion or a gimmick – and I'd tend to think that of all the features, it is this one that is likely to cause the most discussion among PlayStation fans.
Got guts
British company ARM's chip designs are a familiar site in mobile phones – and the news that the PSP2 will sport a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 alongside a quad-core Imagination Technologies SGX5 43MP4+ - is enough to make me cackle with delight.
This is what we were hoping to see; a handheld with the kind of specs to give us the kind of gaming performance we have previously only seen from consoles.
We're not anticipating a massive battery life, despite the jiggery pokery of ARM, whose expertise in keeping power demands low is a key reason for in its current position in the mobiles market.
Stick it to the man
There's a whole host of other things that have me rubbing my thighs in excitement, but one of the pivotal inclusions is dual analogue sticks.
We always expected Sony to go with a dual analogue configuration, but coupled with the power of the unit and the screen, the prospect of playing something like FIFA or Call of Duty on this device should fill any gaming geek with glee.
In fact, glee is the word that leaps to the top of my mind when I think about the potential of the PlayStation NGP. There's a buzz in the air in Future towers with people from CVG, T3 and TechRadar huddling around water coolers to talk about the specs.
There's no official PlayStation NGP UK release date as yet, but the talk of a holiday release in the US gives me hope that my stocking come Christmas Day will have an PSP2-shaped lump in it.
