Mortal Kombat developer: ‘We have a PSP 2 in the house’ (Ben Patterson)

Rumors of a full-on revamp of Sony’s PlayStation Portable console have been swirling for … well, it feels like eons now, and the latest chatter had it that Sony wouldn’t unveil the purported PSP 2 until next year. But while Sony’s lips are sealed about its PSP plans, one of the developers behind the classic Mortal Kombat fighting games reportedly mentioned — quite casually, apparently — that his team had a PSP 2 “in the house,” and that it’s a “pretty powerful machine.”

Uh, say what?

That’s the word from Industry Gamers, which reports that Netherrealm Studios Executive Producer Shaun Himmerlick claims the company is “looking at the engine” on the new but unconfirmed handheld. Here’s Himmerlick’s complete quote, which unfortunately doesn’t go into further detail about the rumored PSP 2’s design or features:

We have a PSP2 in the house and we’re looking at the engine, like what can it support. Always a big thing for us is the performance. We’re running at 60 fps, what can we do and do we have to build all the art assets over. We’re definitely looking at them. PSP2 looks like it’s a pretty powerful machine. We don’t have a 3DS system in house yet, but we’re looking to get one, and we’ll certainly look at what its power is.

Veeeery interesting, especially given that we’re not just talking another random anonymous source here.

So, what does Sony have to say about all this? “We can’t comment on rumors or speculation,” a Sony rep told me Friday.

The PSP rumor mill has been buzzing away for months now, with word emerging back in May that Sony was toiling away at a next-generation PlayStation Portable — something above and beyond last year’s compact (and disappointing, for me at least) PSP Go — in time for the E3 gaming conference last June.

That didn’t happen, of course, with gaming site VG247 rumormongering that Sony decided to push back the PSP 2 launch in favor of its new “premium” PlayStation Plus subscription plan, which did debut at the show.

Meanwhile, Engadget got the PSP grapevine jumping again in August with its claim of an Android-based PSP phone that would be developed by Sony Ericsson, complete with a 1GHz processor, a screen that’s anywhere from 3.7 to 4.1 inches in size, slide-out gaming controls, and its own dedicated section of the Android Market stocked with games like God of War, Call of Duty, and LittleBigPlanet.

Pretty cool — but needless to say, totally unconfirmed, and it’s unclear whether Netherrealm’s Himmerlick was refering to Engadget’s supposed PSP phone or a dedicated next-generation PSP.

In any case, I for one am definitely ready for something new in the portable gaming realm from Sony. The current PSP is looking increasingly long in the tooth compared to the iPhone/iPod Touch (which is increasingly gaining traction as a gaming platform) and the upcoming, 3D-capable Nintendo 3DS, while last year’s trimmed-down but overpriced and UMD-less PSP Go failed to make much of an impression with gamers.

So, do you believe the PSP 2 rumors? And if so, what features would you be looking for in a new PSP?

Industry Gamers: PSP2 Is Real, ‘Pretty Powerful’ And In Developers’ Hands [via MTV Multiplayer]

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

Follow me on Twitter!