This time next week we’ll be knee deep in brand new gaming knowledge. The stream of new information will be flowing so fast you’ll be able to throw a raft on it and ride all the way to your local game store to slap down a few hundred pre-orders. Yes we’re aware most people pre-order online now, but that would make a less interesting intro for our first E3 Rumour Roundup.

Things kick off in just seven days time, but already the rumour and speculation is rift, so we’ve collected together some of the more juicer ones below.

• NGP to be officially named PlayStation Vita – a leak piece of press material shows a NGP unit carrying the PS Vita branded and a recently discovered SCE dev site (http://vita.scedev.net/) also points to PSVita has being the new name for NGP

• Sly Cooper rides again? – It was teased in the Classics HD Sly Collection, but the recent leaked PS Vita image (above) hints towards a handheld return for everyone’s favourite Master Thief Sly Cooper. Could this be Sly 4 or a whole new adventure?

See the little NGP/Vita Home screen bubble? Looks an awful lot like a certain raccoon (right)

• More Classics HD Collections – The main two doing the rounds are HD collections of the Metal Gear Solid series and the Devil May Cry series. Both games have milestone anniversaries coming up, so the rumours could hold some wait.
• A new Uncharted –  a tech demo for Uncharted has already been shown for NGP and Naughty Dog have already gone on record to say the upcoming handheld Uncharted title would be a prequel to the PS3 game – Drake’s Fortune. What is new however is that the PS Vita Uncharted title could be subject titled ‘Golden Abyss’
• A PlayStation 3 Price Drop – The PS3 already pretty good value for the high level of gaming technology you are getting, but a price drop could see user numbers go through the roof, if announced.
• New Firmware Update – A recent US PS Blog post, revealed a funky pair of Sony-branded Headphones especially for PS3. The product page for said Headphones stated it requires Firmware v3.70, we are currently sitting on v3.61. So could Sony reveal some brand new features heading to the XMB?

We’ll have more information come next weeks when Sony hold their press conference over in LA. You can follow all the E3 news and conferences right here on our dedicated PlayStationer E3 Site http://e3.playstationer.net/

(please note all information sources will be added at a later date) ^Ad