John Koller, Sony US product marketing manager, has confirmed that the battery life for the new PSP 3000 will last between 20 and 30 minutes less than the PSP Slim. Koller said, “Battery life will decrease by a small amount; it’s material, but it’s about 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes. And that’s because there’s a little bit of a larger power draw with the brighter screen.”

The extended life battery pack will be available, however, to address those concerns, continued Koller, “That’s going to be offset because we’re going to have the extended life battery that’s still available for consumers, so we’re still going to get the eight-to-ten hours out of that battery. The battery that comes with the PSP will now be right around three-and-a-half to four hours.”

You can read more about the PSP 3000 here.

[UPDATE] Sony has informed us that the PSP 3000 will have the same battery life as the current PSP. Although the enhanced screen draws more power, Sony’s engineers have reduced the power consumption of the overall system and its components to ensure that battery life is the same as the current PSP: 4 – 6 hours for games and 4 – 5 hours for UMD videos. Check out our coverage here.