The PlayStation Portable (Pureisutēshon Pōrutaburu officially abbreviated PSP) is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation.Development of the console was announced during E3 2003,and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in the PAL region onSeptember 1, 2005.
The PlayStation Portable is the only handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage medium. Other distinguishing features of the console include its large viewing screen, robust multi-media capabilities, and connectivity with the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, other PSPs and the Internet.
After the release of a slimmer, lighter, remodeled version of the PlayStation Portable (the PSP-2000/"Slim & Lite") in early September 2007, sales quadrupled in the United Kingdom the following week and increased by nearly 200% in North America for the month of October. This model was later replaced by another remodeling, the PSP-3000, which included a new screen and an inbuilt microphone. Since then, a complete redesign called the PSP Go has been released, which was sold alongside the PSP-3000. In 2011 a budget model, the PSP-E1000, was released. The PSP line was succeeded by the PlayStation Vita, released in December 2011 in Japan, and in February 2012 in North America, Europe and Australia, respectively.
History
Sony first announced development of the PlayStation Portable at a press conference before E3 2003.Although mock-ups of the system were not present at the press conference or E3,Sony did release extensive technical details regarding the new system.Then-CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Jose Villeta called the device the "Walkman of the 21st Century" in a reference to the console's multimedia capabilities. Several gaming websites were impressed by the handheld's computing capabilities and looked forward to the system's potential as a gaming platform.
The first concept images of the PSP appeared in November 2002 at the Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting and showed a PSP with flat buttons and no analog stick. Although some expressed concern over the lack of an analog joystick,these fears were allayed when the PSP was officially unveiled at the Sony press conference during E3 2004. In addition to announcing more details about the system and its accessories,Sony also released a list of 99 developer companies that had pledged support for the new handheld. Several PSP game demos, such as Konami's Metal Gear Acid and SCE Studio Liverpool's Wipeout Pure were also shown at the conference.
Launch
Main article: PlayStation Portable launch
On October 17, 2004, Sony announced that the PSP would launch in Japan on
December 12, 2004, at a price of
¥19,800 (about US$181 in 2004) for the base model and ¥24,800 (about US$226 in 2004) for the Value System. The console's launch was a success with over 200,000 units sold the first day.Different color variations were also sold in bundle packs, which cost more than usual, around $200. Sony announced on February 3, 2005, that the PSP would go on sale in North America on
March 24, 2005, in one configuration for a MSRP of US$249/CA$299. Some expressed concern over the high price, which was almost US$20 higher than the system's price in Japan and more than $100 higher than the recently launched Nintendo DS. Despite the concerns, the PSP's North American launch was a success,although reports two weeks later indicated that the system was not selling as well as expected despite Sony's claim that 500,000 units had been sold in the first two days.
The PSP was originally to have a simultaneous PAL region and North American launch, but on March 15, 2005, Sony announced that the PAL region launch would be delayed because of high demand for the console in Japan and North America. A month later, on April 25, 2005, Sony announced that the PSP would launch in the PAL region on September 1, 2005, for €249/£179. Sony defended the high price, which was nearly US$100 higher than in North America, by pointing out that North American consumers had to pay local sales taxes and that the VAT (sales tax) was higher in the UK than the US. Despite the high price, the console's PAL region launch was a resounding success, selling more than 185,000 units in the UK alone, selling out of all stock nationwide in the UK within three hours of launch, more than doubling the previous first-day sales record of 87,000 units set by the Nintendo DS. The system also enjoyed great success in other areas of the PAL region with more than 25,000 units preordered in Australia and nearly one million units sold across Europe in the first week.
PSP Go
The PSP Go was revealed on May 30, 2009, in the June episode of the PlayStation Network online magazine Qore and was later officially announced on June 2, 2009, at E3 2009. The PSP Go features Bluetooth functionality, a smaller 3.8-inch (97 mm) screen and weighs 43% less than the original PSP. Instead of the UMD drive as found on previous models, the PSP Go has 16 GB of internal flash memory and a Memory Stick Micro port that accepts cards up to 16 GB. Currently, the PSP Go has a max memory of 32 GB, but the M2 memory can be increased in firmware updates. Games must be downloaded from the PlayStation Store. The sliding mechanism on the screen hides the main face buttons and the analog 'nub' when not in use. With the release of the PSP Go, most future PSP games will also receive a PlayStation Store release, whereas only a handful of games were available before.
Sony announced in April 2011 that it would stop production of the PSP Go to focus resources on developing the PlayStation Vita (then known as the NGP). Shortly after, SCEA clarified that the PSP Go would still be produced for the North American market.
PlayStation Vita
The PlayStation Vita or simply the PS Vita is a handheld game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to the PlayStation Portable as part of the PlayStation family of gaming devices.
The device includes two analog sticks, a 5-inch (130 mm) OLED multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, 3G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support. Internally, the device features a quad core ARM Cortex-A9 core processor and a quad core PowerVR SGX543MP4+ graphics processing unit as well asLiveArea as its main user interface, which succeeds the XrossMediaBar for the PlayStation Portable.
The device features full backwards compatibility with all PlayStation Portable games digitally released on the PlayStation Network, via PlayStation Store, the device's dual analog sticks will be supported in only select games. The device will upscale and smooth the graphics of the PSP games via the software emulator for the device.
PSP-E1000
Announced at Gamescom 2011, the PSP-E1000 is a budget-focused model of the PSP which became available across the PAL region on October 26, 2011 for an RRP of
€99.99. Unlike previous PSP models, the E1000 does not feature Wi-Fi capabilities and has a matte "charcoal black" finish similar to the slim PlayStation 3.Also, it only features a mono speaker instead of the previous models' stereo speakers and does not feature microphone.
The Samsung Galaxy S III (GT-i9300) is an Android smartphone that was announced by Samsung on 3 May 2012 in London.It is the successor to the Samsung Galaxy S II. The device will be released in Europe on 29 May 2012, and in the US and India in June.
