PlayStation Portable
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
PlayStation Portable is Sony's first video game console to be a handheld. It was made in Japan and came out there first on December 12 2004. After that, it came out in North America on March 24 2005 and came out in Europe (after a long time) on September 1 2005.
It was first talked about in 2003 at E3 and then next year its first design was shown off. It can play video games, music, and video. It does also show pictures. To get music to play and pictures to show the PSP, a USB cable sends the files from a computer to it. The games and movies come on a disc called the "Universal Media Disc" which holds 1.8 GB (this is a lot more than a normal CD but less than a DVD). For other stuff a memory stick (Memory Stick Duo) can be put in. A memory stick is a small card which you put into the PSP that stores memory so you can use the memory. The ones with the most space cost a lot for many people, though.
[edit] Games and movies
There are many games out, but most of them are PlayStation 2 games made for the PSP, with less things. The movies look like the DVD, but they can cost more than a DVD. The reason the PSP can have movies is because the disk (Universal Media Disc) has a lot of space. For many countries Spider-Man 2 (the movie) was included for free but for some countries it will have to be ordered by signing up with Sony, because there were not many copies.
[edit] Wireless
The PSP is wireless, meaning that there are no cables (except for when charging and sending data through the USB cable). In another meaning, the PSP can go on the Internet through a hot-spot or router. This is very good for downloading new things and visiting web pages (with the new update 2.00).
[edit] Competiton
The PlayStation Portable is a competitor (going against) the Nintendo DS and Gizmondo (a UK-made handheld console). However, Nintendo and Sony said they were aimed at different people so there is no competition. At this time the DS is doing quite well and has sold more units than the PSP has but this may change as the PSP has been released in Europe this September 1.
