The PlayStation Portable (PSP) was released March 24, 2005 and marks Sony's first entry into the handheld gaming market. In late 2007, the PSP was upgraded with a new hardware variation known by the model number PSP-2000. On August 20th at the 2008 Leipzig Games Convention Sony announced the newest revision of the PSP, the PSP-3000.

Following the release of the PSP-2001, Sony announced a limited edition Star Wars themed version of the PSP that would come with the game Battlefront Renegade Squadron. Though this was only the sign of things to come as Sony has since released a silver Daxter limited edition PSP bundeled with the game of the same title. Sony has also announced a God of War: Chains of Olympus red PSP as well as a blue Madden 09 PSP and a Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters PSP bundle.

During its E3 conference in 2007, Sony announced details of a slimmer and lighter PSP. The model number is PSP-2001, but it's commonly referred to as the PSP Slim. The Slim replaced the existing PSP in the market and made significant hardware changes, such as a new "pull-open" UMD slot and new speaker placements.

The PSP Slim was released in September of 2007.

PSP-3000

At the 2008 Leipzig Games Convention Sony officially announced the PSP-3000. Improvements over the PSP-2000 include but may not be limited to: a built in
mic between the volume buttons and the PSP logo in the center, a new PS button that replaces the Home button, and an improved LCD screen that has twice
the color gamut, five times the contrast ratio, a response time that is twice as fast as the PSP-2000's LCD screen, and a new anti reflective technology for improved viewing of the LCD screen in well-lit areas.

The PSP-3000 was released in Japan, Europe and North America in October as part of the Rachet and Clank Entertainment Pack. Europe saw the PSP-3000 released for €199 (around $250) on October 15. North America has been able to get the PSP-3000 in one bundle starting October 14 for $199.99. This pack contains the following:

Silver PSP
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
National Treasure 2
Voucher for Echochrome
1GB  ProDUO Memory Stick

A second bundle, named the PSP Core Pack  was originally announced to be available in early November. This bundle was later cancelled near the end of October. The original bundle was slated to contain the following:

Piano Black PSP
4GB ProDUO Memory Stick
Everyday Shooter Playstation Network Voucher

Firmware

The PSP has recieved many system updates (or firmware) updates onto the system. These firmware updates have added many new features onto the PSP ranging from speeding up or slowing down video playback speed to fixing problems with the system. Some hackers have used these firmware updates to hack in to the system to emulate other systems to play games from other platforms.

Success

Within it's first year of life the PSP was competing fairly well with the Nintendo DS, however, when Nintendo released the DS Lite sales for the DS rose and the PSP sales declined. The PSP has been usually selling the best of any non-Nintendo console charted by NPD numbers. Most of the PSP's complaints are because of the PSP's draught of games, unlike the Nintendo Wii where there are still some lower budget third party games, has hardly any software on the system in some weeks which results in low software sales.

Media Functionality

The PSP uses Sony Memory Stick Duos to store media. The PSP plays most MP3 and AVC music files. The PSP's Video playback options are far more limitied, however. The PSP cannot play many Movie files without using a file converter. The PSP can play movie downloads and rentals from the Playstation Video store. The PSP can also view photos and allows the user to change their wallpaper using their downloaded pictures.

Playstation Store

Classic Playstation titles can be downloaded from the Playstation Store onto the PSP as well as other (usually Greatest Hits) PSP games. In the PSP's 5.0 firmware update, the PSP recieved a built-in Playstation Store.

PSP Version History:

PSP 1000 (2005)
PSP 2000 (2007)
PSP 3000 (2008)