The Playstation Portable(PSP) is a hand-held console developed and sold by
Sony. The system was first released in Japan in 2004 and the rest of the world in 2005. As of August 2008, the PSP has sold 41 million units worldwide. Despite its success, it continues to significantly lag in sales behind its main competitor, the
Nintendo DS.
A rather unique aspect of the PSP is that it employs an optical disc format as its primary storage medium. The format, known as the Universal Media Disc (UMD), was developed by
Sony exclusively for the PSP and can hold up to 1.8 GB of data. UMD has received a great deal of criticism over its exclusivity and lack of recordable media. For a time, Hollywood movies were ported to UMD and could be purchased for viewing on the PSP, but that has fallen out of favor.
The PSP is also known for having a large high-resolution display with a great deal of brightness. The graphical power of the unit have drawn some to say it is virtually a handheld Playstation 2.
Besides its graphical power, the PSP also has PS3 connectivity, digital music playback, and an internet browser. The unit is also capable of running homebrew software but
Sony routinely issues security patches to prevent third party software from running.
