Sony is celebrating the five-year anniversary of the PlayStation Portable launch in North America today; the handheld originally shipped to stores on March 24, 2005.
Some stats for you: over 245 developers have made software for the PSP since launch, with more than 520 games currently available. In addition, there are currently 300 or so titles available on the PlayStation Network, including PSP Mini games and PS One classic titles. It was also licked, at least once, by IGN's Jessica Chobot.
Sony also mentions the near-yearly iterations of the console since launch -- 2007 saw the release of the lighter PSP-2000; in 2008 the PSP-3000 with the "enhanced LCD screen" was released; and in 2009, the PSPgo, which dropped the UMD media format used only by the PSP, was unveiled.
According to the National Network for Childcare, if the PSP was a human being, this would be the year where it would start using a fork and knife well, start fearing the dark and loud noises, and is able to memorize addresses and phone numbers.
Congratulations, PSP -- you've come a long way!
Contest:
9:00 AM on 03.24.2010 | 
HAPPY B-DAY
At least he really likes it. Not enough to lick it provocatively...I hope...
ho ho ho...
hooray for, what is it, 50 million units sold as of Jan 09? total fail.
Favorite games?
Personally I loved Killzone Liberation.
But Sony really only has itself to blame.
That thing has sold a metric fucktonne in Japan and i assume it's done fairly well here in the UK too as most of my close gamer buddies have one.
I loves it, it does so much that a DS just can't, and is so much better for actual gaming than that horrible little Iphone thing.
So many Awesome games, such a nice big screen, BUTTONS!, awesome media capabilities, sheer power both graphically and proccessing, Wireless, etc etc etc.
You're a fool if you think the PSP isn't a successful portable gaming platform.
I personally want a Go, simply off the back of how great my PSP1000 is.
I love my Go, warts and all.
Happy birthday you disc reading portable system you!
I do love it when there are things to play on it though.
Patapon 2, Jeanne D'Arc, Prinny: Can I really be the hero?
Patchwork Heroes, Super Stardust Portable, PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe
Grandia!
A few demos (demos!), and a few of my favorite current albums.
Can't forget that copy of Lumines II in the UMD drive of course. Man, the PSP is a pretty sweet system.
I love the PSP. It's a very impressive piece of hardware with a great library. Killzone: Liberation, Ratchet & Clank, Jeanne D'Arc, Lumines, God of War: Chains of Olympus etc. My all time favourites are Metal Gear AC!D and AC!D2. If the PSP had two UMD slots they would be occupied by the AC!D games. Oh wait, I could get a bigger memory stick and have ALL the above mentioned games in my pocket.
PSP I love you, here's to many more years!
As much as I enjoy the PSP, Nintendo's got the upper hand in the market.
Either way, congrats to Sony for achieving success in what might have once been the most significant case of hegemony in gaming story.
My top Five:
5.Wipeout Pulse
4.LocoRoco(this game still makes me smile)
3.Disgaea 2(the best SRPG of all time IMHO)
2.GOW:COO(i mean its God Of War!!)
1.Syphon Filter:Logan's Shadow(the single BEST third person shooter i have EVER played on any platform.The cover based shooting..the unbelievable variety of weapons and tactics,the brilliant difficult curve and balance between stealth and action,the multiplayer,the un-fucking-believable graphics,even the modified controls which work so wonderfully despite not having a second analog.I seriously cant remember having more fun playing a shooter.and yes i have played Gears OF war 2,RE4 and 5 and all the "best games of all time".But somehow i always find myself coming back to this)
Long Live the PSP... :))
happy birthday and thank you for the neat times you have given me :)
It's funny b/c it was clear that the DS was never going to be able to handle this gen ports very well so it made companies rethink DS versions of series they owned before they put them out. The PSP, on the other hand, always seemed close enough to companies to where they just ported the stuff that was coming out to the PSP, stripped graphics and features, and called it a day. More often than not, that ended in an inferior product. Anyway, it was interesting to see.
The only thing holding me back is the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that there will be a price drop sometime between now and E3. That and the outrageous prices for Memory Sticks.
well I am going to give a rundown of my favorite psp experiences then as well...
dead head fred
lethal alliance
field commander
crush
GOW COO
Lego star wars (since it plays so damned close to the console)
burnout paradise/burnout legends
GTA liberty city stories
there were others that were fun too like LOTR tactics and resistance but they don't stick with me as well as the above listed
I have two DS's too (launch and lite) but I rarely play them, DS games don't really interest me aside from the Castlevania's. Ive got about 25 or so PSP games to my 8 or so DS games, it really comes down to personal preference, and I prefer my PSP.
PSP is cool and all, but iPhone games outsold PSP software 2:1 last year.
And that number is growing rapidly. Get used to it!
PS I bought my first PSP yesterday! Serendipitous!
Bought the PSP about 6 months after it came out. Enjoyed it for about 3 months (owned about 3 or 4 games) then gave up. A 512mb Memory card cost $80 at the time of the PSP's release, mainly because you were forced to buy those stupid Sony brand proDuo cards, on top of the device's $200 dollar price tag using the device as a media player was unrealistic and very expensive. Mix this with the incredibly low battery life (only 3 hours for gaming? I want to actually be able use the damn thing without having to charge it every 2 days) and you get an expensive media system with a lack of decent games.
Admittedly buying a PSP now would not be such a bad idea. The memory card prices are much more fair and the library of games is large enough that it is worth buying. But sony's lack of support for the device (probably due to their focus on the PS3) for the first 3 years was so poor that I realized I would have been better off buying a DS. (
Yes I was one of those PSP fanboys preaching about how much more superior the graphics and games were than the DS, and how it would be an awesome media machine that "innovates" handheld gaming. Pff how naive sony fanboys (or any other fanboys for that matter) can be.
Funny thing is, I just this week upgraded my cob-web ridden, un-used PSP of 5 years from 1.5 Firmware, to the newly hackable 5.00 and am enjoying all the free games I was never able to.
Good times.
Oh PSP. Why art thou shit?
dude I'm 22 and THE coolest thing to happen to me involves getting licked by a girl. The PSP got it lucky
Universal truth is not measured by mass appeal.
You need to actively want a portable gaming system to buy a PSP, every stupid person that wants to be just like their stupid mates has an Iphone, it's a much smaller step towards gamership to buy a £1 game on the app store than it is to buy a PSP and games.