Console name: PSP or Play Station Portable
Made by: Sony
Age: 6+
Released: Christmas 2004 (US and Japan) March 2005 (Europe)
Price: from £150 upwards, different packs are available that differ in price
Size: 170mm x 74mm x 23mm
Weight: 260 grams (including Battery)

History:
Since 1976 the realisation of a successful hand held gaming console has been in the air. The first hand held was released by Mattel in 1976 and called Missile Attack. They followed with another called auto racer in 1977. But these where still not a real hand held console, with only one games built into each, boredom followed shortly. In 1979 the concept of a proper hand held console hit the gaming world. 1979 saw the release of Microvision created by Milton Bradley, the first hand held with an LCD display and more than one game to play built into separate cartridges. Due to Microvision's lack of support it disappeared after just 2 years. There was no real competitor to the Microvision for another 10 years. 1989 saw the release of the PC Engine GT, its high technology and brilliant games would have made it a top console for its time, but like many game companies, greed let it down as gamers could not afford the original price. In the same year came along one even a non-gamer will know, the Nintendo Game Boy. Huge success in its day and has sun of many additional consoles, a main feature it had for its day was an affordable price. 1991 saw the last successful hand held console until 2001. The Game Gear was a less successful, successful hand held. What I mean by that is the Game gear was double the price of the Game Boy and had higher battery consumption. Another 10 years pass and Nintendo release another Game Boy known as the Game Boy Advance. With a terrible lighting system and a gloomy look to the early games, Nintendo looked at this problem and solved it with the later release of the Game Boy Advance SP. So after nearly 30 years with the success of the Playstation and Playstation 2 where was Sony's entry into the hand held gaming world. During 2004 leading up to Christmas, there where rumours of a hand held being released by Sony that had more power than the PS2. Early designs and snippets of information about the now named PSP or Play Station Portable where released to wet the appetite of gamers across the world. With nearly a year of waiting and having to hear how the US and Japan got it 3 months before we did, March 2005 saw the final release of the Sony PSP. Millions of parent's pockets, bank accounts and credit cards where scorched so there little ones could have the latest Sony hand held. My mate couldn't wait and bought himself a Japanese import at Christmas 2004 (only to sell later on in the year for a European model because he couldn't read Japanese hehe lol) I decided to wait till March and when the time came I couldn't find one in stock anywhere! That pay day in March was the only time I could afford one and couldn't get one. After over a year of waiting in April 2006 I finally got a PSP and my word it was worth the wait…

The PSP system: the actual PSP system is like no other hand held. The PSP for starters graces a 170mm x 74mm LCD TFT widescreen display, that's huge for a hand held. If the size can be compared with the quality then you are in for a treat, the LCD TFT widescreen display boasts 16.77 million colours and has a 480 x 272 pixel resolution. The sharpness and picture quality is immaculate; it is easily up there with the highest quality LCD TV and DVD players if not better. The sound system is just as impressive as the display unit; the PSP features 3D sound and 7.1 channels, enabling the use of a digital processor known as VME (virtual mobile engine). The VME is a technology created by Sony for use in its portable MD and MP3 players, basically this technology allows the PSP to process sound with out eating away at your battery life. The sort of music that the PSP supports is endless, types like MP3, AAC and ATRAC3-format music (Sony use ATRAC3-format music in there MP3 players, formatted via there sonic stage programme) and many more are supported by the PSP. With built in speakers, you get a very clear sound with none of the annoying distortion at the highest volume, it's just as good as TV quality sound. Ok I am going to get down with the tech stuff now, other features like the CPU speed runs on two MIPS R4000 32-bit chips, this makes the PSP's computing speed run at a estimated 10 times faster than the PS1, the 3D graphics engine delivers unprecedented levels of visual detail for a hand held system like no other hand held. Sticking with the CPU chips one is loaded with 8MB at 333MHz of processing speed while the other chip alone handles the PSP's media engine, loaded with 2MB of embedded DRAM. You can add even more memory via a memory stick which is mainly used for game saves, it's a bit like the memory card for the PS1 and PS2 only smaller and different memory sizes are available. The classic Playstation controls make there way to the PSP, which was a good idea for Sony as most gamers will be familiar with them. Ones you may remember are the X, Square, Triangle, circle, the D pad, R1, L1, Select and Start buttons are back, there is even a little Analog stick on the left side for people who tend not to use the D pad. There are other easy access buttons also including the home button, volume buttons + and -, screen brightness adjust button and even a hold button so your PSP can not be tampered with while it is on and you are away from it. All in all for such an advanced, well media system if you like, the controls are very user friendly and easy to navigate. The ear phones that come with the Giga pack have a handy remote control on them for easy volume and track skipping control. The headphones are also friendly on the ears; they are designed to limit sound pressure level to a maximum of 90db.

Where to find: well the sales of the PSP have calmed down now but still going strong. You can find the PSP from any leading game stockist and electronic stockist. There are different packs available, the basic pack will set you back about £150 but I would recommend the Giga pack, the accessories you get with it are great value for money. The 1GB memory stick you get with the Giga pack costs £60 alone! The Giga pack will set you back about £220 and if you get it from Game you get a free game from a selection of 6 games. There are many accessories to buy for the PSP to enhance the experience of this multi media gem.