PlayStation Portable: Difference between revisions

{{IndexTropeUseful Notes|wppage=Playstation Portable}}

Despite these issues, the PSP has been fairly successful financially. As mentioned, it's easily the most successful competitor to Nintendo's handheld dominance and the highest-selling second-place system of any console war. It has seen an [[Updated Rerelease]] as the "Slim & Lite", which [[Product Facelift|made it smaller and lighter]], as well as adding a brighter screen and a jack which let you display the console's output on a television. A third-generation version added a mic and a new screen that's less reflective and has more colors, but also has more prominent scanlines. Firmware updates since launch have greatly increased the system's capabilities, ranging from being able to play more file formats, to being able to organize media in folders, to [[Play StationPlayStation 3]] remote play compatibility. UMD titles have the option of allowing portions of the game to be installed to the memory stick, reducing loading times and extending battery life. The PSP also saw success in some countries, namely developing markets such as Morocco, the Philippines and India, where corner stalls offering jailbreaking and game sideloading services thrived to the point that one tech blogger [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weTJxMivscQ recalled] how pickpockets in the Philippines would rather steal a PSP over a Nintendo DS due to how more capable Sony's handheld is over the DS.

Sony has begun a major shift in their strategies for the PSP recentlylater in its life cycle. The biggest shift is a massive embrace of digital distribution — while the newest incarnation of the DS is capable of downloading small games made specifically for its download service, the PSP is capable of downloading retail titles available for it through [[Playstation Network|Sony's online storefront]], as well as smaller games, video, and [[Downloadable Content]] for existing games. Furthermore, the newest incarnation of the PSP, the '''PSP Go''', is specifically built around digital distribution, having no support for the UMD medium. Despite fears from older PSP owners, Sony insists that the Go is not meant to replace the PSP, and that Sony plans to sell and maintain both platforms simultaneously (and in fact, when the Go was launched, all future PSP releases were required to have a digital-only version available). Response has been lackluster at best, with reports that some stores wouldn't even stock it<ref> One of the major US video-game-only retailers, Gamestop/EB Games, was extremely unimpressed with the system, noting that consumers would not be able to trade in their games for resale, and while they grudgingly sold it, they did not promote it.</ref>

Since the PSP was released in 2004, and Sony historically released new consoles every six years, by 2010 there was a storm of rumor and speculation over what would come next. The announcement didn't hit until January 27, 2011. SonyThe PSP's new devicesuccessor, Nowinitially namedannounced as the Next Generation Portable and later christened as the [[Play StationPlayStation Vita]] (formerly NGP), will bewas released by the end of the year2011. It comes with dual thumbsticks, 3G and wiWi-fiFi connectivity, motion control, front and back cameras, a touch screen, and a ''second'' touchpad in equivalent position on the backside of the device. It'sUnlike alsothe goingPSP, backthe toVita flash-memoryuses cardscartridges as its storageprimary game medium., Morethough it can bestill readplay aboutPSP itand atPS1 itsgames [[Playdownloaded Stationthrough Vita|page]]the PlayStation Store.