| The Sony PSP features a large 4.3-inch 16:9 | | | | Starbucks coffee shops, Borders bookstores, |
| wide screen LCD TFT screen with a 480x272 | | | | Hyatt hotels, and more than 70 major airports |
| resolution, button layout similar to the | | | | across the United States. |
| PlayStation with a digital control pad, an | | | | |
| analog stick, circle, triangle, square, x, | | | | On June 29, Sony announced a new PlayStation |
| and two shoulder buttons, USB 2.0 | | | | Portable firmware over at its website for |
| connectivity, a Memory Stick Duo media slot, | | | | Japan. This development, christened firmware |
| and 802.11b WiFi support. The Standard | | | | 3.51, is still rather cloaked in secrecy, as |
| Edition PSP comes with the PSP itself, a | | | | the only known change implemented to it is a |
| battery, an AC adapter, and a manual, along | | | | fix for certain security vulnerability. The |
| with Ridge Racers and Minna No Golf Portable. | | | | very same firmware appeared on PlayStation UK |
| | | | and Sony is still keeping mum if there are |
| Rumor, or maybe expectations of a redesigned | | | | any changes made to it. |
| PlayStation portable began as soon as | | | | |
| Nintendo showed the world how much better a | | | | What you already know about the PSP is that |
| handheld can get after an upgrade. Sony | | | | it is a piece of equipment built to go out |
| always took the position that there were no | | | | there and kill in the portable arena. This is |
| plans for a second release of its portable, | | | | Sony Computer Entertainment's first |
| although they never denied the possibility of | | | | appearance into the portable gaming market, |
| revised hardware for the PSP. That is, until | | | | and it's now a competitor to Nintendo's |
| a Sony executive in the UK, Ray Maguire, was | | | | long-running Game Boy area monopoly of |
| caught on record in early March saying that | | | | handheld systems. The PSP is a powerful, |
| the then current PSP was just the "first | | | | next-generation piece of hardware compacted |
| iteration" of the handheld, and that a future | | | | into a portable format. |
| version of the system would be smaller and | | | | |
| lighter than the current PSP. | | | | The introduction of Sony's PlayStation |
| | | | Portable was the moment portable game |
| PSP, which stands for PlayStation Portable, | | | | consoles stopped being toys. Sony created the |
| is manufactured by Sony Computer | | | | Universal Media Disc, a sort of miniaturized |
| Entertainment, and later that same month they | | | | DVD cartridge that holds 1.8 gigabytes to |
| announced a new firmware upgrade for the | | | | ensure that the PSP's games took advantage of |
| system, version 3.30, enabling PSP users to | | | | all its power, giving developers an |
| play compatible games online, surf the Web, | | | | unprecedented amount of space to create the |
| and download podcasts at more than 7,000 | | | | best looking and most sophisticated games |
| T-Mobile hotspot locations, including select | | | | ever made for a portable. |