playstation portable

The PlayStation Portable (officially abbreviated PSP) is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony.

The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005 and in Europe and Australia on September 1, 2005.

The PlayStation Portable is the only handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage medium. Other distinguishing features of the console include its large viewing screen, robust multi-media capabilities, and connectivity with the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, other PSPs and the Internet.

The XrossMediaBar (pronounced cross-media bar and officially abbreviated as XMB) is a graphical user interface developed by Sony Computer Entertainment that was first used in this handled system.

A slimmer, lighter, remodeled version of the PlayStation Portable (the PSP-2000/"Slim & Lite") was released in early September 2007.

This model was later replaced by another remodeling, the PSP-3000, which included a new screen and an inbuilt microphone. Since then, a complete redesign called the PSP Go has been released, which was sold alongside the PSP-3000.

In 2011 a budget model, the PSP-E1000, was released. The PSP line was succeeded by the PlayStation Vita released in 2012.