What is PSP?
The PSP, or PlayStation Portable, is a handheld gaming console made by Sony. Sony's PSP is a recent technological marvel, but handheld videogaming has a much longer history. It's not quite as long and varied as console gaming, but handheld video games have probably been around longer than most of the people reading this article.
History of PSP?
On LEDs
The earliest handheld gaming devices were single-game machines. Unlike early consoles, which had to be attached to a television in order to play them, handheld screens in the dawn of time had built-in displays, just as they do today. On really early machines, these displays were often simple arrays of LEDs. Because early game machines only had to play one game, simple displays devised specifically for that game could be quite effective. Several games produced by Mattel in the mid 1970s used this kind of "screen." Other early machines used calculator-like alphanumeric displays--there are some gaming historians who trace the origins of handheld games to early handheld calculators.While most ancient handheld game machines could play only a single game, there were some that played a small selection of built-in games. One example is Merlin, released by Parker Brothers in 1978. Merlin didn't have a screen per se, instead it had lighted buttons that performed the function of both display and input. Players could choose from six different games, and the machine even had a save function. Merlin was in some ways ahead of its time, despite the lack of an actual screen, because one of its games--called Music Machine--allowed the played to record and play back sequences of notes, making it one of the earliest music sequencers.
Here comes the LCDs
For early machines, background graphics could not be displayed using the LCD, so instead they were usually a separate static layer, though some--especially early machines with interchangeable games--used overlays instead. Nintendo's Game & Watch series of games belongs to the former category, while the Microvision fits in the latter.
Microvision
Handheld gaming really began to come into its own in 1979 when Milton Bradley released the Microvision. This system had the revolutionary feature of interchangeable cartridges, and can be considered the first handheld gaming console. It was really the only one until Nintendo came up with the Game Boy, and from there handheld gaming took off like a rocket. Or spread like the plague. Or some other less cliched simile.
The Game Pocket Computer
The Game Pocket Computer was released by Epoch in Japan in 1984, making it the second handheld console ever released to feature interchangeable game cartridges. It was apparently ahead of its time, released five years before Nintendo's Game Boy, and didn't sell at all well. Like Milton Bradley's Microvision, lackluster sales led to very few game releases. In fact, aside from the paint and puzzle programs built into the device, only 5 games came out for the Game Pocket Computer. It is now a very rare collectible.
Game Boy
Nintendo released the first Game Boy in April 1989 in Japan, and then three months later in North America. The European release did not happen until September of the next year.The same group who worked on Nintendo's popular single-game Game & Watch handheld series also worked on the Game Boy. Although the Game Boy was not the most technologically advanced system of its time--it was greyscale rather than color, it was low-powered, and it had a small screen, for example--it was a huge success. Some of that success may have been due to Nintendo's clever move of packaging the system with a cartridge of Tetris, one of the most addictive puzzle games of all time.
Lynx
The handheld that came to be called the Lynx started out as the Handy Game. It was developed by Epyx starting in 1986, but the company was facing financial difficulties by the time the device was shown at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in 1989. Epyx partnered with Atari and the device was reworked slightly and released as the Atari Lynx. Despite being more advanced than its competition, Nintendo's Game Boy, the Lynx didn't sell especially well, due to its high price and lack of games.
TurboExpress
NEC made the TurboExpress as a handheld companion to their full-size console, the TurboGrafx (or PC Engine, as it was called in Japan). It played the exact same games, using the same cards, as the larger console, but in a portable form factor. The screen was the same size as that of the original Game Boy--2.6 inches (or 66 mm)--but was full-color and brighter than Nintendo's handheld.
The PSP
The original PSP was released in 2004 in Japan, and in 2005 in Europe and North America.The PSP is primarily a game console (PSP games come in UMD, or Universal Media Disc, format), but it can also play UMD-format movies. Using a memory stick, the PSP can play music and video files, and display picture files such as photos. This portable console can also connect to the internet via a web browser (not incuded in early firmware releases) and built-in wi-fi.
Since its release, the PSP has had two hardware revisions, each adding or updating features. The first PSP model, the PSP-1000 (also known as the PSP Fat or PSP Phat) was already a powerful handheld console, but the second PSP model (the PSP-2000, PSP Slim, or PSP Slim and Lite) added even more features, including a video-out port. The third version of the PSP hardware, the PSP-3000 (or PSP Brite), added a brighter screen.
Source: About.Com. See more here.
The PSP, or PlayStation Portable, is a handheld gaming console made by Sony. Sony's PSP is a recent technological marvel, but handheld videogaming has a much longer history. It's not quite as long and varied as console gaming, but handheld video games have probably been around longer than most of the people reading this article.
History of PSP?
On LEDs
The earliest handheld gaming devices were single-game machines. Unlike early consoles, which had to be attached to a television in order to play them, handheld screens in the dawn of time had built-in displays, just as they do today. On really early machines, these displays were often simple arrays of LEDs. Because early game machines only had to play one game, simple displays devised specifically for that game could be quite effective. Several games produced by Mattel in the mid 1970s used this kind of "screen." Other early machines used calculator-like alphanumeric displays--there are some gaming historians who trace the origins of handheld games to early handheld calculators.While most ancient handheld game machines could play only a single game, there were some that played a small selection of built-in games. One example is Merlin, released by Parker Brothers in 1978. Merlin didn't have a screen per se, instead it had lighted buttons that performed the function of both display and input. Players could choose from six different games, and the machine even had a save function. Merlin was in some ways ahead of its time, despite the lack of an actual screen, because one of its games--called Music Machine--allowed the played to record and play back sequences of notes, making it one of the earliest music sequencers.
Here comes the LCDs
For early machines, background graphics could not be displayed using the LCD, so instead they were usually a separate static layer, though some--especially early machines with interchangeable games--used overlays instead. Nintendo's Game & Watch series of games belongs to the former category, while the Microvision fits in the latter.
Microvision
Handheld gaming really began to come into its own in 1979 when Milton Bradley released the Microvision. This system had the revolutionary feature of interchangeable cartridges, and can be considered the first handheld gaming console. It was really the only one until Nintendo came up with the Game Boy, and from there handheld gaming took off like a rocket. Or spread like the plague. Or some other less cliched simile.
The Game Pocket Computer
The Game Pocket Computer was released by Epoch in Japan in 1984, making it the second handheld console ever released to feature interchangeable game cartridges. It was apparently ahead of its time, released five years before Nintendo's Game Boy, and didn't sell at all well. Like Milton Bradley's Microvision, lackluster sales led to very few game releases. In fact, aside from the paint and puzzle programs built into the device, only 5 games came out for the Game Pocket Computer. It is now a very rare collectible.
Game Boy
Nintendo released the first Game Boy in April 1989 in Japan, and then three months later in North America. The European release did not happen until September of the next year.The same group who worked on Nintendo's popular single-game Game & Watch handheld series also worked on the Game Boy. Although the Game Boy was not the most technologically advanced system of its time--it was greyscale rather than color, it was low-powered, and it had a small screen, for example--it was a huge success. Some of that success may have been due to Nintendo's clever move of packaging the system with a cartridge of Tetris, one of the most addictive puzzle games of all time.
Lynx
The handheld that came to be called the Lynx started out as the Handy Game. It was developed by Epyx starting in 1986, but the company was facing financial difficulties by the time the device was shown at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in 1989. Epyx partnered with Atari and the device was reworked slightly and released as the Atari Lynx. Despite being more advanced than its competition, Nintendo's Game Boy, the Lynx didn't sell especially well, due to its high price and lack of games.
TurboExpress
NEC made the TurboExpress as a handheld companion to their full-size console, the TurboGrafx (or PC Engine, as it was called in Japan). It played the exact same games, using the same cards, as the larger console, but in a portable form factor. The screen was the same size as that of the original Game Boy--2.6 inches (or 66 mm)--but was full-color and brighter than Nintendo's handheld.
The original PSP was released in 2004 in Japan, and in 2005 in Europe and North America.The PSP is primarily a game console (PSP games come in UMD, or Universal Media Disc, format), but it can also play UMD-format movies. Using a memory stick, the PSP can play music and video files, and display picture files such as photos. This portable console can also connect to the internet via a web browser (not incuded in early firmware releases) and built-in wi-fi.
Since its release, the PSP has had two hardware revisions, each adding or updating features. The first PSP model, the PSP-1000 (also known as the PSP Fat or PSP Phat) was already a powerful handheld console, but the second PSP model (the PSP-2000, PSP Slim, or PSP Slim and Lite) added even more features, including a video-out port. The third version of the PSP hardware, the PSP-3000 (or PSP Brite), added a brighter screen.
Source: About.Com. See more here.
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