This thing was way ahead of its time. It came out at the same time Nintendo was still fiddling with 8-bit Gameboys (which were wonderful in themselves) and trying to bring out the DS, which was the PSP’s biggest competitor.

But the PSP could play console games, with close-to-console graphics, play (albeit with discs) movies and TV shows, store and play music, as well as store photos (on a removable Memory Stick Duo card) and even had a real, working flash-based web browser…in 2004. The only thing it couldn’t do was make phone calls. The PSP was truly a precursor to smart phones. By the time they released the slim version, you could also play online with friends over wifi using the Playstation Network. It literally was a portable PS3. It had almost a full interface resemblance to the PS3. A fucking analog stick!!

I mean, you could watch Youtube, download videos, change themes, save pics. Nintendo had you buy a separate “Nintendo DS browser” which utterly failed with its ridiculous attempts to censor what you did with it. The PSP was a real, open-source computer. It had games all the way up to M, with its amazing GTA mobile version. I used to watch movies on it, browse the internet, I even jailbroke it. The iPod Touch and iPhone didn’t come out until 2007, and the only real advantage the iPod Touch had was its nice, touch screen user interface and the app store.

The PSP absolutely killed it in terms of mobile gaming. Everyone I knew had one. And then. It disappeared. Everyone had iPhones, Blackberrys, and iPod touches. The PSP completely fell off the map. They tried to revive it with the also advanced PS Vita. Nothing. No one wanted it.

I believe the reason is that it was way too ahead of its time. Us millennials and Gen Z’rs has no idea what luxury we possessed until Apple shoved the iPhone down our throats. By which time we were too caught up following the crowd and had long given up the not-so-humble Playstation Portable.

It should’ve been the future of gaming. But instead, all next gen consoles were released as a TV add on. The PSP is now a relic of a lost time.