One of the more interesting things to be circulating online is the talk of a new Sony PSP! This “leaked” information has come from a pretty reliable source, Anton Logvinov who in the past has leaked stuff like the PC ports of Death Stranding and Horizon Zero Dawn. Also, this was briefly mentioned earlier in the year as well when the PS5 Pro specs were being talked about so it does seem like this rumor does have some weight to it.
I for one would love this to be true. I got a PlayStation Portable in 2005 along with WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2006 (check out my WWE 2K24 review by the way), FIFA 06, Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, X-Men Legends II, and SSX on Tour. I loved that system and thought that it was so cool how I was able to practically play PlayStation 2 quality games on the go. I will be honest and say that over time and overall, I do think that the Nintendo DS offers more. However, the Sony PSP was a ton of fun and with nearly 80 million sales, it was also a monster hit for Sony. I bet there are many people who do not realize that the PlayStation Portable was as successful as it was!
Eventually, I would upgrade to the PSP 3000, and the screen on that thing, along with the fact I could play it on my TV was awesome. I picked up so many great games that I have a ton of amazing memories of such as the God of War games, Tomb Raider Legend, Burnout, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and many more. It was a fantastic system that had something for everyone. I even got a kick out of the UMD movies and to this day, I have a few in my collection. The PSP was great, but not perfect. I remember getting Lego Batman for the PSP and thinking that there was something wrong with my copy as it took about three minutes to boot up! Nope, the PSP just had some pretty horrific load times. Also, the little analog nub thing and the shoulder buttons were less than ideal.
While I loved the PSP, it was a console that I would go hot and cold on, I could spend hours playing on it in a session, but then I could go weeks without playing on the thing. When Sony announced the successor, the PlayStation Vita I was so excited to get my hands on it. However, the hefty price tag of the console and the even more insane price tag of those horrific memory cards put me off. You know, it was the memory cards that really put me off, those things were insane! Plus, outside of Uncharted, there was not a great deal in the launch lineup that appealed to me. Then one day, my wife needed a new phone and back then phone companies here in the UK were all about giving free gifts with phone contracts and the gift she got was a PlayStation Vita.
The PlayStation Vita was and is amazing. It was the first time where I truly felt like I was getting the console experience in my hand. Sure the touch screen and the weird touchpad on the back were gimmicks, but they were fun. Also, the PlayStation Vita nearly got me killed by my wife. She was asleep in bed and I was playing Uncharted next to her, there was a section in the game where you had to shine light on the screen to do this puzzle, I tried as quietly and delicately as I could to turn the lamp on. I woke her up, she went mad and I was sent downstairs to play the game! The Vita felt amazing to play, the console was comfortable and the buttons and the no dual analog sticks were so much better than what the PSP offered.
However, the Vita never picked up steam, I truly think that many people were put off by those memory cards! To be honest, had I not gotten one for free when I did, I am not sure when I would have gotten one. Yet, the time I spent with the Vita has me very excited for what this new PSP or whatever they decide to call it could be. The leak said that the console could play PS4 games and that is pretty cool. By today’s standards, that is “old tech” so that may be a way for Sony to keep the price of the system down. The Vita was as high tech as you could get at the time and that is a huge part of the reason why it was priced the way it was.
While it is all just a rumor at the moment, there does seem to be a lot of talk about this so I do hope that it is true. By all accounts, the Sony PlayStation Portal that allows you to stream your PS5 games did far better than Sony expected so that could light a fire under them in regards to giving a dedicated handheld system another shot. If Sony can get this thing right, the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Steam Deck may have some serious competition!
Be sure to let me know what you think of Sony once again making a dedicated handheld system down in the comments section.