PlayStation Portable

Hardware specs

Startup

Turning on a PSP shows a coloured wave animation accompanied by a bright, chirpy chime built from high tones, described as sitting somewhere between an acoustic guitar and a synthesiser. That register was a deliberate move away from the deeper, more atmospheric PS1 and PS2 sounds: something suited to a handheld meant to be played outdoors through small, tinny speakers.

• The coloured wave itself outlived the boot screen: it became the background of the XrossMediaBar, the interface Sony went on to reuse across later platforms.

Trivia & Fun Facts

• Sony created a proprietary optical disc format for the PSP called UMD (Universal Media Disc). While it allowed for high-quality graphics and full-length movies (like Spider-Man 2), the moving parts made the console noisy, increased load times, and drained the battery faster than cartridges would have.
• At launch, the PSP’s graphical power was mind-blowing. It was essentially a portable PlayStation 2. Games like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ridge Racer proved that "console-quality" gaming on the go was finally possible.
• Early PSP units (the 1000 model) suffered from stuck or dead pixels. Sony’s initial official stance was that a small number of dead pixels was "characteristic of LCD screens" and not a defect, which sparked a significant backlash from early adopters.

Games