This would BANG if it came out in 2020

The Sega Nomad also added the ability to play actual console cartridges on your system- and you could plug it into a TV and use it as a Sega Genesis console. It was a Nintendo switch without motion controls or internet- 30 years before the switch.

They both didn’t do well and collapsed. Gameboy remained the undisputed hand held champion until the gameboy line was ended- and Nintendo still holds the title for handheld supremacy: and consider as many point out- the switch is far from the most advanced hardware that could be used for modern portable gaming.

In this day in age- many of the functions of the PSP are negated by smart phones. We don’t need our hand held gaming devices to have met browsing or be media players- phones and tablets and laptops fill the role for browsing the web or listening to music. Phones are also an obvious choice for social media and connecting to friends. Sadly the PSP came out right as this reality was becoming the norm.

The infrastructure and technology to fully support what they wanted to do wasn’t quite in place yet. Things like digital copies of games and cheap easy downloads weren’t quite in place nor was mobile data and ubiquitous WiFi everywhere and free. And things were changing with prices falling on digital music and media devices to boot.

Now- the gameboy advance and out in 2001 and was a huge improvement in graphics and technology over previous game boy versions- but the hardware on the PSP played games that were beyond what the gameboy could do. Other “high end” portable game hardware had existed before-

Neo Geo had a powerful handheld that didn’t get much of any world wide release or support and was VERY expensive- like much neo geo home hardware it was out of the price range of the average consumer and casual or less than hardcore gamer. There were a couple others including a “gaming cell phone” designed to be a portable system with phone capabilities- that did not do well and didn’t have the backing and support to really take off- nor did the makers have the experience- while it ha(s)(d) some fans- mostly it got poor reviews on the games, the ergonomics, the experience and interface, and its capabilities as both a phone and game system.

The idea of a portable media player was also not a common thing in 2004. Most people still had phones that couldn’t display video of any meaningful sort even IF they had cellular data or WiFi- and it wasn’t quite yet you could assume a person had a cell phone- let alone one that even could use WiFi.

The PSP combined several desirable features that a target group of consumers would be interested in to create a portable, WiFi enabled multi media device. The hardware was beyond what many in the market were using for portable electronics, and it was pretty much without challenge the most capable and versatile portable hardware of the day- in fact many people didn’t even have use for all the features at the time or the means to use them.

If you think of it this way- the PSP was almost an android cell phone- minus the phone and strap an almost PS1 to a portable device. It had a big screen (for the time) and touted a Swiss Army knife of digital tools and abilities.

But YouTube wasn’t what it is now. Digital media and paying money for non physical ownership of media weren’t as widely accepted as they are now. The PSP (if updated hardware and UI etc-) would fit right at home with consumers in 2020 in theory. Bigger screens and badder hardware drive the smartphone market today.

So again- at the time- knowing people with PSP’s when they were new- many sold theirs or stopped playing all together. The world wasn’t as “gamer friendly” especially to a more adult crowd who the PSP would be well suited for. The world wasn’t as portable device friendly either- it was still odd many places to be fiddling on something and WiFi access or charger access weren’t considered just normal things- most places weren’t thinking of offering outlets to those in need as much as thinking you’re odd if you ask to use an outlet.

So the PSP could do lots of things that not a lot of people were really doing yet as far as WiFi and digital media and web browsing etc. Beyond that the games could be expensive and the proprietary format etc. led some devs away and in turn buyers. PS2 still played most PS1 games and not only did enough people still had their PS1’s or games. Most PS1 titles were still cheap and easy to buy used at used game stores.

Also remember that 1. In those days there were at least 2-3 National used game stores competing, 2. Add at least 1-2 regional used game chains most regions, and 3. The landscape was changing fast in those days. New technologies and services and laws were flying around. Pirating had taken a hit but was rampant. Plenty of emulators and friends cousins and local strip mall game stops to get free or dirt cheap software from. Chipped PS1 and 2 were still huge and out there. Loaded with non US titles and roms for hundreds or thousands of games and ability to play region unlocked. PSP “jailbreaking” was a thing too.

How does any of that make PSP ahead of its time? Much of that is still out there if you know where to look- but not nearly as much. Consoles and handhelds with near all time server connections or requiring servers handshake and other layers of DRM and trickery have helped get rid of a lot of that. The PSP came out before they could really police the system they created effectively. A central profit backbone to modern similar “ecosystems” is a measure of control that wasn’t in place yet.

And the second major reason most people I knew with PSP put them down was simply they felt Nintendo handheld games were more fun and less trouble. That’s not “ahead of its time” but it is part of the reason the platform dried up. But overall- the PSP was a little early to the party for what it was offering. Had it been released a little later and a little more advanced it may well have missed the uncertainty of the revolutions occurring at the time. A little later and the take off success of apples “smart devices” may have paved the way for the social and technological progress to make the device more widely adopted. Perhaps they may have marketed it as a gaming smartphone or media player and perhaps been the first “real” competitor to Apple- offering things on a “smartphone” or “media player” that were years away.

But in 2004 they created a portable gaming device that was largely too far ahead of society and the supporting infrastructure of the times- too early to have guessed right on the protocols and conventions to achieve a level of “integration” With enough other technology to really be viable- but too integrated to a world that wasn’t yet ready for Alexa or casting across devices.

For fuck sake, can any one tell my why it was ahead of its time in *one* comment? Maybe two.

It had a bunch of features in one package that were uncommon or novel in portable electronics for the time it was released. It was an early example of many technologies that are now expected in portable electronics but at the time were not yet widely available. People and the framework to operate seamlessly weren’t quite ready to fully realize the devices potential.