Could PS Vita mean the death of the PSP?

Sony's new PS Vita is slated for release sometime in 2012, but back in 2005 the PSP reigned supreme. That year, stores like Best Buy were selling out of these small gaming investments like there was no tomorrow. There was a mad rush to get one before Christmas that year and several stores had to place the item on back-order or give rain-checks to unlucky customers. This was definitely the most popular portable device amongst teens, children ages 9 and up, and adults alike and for a good reason: this was the most innovative portable gaming device ever to hit the market.

 The PSP's predecessor's occurred decades earlier with Sega's Game Gear being released in 1991, and Nintendo's Gameboy in 1989. The Game Gear was innovative in that it featured a back-lit LED color screen and better, crisper graphics than the Nintendo Gameboy. Sega's Game Gear saw a sharp rise in popularity and a steep decline as well, due to Nintendo's competitive release of the Gameboy pocket, a slimmed-down, multi-colored version of the Gameboy.

The PSP blew these previous portable consoles out of the water. It's graphics were super-sharp, it had a built-in joystick, a wide horizontal viewing screen, it played movies and mp3's, it boasted Wi-Fi capability for multi-player gameplay, and it could browse the internet wherever there was Wi-Fi available. This truly was a modern marvel of portable gaming.

Now Sony plans to one-up itself with a newer version of what made their first portable device a hit.

The PS Vita is slated for North American release some time in 2012 but already crowds are eagerly anticipating it's arrival. What makes it different from the PSP is it's massive 5-inch, 24-bit color touchscreen, a Sixaxis motion sensor (with Three-axis electronic compass), front and back VGA cameras, built in GPS, and the option for 3G support, which would mean internet accessibility anytime you're in range of reception.

This powerhouse of a portable gaming console will be highly sought after by avid members of the gaming community and most likely the PSP will be forgotten about. Users wishing to upgrade from their current PSP will take refuge in the fact that the PS Vita will be backwards compatible, meaning it'll be able to play games from the previous PSP device. This, hopefully, should make the transition to Vita much easier for everyone.

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