The PSP is clearly on the downside of its lifespan as sales rapidly decline (in the West at least; it’s been on fire over in Japan) and the Next Generation Portable era looms. But like all Sony platforms, the PSP may still have enough life left in it to carry on alongside its successor, especially now with an impending price cut.
Starting Sunday, February 27th, the PSP-3000 will sell for only $129.99, a $40 price drop from its current ‘Core Pack’ price point of $169.99. Moving forward, all ‘Entertainment Pack’ bundles, previously sold for $199.99, will drop to the vacant $169.99 price.
If you still haven’t jumped aboard the PSP train, now is a good time to do so. Sure, the NGP is coming, but it won’t have a UMD drive, and, coming off of the platform’s strongest year of releases yet, there is a huge catalog of games (don’t listen to the haters, the PSP has a fantastic game library!) that you won’t be able to play on any other system.
More games have also just been added to the system’s ‘Greatest Hits’ and ‘Favorites’ lines of budget re-releases. New $20 ‘Greatest Hits’ include Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, Resistance: Retribution, and Toy Story 3. And on the ‘Favorites’ front, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Daxter, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Killzone: Liberation, SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fire Team Bravo, and Tomb Raider Anniversary are now only $9.99.
And to those who continue to trumpet the PSP as this all-time colossal failure, since launching in 2005 the PSP has sold over 23 million units in North America and over 67 million units worldwide (yes, that means it has outsold both the PS3 and Xbox 360 individually). Put in proper context outside the pointless ‘console wars’ comparisons, the PSP has been a very successful first foray into portable gaming for Sony, despite plenty of missteps and bumps in the road along the way (actually, the PSPgo was more like a Grand Canyon-sized pothole!). Did it topple the mighty Nintendo DS? No it didn’t — but who really cares?
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
Hopefully those deals are on PSN as well … help me fill in my UMD-to-PSN gaps 🙂
As for the PSP … I know I have been highly critical, because basically I think that it was a success DESPITE Sony and their inept tactics and poor treatment of customers … but clearly selling 23million in the US alone is a definite success and I cannot wait for the PSP 2.
To me, two things have kept the PSP from taking that next step up: piracy and poor marketing.
Software has definitely been the PSP’s biggest weak point, not in terms of game quality, but in terms of sales and third-party support. Outside of Japan, the rampant piracy has killed game sales, so third parties have never fully embraced the platform. In the West, PSP games never place highly on weekly/monthly sales reports, yet in Japan high profile games release to mobs and dominate the sales charts.
On the marketing end, Sony has largely done a poor job promoting the PSP up until recently, and it’s too little too late now because at this point the PSP has the ‘failure’ stigma attached that pushes customers away.
At least Sony ditched that Marcus kid for their new commercial campaign. That kid was annoying as shit!