The Pocket-Sized Paradox: The PSP’s Quest for a Console Experience On the Go
The history of handheld gaming is largely a story of compromise—scaled-down graphics, simplified mechanics, and experiences designed for short play sessions. When Sony entered the arena with the PlayStation Portable (PSP), it presented a fascinating paradox: it was a device built on the ambitious, and perhaps contradictory, premise of delivering a full, uncompromised home console experience in a portable form factor. While this quest was only partially fulfilled in the marketplace, it resulted in a library of games that were often bizarre, ambitious, and deeply rewarding, creating a legacy that is uniquely the product of this core tension between power…