Sony Phasing Out the PSP by Year’s End

<p>According to an article on <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;time&period;com&sol;2816781&sol;sony-to-stop-selling-playstation-portable-by-end-of-year&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Time&period;com<&sol;a> today&comma; Sony is now ending shipments of the PSP in Japan&period; Sony has already ended shipments in North America and Europe will soon follow later this year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The PlayStation Portable &lpar;PSP&rpar; was released in Japan in December of 2004&period; In that ten year span&comma; Sony has sold close to 80 million units&period; The handheld was released in North America and Europe in early 2005&period; The PSP was Sony&&num;8217&semi;s first attempt at entering the handheld gaming market&comma; which had to compete with the much popular Nintendo DS&period; Sony offered up five different versions of the hardware with the most recent being the 2011 PSP-E1000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With Sony phasing out the PSP&comma; the attention clearly now shifts to the PS Vita&period; For Japanese consumers&comma; Sony is offering discounts on software and hardware for PSP owners&period; No official word has been given as to why North America did not receive the same discounts as Japan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For those worried about possibly losing a huge catalog of games&comma; Sony has made it possible to download PSP titles onto the PS Vita&period; Did you own a PSP and now own a PS Vita&quest; Do you play PSP titles on the PS Vita&quest; Let us know in the comments below&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>via <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ign&period;com&sol;articles&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;03&sol;sony-discontinuing-psp" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">IGN<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;