The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed by Sony.[6] Development of the console was announced during E3 2003,[7] and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004.[8] The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004,[9] in North America on March 24, 2005,[10] and in the PAL region on September 1, 2005.[11] It primarily competed with the Nintendo DS, as part of the seventh generation of video games.