The PlayStation Portable (officially abbreviated PSP) is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005 and in Europe and Australia on September 1, 2005. The PlayStation Portable is the only handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage medium.