It’s just been made official that the PSP has been delayed in Europe for “several months”, thus proving the theory that Sony just doesn’t like us very much.

I’ve been hearing rumours about this for a while now, ever since my friend’s shop (which has been doing a booming trade in import PSPs) received a flurry of orders from people who had heard from an unidentified source that it wouldn’t be reaching our shores until Christmas, but this is the first real confirmation that a delay was going to happen. To be honest, I doubt it’s going to affect the PSP that much as it’s still going to be the must-have at Christmas, but it could give the DS more of a foothold than Sony would like.

The DS launch last week was fairly successful by most accounts and the best part of a year to establish yourself is a big advantage. Sega didn’t manage it with the Dreamcast but from what I’ve seen the hype for the PSP isn’t nearly as immense as it was with the PS2 and when you’re getting testers on Radio 1 putting the DS and even the Gizmondo ahead of the PSP (I know it’s not exactly scientific, but it’s very prominent), this handheld war could get more interesting.