Considering the relative lack of Western third party support the PSP gets and the lack of effort Sony has put towards it (compared to the PS3) I don't really understand why the system sells so well in the West.  With much bigger games coming out for other systems and the fact that it doesn't seem to have anything akin to Wii Sports (to keep the system selling during dry patches) what is fueling sales of the system?

Hopefully nobody has the knee jerk reaction of calling this a trolling thread.  I own a PSP (actually my live in girlfriend owns one) and except for the very odd release the system basically sits idle.  I'm curious if it's the multimedia capabilities that is selling the system since I haven't seen much advertising promoting it.

Piracy I guess.

I personally have never tried, but having multiple emulators on an handheld console sounds very fun.

Perhaps because it is the only "adult" alternative for a handheld this gen (and last gen, technically)? I don't know (and; no I don't see the DS as a kids machine but a whole lot of people do).

It's a really good system with the 2nd best library you can get right now. Why wouldn't it do well?

homebrew and piracy

It is an awesome emulator.

locoroco 2 is the reason

A low price and a robust library of quality software might be part of the reason why. Personally, I don't understand why the PSP isn't more successful.

This. I'll be buying one for homebrew ;)

Plus, Japanese support of course.