If you're someone who once owned a PSP, then stopped playing it and threw it into storage, you may want to go and check it out and see if your battery has started swelling. New reports online have indicated that unused PSP batteries have started to swell over time, meaning that The Last of Us Part 2 was lying to us, we'll never be able to play a PSP in the post-apocalyptic future.

Twitter user BlackKite shared a tweet with an image of the "PSP battery" keyword trending in Japan. They link to the search term which has a load of users sharing images of their batteries for Sony's handheld console.

A fair deal of images do show swelling and cracks in the batteries, but there's also a number of posts showing ones that appear unaffected. Upon looking into the posts more closely, quite a few people who have swollen batteries seem to have the 1200mAh types. Although in saying that, there are some 1200mAh types that have been unaffected but I suppose this comes down to how the console was stored and the conditions as well as how long it's been since it was last used.

One user, "Cross Over" details some information about how the 1800mAh types and 2200mAh types are already designed with a bulged surface, and as such, this most likely isn't swelling, but rather design. As you can see in the embed below of a 1200mHa and a 1800mAh, the latter is more of a bulky one in general.

Some users have mentioned that they noticed swelling last year, and others seem to only be noticing now thanks to the trending topic on Twitter. Obviously, this isn't just going to just be a problem in Japan, and as such it's probably worth going through your storage and checking to see if your ignored PSP has a bloated battery.

If you're unsure if it is bloated but it looks suspicious to you, then it's most likely advised you get rid of the battery and don't use it in the PSP or charge it up as there's a risk of damaging the device, yourself, starting a fire, or even an explosion. Also, if you're planning to throw the battery away, remember that it's a Li-ion battery and you'll have to dispose of it at a battery recycling point or e-waste collection point. These are usually found at local stores or even a junkyard.