Location Free - PS2 Games on PSP

October 28th, 2005, 01:06 Posted By: wraggster

News from IGN

Sony's latest firmware update makes the PSP compatible with Sony's Location Free Base Station, a device that attaches to your home entertainment center and broadcasts your media through your internet connection, allowing you to view television and videos on the PSP when in the vicinity of a wireless internet connection. This new compatibility has produced an unexpected bonus, useful for those wanting to play PS2 games on the go.

The Location Free Base Station unit is compatible with a variety of devices, including Sony branded digital video recorders. The PSX, a failed entertainment hub device that combines a PlayStation 2 with a hard disk and DVD recorder, is on the Location Free compatibility list, leaving one with the question: can you load a PS2 game disk into your PSX and then play it on the PSP?

In its latest issue, Japan's Weekly Famitsu reveals that the answer to this question is yes. Just as you can use the PSP to watch any videos stored away on your PSX, you can also play a game that happens to be loaded into the system. The action appears in a window on the left side of the PSP's screen, with a digital version of the PSX's remote control taking up the right side. To get into a game, you go through the PSX's Cross Media Bar, which appears in the video window exactly as it would appear on your television (you'll have to be sure to not confuse it with the similar looking Cross Media Bar that the PSP users for its interface). The digital remote includes the PSX's "End Game" button, allowing you to switch off your game and go back to viewing the other media on your PSX.

Famitsu tried out a few games, including a fast action title like Dragon Ball Z Sparking and slower adventure games and RPGs. The magazine reports that, while the image quality is clean, the two to three seconds of lag time from when you push a button to when you see a reaction on the screen makes faster titles impossible to play.

We'd have tried this out for ourselves, but the Location Free Base Stations cost about $300 or so. That's quite a bit to pay for a laggy game experience, but those who want the convenience of accessing their digital video recorder on the go (along with the bonus of PS2 gaming on the go, assuming your DVR is a PSX) ought to look into the Location Free technology.”

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