PSOne Emulator for PSP – Massive Back Catalogue Looms

March 17th, 2006, 20:45 Posted By: wraggster

Source Spong

Speaking at the PlayStation meeting, Sony Computer Entertainment chief Ken Kutaragi confirmed long-standing rumours that a massive PlayStation back-catalogue will come available for the PSP. Read the full report on all the PSP announcements here.

Since then, some further details have emerged regarding SCE's plans to monetise its pre-existing IP. The only comments to date from official sources have confirmed first-party titles will be available, though it's a certainty that the third-parties still in existence and not bound by over-complex mergers agreements will queue up to cash in.

The games will be made available in digital form only and distributed via the web from a soon to be announced Sony portal. They will be bought 'for keeps' by consumers and stored on Sony Memory Stick, with users able to keep a single game for as long as he or she feels fit.

Several Japanese retailers have indicated to SPOnG that Sony will sell new SMS cards in stores, each coming with a specified number of game download credits, though we are unable to add anything more to this at time of press.

One uncertainty is how Sony will keep the rampant PSP hacker community from pulling apart its legitimate operation. With the PlayStation games in ROM form, a significant investment into digital security will be required if the IP is to escape the hackers and subsequent illegal, revenue-free distribution via torrent and peer-to-peer groups.

Expect the full skinny on this interesting take on PSP sideways and back a bit compatibility to emerge at E3 if not a shade before.

A Full on PSOne Emulator running at full speed on the PSP Will be awesome, what i would hope is that those of us who already have the legal versions of the games would somehow be able to transfer them to the Mem Card under some type of validation process. Isnt it Funny that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are now using Emulators on there new consoles, maybe we should petition for a patent :P

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