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Stevedroid · March 28th, 2006

So the rumor is that Sony will be releasing an official PSX emulator for the PSP. This raises a lot of questions.

First and foremost however is how the games will get onto the unit. The PSP obviously can't play PSX CDs directly. I can only think of a couple of different options, and none of them seems really obvious.

1) Sony will start selling PSX games on UMDs or flash memory cards. However, what about 3rd party games. Presumably Sony could only be responsible for the resale of the games it owns so they're really limiting the number of playable games.

2) Sony will start a game download service. Same deal about 3rd party games applies though.

3) The emulator will play ISOs and Sony will leave things up to the users in terms of copying the games onto flash cards. This seems very unlikely though since it would be seen as endorsing game copying, plus there's presumably a huge selection of pirated ISOs out there.

4) Sony will release software that will copy PSX CDs into a prioprietary format. They'd have to do something to tie these to a specific user or unit so they don't end up being distributed like ISOs though. Such a thing may not be possible unless PSP units are individually recognizable in software by an electronic serial number or similar - and I'm not sure the PSP has that.

I wonder if they do start offering downloads whether or not they'll make an officially endorsed PC emulator. Seems unlikely, but they're not really worried about PS1 market penetration anymore. I mean people aren't buying PS2s and soon to be PS3s to play PS1 games so there's no financial reason for Sony not to make a PS1-PC emulator (well other than it may cost more to develop and support than it would earn).

Anyway do you think the PSP PSX emulator will have any effect on the PC emulator scene or is it different enough that it won't have any impact?

---edit----

Hmmm...in retrospect, now that I think about it I'm not sure Sony is releasing an emulator. I think maybe I just read somewhere that a (homebrew) PSX emulator was being developed for the PSP and my brain made a faulty connection making me think it was something Sony was officially doing.

March 28th, 2006	#1 (permalink)
Stevedroid Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Earth Posts: 43	Ramifications of PSP PSX emulator So the rumor is that Sony will be releasing an official PSX emulator for the PSP. This raises a lot of questions. First and foremost however is how the games will get onto the unit. The PSP obviously can't play PSX CDs directly. I can only think of a couple of different options, and none of them seems really obvious. 1) Sony will start selling PSX games on UMDs or flash memory cards. However, what about 3rd party games. Presumably Sony could only be responsible for the resale of the games it owns so they're really limiting the number of playable games. 2) Sony will start a game download service. Same deal about 3rd party games applies though. 3) The emulator will play ISOs and Sony will leave things up to the users in terms of copying the games onto flash cards. This seems very unlikely though since it would be seen as endorsing game copying, plus there's presumably a huge selection of pirated ISOs out there. 4) Sony will release software that will copy PSX CDs into a prioprietary format. They'd have to do something to tie these to a specific user or unit so they don't end up being distributed like ISOs though. Such a thing may not be possible unless PSP units are individually recognizable in software by an electronic serial number or similar - and I'm not sure the PSP has that. I wonder if they do start offering downloads whether or not they'll make an officially endorsed PC emulator. Seems unlikely, but they're not really worried about PS1 market penetration anymore. I mean people aren't buying PS2s and soon to be PS3s to play PS1 games so there's no financial reason for Sony not to make a PS1-PC emulator (well other than it may cost more to develop and support than it would earn). Anyway do you think the PSP PSX emulator will have any effect on the PC emulator scene or is it different enough that it won't have any impact? ---edit---- Hmmm...in retrospect, now that I think about it I'm not sure Sony is releasing an emulator. I think maybe I just read somewhere that a (homebrew) PSX emulator was being developed for the PSP and my brain made a faulty connection making me think it was something Sony was officially doing.