Someone Managed to Run a PSP Emulator on the PlayStation Portal
While the PlayStation Portal isn’t exactly the Vita/PSP successor that some were hoping for, that hasn’t stopped hardcore enthusiasts from attempting to turn Sony’s streaming companion tablet into a proper handheld. More specifically, a duo of Google employees have managed to get a PSP emulator up and running on the device, allowing games to be run locally from the handheld itself.
Google’s cloud vulnerability researcher Andy Nguyen and security engineer Calle Svensson managed to program a PS Portal to play Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories via emulation. The game was first launched as an exclusive for the PSP nearly twenty years ago, and is now able to run on the Portal after a months’ worth of work.
After more than a month of hard work, PPSSPP is running natively on PlayStation Portal. Yes, we hacked it. With help from xyz and @ZetaTwo pic.twitter.com/AXuRROo6Ip
— Andy Nguyen (@theflow0) February 19, 2024
According to statements made to Kotaku, Svensson notes that other games such as Tekken 6 and Minecraft were able to run on the emulator as well. No release is planned at the moment according to Nguyen, who adds that more work on the project is needed.
Launched last year, the PlayStation Portal serves as a streaming device for the PS5, which means players will need a Wifi connection to be able to access games from their console to the device itself, which somewhat limits its functionality as a portable device.
Source: Kotaku