Ingemar wrote:*resisting temptation to (mis)quote Kaz Hirai*
Ahem... Yes, for those of you that missed the "train wreck" of a PS3 demonstration at one of those E3s,
"Riiiiiiidge Racerrrr!!!!"
PSPs are all about, oh say, 90% backwards compatible with PS1...
Since they don't use CDs, and since they don't want people simply ripping their own or downloading them online, they must have a key. That key would be supplied... Dun da da dun! Through PS3 and Playstation Network! You'd download compressed versions of the games that come with the keys to unlock the PSPs native PS1 emulation.
Nifty hackers found out how to take the key off one of the official downloads and put it (legally according to the site) on ANY iso (though the downloading of ISOs isn't legal, you still need to own the games you play on there, so you can rip your own with iso making software) you want to. So, you can essentially rip your own PS1 games and play them on your PSP if you use a program called POPSTATION and have a PSP with custom firmware... Actually, it may even work with normal firmware, since it is considered legitimate software (unlike emulators and homebrew) PS3 is supposed to have the ripping software once the emulation problems are worked out, so you can also use the PS3 to rip the games (completely legitimately) It doesn't have it yet, though.
I've got disc 1 of Chrono Cross and of Final Fantasy 8 on my PSp right now... Chrono Cross crashes when I try to recruit Norris (and I have no choice, it's a necessary part of the game) so I have to figure out how to get it to run in an emulator (hasn't up till now) and use my save data on the emulator, get past that point, then put it on my PSP again, the repeat for when I need to change discs (you can't change discs with the software yet... I'm sure that will change when multi-disc games start going on PSN)
Final Fantasy 8 doesn't have these problems because you save before you make the disc switch, so it runs really well, except for color problems on the outside map and occasional stuttering on the title.
Eventually, Sony will have a wide variety of games for download, so you can just do it through PSN, and they'll fix emulation problems (like with Chrono Cross) before they put them on the network, so they should run fine when they come out... In other words, you can wait for Sony to do it themselves... It will be just like VC on the Wii, only you can take it on the go.