Google engineers hack PlayStation Portal to run emulated PSP games

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Sony’s PlayStation Portable was ahead of its time, but we still haven’t gotten a modern rendition. Now, with the Nintendo Switch ruling the market, all we have is Sony’s cloud game streaming device, the PlayStation Portal.

While the PlayStation Portal reviews were less than glowing, it may finally have more value as a portable gaming console now. Google engineers have managed to get a PSP emulator running on the PlayStation Portal.

In a tweet posted by Andy Nguyen, who works in Cloud Vulnerability Research at Google, we can see Grand Theft Auto running on the device through PPSSPP, a popular PSP emulator.

Video demonstration of PSP games running on PlayStation Portal coming soon

Nguyen had help from other Google engineers, including security engineer Calle Svensson. Nguyen’s Twitter feed has a loose timeline of the progress.

It appears the exploit is fully software-based, with no modifications made to the hardware of the device. Sony seems to have had made it difficult to install APKs on the device, but Nyugen and others figured out a way.

Ngyuen has not released the method but has promised to post some videos demonstrating it.

If we have a working method to run PSP games on the PlayStation Portal, it will become a worthwhile successor to the PSP.

Of course, we expect Sony to patch such loopholes, as it historically has. Until then, however, the PlayStation Portal might just have become worthy of the $200 price tag, provided the emulator does run well on the device.

Have any thoughts on this? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Xbox-exclusive games are coming to the PS5 and Nintendo Switch
• Nintendo Switch 2 leak points at a larger but inferior display
• Sony’s Project Q vs. Nintendo Switch – how do they compare?
• Sony replaces PlayStation 5 lineup with new slimmer, sexier PS5

Palash Volvoikar

Palash is a journalist, writer, and reviewer at KnowTechie. He has been in the industry since 2013. Starting with Android news and features, he has also worked as a freelance writer for Windows Central, Observer, MakeUseOf, MySmartPrice, ThinkComputers, and others. He also worked as a writer and journalist for Android Authority, covering computing. Currently he serves as the editor-in-chief of Wiki of Thrones, and freelances for a variety of publications including SlashGear, iMore, and XDA Developers.