Playing PlayStation games on the PS3 isn’t as easy as Sony would have us believe as inserting a PS1 game into the PlayStation 3 will result in the game console to probably spit it back into your face. The only way PlayStation fans can enjoy their old games is by hoping Sony or a game’s original publisher will go through the trouble of making the game available on the PlayStation Network. But if you really want to enjoy PlayStation games, owning the original console seems to be the best way to go, but finding PS1 games could be quite challenging. That’s why some PlayStation owners decide downloading ISOs of the game and burn them onto a disc, but there’s nothing worse than having a room filled with CD-Rs.
The folks behind PlayStation Input Output (PSIO) have been trying to figure out a way to load PlayStation 1 game images directly into the system through its I/O port for years now, and it looks like their 3 years of hard work is finally paying off as they have unveiled their first prototype. The process will allow for PlayStation fans to play games directly on the system’s hardware without having to rely on its optical drive, which could be tricky as the console is nearly 20 years old at this point.
Ultimately, the team behind the project would like to both games and their save data from an SD card, but for now, being able to play from an ISO located directly on an attached PC is certainly a step in the right direction.