PlayStation's plucky little handheld streaming solution, the PS Portal, has already been hacked, taking a couple of Google employees about a month of effort. Their work is not intended to be released for general consumption anytime in the "near future", but the hack is "all software-based", meaning no hardware exploitation is required.
Andy Nguyen, who works in cloud vulnerability research, and Calle Svensson, a security engineer, posted the product of their labours on Twitter, managing to get the PSP emulator PPSSPP to run natively on the PS Portal. Naturally, they showcased the 2005 PSP classic Grand Theft Auto: Liberty Stories.
Being a wireless streaming device, playing games on PS Portal natively without a PS5 providing the horsepower was thought impossible. That Nguyen and Svensson have overcome this initial hurdle so quickly is quite surprising. Who knows where their efforts will eventually lead, but we'll follow their work with interest. "There's much more work to be done," said Nguyen.
Are you surprised to see PSP games already being emulated on PS Portal? Do you think it could handle Vita games? Dare to dream in the comments section below.
[source twitter.com, via ign.com]
Comments 17
Oh man Theflow is literally the reason Vita is still alive. What a legend, it’s a great RetroArch machine for the 2D era and that’s down to his work keeping the CFW alive.
It would be a true shame if Sony didn't have a full-fledged portable PS4-level handheld in the works to compete with the Switch 2, Steam Deck, the proliferation of handheld PCs. Their handhelds are always gorgeous with top tier tech. Just make it all-digital (no PC gamers complain about it), PS4-level internals, and also able to stream directly from the PS5 like the Portal and you'd have a killer handset. $350-400 would easily make sense. They would sell boatloads. ESPECIALLY if your existing PS4 purchases transferred day one.
Do it, Sony. Do it.
The man, the myth, the legend. TheFlow's been on a roll lately.
Great job from theflow as always! You can see his work all over my Vita.
@MFTWrecks Xbox's next gen system looks to be a Switch competitor so for PlayStation's sake I hope they are looking in that direction, otherwise their system will be the only stuck on people's home. Is the only possible way that Xbox would have a chance to take second place in Japan.
@Savage_Joe
The PSP Go was released in 2009. Needless to say the landscape is VERY different 15 years later. If Steam Deck can be successful a digital Playstation handheld nowadays would probably sell for better or worse.
@MFTWrecks But you know why no Pc Gamer complains about right? Actually, many do, but let's say your statement is correct (which it is not!) :
I have a steam account since I don't know how many years. And guess what, after buying a new PC or Laptop or whatever steam-comoatible device, I can still run all my games! No "upgrade" needed that cost me another 10 bucks, no need to wait for the updated version that is compatible with my new device what's so ever.
So if Sony went the digital way and want a similar penetration rate like Steam, then they should make all their future devices 100% backwards compatible. Not just one generation, but all, forever, whatever. Like Steam. What you bought, you can play on any steam device until the service shuts down. Period.
@MFTWrecks I'm not sure if it would these day. the Vita flopped hard and that was a great device
@Savage_Joe I don't know. It was a different market back then. Wireless internet was totally different, people had smaller digital libraries... if the Steam Deck showed anything, it's that digital-first doesn't have to be a bad thing IF your library can go with you.
That's why I think it'd be key for the system to support PS4 titles and carry over existing libraries.
@mazzel That's why I said it should support existing PS4 libraries out of the box. I don't think it could support everything forever, but seeing how well the PS4 sold and how much the market shifted toward digital sales, I think such a device would do extremely well.
@Juanalf all digital and popular in Japan eh? You should get yourself over to purexbox and read the the article about M$ not abandoning physical media.
Very interesting comments from people in Japan.
Apparently they they WANT physical not digital.
Even Google engineers want a new PSP! Who'd have thought...
@mazzel but I can't play my entire Steam library on my Steamdeck. There are plenty of games that are not compatible or at best, compromised.
@PSme
I think the only people who want a digital future are those who manufacture and distribute physical media.
This, of course, is a generalized statement and not truth. There are a lot of benefits to digital that make sense in today's world, however, we have had digital books for decades and people still buy physical books and nobody is forcing a digital-only future on readers.
I dunno if they are google engineers but theflow is a modder in the cfw hacking scene for psp and other devices. Pretty sure this is a demo concept and that the project is nowhere close to being released. Scalpers still buying up ps portal so i cant even get one even if i was interested in this mod. Plus ps portal only runs on 6 gigs of ram so i doubt it can run most games other than old psp stuff. Better to use emulators on other android devices
@PSme
All digital future is only good when the digital service is there to stay. Like google stadia for example the service disappeared and so did all the games you paid for lmao rip
@BansheeNorn exactly why I’m a physical media champion. Plus I’m old, and like to see the things I have paid for😂
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