In an awkward turn of events, it appears the PSP will require a PS3 in order to download and use PS1 games on the soon-to-be-released 3.00 firmware. The official PSP firmware 3.00 manual is now live directly on Sony's website, which, though signaling the imminent arrival of the new firmware, will likely dishearten the majority of the PSP community. Official PS1 emulation capability on the PSP was one of the most anticipated features of the hyped 3.00 firmware, however, the manual states:



"Play PLAYSTATION®Network titles downloaded from (PLAYSTATION®Store). A PLAYSTATION®3 system is required to use this feature."

In the context of the manual, that would mean that the PS1 network download titles can only be downloaded (and henceforth used) if one owns a PS3.

Nearly a month ago, Sony representative Peter Dille arose and claimed that there would be ways to download and use PS1 games on the PSP without the need of a PS3 intermediate, and relieved the tense community of their fears. Needless to say, this appears to not be the case, as the 3.00 firmware official manual points out, you will need a PS3 for this feature. Way to go, Sony! Care to explain the situation?

Update:
A few emails have been submitted to us suggesting that the 3.00 firmware update will be released on November 21st/22nd, based on a quote from Tetsuhiko Yasuda from Sony Computer Entertainment Asia. This looks like legitimate information. Get ready, if you have a PS3 already, this update is going to make PSP to PS3 connectivity a blast (with the anticipated remote playing capabilities as well as the PS1 game downloads).

[Check out the full online 3.00 firmware manual]
[Digg this story]

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