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PSX4droid brings thousands of emulated PlayStation games to your Android phone
Note: just like the NES emulator, it's almost pointless to play PlayStation games on a phone without multi-touch capabilities. PSX4android will work on your Android 1.6 phone, but don't try to play anything more complicated than Tetris clones.
First things first, PSX4droid isn't a free app: it costs $5.99 on the Android Market. That said, given how gaming experience will vary wildly depending on what phone you own, I would recommend you torrent PSX4droid first before spending money on something that might not work. There's also a non-exhaustive list of compatible phones that you can check beforehand. In general, if you have one of the newer 1GHz+ Android 2.0-or-later smartphones, PSX4droid should work.
Update: you can also buy something from the Android Market and get a full refund within 24 hours -- so you can do that instead.
OK, now on with the actual review!
Then you need to find some game ROMs! Unlike NES and Sega games, PlayStation games are pretty big (the size of a CD!) This means that ROM sites don't tend to host the files themselves, so to find PlayStation ROMs you're going to have to trawl through MegaUpload, RapidShare and lots of ad-ridden pages to find your games. Couple in the fact that not every game works on the emulator, and you can see how playing PlayStation games on your Android might be more effort than it's worth. Still, if you want to push ahead, here are some good ROM sites:
- CoolROM (requires free membership)
- DopeRoms (slow direct downloads)
- EmuParadise (has direct downloads!)
- Romulation (requires free membership)
I won't lie to you, the gaming experience really isn't great -- at least on my Android 1.6 phone. With a newer HTC or Motorola smartphone (one with a hardware keyboard!) it might be better, but I bet it still pales in comparison to the real thing. On my phone the graphics were OK (around 10-15 FPS), but the audio sucked (very crackly) -- probably because the 3D graphics were sucking up all available processing power.
There are two special input methods worth checking out: the Nintendo Wiimote (or indeed any Bluetooth gamepad), and the capability of using the phone's internal 'tilt' sensor. You can push 'up' on the on-screen gamepad while tilting your phone to the left, and your character moves diagonally! The Bluetooth input method is much more exciting -- you get the Wiimote's complete functionality! -- but it seems to require Android 2.0, and even then it doesn't work on HTC phones.
With all that said, I actually managed to play through the first few combat sequences in Final Fantasy VII. PSX4droid might not be as smooth as the NES or Sega emulators, but given a year or two and 3GHz processors in our mobile phones, the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP might seem a little redundant.
PSX4droid Tech Specs
- Installed Size -- 1.35MB, but PlayStation ROMs vary from hundreds of megabytes to a couple of gigabytes (Final Fantasy!)
- Speed/Responsiveness -- Interface-wise, fine. Actual game experience will vary wildly depending on what phone you have (tested with Android 1.6 @ 600MHz, LG GT 540 Swift)
- User Interface -- I still can't really fathom why anyone would use a flat, on-screen display for playing games. Give me BUTTONS!
- Configurability & Extensibility -- Lots and lots of options, from how games are displayed through to shortcut keys and the placement of the on-screen gamepad
- License -- Commercial, costs $5.99
Comments
34
Subscribe to commentsSebastian AnthonyAug 6th 2010 8:43PM
I think I miss the irony... the 'update' bit was made after my comment to Brad...
RoyalKnightAug 7th 2010 6:24AM
Sebastian, I think you tend to let your "beliefs" about how things should work cloud your judgement on what you should do and what you shouldn't do.
And because you so stubbornly cling to these beliefs, you step into an arena that's a lot more complicated than you think it is, get slapped around for being a n00b AND putting all of this on a professional(ish) blog, then go about being a smart aleck about it.
You, good sir, are a self-righteous fool. If you knew anything about emulation, you would have definitely left out certain parts of your current article without question at the very least. Most likely you would have also been very hesitant to write such a thing in the first place.
But obviously you don't care enough about "legality" and Download Squad itself to look more into this, as you already have the "perfect vantage point for bias-free, objective opinionation."
EatmoldAug 7th 2010 2:32PM
Jees! All you guys giving Sebastian a hard time over this article are off your tits!
So what he said to do a torrent search, ooooh illegal! I'm sure each and every one of you have downloaded illegal content at one point.
I bet you're all happy enough when he / dls offer you beta codes, and bring you advance news.
DrakkenfyreAug 7th 2010 7:13PM
Before you commented he had direct links to pirated material. He still has links to ROM sites.
Sebastian AnthonyAug 7th 2010 7:23PM
I'm not sure the PSX BIOS really counts as 'pirated'. It's closer to 'reverse engineered'.
DrakkenfyreAug 8th 2010 1:23AM
Reverse engineered my ass. Someone dumped it right from a Playstation. Same as a ROM. The BIOS will get you sued quicker than having one of Sony's own games up for download. It's intrinsic to the system operation. BIOS's have always been one of the biggest factors in the legality of emulation.
EatmoldAug 8th 2010 2:15AM
I'm well aware that there were direct links to the pirate material. Isn't that acceptable? My understanding is that so long as you are not hosting the file there isn't a problem?
With regards to the BIOS .. Yes it will probably be illegal, like the Amiga Kickstart Rom but again it's just a link. Will Sony care about a geek blog (no offense Sebastien) linking to their BIOS? Or will they instead bend Googles ear about removing the emulator?
Sebastian AnthonyAug 8th 2010 6:24AM
(None taken, Eatmold :P)
Drakken -- I just mean that the illegal act in this case was probably the extraction of the BIOS into the BIN file. In the same way that WikiLeaks deals with proprietary/private information, they're not actually breaking the law -- just making the work of others available.
As Eatmold says though, Sony has bigger fish to fry. They could send a cease and desist (that's what usually happens with sharing ofTV/movies/games, anyway), but I suspect that's unlikely.
HazdazAug 8th 2010 10:39PM
Holy crap, enough with this copy protection/illegal nonsense... no one gives a sh!t. If you want to suck on the wang of IP lawyers go do it someplace else.
Getting back to the topic at hand, I would be curious how well this app runs on more modern hardware? And how bad is it really on a keyboard-less device??
I think for that reason alone, I have little interest in d/ling this app, but just curious none the less.
DrakkenfyreAug 9th 2010 1:01PM
The point is, you dipshit, is when you are employed by a website, and write articles for them, you DON'T write articles advocating breaking the law, and potentially bringing legal action down on the site.
I don't care if you pirate Playstation 1 games. But you don't write an article, tell people to pirate the initial app, provide a link to copyrighted software, then offer up 4 links to sites with illegal copies. It makes you look completely unprofessional, dumb as hell, and uncaring of your continued employment at said website.
Sebastian AnthonyAug 9th 2010 1:38PM
Ooh, name-calling!
Are you reading from some definitive guide on blogging/journalism? Or just making it up?
HazdazAug 9th 2010 1:48PM
Go play Law & Order someplace else, ok champ?
... some of us are sick and goddamn tired of hearing this is against the law, that is against the law and all this other nonsense all while corporations or people in high positions that bend the rules or do outright criminal acts get actually rewarded for their actions. Note the HP CEO that is getting "punished" for his sexual harassment by being given a $20,000,000 Golden Parachute.
You wanna be a twit and play armchair lawyer? Go do it elsewhere because I for one, don't give a rat's ass if this article has a 50 page disclaimer about the "evils" of piracy or if copying one file takes food out of SONY's mouth or not.
Go away.
DrakkenfyreAug 9th 2010 10:50PM
Sebastian, name calling began when the "suck on wang" comment was made. If you want to risk your job blogging, go right ahead. Weblogs Inc. is owned by Aol. Your personal beliefs on the nature of copyrights mean nothing to, you know, the lawyers your parent company has. If someone were an asshole, they could simply point this article out to several different people before you had removed the BIOS, and you would be getting a C&D instantly. You want to risk your job posting this stuff, go right ahead. I see you posting porn-related stuff got real low, too. Got chewed out for that? I figured you did. I still don't know how the senior editor signed off on your article as-is, or let it go after it was posted. Just because you don't understand the copyrights those holders have, or believe in the copyrights they have, does not mean they can't sue you for that.
And as for you (the other guy) you still don't get it, dumbass. I don't care if you pirate Playstation games. I don't care if you download every ROM for every Playstation game concieved, you still don't advocate something that is ILLEGAL IN THE US ON A US-BASED WEBSITE, if you value your job. Yes, the HP thing is bullshit. But the difference here is Sebastian isn't a CEO with a cushy job. Too many articles like this, and you attract the wrong attention, and he would likely be out of a job. And this site might not be too welcomed by Aol after this.
And you know what? I don't like Sony. Too many shady business practices, too many bullshit moments, too much screwing of the consumer ("Getting a second job to afford a PS3 isn't too much to ask" is one of them.) But I still know better than to mess with them. They are known for going after people for minor piracy things. And if you had an ounce of intelligence about this, and you worked for a website, you sure as hell wouldn't be posting stuff like this to piss Sony off.
mypantiesrinaknotAug 17th 2010 1:33PM
@Drakkenfyre
Why do you care so much; if Sebastian's got the balls to put this stuff up, no matter the legality, it's his ass on the line. Not yours.
This self-righteous is overbearing. You reiterate the same things over again, each time convulsing and profusing with ever more detail. After the first time, we get the point. So shut up. Leave off the guy.
Better yet, get employed at DLS and fire Sebastian yourself, dipshit.