Sony sheds light on its PSP Remaster Project

Teiji Yutaka has shared some interesting new details regarding SCE's PSP Remaster Project, which allows developers to emulate PSP titles on PlayStation 3.

According to Yutaka, who is a member of Sony's Software Solutions division, said the PSP Remaster project started alongside the previous PSone Classics project and other PS3 emulation efforts.

"We were developing this emulation platform," he told Famitsu magazine in this week's issue, "and through it we came to realize that we might be able to get the PSP running in realtime on the PS3 without much problem. It was our talented engineers that made it happen."

He went on to explain the software, called the PSP Engine and revealed that it's a sort of emulator/operating-system hybrid that is capable of running on the PS3 hardware and provides ample support for all of the PSP's functionality.

"We had things up and running on the PSP Engine around one and a half, two years ago," Yutaka said. "The HD rendering was in operation by then, too, and that's when we began to remold the project into a saleable product."

Yutaka also confirmed that although neither the PSP nor the PS Vita supports 3D graphics, it'll be possible for gamers owning a 3D HDTV or monitor to play PSP titles in 3D on their PS3s in the future.

"There's a group within the Software Solutions department that specializes in 3D graphics," Yutaka explained. "When they first saw the Remaster project, they suggested that they might be able to insert 3D graphics inside there. They managed to implement it with hardly any hit to performance and processing speed at all, and I don't think that would've been possible without the processing power of the PS3."

Software Solutions developer Tadayasu Hakamatani also explained the nuances of adding 3D support to PSP titles, which are going to be run on PS3.

"There wasn't much rejiggering we had to do to make 3D work, but some games need to be reworked because the way they're programmed prevent them from working in 3D out of the box," he said.

"It's possible to add 3D graphical information to games via the PSP Engine OS, though, so support can be added without a lot of extra burden."

Sony plans to launch the PSP Remaster project with none other than the hugely successful Monster Hunter 3rd, but project head Satoshi Hashimoto piped in and said there's lots more in the pipeline.

"We're talking with a number of software makers about future plans for the PSP Remaster project, but it's not at the point where we can give out a schedule yet," he said. "Dedicated PS Vita support will also be debated over at a later time."

Thanks, 1UP.