After Google pulled the psx4droid Playstation emulator from the Android Market, the developer has decided to offer the app as a free download. As long as you have a phone that lets you install non-Market apps, you can download psx4droid 3.0 and install it manually. The developer has also released the source code for the project.

Version 3.0 of the emulator is based on the open source PCSX-ReARMed emulator, and developer zodttd says it’s faster than older versions of psx4droid. Unfortunately saved game stats from previous versions won’t work with psx4droid 3.0.

Zodttd’s move to release the source code is kind of a big deal, because he’s been accused of coding apps in the past that are based on open source software licensed under the GPL, but failing to release the code for his apps — which is a violation of the GPL terms.

According to the developer, the GPL issue had nothing to do with the app being removed from the Android Market though. He says Sony asked Google to pull the app because the app’s icon included graphics that were covered by a Sony trademark.

While psx4droid was the first Playstation emulator for Android, it’s not the only game in town anymore. The popular FPse emulator was ported to Android recently and it’s available from the Android Market for just over $5.

Sony has already announced plans to launch a PlayStation Suite for Google Android which would let you play classic PSOne games on supported Android smartphones or tablets. Now NVIDIA has posted a little more news about the Suite in the recently launched Tegra Zone app.

It’s not clear at the moment if this means the PlayStation Suite will only work on devices with NVIDIA Tegra 2 chips, but it certainly seems like at least some Tegra-based phones and tablets may be supported soon.

Android And Me also spotted a note suggesting that some Playstation2 games might also be made available for the platform, but that line was later removed from the Tegra Zone description.

Some of the first apps slated for the platform include Wild Arms, Cool Boarders 2, and Syphon Filter.

via Engadget

The popular mobile Playstation emulator FpseCE is now available for Google Android. Appropriately, the developer has dropped the CE (which stood for Windows Compact Edition) from the name, and you can now download FPse from the Android Market for just under $5.

Sony is actually expected to launch its own PlayStation app for Android soon, making classic PlayStation One games available for purchase. The advantage of using a third party emulator such as FPse or psx4droid is that you can rip your own CDs to play most PSOne game (or download games off the internet… for titles you already legally own, of course).

FPse for Android also supports Android 2.2 and up, while the Sony app will require Google Android 2.3.

Some early users are reporting bugs in the FPse forum, but developer seems to be actively working to improve performance.

via reddit

Sure, Sony is getting ready to launch the Playstation Suite for Android, allowing you to purchase and run classic Playstation games on Android devices. But the Suite is only expected to work with Android 2.3 and up… and what are the odds it’s going to work with your existing PSOne ROM collection? Fortunately, Sony isn’t the only game in town.

There’s already a popular PSOne emulator for Android called psx4droid. Now it looks like we could soon see a second emulator in the Android Market. Mobile developer Schtruck plans to port FPSeCE, a popular Windows Mobile Playstation emulator to run on Android.

FPSeCE has been around for years, and I remember using it to play Final Fantasy VII on my Dell Axim x50v more than 4 years ago. Sure, it was a little sluggish on the PDA’s 624 MHz processor. But for RPGs and other games where speed isn’t necessarily of the essence, it worked amazingly well.

I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how the emulator handles modern Android devices with 1 GHz or faster processors.

Bear in mind, emulators like FPSe can be a bit tricky to use. First, you need a valid BIOS file from an original Playstation device. Second the emulators exist in a legal gray area at best, since it’s usually easier to just download games from the dark corners of the internet — even though it’s technically possible (if not easy) to rip CDs from your own game collection (which is what I did with FFVII, and man did it take a long time).

Schtruck says FPSe should hit the Android Market soon. To tide you over, he’s posted a few videos of the app in action, which you can check out after the break. It looks like the app lets you choose several different input methods including on-screen controls. There’s support for saving game states, skipping frames to improve performance, and you can play in both portrait and landscape modes.

via PocketNow

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There are already some awesome video games for Google Android. Dungeon Defenders, Asphalt 3D, and Dungeon Hunter HD have ridiculously impressive 3D graphics. Robo Defense and Angry Birds are two of the most addictive strategy games I’ve ever played. But for every amazing Android video game, there are at least a dozen equally impressive titles for iOS. That could change soon. Sony has announced that it will soon launch the PlayStation Suite for Android, bringing PlayStation-quality games and game developers to the platform.

At launch, the PlayStation Suite will essentially be an emulator letting you play old PSOne games, which you’ll be able to purchase and download from Sony’s store. Of course, you can already install a third party emulator for a similar experience, but that requires finding or ripping your own PlayStation ROMs which may or may not be entirely legal.

But playing old games in an emulator is just the tip of the iceberg. Sony is also providing a framework for developers to build new games which will work not just on upcoming Sony handhelds and phones, but on any Android phone that meets the minimum hardware and software requirements. Right now, it looks like you’ll need Android 2.3 and up to use the PlayStation Suite, which means it’s not going to run on most existing handsets — at least not until software updates become available.

Sony’s move could dramatically increase the availability of high quality games for Android. Sure, developers can already use Google’s SDK to code games for the platform, but by starting with a PSOne emulator, Sony could instantly make dozens or even hundreds of games available. As for new titles, I suspect Sony may have more pull with game developers than Google, due to its long history in the space. Of course, it means you’ll have to download yet-another-app-store for your phone or tablet, but if you’re serious about gaming, that shouldn’t be a big problem.

While you’ll probably get the best experience on official PlayStation devices with physical gamepads, but Sony’s software will also provide on-screen D-Pads and buttons.

Sony still hasn’t officially unveiled the Sony Ericcson PlayStation phone, which everyone knows is coming at this point. But the company did unveil the PlayStation Portable NGP — a new handheld gaming device which will features a 5 inch OLED display, Bluetooth, WiFi, and 3G capabilities, two analog joysticks, a motion sensor, and two cameras. Oh yeah, it will also have a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, a 960 x 544 pixel screen resolution and a multitouch display.

There’s good news and bad news for Playstation-loving iPhone users. The good news is that as expected, Sony has released an official PlayStation app for iOS. The bad news is that as expected, the app doesn’t actually let you play games.

Instead, the app is a way to interact with your PlayStation account on a iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. You can sign in with your PlayStation Network ID and view your trophies, friends’ games, and online status and keep up on news about games and hardware as well as announcements from the PlayStation blog.

The PlayStation app is available as a free download from the App Store. An Android version is also in the works.

Update: It looks like the app may only be available in Europe at the moment. It doesn’t appear to be in the US app store yet.

via SlashGear

While Sony is expected to launch a PlayStation phone soon that will be able to download and play mobile games, the company hasn’t actually made any official announcements yet. What the company did announce today though, is that an official PlayStation app will soon be available for Android and iOS. Unfortunately it’s not as exciting as you might think: You won’t be able to play games using the app.

Instead, the PlayStation app will link to your PlayStation Network account, allowing you to view trophies and see your friends status. I suppose it could come in handy if you want to see if your buddy is online before powering up your console to join him in a game.

The PlayStation app will also offer news about PS2, PS3, and PSP games and hardware.

The app will be available soon for Android 1.6 and up and iPhones or iPods touch running iOS 4.0 and up. At launch, it will be available in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK>

The developer of the first Playstation emulator for Google Android is back, with version 2. The new app adds a framerate counter option and automatic frameskipping to make games play more smoothly. The developer recommends only running psx4droid v2 on phones with 60MHz or faster processors.

The new app is on sale for $1.99 for a limited time. The original app is still available from the Android Market for $5.99 — and the developer is not offering a free upgrade to the new version, so if you want the latest bug fixes, you’re going to need to pony up a few bucks. The developer says the reason for the new version is that save states from the old emulator aren’t compatible with the new app.

Keep in mind, the emulator requires a valid PlayStation BIOS file to run properly. If you don’t know what that means, you might want to check out a set of step by step instructions for using psx4droid from xda-developers.

via Droid Gamers