iPhone PlayStation Emulator Goes Public

Don't expect to turn your iPhone into a PSP just yet, but an early version of software to run PlayStation 1 games on both the iPhone and iPod Touch is now available.

For Apple iPhone and iPod Touch owners with a thirst for games, Christmas came early this year.  On Saturday, a programmer who goes by the alias ZodTTD released the first public beta of a PlayStation emulator for both systems, dubbed psx4iphone.

Owners of unlocked iPhones must download psx4iphone, transfer the application to their phones via an SFTP client, and set permissions for it. After a reboot, the application should run without any further modification, allowing players to load common images files such as .ISO, .IMG .BIN, .Z, and .ZNX. Legally, the only way to get ahold of these files is by do-it-yourself ripping from game discs you already own.

Since psx4iphone is still in early beta stages (the first news of its development came on Dec. 11), not all games images are expected to work, although some popular titles like Final Fantasy VII have been confirmed to function. Others have issues like missing sound and slowed-down graphics that may prevent them from being played.

ZodTTD has released beta versions of the emulator in the past, but they were only for use by a private beta testing team. Users anxious to get on board with the latest beta releases can make a donation to the project, which grants access to the non-public versions of the software.