100% compat. PSTV use the same crappy POPS emulator that Sony have been "developed" since Playstation 2 Slim.
I think PSTV and this are unrelated. This was supposed to battery powered and come in a Dual Shock shell with preloaded games.
So the project was too popular among Sony staff for their tastes, huh? What a stupid reason to scrap a plug-n'-play PlayStation system!
Hardware emulation was used on the PlayStation 2. The PlayStation 2 slimline (SCPH-75000 and later) has an emulator for the IOP, hence why its compatibility with some PlayStation 2 software was also affected (not only PlayStation games). You're referring to POPS, which was used for downloadable PlayStation games on essentially every PlayStation console since the PlayStation 2. *** It sounds strange that they would invest in hardware emulation at that point.
I can see them maybe fearing it would hurt PSone Classics sales on PSN. Otherwise that reason doesn't make much sense.
I'm talking about the software emulator that Playstation 2 Slim use for backwards compatibility. That have been used after that for all PS backward compatibility in Xperia Play, Playstation Portable, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita.. As far as i know the PS CPU, GTE, MDC and SPU are totally emulated by software on the EE in Slim. With horrible timming in some games (if no all of them). Games like Auto Destruct or Army Men 3D are totally unplayable for me, the speed is just wrong.
Considering the guys other "credentials" it sounded like BS to try and convince people to buy into his supposed qualifications. I would think Sony would consult past engineers before contacting someone who may have reversed engineered a ps1 like 20 years ago
Software emulation was always used for the GPU and its peripherals, since the SCPH-10000. It is PS1DRV, which runs on the EE side. The CPU itself (and hence its peripherals as well) is always run by the IOP in PS mode. It is also why no PlayStation 2 had perfect compatibility with all PlayStation games. The only thing changed, was the IOP. Starting from the SCPH-75000 series (which is the 2nd slimline model), they replaced the IOP with an emulator. Most peripherals don't seem to be emulated, having physical implementations in hardware. However, the MIPS core certainly is. The emulator is DECKARD, which is for a PPC host. As a result, some games don't work too well, and this also affects PlayStation games. POPS was only used in the BishiBashi Champ 3 game, which was only available on the PSBB for a while before SCEI pulled the plug on it.
I'm 50 / 50 on the guy, on the surface, it seems he knows what he's talking about..... But a project for a low cost hotplug PS1 immediately going to him with credentials that Sony Japan wouldn't even look at..... That's wierd.
But why would SONY consult a 3rd party? If a 3rd party was consulted, why would SONY have not provided the development materials? If he had to get the controllers (the chassis) on his own, then where would he have gotten the mainboard from? No PS1 board would fit in a controller, so a new, custom one would have to be produced. If hardware emulation was used, then he also would have to come up with a custom CD-ROM controller chip to emulate the CD-ROM drive, given that such a chip doesn't exist. So if new parts had to be developed by SONY, then it feels weird that he had to get a custom chassis himself. If it used software emulation, then I really don't know why he would need to come up with a device that the PSP (especially the budget one) already fills quite well.
