"Leading video games developer and publisher NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., announced today their intent to increase its digital distribution presence."

Boring so far, right? It is! Thing is, it gets better, the company pledging to spend 2010 plumbing the depth's of their back catalogue and releasing them on the 360, PS3 and PSP.

It'll begin with Beautiful Katamari appearing on the 360's Games on Demand service in "Q1 2010", but more encouragingly, will continue with a range of PlayStation One "catalogue classics" throughout the year.

The PSN needs a lot more quality PS1 games. It's nice seeing at least one publisher publicly committing to release more games on it.

Tomorrow, for example, Capcom will be releasing the "Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed", which includes:

• 1941: Counter Attack
• Avengers
• Bionic Commando
• Black Tiger
• Block Block
• Captain Commando
• Final Fight
• Forgotten Worlds
• Last Duel
• Legendary Wings
• Magic Sword
• Mega Twins
• Quiz and Dragons
• Section Z
• Side Arms: Hyper Dyne
• The Speed Rumbler
• Street Fighter
• Strider
• Three Wonders
• Varth

Then later in the year, there'll be this mix of PS1 and PSP re-releases:

• Mega Man Powered Up
• Dino Crisis
• Power Stone Collection
• Mega Man Maverick Hunter X
• Resident Evil 2
• Darkstalkers
• Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max
• Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
• Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded

Thanks Capcom!

Lee Bradley, writing for the still-got-that-new-site-smell Bitmob, tells of his travels to both the city and the "arcade", which is really nothing more than "a collection of old televisions wired up to PlayStations". The software collection is extensive, consisting of an entire wall of pirated PS1 games, while we can only wish the arcade's pricing structure was seen over here a little more often, as "For just a few rupees the young boy that ran the arcade would grab the game of your choice, pop it into a PlayStation and keep you topped up with cups of Darjeeling's finest".

Sweet.

The full piece is well worth a read, for lovers of travel, fine tea and Street Fighter Alpha 3 alike.

The Highest Arcade in the World [Bitmob]

Popping into Capcom's boards, PR man and professional beach lounger Christian Svensson told users that Capcom actually submitted a bunch of PS1 games for eventual sale on the PSN last week. He also says "this may take a bit more time than anticipated", though, so don't expect them anytime soon.

What ever could they be? Resident Evil 1 seems the most logical choice, but you can always hope, like we are, for Marvel vs Capcom.

[Capcom Unity]

"Step inside the world of the original wheelman in this revived classic from Ubisoft Reflections," says the publisher. "Driver for the original PlayStation was a huge hit on the original PlayStation and remains a classic. Soon you can relive those gaming memories, or enjoy it for the first time, on PSN for PlayStation 3."

"The original wheelman"? Ouch. Yours might be the original, but does it have Vin Diesel? Is that even a selling point anymore?

Driver skids onto PSN Aug. 14 [CVG]

This is totally false and I want to make sure everybody is clear that the MGS1 package is two PS1 CDs.

Implementing and improving software emulation for the PS/PS2/PSP/PS3 for the PS3 and the next generation system.

Update: Reader Muu points out: "The top page of the jobs-for-hire show any updates that have been made to the site; the backwards-compatibility job isn't on that list right now, and there's archived snapshot evidence that it's been there since May 18th of 2007."

"You will be aware from the description of the product on PlayStation Store that some variation in functionality from the original PSone version is to be anticipated," the publisher wrote.

"However there appear to be more significant technical issues."

Dead serious: My PSP was covered in dust. I took it down from the shelf and recharged the battery. When I finally turned it on, I had to set the date and whatnot. The last time I had touched the device was when I left my DS in a Los Angeles hotel room and had to wait for Joel Johnson to ship that puppy back.

So I've dragged it out to see how it connects with the PS3. From what I understand, it's possible to purchase PS1 games like Biohazard, Hot Shots Golf 2 and Tekken 2 and then download them on to the PSP. Regardless, the games, it seems, aren't yet up in the PlayStation Store. Just checked and the archives are empty. And with that, the PSP goes back up on the shelf. Brian Ashcraft

According to Harrison, unlike how the PS2 would enhance PS1 games with texture smoothing and what not, the PS3 will offer no such visual enhancements (including resolution enhancements) for the previous generation titles. "They are as exactly as they were," said Harrison, who claims Sony preferred to rather deliver them in their original state.

Fair enough: for retro games, it's really art direction that makes a game age gracefully. Harrison also clarified that eventually they want all their old PS1 games available for download, except for games that were made with licensed talent or tracks where those licenses have expired. Florian 'No Real Opinion' Eckhardt

Phil Harrison Talks Downloadable PS1 Games on PS3 [1UP]

When I first got my PSP I was all about the homebrew. I made custom backgrounds for my savegames and etc. One time, while waiting for a flight at an airport, I got so involved in my homebrew DOOM game that I missed my plane by about an hour. After that, I lost my taste for the elaborate fiddling that goes into getting homebrew to run.

But with a functional PSX emulator available, I may be about to get back into the fray.

Yoshihiro has released the first public release of his PSX-P Playstation One emulator for the PSP. This first public release is a good demonstration of what could be in time an excellent Playstation Emulator for the PSP, once a dynarec is built in then Sony will have reason to worry or worry us .

This emulator works on PSPs from ver1.0 to v2.71 obviously after v1.5 youll need to use the Eloader.

So it sounds like the overall speed is currently not great, but this is undoubtedly the beginning of something beautiful. Eliza Gauger

original forum post here [DCEMU, thanks Hyperion]

The article has a ton of great trivia, insight into the game development process, and copious amounts of what could have been's. And, hey, after all that reminiscing, don't forget that the subject of said write-up is still available as a free download from Rockstar. Michael McWhertor

The Making Of... Grand Theft Auto [Edge]

Ah, the early days of emulation! When the legal ground was murky (or, at least, slightly more contested) and companies flagrantly sold emulators to the public. The Colecovision pulled it back in the 80's and the Dreamcast did it in the late 90's through Bleem.

I never owned a PS1 but I did have a Dreamcast. Bleemcast was the answer to my penny-pinching prayers: finally, I could play the same games my friends were raving about. Unfortunately, it didn't work all that well: the games that it did support were pretty at twice their native resolution, but support was scant and the graphics tended to exhibit lots of little quirks.

Still, it's fun to reminisce about less cynical emulating times. So we're pointing you to this great read over at Retrogames about the life and times of the short lived, quickly obliterated Bleemcast emulating software. Apparently, the software has been modded since then to add support for even more games. Fat lot of good that does me a decade ago without a flux capacitated DeLorean. Florian Eckhardt

Bleemcast: Playstation Games On Your Dreamcast [Retro Gaming]

Big time Hong Kong film director Stanley Tong (deer-in-headlights above) will be bringing the PS1 game Fear Effect to the silver screen. Tong (Supercop, Rumble in the Bronx and er, Mr. Magoo) has stepped up to direct the feature after it was optioned by chowderhead Uwe Boll. The movie's plot centers around a team of mercenaries fighting off demons and out to find a rich industrialist's daughter. The US $25 million flick is set to hit theaters in late 2007 or early 2008 and will be shoot in various locales, including Shanghai and Hong Kong. The film's producer described the adaptation as "Mission: Impossible meets Silent Hill." And this is apparently a good thing. —Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Games Industry]

In 1998, Sony gave away this promo item, which features two demos that showcase the PlayStation's sound capabilities. One of the demos is a FPS that puts emphasis on "the explosion effects as it travels past you through sound." Woah, that sounds way cooler than it probably really is. And no, it has nothing actually to do with the Xbox 360. —Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Game Set Watch]

In a recent interview, Silent Hill scribe Roger Avary gushes, we mean gushes about gaming. He says,

I've long been a Silent Hill fan — since the PS1 days. I've been gaming since the 70's, when I built my first computer, a Rockwell KIM-1. My first program was a modification of Wumpus, which I had seen on mainframes at Hughes Aircraft. It was machine coded with a hex keypad, and an LED readout. No storage, when you turned it off your program vanished. Before this time I was privy to be one of the first people to play the original Pong at the Dutch Goose in Menlo Park, which had begun my love affair with videogames. Nolan Bushnell, the inventor of Pong, has long been one of my heroes...right up there alongside Kubrick. It was my love affair with the Atari 800 that nearly diverted me from my future as a film maker. But the fact of the matter is that there's less math in film, and I'm kind of a people person...so I followed cinema. Little did I know that the two worlds would converge for me. I love movies, but I also love videogames. I collect and restore vintage Atari XY monitor games like Lunar Lander and Battlezone — only vector, only Atari. I also have a massive collection of Atari computers. Gaming is in my blood — so it's only natural for me to adapt games into films and vice versa.

...and...

I hope the fans love it. I have been a little concerned with the build up. I mean, some people make it seem like the future of game to film adaptations rests on the success of Silent Hill. When there's so much expectation to nail something that so many hold beloved — well, you can imagine the anxiety. I'd like the movie to be judged by the fans as a movie. Cinema is a passive experience, and the interactivity of a game is an entirely different experience, with its own strengths and weaknesses. The gamers need to remember that they give up control in a movie theater, "we control the vertical..."

Holy mackerel! If the film is half good (and the film is not butchered by studio bigwigs), Roger's our boy. Kick Uwe Boll from his throne of clay and tell the gaming gods, we've found a new king. Avary is currently adapting a video game for himself to direct. "It's for Atari," says the writer/director. We're hip just as long as Marc Ecko is not involved.

Full Interview Here [FiringSquad]

PSP Updates have some leaked pics of the upcoming PS1 emulator for the PSP. Games will be downloaded to a UMD memory stick and run through the Games menu, which sounds reasonable.

The most surprising bit of info gleaned is the price: $15 a title. That's actually not too bad. Slightly pricey, but certainly well worth it for a portable version of Silent Hill or Final Fantasy Tactics. The emulator will also support wireless multiplayer for some titles, which is another pretty awesome little bonus.

Sony's upcoming PSone emulator pics? [PSP Updates]