How To Play UMD Games From Your Memory Stick

Let us first discuss the terms that we will be using in this article. First is UMD - When Sony released the PlayStation Portable, they also unleashed a new, proprietary media format called the universal media disc (UMD). Sony created a protection system that uses a unique ID for each disc (using 128-bit encryption) and the ID of the PSP itself. Second is ISO - (.iso) is a disk image of an ISO 9660 file system. ISO 9660 is an international standard originally devised for storing data on CD-ROM. More loosely, it refers to any optical disc image, even a UDF image. As is typical for disc images, in addition to the data files that are contained in the ISO image, it also contains all the filesystem metadata, including boot code, structures, and attributes. All of this information is contained in a single file. These properties make it an attractive alternative to physical media for the distribution of software that requires this additional information as it is simple to retrieve over the Internet.

PSP games are expensive, that's why playing UMD games from memory stick is much preferred than buying games. All you need is a memory stick large enough to store games and of course a PSP. Here's a list of instructions on how to do it:

1. First you are going to need an ISO file of the game you want to play. You can download all the latest games from many sites, most will charge you a one time fee and then you can download as many as you wish forever. All you need to do is to spend some time searching in the internet.

2. You'll need a small program that will run the game from your memory stick, you can download it from psp-hacks it is called PSP RunUMD UMD Emulator v0.8C. (This is a homebrew application and may not run on PSP with firmware version higher than 1.50) Download it and put it onto your memory stick. Follow the instructions that came with the file and put it in the exact folder it says and make sure that you have the correct configuration:

CPU/Bus speed :333/166 MHz (may vary depending on game to be played) ISO emulation mode :Load RunUMD Disctype ISO :game Disctype UMD :game Updater icon :remove Use boot.bin :off Regioncode override :off Regioncode game :regionfree Regioncode Video :regionfree Regioncode audio :regionfree Flash0 emulation :off Flash1 emulation :off

3. You'll have to create a folder called ISO; this is where your psp games will go. Connect your PSP to your PC and drag and drop the files into the ISO folder. Now switch on the PSP and select the PSP RunUMD UMD Emulator v0.8C from the memory stick. Once the program is running you should see the games you have in the ISO folder. Just select it to start playing.

This is just one of the steps that you could follow in playing games from your memory stick. There are other programs like RunUMD out there, all you need to do is some reading on how it works. Just follow them and it will work out fine. If not, you could always refer to the internet for help.

Jordan Michael writes on a variety of subjects and recommends pspblenderpspdownloads for more information on How to play UMD games from your Memory Stick.