PSP World

PS3 Will Tunnel Multiplayer PSP Games

At the company's Year End Strategy Conference in Japan, Sony revealed a number of improvements coming to the PSP, including wireless Playstation Store Access. The company also announced that starting this fall, PS3 owners will be able to use the console to tunnel local ad-hoc multiplayer matches with friends at a distance. What this means is that games such as Phantasy Star Portable and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, which currently only support local wireless connectivity, will be playable as if they supported infrastructure mode. Sony also said that the PS3 software will include additional functionality such as chat via keyboard while games are in progress.

Gamers have already been doing something similar with PSP and DS games over a free online service called Xlink Kai, but the Sony offering sounds like it could offer a more streamlined and feature-rich experience than the current solution. Reportedly, the PS3 tuneling software will only work with select PSP games, but there is no word on whether this kind of connectivity will be retroactive, to include previously-released titles. We will definitely have more news on this promising service, such as a North American release date, as it develops.

Monster Hunter Portable: Soon to be playable via PS3?

[Via: IGN]