Here’s a quick overview of some of the prototype PSIO hardware (rev 1.1). Revision 2.0 is already in the works. I’ll be uploading some videos of the device in action over the next week or two. Stay tuned for some interesting times! ;)

I’ve finally got my hands on a revision 1.1 PSIO prototype, so let’s have a quick look at the board before we start testing games. This is still development hardware, and another revision is already being worked on, but that doesn’t make this one any less interesting!

The board appears to be built around an Altera Cyclone III device, with a MicroSD card slot for storage and a selection of connections for communicating with the PlayStation. There’s also a port used for development and debugging, along with a couple of LEDs.

Naturally, the connector that attaches the thing to the console is rather important too. It’s one of those bits of hardware where most of the excitement comes from what the board might eventually be able to do, rather than how spectacular it looks sitting on the desk.

I’ve already got a list of games I’d like to try with it. The next step will be getting the prototype connected to a suitable PlayStation and finding out which games behave themselves. Today’s just a look at the hardware, so I’ll save the actual games and testing for another video.

For now, it’s rather exciting to have an early PSIO prototype to experiment with. Let’s see how it goes!