ISO loader in PSP firmware

Sony has sneakily included an ISO loader in its recent PSP firmware update, which means - if you can find it, you can theoretically play games from your Memory Stick without using a UMD.

The np9660.prx file was unearthed by beady-eyed coders in last month's v3.50 and v3.51 updates, the same patch responsible for uncorking the full 333 MHz processing power of the CPU. Exciting, if you like Star Trek and reading circuit boards.

Unfortunately Sony was unavailable to tell us whether it was part of a plan to lay the foundations for the much promised downloadable game service from the PSP Store, but we'll persist until we get an answer.