Free Downloads for the Playstation Portable ... Or, How Many Viruses Do You Want?

The Playstation Portable - or PSP - is hugely popular. Like most popular things, the number of websites springing to life around it can't really be numbered. Most of them lure in the visitor looking for free downloads - games, emulators, applications ... in general, cool stuff. And once they get those visitors behind the web walls, they sock it to 'em with a nasty virus or two.

There are actually websites out there that don't shallowly wallow in the whole illegal files, viruses, and frustrating broken links scheme. Finding those websites is some real work, though. You don't want to wind up giving information to a website only to find a couple new trojans on your system, or find out that they're really only looking for visitors to click links that earn them money.

So, a round-up of the ways to get real downloads for the Playstation Portable? You got it.

The Playstation Store

If you head to the Playstation Store, you can immediately access screenshots, trailers, and demos of the latest PSP games. Since these are coming directly from Sony, you can rest pretty easy knowing that you're not going to get slammed with a case of the cyber-nasties.

Sony has also recently created a download service that allows you to snag full PSP games, movies and music. This service works like most music download services, meaning that you pay a small fee to download a single game or fun thing and you'll have it right away. Plus, you're not going to have to get all paranoid about the copyright-police banging on your door demanding millions from you in court.

Paid Memberships

Similar to Sony's download service, paid PSP game membership sites give you a really cost-effective way to get your legal PSP downloads. Along the line of Netflix (if Netflix pumped movies right to your computer), these websites charge a monthly fee which entitles you to a certain number of downloads. Some services offer unlimited downloads, others base the number on file size or just the straight number of games.

A couple of the more popular membership sites include: All PSP Games and PSP Blender.

Be careful with these. There is currently a huge debate between the fans of these websites and those who feel that they're a complete rip-off.

PSP Game Rentals

Okay, so I divert a little from the download concept here, but only because of the previous section and how ... well, iffy it might be. And at least with a game rental membership, you're assured that the service is legit.

Online game rentals work exactly the same way as Netflix. You purchase a membership, pick your games, and they're delivered to you. You can play away as long as you want (which is cool, since most games get old after you've played them a few times ... and this way you're not out a chunk of change), mail the game back, and get new ones.

Here's a few sites to check out in this category: GameFly, Gotta Play, and GameznFlix. The last one is probably the most cost-effective, because you can rent both games and movies from a single account for a pretty low cost.

Torrent Downloads

Okay, this is one you want to avoid. Think of those old shows and hear the robot in his monotone saying, "Danger, danger!". Yup. We're talking totally illegal, often containing viruses and even more spyware. So let's make this one quick and easy. Can you find downloads on torrent sites? Yup. Should you - morally, legally, or safely? Nope. Let's move on.

PSP Homebrew

Alright, this whole category of PSP downloads is - generally - free. However, you're playing in a huge field of gray area here. The thing about homebrew is that these are games which have been created by the average joe. Joe may be a programmer or professional, or he might be some kid doing the best he can. You never know.

Where the gray area comes in is that homebrew PSP games may or may not be legal. In order to create a homebrew PSP game, it's necessary to work off of someone else's program - Sony's programs, to be precise. What this means is that the homebrew PSP developers are changing a copyrighted program and not necessarily obtaining any kind of permission to do so. This, alone, is illegal and in some areas, companies are getting serious about enforcing the copyright laws infringed by homebrew developers.

Since this is a gray area, though, many people are happily setting up shop around homebrew games. I won't try to be a moral advisor here, but simply say that you should carefully check out the laws where you live before you decide to indulge.

A couple of the more reputable PSP homebrew websites are: PSP Homebrew and PSP Brew