PSone games $15 on PSP?

What we heard: This morning, PSP Updates posted a news report about the PSP's upcoming PSone game emulation, based on an e-mail from a reader. Along with the e-mail, the site reprinted three pictures that showed the emulation system's interface and dropped hints about Sony's plans for the service.

Two of the pictures showed a lineup of downloadable games that featured a number of PSone games including Gran Turismo 2, Metal Gear Solid, and Final Fantasy VII. The third picture seems to be a submenu from which the user can download Gran Turismo 2, and contains information like the ESRB rating, details on the game's support for ad hoc and Infrastructure Wi-Fi modes, and interestingly enough, a price. Downloading the game would purportedly cost players $15.

However, There are a number of suspicious things about the PSP-download menu pictures. For one, look at the roster of games being offered. Sure, Gran Turismo 2 and Final Fantasy VII make sense, but what's with all the mediocre titles cluttering up the list? Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare? Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes? Not one, but two poorly received Broken Sword games? Then there's Doom II--which was was never released as a stand-alone game on the PlayStation. It was instead included in the original PlayStation version of Doom.

Beyond that, two of the pictures show text transposed over the PSP's signature background of gently lolling wavy lines. The thing is, those lines normally move, and the two screen shots show them in identical positions on the screen, suggesting that someone created both images from the same picture of the PSP background.

On the other hand, it's possible that these are conceptual mockups of the interface prepared internally by Sony, in which case everything is placeholder information (including the price), and things like a duplicated background or fabricated list of games wouldn't be any big deal. Also, incorporating obscure details like the PSP's Parental Control system (which includes 11 different levels of content restrictions) shows an unusual attention to detail for a faker who couldn't be bothered to change up the background from shot to shot.

But if that were the case, why wouldn't Sony have sent forth its cease-and-desist lawyer squad to have the images pulled? You know, the crew that made early info about God of War 2 and a co-op mode for the PSP Killzone disappear from the Web? Or the peeps that did the same thing when a site jumped the embargo date on screens for Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom? It just doesn't add up.

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus.