The UMD optical disc format used by Sony for the PSP handheld has been successfully cracked. It was only a matter of time.

Another step forward in the race to crack open the PSP: Paradox has worked out how to get a dump from a UMD disc, and has released the ISO files for several PSP games (Wipeout: Pure US, Ridge Racers Japanese, and Vampire Chronicles: The Chaos Tower Japanese). Also of note, UMD discs use the standard ISO9669 format, so the released ISOs can be burned to regular CDs or DVDs. Know that the games are not yet playable in this format, but it’s a big step forward now that all the reverse engineers out there can get their hands on this stuff.

From engadget