Don’t expect official Android or iOS versions, though.
The team behind RPCS3 have released an updated version of their emulator that works on ARM64 devices. This update brings support for running PS3 games on ARM-based Windows, Linux, and Mac systems, as well as the Raspberry Pi 5 – albeit with some limitations due to GPU constraints.
For the Raspberry Pi 5, despite overclocking, the Broadcom VideoCore VII GPU was too weak to run PS3 games at its default resolution of 720p. As a result, games are now running at a lower resolution of 273p, which results in less clarity but most titles still manage to reach a playable frame rate of around 30fps.
What does this mean for the long-term preservation of PS3 gaming? According to the team: “Adding arm64 architectural support is a key step to ensure long term preservation of the PlayStation 3 console, as arm64 CPUs make their way into the conventional desktop and laptop market.”
The news also highlights that RPCS3 has no intention of bringing its emulator to mobile platforms like Android or iOS due to “toxic users” who have harassed previous emulator developers and various scams related to mobile PS3 emulators.
Do you plan to try out RPCS3 on an ARM64 device?
Good news is that it’s such a bastard to program efficiently that most games don’t make full use of it and you can get away with a certain amount of approximation in its behaviour for speed. Nice work, Sony.
Compare that with z80 or 6502 based machines, where you need to be beyond cycle perfect in some cases. Need to simulate every rising and falling edge for the CPU and its coprocessors in a SNES if you want to avoid every edge case, for instance.
Rough and ready approximations seem fine for 90% of games on any platform.
It’s just those last few percent where all the effort ends up going.