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?
I’m hoping to try out Uncharted on my M1 Pro again soon. Hopefully with this it will run better than last time. Last time it was playable but nowhere near a stable 30 FPS
Crazy remember the Cell processor being hailed as really fast and supercomputers were built with it.
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.
That’s interesting. I assumed it was ported a long ago.
To bad about mobile device support since that’s where the more powerful/new hardware usually is, but I understand the view. And they’re nightmare os’s to work on.
One conspicuous platform comes to mind, though: apple hardware. Does it run on an M1?
Their blog post on the topic is an interesting read. General arm support seems to have begun specifically because of the M1
https://rpcs3.net/blog/2024/12/09/introducing-rpcs3-for-arm64/
Initial support for arm64 devices started in 2021 after the Apple M1 series launched. We started exploring running rpcs3 on arm64
Thanks. That’s a rabbit hole I’ve been trying to avoid, but it’s such an interesting read that I may have to start reading more of their stuff.
According to their blog post and YouTube video, it does run on an M1.
I’ve used the emulator in my laptop, it’s great! Hope the launch goes well.
Just make sure you check their compatibility lists before trying to install or play a game.
RPCS3 will RUN on a Raspberry Pi, but that doesn’t imply a playable framerate. <30FPS at some gritty resolution doesn’t meet the threshold for me. There’s some laws of physics at play here. The Pi 5 can’t muster up enough cycles to look nice and have a playable framerate. I’m glad the emulator is going to prioritize ARM, but this is more a move for the future vs today. Perhaps the Raspberry Pi 8 will have enough horsepower to actually do the job properly, and we’re seeing the beginnings of that ship today.
