John LittleIn an exclusive report published by Digital Foundry, it has now been revealed that there is a commercially available PS3 emulation port. This has certainly been a shock, especially considering many analysts and commentators have questioned the commercial viability of PS3 emulation on PS5.
Cloudberry Kingdom has become the first PS3 title available to emulate on PS5. It is a procedurally generated platformer. It has only currently been released in Asian markets, but is slated to make a release in western markets in the near future.
What is even more interesting is how that port is available. It comes with two versions, a PS3 performance mode and an enhanced PS5/PS4 version. Many will likely see this as a welcome option to be able to choose to accept enhancements. There is also the inclusion of many other common features such as save states.
The emulation port has been handled by RedoApps. In recent times they created the RedoEngine. This is a set of emulators for PS1, PS2 and PS3. This is particularly impressive, as it is well documented that the PS3 is difficult to emulate.
However, the dev did mention to Digital Foundry that they believe that emulating AAA games from the PS3 will be a “nightmare.” This is because of how the cell processor was used to handle different tasks. Given the unique architecture of the PS3, the way different titles use the cell processor varies, and so there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The dev did also note that they have been testing AAA games on the emulator. This means that whilst it may be difficult, it is still technically possible insofar it can be greenlit.
So it looks like this is a great announcement for PS3 fans. It remains to be seen whether this will lead to the more complex AAA game ports, but for now at least some games will be moved from the PS3 to the PS5 with enhancements.
So, what do you think about this news? What titles would you like to see emulated? Feel free to comment below.