PS3 Emulation Hits Major Breakthrough, More Games Playable For Free

RPCS3, the free PS3 emulator, has hit a major breakthrough, with more games now playable than ever.

Originally released in 2011 while the PS3 was still launching new games, RPCS3 has seen a lot of huge updates in recent years, attaining around 70% of total games on the system being classed as ‘playable’.

However, with 30% of the console’s library still being “unplayable”, and other games marred with issues affecting performance or visual clarity, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

Fortunately, it looks like some of those problems may have just been squashed. The RPCS3 team shared its latest breakthrough on social media.

“We have achieved a new breakthrough on emulating PS3's Cell CPU,” the team shared on X (formerly Twitter). “Elad discovered new SPU usage patterns and coded ways to generate more optimised PC code from them - benefitting all games! Twisted Metal, one of the most SPU-intensive games, sees a 5-7% Average FPS improvement.”

On higher-end hardware, this means that Twisted Metal is close to hitting 60 FPS, which is double the framerate of what the game could achieve on the original PS3 hardware.

The developer adds that “All CPUs can benefit from this, from low-end to high-end! We have even received reports from a user running a dual-core Athlon 3000G CPU showing improved audio rendering and slightly better performance in Gran Turismo 5.”

How Far Has PS3 Emulation Come In Recent Years?

Ultimately, it should mean that PS3 emulation has become more accessible to a wider audience, with more players than ever able to freely emulate their owned PS3 library with increased performance and improved visuals.

Meanwhile, RPCS3 now has a new set of system requirements as a result, with a breakdown of what you can expect depending on your hardware here.

The breakdown shows what system requirements you’ll need if you want to match PS3 performance, as well as higher-end requirements if you’d like to outperform the original hardware in most games.

As nostalgia for the PS3 grows, emulation efforts have only gotten stronger in recent years as a result.

The fact that you simply aren’t able to play games like the original Killzone, Infamous, and Resistance games easily on modern platforms, as well as bangers like Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (well, until August anyway), has been a big motivator for getting PS3 emulation up and running perfectly.

Of course, if you want to try it yourself there’s nothing stopping you. However, be sure that you dump your own PS3 roms onto your PC rather than downloading them from a website, which could potentially harm your computer.