RPCS3

RPCS3
RPCS3 running on Windows 10, showing the main window where games and software are shown, as well as the about box
Original author(s) DH, Hykem, AlexAltea
Developer(s) Nekotekina, kd-11, elad335, jarveson, Megamouse, hcorion, scribam, ruipin, isJuhn
Initial release May 2011 (2011-05)
Stable release
None
Preview release
0.0.5-7433 Alpha / October 10, 2018 (2018-10-10)[1]
Repository github.com/rpcs3/rpcs3/
Written in C++ and ASM
Operating system Windows 7 or later, Linux, BSD
Platform x86-64
Size
Available in English
Type Video game console emulator
License GNU General Public License version 2+
Website rpcs3.net

RPCS3 is a free and open-source in-development video game console emulator and debugger for the Sony PlayStation 3. It was developed in the C++ programming language and features OpenGL, Vulkan and DirectX 12 as its back-end renderers. The emulator currently runs on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD operating systems, allowing PlayStation 3 games and software to be played and debugged on a personal computer.

As of October 1, 2018, the developer's compatibility list marks 1014 games as playable and 1310 games being able to go in-game out of a total of 3025 games.[2]

Development

RPCS3 was initially created on May 23, 2011, by programmers DH and Hykem.[3] The developers initially hosted the project on Google Code and eventually moved it to GitHub on August 27, 2013. The emulator was first able to successfully run simple homebrew projects in September 2011[4] and got its first public release in June 2012 as v0.0.0.2.[5] Its latest version is v0.0.5, released in February 2018.[6]

Requirements

A set of minimum requirements must be met for the emulator to run. As of December 29th 2017, users are required to be running a 64-bit version of either Windows 7, Windows 8 (or Windows 8.1), Windows 10, a modern Linux distribution or a modern BSD distribution. At least 2GB of RAM, an X86-64 CPU and a GPU that supports OpenGL 4.3 or greater is required. Vulkan and DirectX 12 APIs are also supported, and a GPU that supports Vulkan is recommended. In order to actually run the emulator, the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 redistributable (on Windows), the PlayStation 3's firmware, and games or applications are required. As games and applications can be installed onto the emulated PS3, the storage requirement depends on what is installed.[7]

Notable implementations

On February 9, 2017, RPCS3 received its first implementation of a PPU Thread Scheduler.[8] On February 16, 2017, RPCS3 gained the ability to install official PlayStation 3 firmware directly to its core file system.[9] In May 2017 it was reported that the implementation of the Vulkan graphics API had shown some performance improvements approaching 400%, pushing several games into "playable" status.[10]

Reception

In March 2014, Cinema Blend's William Usher wrote "A lot of gamers originally thought that the complexity of the PlayStation 3's Cell architecture would have prevented it from being emulated".[11] In March 2014, Eurogamer's Elio Cossu wrote "The emulation, even at such an early stage, was a remarkable achievement, considering the complexity of the hardware of the PS3."[12]

Atlus DMCA takedown notice

RPCS3 received significant media attention in April 2017 for its ability to emulate Persona 5, achieving playability prior to the game's Western release date.[13][14][15][16] In September 2017, Persona developer Atlus issued a DMCA takedown notice against RPCS3's Patreon page. The action was motivated by the Patreon page making frequent mentions on the emulator's progress on emulating Persona 5. The demand, however, was settled only by removing all Persona 5 references from the page.[17][18]

See also

  • Xenia, the first Xbox 360 emulator
  • Cemu, the first Wii U emulator
  • Citra, the first Nintendo 3DS emulator

References

  1. ↑ "Builds". rpcs3.net. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  2. ↑ "RPCS3 Compatibility". rpcs3.net.
  3. ↑ "rpcs3 r1 Google Code". 2011-05-23 – via Google Code.
  4. ↑ "rpcs3 r28 on Google Code". 2011-05-23 – via Google Code.
  5. ↑ "rpcs3 tag 0.0.0.2". 2012-06-01 – via Google Code.
  6. ↑ "RPCS3/rpcs3". Retrieved 2018-02-24 – via GitHub.
  7. ↑ "Quickstart". rpcs3.net. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
  8. ↑ "Pull request #2349 - [WIP] PPU scheduler". Retrieved 2017-03-03 – via AppVeyor.
  9. ↑ "PS3UPDAT.PUP installer (#2386) · RPCS3/rpcs3@458dbbd". Retrieved 2017-03-03 – via GitHub.
  10. ↑ "RPCS3 Gets Performance Boost with Vulkan API". Eteknix. 2017-05-22.
  11. ↑ "PS3 Emulator Can Now Run Commercial Games - CINEMABLEND". CINEMABLEND. 2014-03-08. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  12. ↑ Cossu, Elio (Mar 7, 2014). "RPCS3, ecco l'emulatore PS3 per Windows". Eurogamer (in Italian). Retrieved Mar 9, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Persona 5 is playable on PC with this PS3 emulator". PC Gamer. 2017-04-03.
  14. ↑ "Here's Persona 5 "Running" On A PC". Kotaku. 2017-04-04.
  15. ↑ "'Persona 5' Running on PC Emulation". Heavy.com. 2017-04-05.
  16. ↑ "Persona 5 is up and running on one of the PC's PlayStation 3 emulators". VentureBeat. 2017-04-03.
  17. ↑ "Atlus tried to take down a PS3 emulator advertising 'Persona 5'". Engadget. 2017-09-27.
  18. ↑ "Atlus wants to cut off a PS3 emulator because it runs Persona 5". ArsTechnica. 2017-09-27.
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