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Image: DamienMcFerren / Time Extension

The RPCS3 emulator team has announced a phenomenal new update, allowing physical PS3 games to be played directly from a PC disc drive. Describing the update as "Plug-and-Play", RPCS3 now looks to resurrect almost the entirety of the PS3's physical catalogue.

The open-source project began life back in 2011 as a simple emulator, before expanding its vision into a combined software/hardware project that would authentically replicate the PS3 experience. Over the past 15 years, a global team of dedicated tinkerers - led by project founders "EladAsh" and "kd-11" - has evolved the software into its current form, allowing for the direct streaming of physical PS3 discs. Contributors "digant73" and "Megamouse" are credited with this latter addition.

After connecting a compatible Blu-ray drive to their PC, PS3 discs run directly through the RPCS3 emulator. The new update removes the need to dump the game's data to a hard drive or server, streaming the data directly from disc as nature intended.

RPCS3 reportedly runs optimally on PC hardware. It is compatible with Mac as well as Linux-based handhelds, though performance tends to be more variable than its PC brethren. RPCS3 supports a wide range of modern controllers, including PS3-specific tools such as the PS Move and PS Eye Toy.

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Image: RPCS3

Having tested just over 3500 PS3 games, roughly 77% are listed as "playable with no game-breaking glitches", while less than 2% are (currently) entirely incompatible. A list of compatible disc drives has also been released, although this is not exhaustive. If you put a PS3 game in your drive and can browse the disc's files, then the drive should be considered compatible.

The RPCS3 release comes at something of an ironic time, when PlayStation has announced its intent to stop producing physical discs for its current model, PS5. While the homebrew community remain typically undefeated when tackling problems of preservation, it's comforting to see modern emulation continue to provide value and worth to a tremendous back catalogue of physical media.