News > Playstation News > PS3 having serious issues with emulation

PS3 having serious issues with emulation

The Playstation 3, newly released in Japan, has now been reportedly having serious issues with their emulation, according to new owners of the Japanese console.

The console originally was reported as having complete backwards compatibility using software emulation, but quick changes in the design structure led Sony to build the system featuring a Playstation 2 processor, as seen in the original PS2 systems. This processor can not only play original Playstation 2 games, but original Playstation 1 games as well, totaling 7,841 games available to gamers.

This was fine- until some gamers began to try the games. Reports indicate that many top Sony franchise games (Xenosaga II, Devil May Cry, Gran Turismo 4, Tekken 5, and other top hitters) have serious issues with the emulation spawning from random issues, usually cumulating in odd stalls or crashes when loading background music or title screens.

However, Sony has a fix for these issues. As the Playstation 3 is a primarily online system, Sony has already promised constant firmware fixes to fix these issues, many fixes already released targeting issues with such titles as Final Fantasy XI and Nobunaga's Ambition online, both having major issues emulating the Playstation 2 Hard Disk.

One strange feature many gamers have reported is the general lack of the famous Playstation 2 Multitap, which allowed four gamers to play the system simultaneously. However, Sony has seemingly done away with this with the new Wireless controllers, now allowing up to seven gamers to use controllers with no extra adapter. As well, many gamers are slightly concerned with the lack of rumble and difficulty using popular dancing/music titles on the system.

While many Japanese gamers already bemoan the issues, Sony has no doubt that they will have the problems fixed in no time. Some more arcane issues have come to light that are obviously hardware issues, such as the inability of the Playstation 3 to handle certain USB-based Playstation 2 peripherals, as well as difficulty emulating Playstation memory cards on the hard disc system. These issues are entirely firmware based, which can be fixed by simply forcing an update patch on all gamers, much like the infamous Playstation Portable patches. More in Playstation News Browse all News