PS3 software emulation of PS2 vs PCSX2

[DaMan]

I always assumed the eDRAM is what prevented a good enough GS emu on the PS3. It has as much bandwidth (48Gbps) as the entire PS3 (25.6+22.4).

[Koji]

Keeping an eye on the PS3 hacking community, there was mention of a fairly popular dongle that was adding PS1/PS2 ISO support and using Sony's built in emulators... They said that even slim models do have a working full PS2 emu in them, but that compatibility is fairly low and that it has a lot of bugs (so many so that they disabled the option by default to even access them). That said, even if the compatibility/speed is abyssmal, I can't see it working at all if the built in emu didn't emulate the GS at all.

If it is true (the PS2 emu IS a part of all firmware updates and resides on all versions of PS3, this can be tested by just looking through the OS files on a hacked PS3 using any available file manager) that means at one point Sony was at least toying with making a complete software emu, but likely thought the investment wasn't worth it.

(edit) Here's the link to the latest update that had to do with the dongle. http://ps3.dashhacks.com/2011/07/24/cobr...g-cfw-3-55 I'll look around and see if I can pull up any compatibility lists or anything.

[cottonvibes]

Koji, it is likely sony tried (and probably still is trying) to emulate the ps2 on the ps3 in full software, but they're not ready for an official release yet due to low compatibility and/or speed issues.
Since Sony is a big company with a reputation, it can't be releasing barely-working software as it'll ruin the companies image. So they likely won't release their full-sw ps2 emulator to the public until its working pretty darn good.
I'm looking forward to them hopefully releasing a full-sw emulator to see if they can actually do a better job than pcsx2.
Since they have the money and the resources, they definitely have the advantage over pcsx2 in that regard. Although pcsx2 has the advantage that new desktop pc's get more and more powerful every year; while the ps3 doesn't

[dralor]

They also have the advantage of they should know all the undocumented "features" aka hardware bugs that cause issues.

[pseudonym]

Assuming they're organised enough to have that information readily accessible to the emulator development team.

[dralor]

Yeah and Sony's departmental cooperation has been leaving much to be desired for years.

[Koji]

Indeed, I knew Sony wouldn't release a half-working emu... I just found it interesting that they, at least at one point, had plans for a full software emulator and that it still resides in semi-working form in release firmwares.

[DaMan]

I think Sony gave up on the emu when Kutaragi was "promoted".

[MaximumCore™]

I have seen the PS3 Emulator. It's too early to say that it is good but it is BETA for sure.
It can only run the PS3 games on an external (special) hard drive and only DEMO games can be played.

So for now don't worry! There is no official PS3 Emulator + It's Crashing all of the time.

[Bositman]

What you saw is fake.