Sony Patents PS2 Emulation Software for PS3

[alexp999]

To be fair, Sony made a bit of a mess of the backwards compatibility feature of the PS3. Initially the Playstation 3 shipped with the main processing unit from the Playstation 2, called the Emotion Engine as part of the SKU which meant that in effect, you were buying a PS3 and PS2 in one box, providing universally compatibility for all Playstation games. This feature was present in Sony's Playstation 2 for PS1 games, and it would have provided a good advantage over its main competitor Microsoft's Xbox 360, which only has limited backwards compatibility of original Xbox games. Presumably to cut costs to make pricing of the PS3 more competitive, Sony dropped the Emotion Engine from future SKUs severly crippling support for backwards compatibility.
It would appear that things could be about to change however, as it seems Sony have filed a patent for technology enabling the emulation of the PS2 Emotion Engine on the Playstation 3's beefy Cell processor.




In the world of emulation, there are two ways such a thing can be done, either all of the code to be emulated must be translated to understandable code before processing, or the system must be provided with a library for which to reference for how to process the emulation code during processing.

Sony developed a way to translate instructions from an Emotion Engine chip into chunks that can be referenced.

Figure 2 from the patent is a schematic drawing of how the system works. Figure 3A is a drawing of the PlayStation 2's chipset. Figure 3B is the emotion engine. Figure 4 is where the whole story gets interesting! It's "an example of a host system based on a cell processor that may be configured to emulate the target system." The target is figure 3B, the Emotion Engine.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[alexp999]

Thanks to Cold Storm for sending this in

 

[AKlass]

I new it would happen! if the 80GB uses software emulation then why cant the 40GB models do it

 

[Weer]

I wonder how this thing will rival PCSX2 in pure ingenuity and efficiency of emulation.

 

[Cold Storm]

Now, with the psp being able to Emulate ps1 games, we now have the ability all around to play the old games.. I wonder if this was a move to do when they drop the pricing of their Ps3's? If anything, it makes more wave to go and get a ps3 other then the Blu-ray drive.

 

[newtekie1]

I new it would happen! if the 80GB uses software emulation then why cant the 40GB models do it

The 80GB models removed the Emotion Engine, but kept the PS2 graphics card. This allowed the 80GB to keep some backwards compatibility. The 40GB model has doesn't have the Emotion Engine or the PS2 graphics card, which is why it doesn't have any backwards compatibility. Later, the graphics card was pulled from the 80GB model as well.

 

[KainXS]

I am wondering if the PCSX2 team could use this to further improve the emulators efficiency

 

[Weer]

I am wondering if the PCSX2 team could use this to further improve the emulators efficiency

Nope. Already asked. Completely different code

 

[Disparia]

Nice. Put out a PS3 Slim with emulation and I'm sold!

 

[Weer]

Nice. Put out a PS3 Slim with emulation and I'm sold!

Seconded. Just in time for Tekken 6 and God of War III.

 

[Cold Storm]

Well from what rumors says, is that because of Activision's stand we are going to have the price cut. Also noted in the rumor, is that most retailers have about a 60-day supply of the 80GB model left in stock. So, that might suggest that we have 60 more days till the showing of the 120 slim model...

 

[Weer]

Well from what rumors says, is that because of Activision's stand we are going to have the price cut. Also noted in the rumor, is that most retailers have about a 60-day supply of the 80GB model left in stock. So, that might suggest that we have 60 more days till the showing of the 120 slim model...

I doubt that. They can't give us a price cup even with the current form factor, and they're losing the race because of it.

 

[daehxxiD]

It would be great if Emulation comes back to PS3; but the EE has been emulated ever since PS3 shipped to EU (60GB in EU only had the Graphics Synthesizer with it's 4mb super fast eDram) and later on in the old 80gb units of the US. So I don't see were this is really news. The EE is already being emulated on PS3 systems without the phyisical EE and only the GS. Personally I believe one of the biggest problems of PS2 emulation is that the Vram of the PS2 had a larger bandwidth than the PS3 actually does (~22GB/s vs. ~41GB/s)

 

[lococol]

i think there are a lot of ps2 owners out there yet to make the jump to this current gen, this (emulation)and gran turismo could prove a winner for sony

 

[Rexter]

I dont get it... Why does Sony have to file a patent, to emulate a system they have created, on another system they have also created?

 

[alexp999]

I dont get it... Why does Sony have to file a patent, to emulate a system they have created, on another system they have also created?

Probs so you dont get some third party like Action Replay or whatever they are called doing their own emulation software to run PS2 games.

 

[eidairaman1]

there are many sights that have emulation for the PC, so this isnt new, maybe for the PS3 but wasnt the PS3 supposed to be originally backwards compatible from the get go?

 

[Initialised]

I'm presuming that this will be a downloadable update, I need this as I've just bought an 80GB for my sons impending birthday and he already has a decent collection of PS2 games.

 

[daehxxiD]

I don't want to crush anyones dreams or hopes here (I for one am one of those begging for the BC to come back), all this shows is a schematic on how to run the Emotion Engine (CPU of PS2) on the Cell. This has been done on the ps3 since EU-Launch, the PAL-PS3s had only the Graphics Synthesizer (GPU) on board and had the EE fully emulated in software. Newer PS3-Models have NO Chip from the PS2 on board; neither GPU nor CPU. This would therefore ask for a GPU emulation aswell, of which there is no sign whatsover in this patent..

So again guys, don't get your hopes up. But seriously, with all this commotion about PS2-BC everytime a rumor surfaces, Sony should really wake up already.

 

[burtram]

This is good news for us 40gb model owners, so if my launch ps2 ever died, i could potentially still play my ps2 games, without resorting to having to play them using pcsx2.

 

[daehxxiD]

It seems as if though what I say/write falls on deaf ears, or rather, blind eyes.

 

[Kitkat]

I new it would happen! if the 80GB uses software emulation then why cant the 40GB models do it

yeah i new they never stoped working on it but if u take it away from public u can work on it alot better. It would be cool if they put it in market place and just let u dl it for X bucks

I'm presuming that this will be a downloadable update, I need this as I've just bought an 80GB for my sons impending birthday and he already has a decent collection of PS2 games.

im more than sure it is

 

[Batou1986]

I cant believe its taken this long for them to make an emulator for there own console

 

[Easy Rhino]

i want ps2 emulation in the new PSP please

 

[Wile E]

Why doesn't anybody read in this thread? This WILL NOT give people with a PS3 the ability to play PS2 games, unless their console can already do it.

Read, comprehend, and post people.

I don't want to crush anyones dreams or hopes here (I for one am one of those begging for the BC to come back), all this shows is a schematic on how to run the Emotion Engine (CPU of PS2) on the Cell. This has been done on the ps3 since EU-Launch, the PAL-PS3s had only the Graphics Synthesizer (GPU) on board and had the EE fully emulated in software. Newer PS3-Models have NO Chip from the PS2 on board; neither GPU nor CPU. This would therefore ask for a GPU emulation aswell, of which there is no sign whatsover in this patent..

So again guys, don't get your hopes up. But seriously, with all this commotion about PS2-BC everytime a rumor surfaces, Sony should really wake up already.