FOSDEM’22 - PlayStation 3 Emulation

The PlayStation 3 features one of the most ambitious and fascinating architectures among video game consoles. Once deemed near-impossible to emulate in real-time, we now celebrate the 10th anniversary of its most popular emulator: RPCS3, a free and open-source software capable of running two thirds of the console’s catalogue on PC. This talk describes the hardware and software stack of the PlayStation 3, covering the IBM Cell/B.E. CPU, Nvidia RSX GPU and Sony’s CellOS operating system in detail. We compare these against earlier and later consoles, explaining how their design and complexity has shaped a new generation of emulators and binary translators, before delving into the history and internals of RPCS3 and other PlayStation 3 emulators. Some useful links about this talk: - Talk: - Slides: - Original stream with Q&A: [TBD] - Errata/clarificat