We are going to caveat this article with a ‘don’t get too excited…yet’ warning. In recent times we have waxed lyrical about how good PS2 emulation has got and we know PlayStation 3 emulation is well on the way to doing great things, but until now PlayStation 4 emulation has been stuck in a bit of a rut. It has been around for a few years and in some cases been able to play some of the simpler PS4 2D titles but anything with 3D, and certainly any of the systems’ killer games have been more than a bridge too far.
Recently, a new emu on the block, ShadPS4, caused a storm when it managed to get the title screen of Bloodborne, one of the PS4’s most desirable exclusives to boot to the title screen. That may not seem like a big deal but it actually is. Now, just a few weeks later ShadPS4 is able to get in the game in certain titles, even playing the opening cut-scene – albeit terribly – of Red Dead Redemption Remastered.
Again, don’t get too excited but at least the emulator is rendering in-game stuff – well sort of. More success has been had with older games such as Shenmue as well. We are still miles off anything playable it seems, but once breakthroughs such as these start to be made, speed can gather quickly.
Now the PlayStation 4 is still very much, like the Nintendo Switch, on sale, so the reasons for emulating it can sometimes be called nefarious, but realistically, by the time ShadPS4 or any other emulator for that matter nails down the library and has a high percentage of compatibility, the PS4 could be consigned to the annals of history, and therefore it becomes much more important when taking on the role of video games preservation.
While the ethics of emulating current consoles can be debated ad infinitum it will be interesting to see if Sony itself takes an interest in these developments, as Nintendo did earlier in the year with Yuzu. The cases are very different of course, but Sony has previous, granted way back in the early 2000s when it famously took on PS1 emulator bleem! and eventually forced it out of business. Sony then hired some of the bleem! creators.
bleem! was also being marketed commercially which draws some parallels with the profit being made from Yuzu. Things are less clear-cut when emu devs are not selling their work based on other people’s hard grind.
Even if things now start to move at lightning speed, PS4 emulation – the 3D side of things at least is difficult and will be some time off. The video above from Modern Vintage Gamer goes into great detail about the current state of affairs and is well worth a watch.
Featured Image: Pexels
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