As we discussed last week, a somewhat official build of RPCS3 for Android was in the works. Now, a few short days later, an alpha build has been shared.
RPCS3 is one of the most consistently developed PS3 emulators available. Over the years, the development team has been chugging away at making the app compatible with more and more PS3 titles while also attempting to optimize how well it runs on the various platforms it’s available through.
RPCS3 from PC to Android
When it was originally built for PCs, it was brought to life due to the contributions made by DH, one of its founding developers.
DH now has released an alpha build of the Android version of the app on his GitHub.
As far as changelogs and reports go, there isn’t much to offer by way of noticeable features, changes, or compatibility for this first release. However, any gamer interested should be fully able to download the APK and install the app on a compatible Android device.
It’s worth noting however, there won’t be any sort of usability for those on the Retroid Pocket 5, for example. Playing PS3 games, at least for the foreseeable future, should be reserved for the ultra-powerful handhelds we see running Android.
That being said, this alpha release, as far as we can tell, is not meant to actually run games but is more to show proof that development is underway and progress is being made.
In the app, there are no settings to configure, nothing. There are no resolution or graphic options, controller mapping, or even app behavior settings, but there is a button to add a game and install a necessary PS3 firmware file. For an alpha build, this should be expected.
Alpha releases are, in many ways, the very first semi-releasable version of an app. They may not work or function anything like the final release, but they highlight that the developer at least has a grasp on what the project requires to get it running. This is the same; it’s a sign of life for the project and exists as proof that PS3 emulation through RPCS3 is slowly but surely creeping onto the retro handheld scene.
PS3 Emulation on Android
As PS3 emulation continues to improve, we can only expect the same for the Android build of the app. Not at the same pace, of course, but we could see emulation of the console on Android improve by drastic measures sooner rather than later.
There’s no knowing for now, however. We are in a great spot, with the founder of the base project working on the Android port, but still, meter your expectations. PS3 emulation is coming, we’ve seen proof of it running to some degree of stability before, but this time, it’s being built from the ground up.
If you’re interested in trying RPCS3 for yourself on a device like the Odin 2, for example, it can be downloaded now from the project’s Release page on GitHub.
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