Sony announced a new console called PlayStation Classic on December 3rd, 2018. 25 years later since the launch of the original PlayStation, the PlayStation Classic has 20 games from Sony’s first console and includes two controllers to play on it.
PlayStation Classic. A fun console refined in details
Thanks to modern technology, the PlayStation Classic displays some games much better on newest HD displays and TVs. So, it’s amazing to play the all-times top games with the original sensations and feedback on a super funky big OLED TV.
Final Fantasy VII, Grand Theft Auto, and Metal Gear Solid, only to say some names, look really in good shape and the play-ability is more than perfect with the new mini console and the old style joypad. Apart from that, you bring a little piece of history of videogames in your living room, it’s enough to buy the PlayStation Classic.
A board based on a MediaTek MT8167A quad core Arm Cortex-A35 processor is a kind of Raspberry Pi made by Sony for retro-games. It could be a killer machine for hacking and home-brew scene, PlayStation Classic owners can use a USB drive in the right format to run PS1 games that weren’t preloaded on the system.
On top of this board, it supposed to be a special build of Linux like OS and the opensource emulator PCSX ReARMed, a fork of PCSX Reloaded, that differs from the latter in that it has special optimizations for systems that have an ARM architecture-based CPU.
PlayStation Classic. The opensource, where the magic begins
So, also Sony recognizes the power of the opensource and libre community. Linux, the emulators/hacking/home-brew scene, and the projects of opensource movement in general are used (and trusted) also by giants of electronics, like Sony, for theirs real commercial projects. It is a wide recognition on the software developed for non-profit, and is also a good idea of the possibility of hacking the console: the hardware is accessible and the software is known.
Anyway, if you don’t want to spend money on a PlayStation Classic, maybe you already have a Raspberry Pi or an old unused PC, you can play the same magic experience with Linux and RetroArch, a frontend for emulators, game engines and media players.
It enables you to run classic games on a wide range of computers and consoles through its slick graphical interface. Settings are also unified so configuration is done once and for all. RetroArch has advanced features like shaders, netplay, rewinding, next-frame response times, and more. Get RetroArch here.
Here a small link to buy the PlayStation Classic on Amazon and keep this blog alive. 🐸