PS5 can now run physical PS2 game discs with vibe-coded emulator

Fans have got a PlayStation 2 emulator running on PlayStation 5, that can recognise and play physical game discs.

Before the PlayStation 5 was even formally announced, there were rumours of it being backwards compatible with not just the PlayStation 4, but every previous PlayStation console.

Unfortunately, those rumours proved false and if you want to play games from the PlayStation 1, 2, or 3 on the PlayStation 5, you need to buy them digitally or through the PlayStation Plus service.

But now, thanks to AI, people have figured out how to run physical PlayStation 2 games on the current console, although predictably it’s not as straightforward as that.

The emulation works by porting PCSX2, an emulator used for running PlayStation 2 games on PC, to a jailbroken (i.e. hacked to run third-party software) PlayStation 5, using the Claude AI software.

According to lead coder Sword, only 108 games have been tested and there’s no guarantee all of them are even compatible, but theoretically it’s possible to play them by inserting the original PlayStation 2 game disc with the emulator installed.

By comparison, only 48 original PlayStation 2 games are officially available on PlayStation 5, with most available to buy independently of the PlayStation Plus Premium service.

The PlayStation 5 console does accept PlayStation 2 discs, if you put them into the disc drive, but it doesn’t recognise them and brings up a message about how the disc is unsupported.

This is but the latest in a long string of vibe-coded video game projects, which have been popping up frequently and are entirely the result of generative AI.

It’s even possible to get games such as the original Halo, Call Of Duty: Black Ops, and GTA 5 running through a web browser, though such projects have been swiftly taken down.

Whatever your stance on generative AI, there is some irony in how companies like Sony have expressed eagerness to use the tech for their own games, only for regular people to weaponise it against them.

While we doubt this will get the likes of Sony to reconsider their own usage, it could get companies to become more encouraging of stricter regulations on the technology. Especially since these vibe-coded ports can be made very quickly.

Progress on PlayStation 5 emulation has also been speeding up lately, allowing people to run PlayStation 5 games on PC, which seems to be in direct response to Sony’s plans to end physical game releases after 2027.

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