Test-run games without dumping them to your precious SSD. Less friction more fun.
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You can now play your PS3 games on PC… DIRECTLY FROM THE DISC DRIVE!💿 PLUG AND PLAY! Owning your games as physical media allows you to play games released as far back as 20 years ago without relying on any servers!See compatible disc drive models at https://t.co/nSzG5S954L pic.twitter.com/d1uKE7Bpyr September 6, 2026
Above you can see the RPCS3 devs are pretty happy with the slick new “plug and play” refinements that are available to users of the latest version of the emulator. “You can now play your PS3 games on PC… DIRECTLY FROM THE DISC DRIVE!” boast the open source emulator programmers. “PLUG AND PLAY! Owning your games as physical media allows you to play games released as far back as 20 years ago without relying on any servers!” The RPCS3 team thanks digant73 and Megamouse , specifically, for contributions making this feat possible.
Indeed, this is another step forward in making a slick emulator that works in a surprisingly frictionless fashion. Though the Tweet mentions PC, specifically, extended disc drive play support is also available on Linux , FreeBSD, and macOS. You just need to check that drive compatibility list. Moreover, all users can enjoy “optimized install times for package installations from the disc drive.” It has also been confirmed that PS4 and PS5 console users with Linux installs can launch PS3 games directly from disc using RPCS3.
Here’s a quick tip for folks who have an obscure Blu-ray drive that isn’t in the list. If you want to confirm compatibility with the drive, just put a PS3 disc in it. If you can browse its files, it's compatible; if nothing shows up, then it's not.
With pricing for the best SSDs now sky-high, being able to test-run new (old) games before dumping them to fixed storage could be a boon. It might also be good for auditioning a batch of discs you have recently bought, to see which ones are keepers.
Open-source PS3 emulator says it’s now compatible with over 75% of all PS3 games on PC
PS5 emulation ramps up in response to Sony killing physical games
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/playstation/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/playstation/rpcs3-emulator-can-now-run-games-on-pc-directly-from-a-disc-drive-in-landmark-development-unlocks-20-years-of-physical-ps3-games-on-windows-linux-and-macos#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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