Reports suggest that Sony’s catalog of PlayStation & PlayStation 2 games may be coming to the PlayStation 4 via an emulator running locally on the hardware. According to a “well-placed source” of Eurogamer, an internal emulator similar to what had previously worked on the PlayStation 3, but better, will become a part of the PlayStation 4 experience. And while Sony will use the PlayStation Now service to provide access to PS3 games via cloud streaming, these older titles will run on emulation software.
The report suggests that these older titles could see HD upgrades as well. Utlizing resolution scaling that was seen on some remakes on the PlayStation 3, Eurogamer believes that these older games could be emulated in higher resolution, with little or no work on Sony’s part.
A local emulator could definitely improve the overall gaming experience for these older titles. While game streaming hasn’t proven to be the best way to play games, with input lag and other pitfalls of the method still very much prevalent, if the rumor holds true, the PS4 could soon have a monster catalog of game experiences.
Sony has yet to comment on this speculation.