The PlayStation 5 is a huge success. At least for those who have managed to get their hands on one since the console launched in November 2020. Aside from the PS5’s well-documented supply chain issues, however, some PS5 owners have another point of criticism: backward compatibility.
While the PS5 supports games of the previous generation, the PlayStation 4, you cannot play titles from later in the PlayStation’s extensive back catalog.
But all of that could change after an eagle-eyed Twitter user discovers what could be the holy grail: a PS5 patent that covers backward compatibility.
Is the backward compatibility coming to the PS5?
The PlayStation 5 is currently backwards compatible with PlayStation 4 games. But those who dialed in to PlayStation from the start may have hundreds of games gathering dust now as the PlayStation 5 doesn’t have support for PS1, PS2, and PS3 games. Which, in short, sucks.
Now, a new patent, submitted by the leading systems architect of the PS5, Mark Cerny, with the title “Backward compatibility through the use of spoof clock and fine-grain frequency control” made the tongue wiggle. Could this suggest that Sony has mastered the technology to bring your old PlayStation games to the PS5?
The explanation of the technology in the patent certainly indicates such a situation. The technology would allow “an application designed for the current version of a system” to run at its core clock speed, while applications for different versions could run at their native clock speed. If so, the PS5 could run its games at the correct speed while the PS3, PS2 or PS1 games could run at the correct clock frequency, eliminating issues between the hugely powerful current generation console and its older, slower predecessors .
An application developed for the current version of a system runs at a standard clock frequency of a current version of the system. Running the application at the default clock frequency involves synchronizing the operation of a processor of the current version of the system with the default clock frequency. An application developed for a different version of the system, characterized by a different standard clock frequency, will run at a second clock frequency that is different from the standard clock frequency. Running the application at the second clock frequency includes synchronizing the operation of the processor of the current version of the system with the second clock frequency.
The patent would introduce secondary clock functionality (what some refer to as a kind of “spoof clock”) that would allow the older games to be played without interfering with the PS5 hardware.
What old games will you be playing on your PS5?
Of course, a patent does not mean that it is guaranteed. Patents are constantly being pending for technologies that may or may not work. That doesn’t mean we can’t dream of dusting off the PlayStation collection and reaching for some classic titles.
The only question is, what are you going to play first?
This article was previously published on Source link
