It's been a busy time for PlayStation 3 emulation on Android since the first one, aPS3e, came out. It was soon gone after it appeared, sparking a lot of talk in the community. Even an original RPCS3 developer started working on a port. Now, aPS3e is back on the Google Play Store, trying to work more by the rules.
To start off, aPS3e is an Android-based PS3 emulator that uses the RPCS3 code. An unknown Chinese developer called aenu made it. It mixes code from different projects, such as RPCS3, Vita3K, and Termux, to work on Android. Tests a few months back showed the emulator was in its first stage, with just a few games working.
After it first got noticed, questions came up about how the developer used open-source licenses. In short, aPS3e was not open source even though it used code from open projects. The official GitHub page was closed soon after it started.
More drama came when the developer asked for money to keep building it, saying he would share the code once he got $2000. He said he didn't know much about license rules, but many in the emulation world didn't like this move.
Move to now, and aPS3e is shown as open-source, with its code back on GitHub. But, some key steps to fully follow open-source rules may still be missing. While the code can be seen, there's no clear license stated in the main Readme file.
Not stating a license can lead to legal issues. GitHub says that without a clear license, copyright laws kick in, which means the first maker keeps all rights, and no one else can copy or change it. It's better for such projects to have an open-source license.
Still, aPS3e is now on the Google Play Store for free and without ads. There's also a $5 version, just as a way to give money to the maker, as it's the same app. But users should know it's still in the early stages of development, and you'll need a very strong Android phone to run games.
It's noted that aPS3e may not have a license file where it should be, which is best practice. But, the full GPLv2 license file is in the RPCS3 part of the project's code.
