Sep 24, 2010 19:51 GMT  ·  By

PlayStation 3 owners that have opted to jailbreak their devices through the PSGroove or PSFreedom exploits, that were released at the beginning of August, now have something else they can do with their console, which is playing classic Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Dreamcast games.

Thanks to the work of a few developers from the homebrew scene, jailbroken PlayStation 3 consoles can now support the Snes9x emulator, as well as the NullDC Dreamcast emulator.

Both of these programs will allow PS3 owners to play old titles that were originally revealed for the two platforms, including ones from Nintendo's precious Mario or Zelda franchises, as well as ones from Sega's Sonic series, as well as the many great games that were released on the two platforms.

Before you pop open the champagne though, the two emulators are still in early versions, meaning features already available for the PC editions are missing, including a user interface for the Snes9x or lots of other things for the NullDC software.

Still, if you are among those that opted to jailbreak their PlayStation 3 consoles through the multiple means that were released up until now, then running such emulators might be just the thing until proper homebrew applications will be released for the Sony console.

For those not in the know, after years of being apparently un-hackable, the PlayStation 3 was finally cracked through the use of a modified USB stick that forced the console into a sort of recovery mode.

Immediately, a special application was developed, which allowed PS3 owners to backup their original games onto the internal hard drive of the console or onto a portable device.

While that application was great for those that wanted to have backups of their games, it was also used for certain nefarious actions, so Sony immediately blocked the exploit through the 3.42 firmware update and through the new 3.50 update.

Still, if you're among those that kept the 3.41 firmware, and have jailbroken devices, you can at least play some classic titles for the SNES or Dreamcast.