XNA opens up NES emulation on Xbox 360

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jan 29th 2007 at 7:35AM }

There's simply no escaping NES games these days. If you're not downloading them from the Wii shop, you're likely playing them on an emulator (because you own the original ROMS, right?) or quite possibly, the Xbox 360. An XNA enthusiast has just released the second iteration of XNA SharpNES, an Xbox 360 port of Jonathan Turner's original emulator.

Provided you belong to the XNA Creator's Club (that's $99 per year) and have all the necessary software to compile the code, you can load the emulator onto the 360 and happily play the likes of Super Mario Bros., Mega Man and Gyromite. Of course, there's no telling how long it'll take before the emulator is pounded into the dirt by a gavel -- paying Microsoft to play Nintendo games on the Xbox 360 just seems fundamentally wrong.

You know, like owning a copy of Gyromite. Care to explain that?

[Via Engadget, Xbox-Scene]

Tags: Emulation, NES, SharpNES, XNA

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

silkylove @ Jan 29th 2007 7:56AM

I propose a trade. Nintendo doesn't sue the pants off Microsoft and in return Wii gets Goldeneye for the VC. It's a win win:)

Jack @ Jan 29th 2007 8:16AM

Early copies of Gyromite (and other first gen NES carts) contain the only Nintendo manfactured Famicom to NES converter. I don't know about you, but I feel far less remorse in gutting a Gyromite cart for parts than a Super Mario Brothers cart.

DrXym @ Jan 29th 2007 8:28AM

Alternatively install Linux on the PS3 and you can play NES, SNES, N64, Atari Console, Amiga, ST, C64, DOS, ZX Spectrum, Sega Megadrive, Gameboy, GBA, arcade titles + numerous Linux native games from a single console. All without paying $99 to anyone.

Erwos @ Jan 29th 2007 8:34AM

You're not paying Microsoft to run an NES emulator. You're paying Microsoft to run your own XNA code on your 360. I mean, it's not as if you're paying Microsoft to run, I don't know, SNES9X because you bought a copy of Windows, right?

Never heard about the Gyromite pin converter thing - cute.

john @ Jan 29th 2007 8:49AM

Nintendo has no rights to NES anyway they didn't renew their copyrights and trademarks. You can build your own NES and sell and make 100% profit. Also emulators are legal acording to the 2000 millenium information act which states all technolgies that arent easily availble at a store or a hardware that is not being manufactured can be exploited to digital saves roms or any other type of distrabution for free.

silkylove @ Jan 29th 2007 8:54AM

@5. Sure the emulators are legal, but as soon as you start downloading and playing roms you are breaking the law. Nintendo has gone after quite a few pc rom players. I can only imagine that they would be way more aggresive with Xbox 360 rom players because that more directly affects their VC sales.

Mindflayer @ Jan 29th 2007 9:19AM

@6:
The problem here is XNA is nothing more than a framework for C#. Anyone who can program C# can take any of the open source emulators out there and convert it to XNA code (which is what this project is doing). There is really now way at all for Nintendo to really stop this. The only thing they could do is maybe go after any sites distributing the XNA source but once its out there good luck.

Pip @ Jan 29th 2007 9:52AM

"all technolgies that arent easily availble at a store or a hardware that is not being manufactured can be exploited to digital saves roms or any other type of distrabution for free."

The problem is, they are easily available now thanks to the virtual console. Or will be soon. And it was debatable if this even applied to video games or not.

AirIntake @ Jan 29th 2007 9:42AM

@DrXym

And since I doubt that you or anybody else is posting on Joystiq using Linux on the PS3, you could play "NES, SNES, N64, Atari Console, Amiga, ST, C64, DOS, ZX Spectrum, Sega Megadrive, Gameboy, GBA, arcade titles + numerous Linux native games" on the damn PC you already have. Without having to buy a PS3, 360, XNA or anything else.

Mank @ Jan 29th 2007 9:52AM

@3: Yeah. You can do this all on the $600 dollar PS3 while not giving anyone a whiff of that $99.

Twist @ Jan 29th 2007 9:44AM

Too bad the guy who ported this didn't write the emulator himself. If he had he would be sitting on some middleware that he could sell to companies looking to port their games to XBLA.

Adam @ Jan 29th 2007 9:56AM

I love emulation.

C'mon imagine Super Mario Bros. upscaled to my 1080p 50" LCD.

// Gotta love Joystiq!
http://www.computersite.com/

s00pcan @ Jan 29th 2007 10:05AM

I love emulation.

C'mon imagine Super Mario Bros. upscaled to my 1080p 50" LCD.

I'm way ahead of you there (use a pc, duh)

RODNEY @ Jan 29th 2007 10:08AM

Emulation is a joke, Seriously, its fucking stupid
brb shoplifting

Wii360dsPC @ Jan 29th 2007 10:26AM

@DrXym

XNA allows you to do wicked cool stuff not possible in Linux on the PS3. The tools are great and I've already been able to do some very cool, sick fast 3D on it. To give you an idea of the power of XNA, check out this video of XNA Racer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OHJpeCwOmk

Unlike Sony, Microsoft actually gives you access to the power of the GPU. While the creator's club currently has a $99 price tag, Microsoft will open the runtime for all users eventually.

Sony has no comparable offering, no free game development tools (XNA Studio is free), and their historic support of homebrew is abysmal.

No comparison -- XNA makes the 360 the developer's console.

NintendoFanbot @ Jan 29th 2007 11:57AM

"Nintendo has no rights to NES anyway they didn't renew their copyrights and trademarks. You can build your own NES and sell and make 100% profit."

Yeah... that's why they've never re-issued their game titles and code sometimes via remakes and sometimes their own emulation. *rolls eyes*

Besides it would take 50+ years of non-use before any copyright could reach public domain. NESes and such are arguable at best, but the games themselves are not.

joe smith @ Jan 29th 2007 1:30PM

I thought I was the only person alive who een REMEMBERED Gyromite! :)

On the lawsuit front, in what way could Nintendo have a case against MS? MS didn't write the code, doesn't publish or distribute the code, and certainly has nothing to do with any distribution of ROMs. They provide a compiler and framework. They would no more be liable for this than they would be for anything written with Visual Studio.

maxx @ Jan 29th 2007 12:06PM

"You know, like owning a copy of Gyromite. Care to explain that?"

I have it only because it came with my NES. I swear! Besides, that game sucked, but ROB is the shit. He sits on my computer desk with blue LEDS in his head, perpetually glowing. Always watching me. Always watching...