emulation posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Nintendo's says it will investigate possible copyright infringement in Nokia's N900 smartphone after a Nokia blog post showcased the device playing retro games through the use of an emulator application. According to Edge, the video (which is no longer available) featured someone playing Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3, and also showed off buttons that supposedly opened emulators for Nintendo's Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, NES and SNES.

Nintendo UK PR manager Robert Saunders told Edge the company was unaware of the smartphone's emulation feature and stated that Nintendo would take "rigorous steps" to protect its intellectual property. "Our legal team will examine this to determine if any infringement has taken place," Saunders added. Even if the feature ends up on the cutting room floor, we imagine some crafty hackers are already taking steps to get emulation software working on the Nokia device. Just like they do with everything else.

Has your homebrew SNES masterpiece, Secret of Manilow, been trapped within your computer for a decade or so due to technological restraints? Time to dust off your old ROM file -- the Quickdev16 SNES developer cartridge has all you need to get your brainchild up and running on Nintendo's Super console. The cart includes an Atmel AVR ATmega644 with boot loader, a USB connection with which to upload a ROM, 16 megabits of SRAM, and an RS232 converter.

We're assuming that if you possess the technical know-how to craft custom SNES games, then you probably know what all that stuff means. We're also assuming that you'd be more inclined to pony up for the cart's $120 price tag than we are. That's just a tad too steep for an SNES cart -- or rather, an SNES cart that isn't a sealed, mint condition copy of Chrono Trigger.

[Via Engadget]

Were you happy to hear that C64, the iPhone Commodore 64 emulator app, had been approved by Apple and finally seen release? We were too. Try to remember that feeling, then, as we tell you that after having been rejected, and then finally accepted, it's been pulled from the App Store.

When developer Manomio learned that the C64's BASIC interpreter was the problem the first time, it removed obvious access, but left the interpreter in the software so it could be re-enabled later if Apple changed its mind. However, some users discovered how to access BASIC. Apple found out and removed it before anyone could use the C64's incredible computing power to blow the iPhone platform wide open.

Manomio has (re)re-submitted the app, so hopefully it'll actually make it to the App Store and stay there this time.

[Via Engadget]

Earlier this summer, developer Manomio's officially-licensed Commodore 64 emulator app for iPhone hit the news -- not because it was released then, but rather because it wasn't. Apple rejected the app because it "launched other executable code," specifically, C64 games.

Now, Apple Insider reports that the app has been given a second chance. Apple approved it, now that the 3.0 SDK allows in-app purchases -- and therefore, we supposed keeps the emulator part, and the ROMS, closed and inaccessible. Now we just have to wait for the official release of the app! Oh, except it's already in the App Store right now for five bucks, with included copies of Dragons Den, Le Mans, Jupiter Lander, Arctic Shipwreck, and Jack Attack.

C64 (Manomio, $5.99)

[Via Engadget]

The first thing we did after firing up our Steam client this afternoon to check in on the status of those LucasArts games was ... well, the first thing we did was write a post about the prices for you, dear Reader. The second thing we did, however, was download The Dig to discover if this classic adventure game – as delivered through Steam – would work via ScummVM, allowing this blogger in particular to play the title in another operating system, sans Steam (namely: Mac OS X).

Well, since The Dig is having some issues and won't play in Windows through Steam (@lucasartsgames says it's "looking into Dig issues") we went with LOOM. Another brief, $5 download later and it works ... in Steam at least. Our attempts to get it to run in ScummVM weren't as successful, despite having all the necessary files available to us, unencrypted. So we went digging, and came up with this blog post by ScummVM team co-leader Sev who writes, "As of the ScummVM compatibility, we see that here were some changes that make the games incompatible with the current ScummVM version."

So, did LucasArts intentionally change the files to break compatibility with ScummVM? Doesn't sound likely. Sev calls the changes "very trivial" and says they "do not seem to constitute any kind of copy protection." Since this isn't any kind of copy protection or encryption, patching ScummVM to work with these new releases would be a "five minutes hack." However, much to our surprise, he and his team have "decided to abstain from it at least for now." He writes, "We do not want to interfere with their sales and/or any upcoming plans for other platforms. Also we are really open for cooperation in this regard and will be more than happy to make any upcoming releases run with use of ScummVM."

Sounds like an honorable stance to us, though one that will deprive this blogger of the ability to play these two games anywhere but Windows. We've reached out to LucasArts for a comment on the format changes and their thoughts on ScummVM enabling playback of these games.

Remember that Wii emulator that boosted the graphics up to 720p? Thanks to a recent update, Super Mario Galaxy is now playable on the emulator -- known as Dolphin (get it?) -- and we have to admit, it looks pretty gorgeous. Granted, Super Mario Galaxy was no graphical slouch in the first place, but the extra resomolutions certainly add to the overall experience, and it gives us an idea of what a Wii HD console would be capable of producing.

Check out a video of the Super Mario Galaxy running in HD after the break (don't forget to turn on HD in the player). It's in HD. Did we mention that yet?

[Via CVG]

In Sony's on-again/off-again relationship with PS2 backwards compatibility on the PS3, we've had our hopes raised to the stars and dashed again more times than we imagined possible. Today, Siliconera discovered what appears to be but one more volley in the company's neverending game with our hearts, filing for a patent for software back in December of last year (published publicly just last week). According to the report, the software is intended to "decode and recompile" the hardware used in the PS2's defining chip, the Emotion Engine, possibly allowing for previously unplayable PS2 games to become playable.

While this patent could certainly suggest things to look forward to in the rumored PS3 Slim, we've been burned in the past and aren't exactly holding our breath. Maybe more possible, Sony's Eric Lempel said in February of last year that "There are possibilities through technology and software emulation to make that possible," speaking on the subject of downloadable PS2 titles -- rather than disc-based software support, mind you. If you're into the technical side of things, Siliconera was so gracious as to shoot us the whole patent, which you can see for yourself in the gallery below.

[Via Siliconera]

[Thanks, Bryan!]

We all know that emulation download sites are disease-riddled virtual cathouses, designed to inject your unassuming computer with any number of viruses, spywares and trojan horses -- that's why we can't help but be intrigued by this recently unveiled USB adapter for SNES game cartridges, which was lovingly crafted by modder matthias_h.

The adapter looks incredibly easy to use -- plug in a game cart, then boot or copy the SMC file found therein. Just like that, you're playing your favorite SNES titles -- and without contracting incurable cases of e-syphilis from "russian porn sites." Check out the video demo after the jump!

[Via Engadget]

You might find it comical that someone's concerned with the graphical presentation of emulated Atari games -- after all, they're pretty much beyond help, right? It might be even more amusing to think that emulation (and modern TV technology) makes Atari games look too good. But it's true! Atari VCS games running in Stella or other emulators don't look like they look on a CRT, and artificial scanlines alone don't make for an authentic presentation.

Ian Bogost presented the challenge to a team of Georgia Tech computer science students, who then modified Stella to simulate the characteristics of a CRT -- texture, afterimage, color bleed, and noise. The results can be seen above, compared with the pixel-perfect original. Enduro really demonstrates the advantages of an authentic display: when the colors blend properly, the sunset actually kind of looks impressive. These features will be added to the public releases of Stella soon. Maybe they can be integrated into the next-generation Atari Flashback console -- if another one ever happens.

[Via Kotaku]

Gaming emulation isn't exactly the most legal activity you can take up -- as such, we can't help but admire the bravado of Chinavision's brilliantly named device. CVFH-N03-4G, pictured above. Housed within its minuscule frame is the ability to emulate games from the NES, SNES, Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis, SNK Neo-Geo and Capcom's arcade platforms, CPS1 and CPS2. It also plays a number of audio, video and image formats, and apparently serves as an e-book reader using text-to-speech technology.

In other words, for just $87.31, you can pick up a device that's capable of playing every form of pirated media known to mankind. Thanks, technology!

Though it's been doing the rounds in the homebrew community for roughly six weeks, WiiSX is still very much a work-in-progress, but one with huge potential. As a PSone emulator for the GameCube and Wii that loads ISO files from an SD card (DVD and USB implementation is planned), WiiSX could eventually grant owners of Ninty's white box access to around 8,000 games, including titles that many regard as some of the best ever. The idea of playing Final Fantasy VII on a Nintendo-branded console would probably make a few people weak at the knees.

During an interview with tehskeen last month, co-creator Emu_Kidid (Sepp256 and TehPola are the other names behind this) admitted that sound still needs to be implemented and "numerous bugs" zapped, but it looks pretty playable to us in the video above! Indeed, interviewer brakken reports that "the emulator can handle some games and runs at a very playable speed." As for when it will be ready, Emu_Kidid is hoping to have an initial preview release out before the end of 2008.

Assuming this exciting project does come to fruition, which PS1 title (which we strongly advise you should already own, obviously) would you try out first?

[Thanks, Rengifo!]

What is it about Castlevania that gamers have found so appealing for more than twenty years? Is it the story? The atmosphere? The visceral sense of fulfillment from whipping all manner of damned creatures back to the infernal depths? Is it the one-on-one arena battles in Boy George makeup, steam-punk corsets and leather-daddy fetishware? Yeah, it's probably not that last thing. We had in mind a traditional sidescroller for Castlevania on the Wii, with waggle-enhanced whip cracking, so that's why this week, I've set out to capture that fun that we've so desperately desired.

It's time for another edition of "They Did What?" Okay, so it's the first and only edition (so far), but this is pretty darn cool. We're talking about nullDC PSP, the first Sega Dreamcast emulator for PSP. It's the creation of nullDC (a Dreamcast emulator for PC) author "drkIIRaziel" and has just recently gotten to the point where it loads and runs Shenmue ... at, oh, one frame per second. (With games taking 20-30 minutes to load.)

Still, the prospect of walking around with a "DC Pocket" is definitely appealing. Let's hope for the sake of those who'd use it to play games they legally own that Sony's rumored new PSP-3000 doesn't make a mess of the hombrew scene with potential new anti-piracy measures.

[Thanks, Craig!]

The inventiveness of the homebrew scene never ceases to amaze us. Take for instance the above video. What you see in it is, in fact, GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64 running on a Wii with the "Homebrew Channel" installed.

The poster of the video states that he was able to get the game ROM working with the emulator used by the Virtual Console version of Sin & Punishment. He gives no details on how he managed the feat, mentioning only that the game works "for the most part" with occasional slowdown and a broken borked save system.

Hopefully Nintendo will see this video and, rather than simply order it pulled offline, realize just how much people really want a proper Virtual Console release of the game.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

Sit down if you aren't and don't start taking a sip of something before you click the play button on the video above: someone managed to get GoldenEye 007 to run on the Wii. As evidenced above, the title can be emulated on the Wii, but not in perfect form. There are still some issues with saving and frame rates dipping here and there. But, all in all, pretty impressive and manages to only strengthen our desire to have this one show up on the Virtual Console.

[Thanks, trefox!]