Emulators

Post Reply New Topic

I run emulators for any system predating Playstation and for arcade games.....



........anything Playstation or later I just outright modded the things........

I ran the one decent-ish PS2 emulator (PCSX2, is I remember the name correctly) for a while, until I could get a Swap Magic CD. It was ...alright. Modding, or even something like Swap Magic is waaaaay better, certainly.

I got MAME and MESS, and I can say for sure that these can be very interesting things for people on the spectrum. If you grew up in the 70s or 80s, in particular, these things give you the ability to re-experience the original personal computers and console video games. Here are some of the delights as well as some of the problems that have come up:

Delights:
1. I got my old computers back. I had a Commodore PET computer, one of the first personal computers in 1977. I also played at stores with Radio Shack TRS-80, Radio Shack Color Computer, TI-99, Atari 800, Apple II, and stuff like that. Pulling these up in MESS, and getting virtual hard drives filled with the old classic software puts me right back into that time when I spent time playing with these things. I also feel rich in a strange way, because back then it cost hours and dollars to get any of those programs (and it could take an hour to load a program from a tape drive). Now, ALL the old programs are available on the Internet, somewhere. Manuals for doing specific things like programming were also difficult to find back then, but now they are all available for download, sometimes licensed. For example, Commodore Canada posted the old operating manuals for download. Back then we used to type in BASIC programs from magazines like Cursor. I love having these old programs back. Also, I quickly typed in some of my favorite programs, and modified the ones from the magazine, just like I did when I was a kid. It was great to have unlimited hard drive space and speed given by my new computer.

2. The vision quickly comes that soon we will be able to run any program on any suitable computer. That means that software will no longer disappear. Most of the old programs are useless now except for reminiscing, but some of them are still genuinely useful. Soon, you will be able to buy a Mac and run new and old PC programs. You will be able to run Mac software on a PC. Not like it is now, but seamlessly. Just buy ANY software and run on most ANY machine. I am going to like that new world of software, and I am sure that it will be good for quality, knowing that software will last longer.

3. The old video games could only be found at one store for a particular period of time. Now, I can play my old favorites exactly as they were in the console arcade machines, right down to the sounds made when you plunk in the quarters. It is wonderful to have the exact original sounds, delays, quirks, game play, exactly as it was meant to be in the arcade (with minor exceptions regarding interfacing, keyboard mapping, and such--for example, to insert a quarter or token you press the "5" key).

4. I can share with people.


Problems:
1. It eats up a lot of time. Lets say having the PET was super valuable because it brought back the self-confidence I had by being a wonder kid with computers, and reminded me why I got into the field. Well, then you have your Aspie obsessions kick in. How many virtual hard drives do I need? Do I need to remember how to program, all the commands, all the tricks? How many programs do I need to verify? Yes, it still works! Also, it is highly technical. These things are not just plug and play, yet. They take time. Well, then, when I add other systems, do I need to read those manuals? What good does it do in today's world to have all this knowledge? Then I start cataloging. I want ALL the systems, even the ones I did not touch as a kid.

2. Copyright violations. MAME and MESS are freely licensed. Then you get individual programs for them. You are supposed to own rights to the programs before running them on MAME or MESS. One way is to get them freely. Some of the old video game manufacturers have licensed their games for public use, which have been posted on the MAME site. Others have sold packages of rights. When you buy a console with 500 video games, you are often buying the licenses to use those games. Another way is to have an old computer or game in your storage. Then supposedly you have a right to simulate it since you own one. But finding each one takes time. And pretty soon you want to just find and download a complete working collection. You start rationalizing that it is abondonware, or that you spent so many quarters as a kid that you should own the rights by now. A good rationalization that I use is that thousands or millions were made that are now junked, so SOMEBODY should still be able to play those old abondoned machines. That is how I justify using the PET emulator. I owned one and abandoned it. I can prove that I owned it. This may not work in court but at least it should get me some sympathy. The only way I can explain having an entire collection of ROMS, though, is that it is a personal museum, that it does not impact the salability because they are so old. That is what most people are using as justification, I think. They say playing is just a side benefit of being museum curators. If I share these with friends, then they know right away that I am violating copyrights, which impacts my reputation.

3. Sharing with friends. They DO NOT CARE to a remarkable degree. What I have found is that to interest friends, I need to find out exactly what computers they used, how they used them, and what programs they liked. Would they like to see a particular game? YES, that does excite some people, when they see THEIR game. (And it never seems to seem like a copyright violation when you are copying a game that was a core part of YOUR childhood--so they then want MAME just for that one game, and it grows from there).

4. More time sucking. Writing this forum message. Getting involved in the development community. Wouldn't it be nice if we could have a simple centralized market for selling licenses for every single program in the catalog. They could be pennies a peice for the most part, but then there would be no problem with copyrights. Updating to the newest version, finding the titles and the overlays and the instructions, learning games that I never played before.

So the big question is is this good for people with autism? I know it is interesting, but isn't it sucking up too much time that we should be spending working or building relationships or something? I suppose, like other stems, it has its benefits. But I need to be careful with it and put it in its proper place.

Anybody play the original Rampart, Tetris, Block Out, Diamond Run, Carnival, from the 70s? I also liked all the raster games like Red Baron, Battlezone, Space Wars, Lunar Lander, Asteroids, and Tempest. Remember those?

They have not all gone bust. Some have given licenses freely to the public domain or to software distributors to re-bundle or to give away. Some classic video game ROMS are posted on the MAME site this way.

Some have sold licenses to aggregators. If you buy an actual video game console, and it has a menu of hundreds of games, then most likely you will see in the advertisement or documentation somewhere that these games were licensed from their current owners. (I think they cost about $1 for each game, $200 for 200 games).

Some have joined a legal association to protect their copyrights. They try to find people distributing their ROMs and go after them legally. Some of the websites that post catalogues of ROMs have started avoiding the ones that are members of these associations.

What I would LIKE to see is a clearinghouse that makes it absurdly easy to buy a license for any ROM you want. Any copyright owners that cannot be contacted should be listed there, also, and any who say "No" (which I doubt would happen, but certainly could). Somebody should also take a chance and distribute the ROMs of the companies that cannot be contacted. They should use the dollars to build a fund against litigation or for negotiating settlements. It's a little scary an idea though--when you break the law purposefully you can rack up huge liabilities. I wish they could do it but they cannot. What is funny, is we have an ad hoc network doing the same thing, anyway. I would rather see it all in one place, all formalized in some way. I am silly.

You know, it was a university that started MAME and MIME as a museum of old computers and video games. And the people who helped thought of it partially as a public service. These games from the 70s seemed ancient, and copyright did not seem like a big issue. But when you think about it, the people who wrote this software are almost as young as any of US! This is not that long ago. The copyright holders are still around watching the phenomenon with the rest of us.

Look at what else has happened: The Apple app store and the Android app stores. We should make an app store for old ROMs. The copyright holders get a percentage of each sale. The technical details can be done without their input, and few would withhold their permission. Profits from what they thought was dead!

I lost most of my affinity for gaming several years ago (last system bought: PSP in 2005, sold it soon after along with everything else) but still get the urge to play something every now and then. When I do, I use emulators. I'm currently playing through the N64 version of Mario Golf, because Hot Shots Golf is apparently the one video game I always come back to, regardless of my overall interest in gaming, and Mario Golf is practically the same game. I should have at least kept the PlayStation 2 and the copy of Hot Shots Golf 4. As for the ethics of downloading ROMs, legal or not, I've given these companies enough money in my lifetime to warrant a little free play here and there.

A lot of the old software is not profitable to make and sell anymore for the original platform in its original form, even the MS-DOS and 20th Century Windows programs have no economic value to publishers anymore, as not many people would be able to use the program on modern hardware without software/hardware workarounds. That means that economically it would not make since to pursue a lawsuit as the cost would be much greater than the possible profits from selling the old games.

Do you have Shantae 1? It's quite under-appreciated.

I played ocarina of time on my pc and also ps2 games