Kind of obvious from the title. With the recent release of Connectix Virtual GameStation for the Mac and shareware emulators such as UltraHLE for the PC, there has ben a lot of discussion over whether it will be good or bad for the video game industry. What do you think?

I think emulation of old systems such as the original NES is ok since Nintendo no longer make it or games for it. But emulations of current consoles and games is bad. Video game companies are losing money to emulations of current games.
Or were you refering to just the emulations you mentioned Matt?

No, I meant everything. Those were just the first two that came to mind and the two that there has been the most controversy over. I personally don't think that Connectix is doing anything illegal. UltraHLE, however, is illegal right from the start because you have to use pirated ROM images to play games.

Emulation is good for dead battery games made 11 years ago that no longer work. (any NES game you own).
It's acceptible for games the maker has no intent on publishing again in any form. (any thing by Enix)
It's wrong with playstation and N64 games.
It's good for demo reasons.
The two alive systems money can be lost on roms. the 8- bit sysdems are too old to make any effects and most of their money goes to resale. the 16- bit systems will be their soon.

Exactly how is emulation bad for the video game companies (except the console manufacturers, of course)? The people who make the game disks still sell them... I assume, though, that Dan R. is referring to the console makers.

well if people get their games from the net instead of buying them in stores the video game makers (Rare, Acclaim, etc) lose money just like Nintendo. But if people get the games from the net and they are games no longer being published then there is nothing wrong with it. I still like to play SMB 1-3 once in a while but they don't make them anymore.

Emulation is good, as long as it's only systems
and games that are no longer being made. Some
companies have even released their very old
commercial c64 and sinclair games (most games
are not put up legaly though, but scince
they are probaly considered abandonware, and
haven't been sold for years, people think
it's OK to post. It very much a grey area).
However, emulating current systems, such as
the N64 and uploading current "roms" (the program
stored in the rom chips of a game cartridge)
is no different than uploading commercial
software to a warez site, and it's this reason
why emulation is being frowned upon by the head honchos
of the computer industry. Even if the emulators don't use
the system roms, it still encorages people to
pirate and illegaly use game roms.

Can someone tell me what the best emulator for Gameboy is, and where I can find it, and where I can find ROMS for it?
Virtual Boy does not work for some reason...

Virtual boy games weren't designed for Moniters.

Virtual Boy is an emulator for gameboy.

Emulation is fine. It is perfectly legal to run, a download copy of Mario 64 on your PC (or Mac), (and it does happen to look better on the PC), as long as you already own the game for the N64. (I think. I read this is in a magazine a few months ago.

Now piracy is bad. If you'd spent months designing a game, how would you feel if people were using it with out paying you?

It is legal as long as you own the original game. (The 24 hours thing is baloney. Never believe that.) However, most people are not going to download a copy of a game they already have. This is why it's a problem. For example, I will never buy any Super NES games that will rin under an emulator because it would just be a waste of money. With a little time and a good search engine, you can find most any game out there.

Hopefully this will cease to be a problem when the new DVD systems (Dolphin, PSX2) come out. Of course, then we have to worry about Connectix or someone coming out with a retail emulator for them.

I don't see how DVD can necessarily solve things, seeing as DVD-write drives exist. Of course, I don't know enough about the technology, but DVD alone won't stop piracy. If there was some wierd encoding system or something (like Sega's GB-ROM, then maybe.

I don't mean that DVD will stop piracy, but it will reduce it. For example, look how many PlayStation shareware emulators there are out there as opposed to Sega Genesis, SNES, NES, etc. Much less. And since a DVD disc holds several gigs of data, this is clearly far too muh to send over the Net. So that cuts down on it right there. There will always be some piracy no matter what you do, simply because it's impossible to encrypt something that can't be cracked by someone determined enough to do it.

There is an add-on port for the N64 that is near completion called "Tristar 64." It will allow you to play old NES and SNES games on your 64! There are a number of games that don't work, and it may cost a bit, but I may be willing to re-buy games like FF3 and Chrono Trigger and Super Metroid if it works well with them.

Why? Because I only have a P200 with no acceleration (Yeah, I need a job!) and all the emulators I have tried have pretty much let me down...

Which emulators have you tried? Anything for NES should run pretty good on almost all Pentium machines, and for SNES might I suggest SNES9x?

And I have to ask, how many people are really going to buy this thing? Seems like most add-ons for systems don't do terribly well. Remember the Game Genie? No? Neither do most people.

I have tried just about every emulator there is for both the NES and SNES and all of them really bite on my PC. I just don't like any of them. I tried SNES9X and I didn't even like that (Though I suffered through it to beat Super Metroid one more time...).

BTW, Game Genie was a cheating and altering device, not something that lets you play classic system games on a new platform. And if it's not too expensive ( Unfortunately, not likely), people may buy it.

I do realize what Game Genie was. However, my point was that any add-on other than memory cards or rumble packs don't seem to do too well. Examples are the Zapper gun, the Power Glove, tha gadget that lets you play Game Boy games on the PlayStation or N64, the Super Game Boy, the Dex Drive…

I don't know, I think that I'd rather stick with emulators for my needs. it seems that the Mac versions of these things work better than the PC ones. SNES9x works pretty well on my iMac and so does Virtual Gameboy (in fact, it and iNes both worked pretty well on my three-year-old 75mhz Power Mac. Yet another reason to get a Mac, that and Virtual GameStation and the pleasure of denying Bill Gates money…)

Mpatterson: Have you ever tried the Virtual Gamestation? If you have, is it as good as a PSX? I'm just curious...

Unfortunately, no. (I've been trying to save money but am about ready to give up and ask for it for Christmas.) From what I have heard and read, it has perfect emulation on about 20-25% of the titles (the percentages are my estimates), near-perfect emulation (minor graphics/audio glitches, minor speed problems) on about another 25%, so-so on about 30-40% (major glitches, not-so-good speed, memory card issues), and unplayable on the rest. Again, these are just rough estimates. I could go through the list and get more exact numbers, but I'm lazy. On anything newer than a first-genereation iMac (the reference system), the numbers for perfect and near-perfect emulation should increase, and the list I saw is only current through version 1.1 (1.2 is the most recent version). If Sony would stop all this silly court nonsense, Connectix could probably refine the product more and ship an even better version.

However, VGS has the same problems as other emulators: doesn't look as good on a hi-res computer monitor, computer screen is usually smaller than the TV, controller issues (although Gravis makes a nice PlayStation-lookalike controller called the Gamepad Pro, and even better, it has a USB version), and other stuff. Plus the fact that it's only available on Macs and all this court nonsense with Sony. If you want to be guaranteed of perfect play every time, buy an actual PlayStation. I hear they're dropping the price to$99.99 on September 9th to distract people from Dreamcast sales. (Dreamcast may actually be a winner. I've played it some, and it looks sweet!)

Ignore the first paragraph of that last post. i just went and checked the list. Over half of the supported titles (around 60% of them, I'd say) run perfectly with excellent or good speed. About 50-60% of the remaining ones are okay if you don't mind some glitches or memory card errors or occasional crashes. And the remaining ones are unplayable. Also, Dual Shock is not supported, so no force-feedback for users of VGS. All in all, not too bad. Most of the most popular titles (Final Fantasy 7, Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot, Gex, most of the Street Fighter, most of the Marvel vs. Capcom) are playable with but a few glitches. And it runs in only 10 megs of RAM (although, like any program, you should give it 1.5 times more than it says it needs.)

Oh, and I will definitely not be buying a Tristar 64. According to IGN64, it will not run Super Mario RPG (among many, many other things), which is about the only SNES game I'm interested in anymore. (I'm currently on an RPG kick. Don't ask me why.) Besides, I own a SNES!

Thanks, bud.

And if the PSX system will be cheaper then I hope the games will be too.

More news about VGS:

Final Fantasy VIII is unplayable under VGS, although VII is okay. Connectix may or may not be developing new versions that increase compatibility and add support for PCs, but until all this court stuff with Sony is worked out, it's kind of a moot point cause they can't ship anything. (What they should be working on is a version that's been enhanced to use the Velocity Engine with the new G4. That would be killer.)

Here are some good PC emulators for older systems:
1. NES: Nesticle
2. SNES: Zsnes
3. GMB: No$GMB
4. Genesis: Genecyst or KGen

I downloaded Final Fantasy III rom (U.S. #3) for the Zsnes emulator, but I can't get it to start. The game keeps repeating the Intro and when I hit the corresponding keys for start nothing happens. I checked the key configuration, they are the same as what I have been pressing... Is there some setting I need to press to activate or enable these keys?

BTW: I have the game for the super nintendo but a TV is not obtainable while at school. (OK anti-piracy groups)

I downloaded the Final Fantasy III rom and tried to play it but it malfunctions when I get to Thamasa where The party must rescue Relm from the fire. Anybody know a way around this problem?

A lot of really old games especialy for
long dead obscure systems can only
be had through emulation. Not only
thay, but finished (and unfinished)
but never released games, prototypes and
alphas can only be gotten this way.