>Many kids (and adults alike) run emulators (e.g. a Super NES (older 16-bit
>game console) emulator) to play games because the emu offer more
>capability than the games' original platform. For instance, in some RPGs,
>you can only save your progress within the game at certain times, which
>can be few and far between. With an emulator, you can suspend the virtual
>machine at any time you like and save memory contents and execution
>context(s). Later, you can resume exactly where you left off.
>
>Emulators also offer more portability than the real thing. A laptop with
>emulators for NES, SNES, NeoGeo, Genesis, etc. can go in much smaller
>places than the corresponding collection of the real hardware.
>
>Most of the people who run these emulators are somewhat classic-aware and
>are doing it for nostalgia. You have to remember that games have advanced
>quite a bit since those days. Today's "Win#? kids who [...] really don't
>care, and just want games, games, games, all for free", with their 1GHz
>computers and ultra-fast 64MB-equipped 3D accelerators, expect much more
>graphically from a game. To them, older games are bland and boring and
>wouldn't be worth the time to run in an emulator.
I was going to disagree with Iggy on this last night, but you just hit
home. Where the problem lies is when people are writing emulators for
platforms that people are currently developing for. It's a two edge sword.
I'll admit I first played Neo Geo games on MAME, but my wife and I now own
a 4-Slot cabinet, a bunch of games, and the handheld. Plus we're looking
into eventually getting the home cart system and a Neo Geo CDZ. As someone
that owns the actual hardware I'd like to see new games come out, and in
spite of the fact that the platform is over ten years old SNK is still
developing new games. Emulation hurts the commercial viability of the
platform.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh_at_aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
Received on Fri Sep 14 2001 - 12:08:15 BST