emulation
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TurboGrafx-16 emulation app coming to iPhone
And now, some news that is simultaneously awesome and depressing. Hudson is (officially) bringing Turbografx-16 games to iPhone and iPod Touch "this winter" in a free TurboGrafx Gamebox app. It'll launch with a library of $3.99 games, and will include one, the Olympic-style World Sports Competition, for free. Each day, Hudson will select one game from the library and make it available through the app for a free three-minute trial. Hudson didn't announce the initial lineup, but we're going to go out on a limb and guess it'll include Bonk's Adventure and Military Madness. And knowing that many people missed out on the TurboGrafx-16, we're happy to see the games being brought to such a popular platform. And there's the terrible part. Last time we checked, the iPhone continued not to have buttons. So that's $4 each for a potentially great game to be rendered totally unplayable.
Dockstar FreeAgent hacked into inexpensive emulation masterpiece (video)
Hello, multipurpose! Seagate's Pogoplug-based FreeAgent DockStar -- at least at a glance -- isn't much good to those who aren't buying up DockStar HDDs. But if you dig a little deeper, you'll realize that this minuscule adapter packs a 1.2GHz Marvell processor, 128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM. There's also a smattering of USB ports and an Ethernet socket; add that all up, and you've got a hacker's playground. One Hunter Davis decided to see just how much he could squeeze out of this here peripheral, which can be widely found for as little as $25 nowadays. Thanks to a copy of Debian Linux, a good bit of programming know-how, a DisplayLink USB-to-VGA adapter and a USB sound adapter, he was able to concoct a homegrown emulation console that could handle nearly everything he threw at it. 'Course, you'll have to spring for those other parts if you don't have a house full of random doodads, but once he figures out how to install a battery and make the entire setup portable... look out! Head on past the break for an in-action video.
Game Gripper continues its evolution with a new Epic 4G model, Genesis button layout (video)
Sweet, sweet Game Gripper. You make smartphone gaming a rather less cramping experience, and now you're spreading joy to the fourth generation. Owners of Sprint Epic 4G can now get their Gripper on, and can do so with a lovely new Genesis-inspired layout that offers two rows of three buttons plus a D-pad -- and then another four buttons for good measure. It's rather excitedly demonstrated after the break and, like the earlier models, will set you back $14.99. Now, if only we could get handset makers to start adding shoulder buttons on their cellies.
Robots learning our pain threshold by punching humans and seeing if they cry
The first rule of robotics is you do not talk about robotics that a robot should not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. But how does a robot know when its acts or omissions are causing nearby fleshies discomfort? The obvious way is to scan for the same signals of distress that we humans do -- facial, physical, and aural -- but another, more fun, way is to just hit people over and over again and ask them how much each blow hurt. That's what professor Borut Povse over in Slovenia is doing, in a research project he describes as "impact emulation," where six test subjects are punched by a robotic arm until they can't take it anymore. It's funny, yes, but it's also novel and a somewhat ingenious way to collect data and produce more intelligent machines. Of course, whether we actually want more intelligent machines is another matter altogether. [Thanks, Anthony]
PS3 gets early SNES and Dreamcast emulation
Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it? Sure, jailbreaks and homebrew titles are all well and good, but you know a console has really arrived when it starts emulating the classics. The ever-versatile Snes9x has been given a quick and dirty port to the newly jailbroken PS3, and while it's missing fancy features like "save states" and "UI," it's certainly looks to be doing the most basic task of playing games just fine. Meanwhile, the creator of famed Dreamcast emulator NullDC has a very rough version it up and running on the PS3 as well. We naturally have a long way to go, but this looks like a promising beginning.
Palm webOS 2.0 preview video hits the wilds
First things first -- before you jump on past the break and mash play, mute your speakers. Mute. As in, off. Alrighty, now that you're prepared, you've got two minutes and 14 seconds of teasing just a click away, as some sure-to-be-yelled-at developer has leaked a sneak peak into the wide, mysterious world of webOS 2.0. Not that we haven't seen a cornucopia of screenshots already, but at least this emulation vid gives you a better idea of how things will actually flow once it gets released to end users. Oh, and as for those DropBox and MobileMe integration rumors? Looks like that's just QuickOffice being QuickOffice. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Flashboy Plus revives Nintendo's Virtual Boy, literally one game at a time
When a beloved console like the Sega Dreamcast rises from the ashes it's not a huge surprise, but we never thought we'd see the day when the homebrew community would unearth Nintendo's Virtual Boy. Behold: the Flashboy Plus, the second of two flash carts developed specifically to spur development for Nintendo's original stereoscopic system, featuring a new backup battery (unlike the 2007 original) and a full 16Mbit of memory, reportedly enough to fit any one of the system's 22 commercially released games. Since the battery only keeps one save state stored at a time and there's no way to read the battery-backed memory, you'll still have to finish one game before you start another, but at least this way you don't lose your progress every time you shut the system off. Believe it or not, the first batch of 50 units has already been spoken for, but you haven't necessarily missed out yet; €90 (about $113) is your ticket to an elite (read: tiny) virtual utopia of piracy and homebrew when the second set ships at year's end.
PSX4Droid brings spiky-haired protagonists to your Googlephone (video)
The HTC HD2 did it, and so did the iPhone 3GS (assuming you jailbroke), but now you can get your blocky amnesiac ex-SOLDIER action on Android courtesy of ZodTTD and yongzh. Their PSX4Droid app just launched on the Android Market for $5.99, and -- despite a few glitches -- it emulates PlayStation games like a charm, complete with multiple scaling modes and save states. Watch a Galaxy S rock the likes of Final Fantasy VII and Ridge Racer after the break, plus Crash Bandicoot on a Nexus One and some paired Wiimote action with a Dell Streak. Then, challenge yourself to adhere to intellectual property law instead of immediately hunting down ROMs and a BIOS file. We dare you. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Pinel & Pinel's 80's arcade cabinet fits squarely into the future
Pinel & Pinel -- it's been awhile, hasn't it? The design boutique has just kicked things back into high gear with an all-new creation inspired by the era of wooden TVs, Bono's mullet and the original Engadget BBS. The 80's Trunk, a swank new arcade cabinet, is easily one of the most astounding creations we've ever seen, and there's no question that your basement is yearning for one as we speak. Unlike conventional cabinets, this one's equipped with an emulation system that houses 60 unforgettable titles (Pac-Man, Space Invaders and 1924, just to name a few), and there's also a plethora of color options to choose from. You're also looking at a 1080p LCD, enough amplification to wake the neighbors with bleeps and bloops and an iPod / iPhone docking station if you prefer your own background noise. Mum's the word on a price, but it'll probably come down to choosing between this and your first born's college education. You know what to do.
Play SNES on your jailbroken iPad, with an iPhone as controller (video)
Not every Apple addict is lucky enough to own an iPad, iPhone and the means to jailbreak both, but if you belong to that elite group you're in for a treat: SNES HD for iPad. Built on ZodTTD's existing iPhone emulator, the new code has Super Mario World looking positively fantastic at the iPad's 768p. Better still, it works with the ControlPad app for iPhone, giving you look-alike wireless controls alongside the nostalgia of its ROM select screen. "Coming soon" to Cydia; see it in action after the break.
PlayStation emulator coming to Android, courtesy of yongzh and ZodTTD
If you don't know the names yongzh and ZodTTD, you can certainly be forgiven, but they're basically the cell phone emulation dream team -- where the former has been cranking out high-quality Nintendo and Sega emulators for Android, the latter is the one who brought PSX to iPhone, iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre. Today, we hear they're collaborating on a PSX emulator for Android that's running faster than the 3GS version -- before Froyo's even factored into the equation -- and that when his domination over the PSX is complete, ZodTTD intends to begin work on an Nintendo 64 emulator for Android, and then VLC. Without letting our enthusiasm get the better of us, let's just say it's an exciting time to be an Android owner, to say the least.
GP2X gaming handheld modded with D-pad, PSP batteries (video)
These days, it's the Pandora making waves in the world of handheld emulation, but GamePark's GP2X could arguably be credited with starting the whole phenomenon. John Grayson recently decided that the original simply wasn't keeping up with the times, however, and decided to swap out a joystick for a more traditional D-pad. Moreover, he yanked those weak AA batteries and shoehorned a pair of PSP Li-ion cells in there instead, boosting his SNES play time to just over four hours on a full charge. Thankfully for you, neither tweak seems all that difficult to implement, and the sub-10 minute clip waiting after the break does a rather outstanding job of giving you the play-by-play. So yeah, scram!
Nexus One runs Windows 3.11, possibly the saddest thing we've seen all day (video)
In a volatile Android ecosystem where bigger and better phones pop up every week, your Nexus One might be feeling a little obsolete. Frankly, there's hardly a better way to cheer it up than by installing an operating system that's a little more its speed. In the finest DOSBox tradition, one gentleman recently imbued his Googlephone with Windows 3.11, by far our favorite 1993 Microsoft OS. Realizing the futility of getting it to do anything -- ah, memories -- he set about crafting a step-by-step guide for you to do the same. If you care to give his misery company, you'll find instructions at our source link; if not, don your rose-tinted glasses and peep the video after the break.
Visual Boy Zune brings Game Boy emulation to Zune HD (video)
Once hacked, the Zune HD's rabid fanbase wasted no time in ensuring the device could play Doom. Now, the ZuneBoards want to give it Zelda, too. User BackAtIt has taken the wrappings off the first working emulator for Zune, which is currently capable of playing Game Boy and Game Boy Color ROMs, but little else -- though this "Visual Boy Zune" app is ported from the same VisualBoyAdvance code that's enabled handheld emulation since 2004, it's in early alpha with quite a bit of work left to do. A recent update enabled state save emulation and a ROM selector, but there's no audio output, let alone Game Boy Advance support; BackAtIt says he'll need to rewrite much of the codebase to take advantage of the Zune HD's Tegra architecture. Still, it's never too early for a proof of concept video, and you'll find two blurry ones after the break -- unless you'd rather try it out for yourself at the source link. [Thanks, MK1000]
Wii Controller Demo gets active, Android and Wiimote handle Donkey Kong on video
We knew the Wii Controller Demo app (now known as "Wii Controller IME") was close to being able to interact with Android in a meaningful way, but we certainly didn't expect to see Average Joes playing Donkey Kong on their Nexus One devices this soon. Not that we're kvetching or anything -- and in fact, we'd argue that this landed at a perfect time for you hard-workin' Android owners to give this all a spin over the weekend. Jump on past the break for a look at the setup procedure as well as bona fide proof that a Wiimote and Android can indeed work together for the greater good. Mind those coconuts, though. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: Whoa, we just spotted that this app is actually pikipirs' completely free Wiimote Controller app (available now to download in alpha), which just so happened to surface at about the same time as Ryan Frawley's Will Controller IME (also available now). The more the merrier, right?
Keepin' it real fake: PSP-shaped Mini Game King makes classic emulation a royal decree
Flamboyantly attired in a flowing fuchsia scarf, the Mini Game King is probably guilty of countless copyright violations, but we don't care. The real question is whether this latest KIRF PSP can actually play games, and we're happy to say it does. Summoning the full might of its infringing power, the King can emulate eleven classic consoles and handhelds when it's not playing AV files from 4GB of internal memory, and its Chinese manufacturer triumphantly claims that the device "will make you happy unlimited" if you hook up an wireless six-axis controller as well. "This controller does not come with the console, you have to pay for it," reads the box, but we're dying to try "3Dthergame" and "Othergame" as soon as we can dig one up.
Rumor: Sonic 2 spin-dashing to iPhone
[VGMuseum] Those of you who bought Sonic the Hedgehog on iPhone and liked it will be pleased to hear that, according to Appolicious, Sega will release an iPhone port of Sonic 2 next week. The site reports that the port of the sequel is at least marginally improved over the first iPhone Sonic in terms of control responsiveness, though it still relies on a virtual D-pad and button. Despite the multiplayer capability of Sonic 2 on Genesis, however, this iPhone port is strictly a solo game. Tails follows behind Sonic as an AI-controlled character, but can't be operated by a second player. If Sonic 2 does make it onto the App Store next week, it means enough of us bought the first game to make continued iPhone emulation worthwhile for Sega, which in turn means the porting is really cheap or the first one sold really well. Update: Sega has confirmed the existence of the game, now slated for "late April." [Via Destructoid]
Rhapsody on an iPad
No, not the music service. I'm talking about OS X's grandfather. And here it is booting on an iPad. Developer Steven Troughton-Smith saw the video of Windows 95 running on an iPad in emulation and was inspired to try the same thing with Rhapsody -- the development OS was developed by Apple in the time between the purchase of NeXT and Mac OS X. He used a modified version of the Bochs emulator to accomplish the feat. Why? "Just had to one-up Engadget's post." He notes that it took a good five minutes to boot, and another five just to log in. Icons and a desktop appeared that. Unfortunately, a mouse cursor was left out of the equation, which Steven noted could have been due to installing the VMWare mouse driver for Rhapsody. This isn't the first time he's thrust an obsolete OS onto his iPad via emulation. Check out these screen shots of Windows 1.01. As for the BeOS, "I tried BeOS 5.1. It didn't load." Drat. Check out the gallery below for more screen shots. %Gallery-90361%
Found footage: Windows 95 running on an iPad
Do you remember staring at your computer back in 1995 and wishing you could run your new copy of Windows 95 on a futuristic slate-like device with multitouch capabilities? No? Me neither. That didn't stop the devs at KamaGames from figuring out how to run the OS on an iPad (they did it using a BOCHS emulator). So settle back, put your Alanis Morrisette CD on the stereo, and relive the glory days of the mid-Nineties in the video above! [via Engadget]
Windows 95 on iPad completes the Bill Gates vision (video)
Ok, ok, it's just Windows 95 running in an x86 emulator according to its creator. But even with such clumsy performance you know you love seeing it. Party like its 1995 without the Aqua Net after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
