snes9x
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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.
Homebrew SNES emulator released for the Wii
Finally, Engadget editor Paul Miller's prayers have been answered -- in the form of a homebrew SNES emulator for the Wii. It's no secret that Paul is eerily obsessed with the SNES, and now he can get access to all his favorites (import or otherwise) with another Wii tweak. The well known emulator SNES9X has been ported to Nintendo's money maker, and it even includes support for the Wiimote (there are plans for future implementation of the Classic controller and two-player game modes). We're assuming this is all part of the much-loved Twilight Princess exploit, though they're a bit short on detail. Hit the read link and start breaking Nintendo's heart ASAP!
Well, it was only a matter of time, but SNES emulators are here!
You know it was coming. Linux opened so many doors and windows with its Yellow Dog iteration, this shouldn't be such a big surprise. I mean, Snes9x operates in Linux, so... you know. While the video on YouTube has a guy going really, really slow in loading Chrono Trigger (he's really typing like he's eating a hot dog with one hand and balancing a soda in the other), the truth of the matter is that it works! It runs nearly at full speed and with those fun little 16-bit sounds. The sounds are, however, slightly off-kilter. No biggie, though. Personally, I'd rather play all my SNES emulator games for free than download the classics on that virtual library thingy. But for all you perfection buffs, know that it's not a completely, absolutely perfect rendition of your classic SNES titles. So, take your pic. If I had a PS3 right now, I'd be loading up... hmm... probably the translated Seiken Densetsu 3... A.K.A. Secret of Mana 3 (let me break that down right quick: the first game was titled Final Fantasy Adventure for the Game Boy, the second was actually Secret of Mana and this was the third! Ta-da!).[thanks MiKE!]
Nintendo, a top 10 patent abuser [update 1]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, looking to defend freedom in the digital world, has listed the top 10 most bogus software patents. Making the list is Sheldon F. Goldberg (online gaming), Acceris (VoIP), and the House that Mario Built. Nintendo's faux pas patent has to do with software emulation. Jason Schultz, EFF's staff attorney, accuses Nintendo of being "a big bully" against small game companies writing computer emulators. Schultz believes the technology used to be allowable under the fair-use doctrine. We all know how aggressive Nintendo is towards piracy, but some small-time developers use SNES and GBA emulators to make their own original titles. Wouldn't Nintendo benefit from a pool of support / titles from the independent scene?Now, how about we nullify that damn load screen patent held by Namco. Load times wouldn't be so bad if we could play a minigame while we wait.[via Evil Avatar][update 1: This news is so frickin' old -- 2004 old. I got hosed, and sorry guys for presenting this as recent news, 'cos it was pretty stupid of me to overlook the date.]
