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I just found this yesterday, actually. pocketNES, an NES emulator for PocketPC systems. Zelda 1 and FF1 both run at full framerate on my iPAQ 3835 (sound is kinda crappy though). There's also an SNES emulator, but I haven't tried it yet.

Here are some examples of prior art, both digital and physical that should help your search :-)

The Sims is original how? It's just an enhanced version of LCP, with a better graphics engine, and better AI due to the increased CPU horsepower. The game concept itself is far from original.

Pipe Dream (US) - 1990 by Bullet-Proof Software/Lucasfilm

I might as well be the first to mention that most Neo-Geo games are supported by Mame and my personal emulator of choice, Kawaks. If you'd like to try the newer Neo Geo games before you consider the high price road, you should download those emulators and then try searching for some ROMs in various websites, IRC channels, and P2P programs. My personal game recommendations are "Garou: Mark of the Wolves", "The King of Fighters 2000", and any of the Metal Slug games, especially "Metal Slug X".

Oh, and if you see any of the PlayStation ports of Neo Geo games in stores, don't bother with them. They're buggy, bastardized versions of the games with at least twenty to sixty times the amount of loading time (and no, that's not an exaggeration).

If the BIOS is encrypted, and the chip that performs the decryption commits Capcom Suicide when tampered with, then you can't hack the computer.

Check out SASS for a trip down memory lane. The creators have sampled both the UK and the US versions of the original hardware and made a (windows only I think) simulator. It's defintiely fun for five minutes or so :)

There is, of course, the Speak and Spell Simulator. Not really an emulator, but it's quite fun.

It should have been: Bliss32.

Sorry about that!

Does anyone remember the Coleco Adam module?

Do you remember the Intellivision ECS module?

Do you remember the Atari 2600 Piggyback module?

Remember Atari 2600 BASIC?

I do... and trust me: They were all cool 'toys'. I sincerely doubt that much anything useful can be done with this kit, as long as the stipulation remains that you must have the kit to run anything created with it.

I really like SDL. I've submitted bug fixes for mouse and sound issues in the past, and Sam always responded quickly and enthusiastically. SDL really makes 2D programming easy. We'll have to see how good of an OpenGL implementation the kit has before we can venture out of the 2D world. At least Atani or I can now port Bliss32 to it. :)

I do like the 40GB HD though - beats the hell out of the 8GB one in my X-Box. Can I start hoping against hope that MS lets us do the same thing with our X-Box's... er... legally? :)

If any kids are out there, thinking about getting into programming via this module, I would warn you off that path. This is just Linux for the PS2 - it's not a 'Games Creation Kit'. I can't see how it would be any easier to learn programming with this kit than on a real PC.

-J

Methinks we have here the candidate for the biggest distributing computing effort ever to be undertaken.

Brute-force encryption cracking using distributed computing methods relies on known plaintext (i.e. the message starts with "The secret message is:"), known ciphertext, and known algorithm. If the drive itself (as opposed to software) performs the decryption (to avoid the Xing leak that opened the DeCSS floodgates), it won't be easy to discover the encryption algorithm, as the CPS-2 Shock team found. Besides, d.net still hasn't broken 64-bit encryption, and at this rate, it'll take until the heat death of the universe to brute-force 128-bit.

The data is backed up, and, with one exception
it gets to the MAME developers.

Not from what I see here.

There has been awesome work done--the tables and electronics are emulated to the point that they all work together and are as close to the real thing as you can get without stepping into the arcade.

The downside is that this stuff is very much Windows-centric. So that means I have to reboot to get my fix of Circus Voltaire.

It's fake, folks. Thank you, please drive through.

Oh yeah, and go visit RetroGames for REAL emulator news.

Well, it doesn't matter how large the key is, or how advanced the algorithm is.

Not if the chips containing the algorithm and the key in silicon are tamper-resistant, committing Capcom Suicide if anybody attempts to hack them.

Of course, that doesn't stop anybody from getting the machines to run 68K code they wrote to decrypt the ROMs and pass the decrypted data to a computer. It just means you have to be far, far more determined than most pirates were.

It depends on what you mean by portable. If a laptop is "portable", then you can run SNES, old dos games, NES, gameboy, SEGA, PS2, etc. emulators on your laptop.

If you mean a gameboy is portable, it's only a few more iterations until we get there. Right now, I run PocketNes and it works great! Genesis and Lynx emulators also exist. I haven't tried Lynx but the Genesis one is still too slow. If you are willing to run Linux on your iPaq, you can run SNES. As for people who want XT, there is even an 80186 emulator! That means you can run DOS on top of WinCE! They even have screenshots of Windows 3.0 running on a PocketPC.

In short, I am amazed at my iPaq. These things are actually powerful enough to be classified as PC's. These 200Mhz handhelds are what sat on desktops in 1997. Check out Gateway's homepage as of 1/1/1997, they are selling P166's.

Check out the Casio BE-300 which you can get for less than $200. Pop in a 128MB flash card or 1GB IBM microdrive and you've got a great mp3 player.

And soon it will play my PocketNES Nintendo emulator :)

Bleem is dead?!? Quick! Someone tell webc0pi news!

Big deal, people will simply examine the kernel files and then hack the kernel.

Not if (as I mentioned, and you snipped) the kernel won't boot if it doesn't match the digital signature.

They've even managed to crack dongle-protected applications without having a suitable dongle!

Not worthy of an exclamation point. Most dongle-based apps just call a function that checks for the dongle: if (!find_dongle()) {alert("no dongle"); exit(1);} and the cracker just replaces find_dongle() with {return TRUE;}. However, they have not yet been able to fully crack Capcom Suicide, which does the decryption in a dongle that forgets the key if the voltage to its key RAM is tampered with.

Man... Everyone talks about "remembering" Stellar 7 on the PC... How sad.. :) In truth, the PC version of Stellar 7 was really a remake of the original that was released in 1983!! I played this version on the Commodore 64, but it might have also been available for other machines of that vintage. Here are some screenshots of the original c64 version... Irregardless of the pointless information above, Dynamix will be missed (even though I never liked Tribes).. :)

The classic open source example is MESS, but there are lots of other emulators out there.

Windows and Unix users should check Retrogames and Zophar, and Mac users should check emulation.net.

AYBABTU = All Your Base Are Belong To Us !!!

For great justice, go to the AYBABTU history page and download a music video or two.
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http://www.planettribes.com/allyourbase/AYB2.swf

http://hubert.retrogames.com/article.php?sid=1
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Tarald - The Lord of Smeg

The last paragraph highlights a comment from the president of Sega, Hideki Sato. The statment shows that the fault with their failure was not in the hardware or games, but in the lack of marketing. I have also seen other articles at The Register that confirm stories of arguing at executive levels. This bickering led to the lack of marketing, and hence the demise. And this demise is much to my dismay, as I am a avid Sega fan. NEED SOULCALIBUR! Any way...

Sega has done similar things in the past, as seen when they failed to market the Sega Nomad. The Nomad was essentially a portable Genesis, and it rocked. Information on it can be found here and here.

Sega has continually disappointed for years, making the same mistakes with several systems, including the Saturn, the Nomad, and the Dreamcast. I am at a loss for words at the mismanagement of this potentially groundbreaking company.

One thing I find interesting about this new console is the decision to use an 366 MHz Intel Celeron. I would assume that if Nokia wanted to really compete, they would use either a faster processor or at least the Pentium. I know that Linux would make excellent use of any CPU beyond a 486 (*grin*), but wouldn't the greater power be needed to compare to something like a 766Mhz Pentium 3? As Nokia has not released what kind of video processing/GPU/etc, we have little to compare to in the visual arena. Although looking good is not what determines how good a game is, it helps. So with what we currently know, I have some substantial doubts about this system.

The future remains uncertain....

The last paragraph highlights a comment from the president of Sega, Hideki Sato. The statment shows that the fault with their failure was not in the hardware or games, but in the lack of marketing. I have also seen other articles at The Register that confirm stories of arguing at executive levels. This bickering led to the lack of marketing, and hence the demise. And this demise is much to my dismay, as I am a avid Sega fan. NEED SOULCALIBUR! Any way...

Sega has done similar things in the past, as seen when they failed to market the Sega Nomad. The Nomad was essentially a portable Genesis, and it rocked. Information on it can be found here and here.

Sega has continually disappointed for years, making the same mistakes with several systems, including the Saturn, the Nomad, and the Dreamcast. I am at a loss for words at the mismanagement of this potentially groundbreaking company.

One thing I find interesting about this new console is the decision to use an 366 MHz Intel Celeron. I would assume that if Nokia wanted to really compete, they would use either a faster processor or at least the Pentium. I know that Linux would make excellent use of any CPU beyond a 486 (*grin*), but wouldn't the greater power be needed to compare to something like a 766Mhz Pentium 3? As Nokia has not released what kind of video processing/GPU/etc, we have little to compare to in the visual arena. Although looking good is not what determines how good a game is, it helps. So with what we currently know, I have some substantial doubts about this system.

The future remains uncertain....

Speak and Spell Simulator ... that thing was ripe for abuse in the wrong hands =P

E.

Daikak

a complete history of all your base are belong to us:

http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm

-greg

Now, as a non-electronic analogy, imagine if the Mona Lisa was designed so that it could only be viewed in one gallery. Copies of it, in any form, are impossible. Now imagine said gallery has a fire. A priceless work of art is gone for all eternity, save people's memories.

Remind anyone of cps2? Thankfully that's been cracked, as who knows whether Capcom would have ever released the data to the public (as they did with some cps1 games). And the cps2 boards didn't have a life span of a few decades, more like 5 YEARS. See cps2 suicide for the details. Now apply this sort of copyright madness to all modern forms of art, and ask where we'll be culturally in 50 years. Scary.

Salieri writes, "Ever notice how it's sometimes very difficult to tell which is the real or relevant link in the article write-up? Perhaps the editors can distinguish where the main attraction is." He then clicks preview to make sure the links work.

--------------------------------

Try clicking here for everything everyone knows about AYB.

Here's the history beginning from Early 2000:

http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm :)

Okay, then you rip appart your speakers

And in the process set off the tamper detection, causing the speakers to stop decrypting incoming audio. Yes, it is possible (see also Capcom Suicide).

Actually, there's a hack here to change the battery and keep the contents of the board.

Although, gotta say, I'd rather do it with a PSU and bigger same-voltage battery. Keep it alive for a bit longer.

Sorry to burst your bubble and smash the integrity of this news piece, but the encryption algorithm has not been broken, nor any of the actual encryption keys are known.

CPS2Shock team however managed to do something that nobody has done before - extract unencrypted data from the board using 68k code on the hardware itself. This will help figuring out the actual algorithm, but as of yet, the encryption has not been broken. The current files are only useful for playing Street Fighter Zero on emulators, and the painful process to extract this unencrypted data will have to be re-done on EVERY game if nobody can reverse-engineer the actual algorithm.

CPS-2 encryption sounds simple, but it has been used for 8 years now (since 1993 and Super Street Fighter 2, the first CPS-2 system game) and no bootlegs have been made of the games. It doesn't have to mean that it's an overly complicated algorithm, but so far nobody has had any unencrypted data to work against. What makes this scheme devious is that it only encrypts 68k code, not data, so the 0xFFFF and 0x0000 fills don't get encrypted (0xFF and 0x00 fills were crucial in breaking the Kabuki algorithm, used in CPS-1 games' Qsound program roms). Without the unencrypted 68k code, it was impossible to figure out what the encrypted values are related to. It is known that it works on word values (change any bit in the first word and only its encrypted / unencrypted values change, none of the others') and that the address of the value in question is probably used as one of the coefficients in the algorithm.

The files that CPS2Shock released are XOR tables. When used against the original encrypted program ROM file they will produce a ROM file with unencrypted code, but data intact (since it was never encrypted anyway). Go ahead and see if you can actually break the encryption, it shouldn't be that hard now.

(Encrypted) CPS2 ROMs, get the encrypted Street Fighter Zero program ROM from here and XOR table from CPS2Shock.

Yes! I felt so awful about not knowing who authored that. Thanks to you (and google) I checked and it was made by a music group who are themselves called Golden Shower. Quoth joshua at memepool:
The Brazilian electronic music group Golden Shower's recent video, Video Computer System (mirrored here and here) will remind you of all the great games for the Atari 2600 VCS.

A quick cut and paste:
Dubious DVD player? - I just received a rather urgent mail from Michael, over at GAG, regarding http://www.gamedvdplayer.com, a site that sells the DULUX DVD player that comes with a built-in Sega Master System and 2 cds with about 700 SMS games:

"According to Sega's legal people, they didn't license the titles out. Since this is only available mail order, purchasers could potentially be charged for buying stolen merchandise (if they live in the U.S.)"

Someone has also been spamming the URL on various console-related newsgroups on USENET. SPAM=BAD! Stay away from companies who don't know how to do business.

Of course, I bet they put some kind of scrambling in there to make it harder than that.

Sadly, the CPS-2 encryption that these games use hasn't been broken yet. But assuming they do a simple dump of the ROMs, there's a good chance this will let the cps2shock team figure out how to decrypt them without trashing the board. It wouldn't hurt, that's for sure.

This movie clip is almost as cool as the toy.

If you want to see how some of the scores on old arcade games are achieved, wander over to Marp. The Mame action replay page.

There is even a 3.2 million Pacman score on there. It just requires Mame to play the playback files.
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• But... I agree that /. could inform people more about MAME since it gets better with every release. But then... there are excellent sites like http://www.retrogames.com or http://www.vintagegaming.com already doing that
  
• Hint: Maybe /. readers could ask Nicola Salmoria (or someone else from the MAME team) some questions ? ;-)
  
• I hope they get Afterburner working, not because it's such a great game without the hydraulics, but it would _really_ be a technical achievement don't you think?
  

Go here for links to the image and the appropriate software.

• I cannot play them anywhere else!!
  
• I already paid for them big time in the arcades years ago :)
  
• in the 80ties I bought some crappy arcade conversions of the games for the c64/Atari ST on which Sega/Konami etc have also had a percentage via licensing. Anyone remembering the crappy job Ocean did with Outrun/Afterburner? Only a few of them were good (rainbow islands, bubble bobble)
  
• IF you could buy rom sets for a reasonable price I would certainly buy my favorites !!
  

This is great stuff.

This kind of preservation the motivation for M.A.M.E.?

Also, some catalogs specialize in old movies that have escaped the gravitational pull of corporate greed, and become public domain. Unfortunately it's expensive to preserve these.

What is really criminal however is the same companies that will sue to prevent "fair use" of their copyrighted materials... or worse pay off Congress to extend copyright law (hello Disney!). Without corporate support for preservation, these films are food for mold.

Actually, xmess is part of xmame now! Just thought you'd want to know :)

Also, http://www.retrogames.com would be a good one.
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Nintendo will never be able to track down the authors of UltraHLE, and even if it does, the case would be a waste of money. Currently they are just trying to discourage the UltraHLE authors by announcing stuff like that.

Here are some reasons why Nintendo can't sue the UltraHLE authors.

MAME lives on. Who cares about anything else :-)