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Free Software PS2 Emulator PCSX2 Hits 1.0
An anonymous reader writes with an excerpt from geek.net on the release of PCSX2, a GPLed emulator for the PS2: "PCSX2 is a free PS2 emulator for the PC that has been in development since the year 2000 and managed to reach version 1.0 last week. As an emulator it's an impressive piece of work, boasting compatibility with over 73 percent of games, which is some 1,697 titles. It can offer up graphics beyond what the original hardware was capable of, achieving resolutions up to 4096 x 4096 with anti-aliasing and texture filtering. You can save games, record video as you play, use a range of controllers, and even adjust game speed if you so wish. Of course, you'll need a fast machine to run PS2 games at a decent speed, but the spec is still reasonable. It's recommended you have at least a Core 2 Duo running at 3.2GHz, or a Core i5 at 2.66GHz+. As for graphics cards, a GeForce 9600GT or Radeon HD 4750 is desirable."
Grab it while it's hot (official binaries and source). Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be packaged for any GNU/Linux distros (Debian has packages of the predecessor to PCSX2, PCSX: Reloaded which, naturally, emulated the Playstation).
buy a copy of an old Winning Eleven and play it on my laptop now.
PCSX2 is only really usable with the GSDX GPU plugin, which as the name implies, uses DirectX. Although it can run under Linux in software rendering mode.
On Linux and Mac, you're stuck with either poor graphics emulation (bad emulation quality, breakage, glitches, poor performance) with the GL plugin, or good but non-accelerated graphics emulation with GSDX.
It's also a 32-bit only app and they don't even support building it in 64-bit distros (even though it'd only take a few buildsystem fixes to actually make it build in 32-bit mode fine, much like Wine). This is why distros don't ship it.
I've paired PS3 controls with Linux before. The latest Ubuntu release is making it difficult, but nothing I can't overcome.
Between the sheer smoothness and beauty of XBMC, it's ability to launch NES, SNES, Sega and other emulators as well as native Linux games grabbing a couple of PS3 controls on a PC tucked away out of sight replaces what used to be a gianormous wiring mess connected to every TV.
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It didn't take that long to design, build and send a rover to mars!
I've got a ton of PS2 games I'd like to take for a spin, this might well be the first emulator that I'd use for something other than piracy.
I tried using it on my old computer (Core 2 Duo @ 2.26GHz, GeForce 9600), and it didn't run at all well. Primarily seemed to be the sound - sound disabled, it ran at about full speed, but with sound it ran around 5fps. Changing video settings didn't seem to affect it - I got 5fps at 16x MSAA and 5fps at 0x AA.
That computer died a while back, and I'm on a new, more powerful one now (Core i7 @ 2.3GHz, GeForce 660), so I might try this out sometime, see if I can handle it now.
I've always admired peoples' commitment to creating emulators for gaming platforms. Years down the track they're often the only platform left to play, unless of course the game publisher decides to 're-release' an old title with an inbuilt emulator for a nominal fee.
As time goes on and as subsequent generations of consoles become more complicated in both their hardware and embedded operating systems, emulating them will become increasingly difficult. I don't know how long it can last.
Hopefully console manufacturers will shy away from overcomplicated designs as they have been quite costly for them in the current generation of consoles, but this is probably wishful thinking.
Why would I want to use an emulator on the classic windows game box I have in the living room, when I have the genuine article in there already?
I have a PS2 Fat, with the network module, a 500gb IDE drive stuck in the expansion bay, and a magic memory card in card slot 1.
FreeMCBoot is free. It exploits a little known feature in fat PS2s that allow it to boot from the memory card (this was used for japanese kareoke software), which gives me access to homebrew, and HD loader, OpenHDLoader, and USB advance.
Between the 3, I no longer need to use the actual DVD disc drive to play my games, and the console will last almost forever in this state.
I can play my PS2 games on the actual PS2, and have the convenience of picking the game I want to play without leaving the couch. It runs at full speed, because it is running on the native hardware.
Why would I use an emulator? FreeMCBoot is free. Give me a memory card, and I can make it magic for you too. Not problems. I did it for several friends. You can make one yourself if you have skillz disc swapping or have an action replay disc. If you don't, there is a community who will cook your card for you for free.
Not belittling PCSX2 or anything: for people that ditched their old console, it offers a good nostalgia fix, and also serves as a code base for emulators running on other consoles, (like the PS3, now that it is hopelessly smashed security wise.) That is *always* a good thing.
But I still prefer the real thing.
Going back to about 2001, every couple of years when I've upgraded, I've tried to see if I can actually run a game on the fucker.
I've tried it on a Pentium II 350mhz, a Duron 1.3ghz, a Celeron 2.6ghz, a P4 3ghz with a x1950 radeon. Tried it today on my old dual xeon and its still nowhere near smooth with Gt4.
Oh well, sometime in the next decade, maybe.
You have to get a copy of Sony's PS2 BIOS to get it to work.
What are the good PS2 games? I want to see if I can get this to work right now.
I wouldn't spend a dime on Sony, but I'd love to try some of those games.
What was big on the PS2?
You are welcome on my lawn.
So this is not a true emulator but a 'high level' emulator, much like UltraHLE was, which used Voodoo2 cards to render and possibly enhance graphics beyond N64 specifications? at the other end of the emulation spectrum you have MAME which aims to accurately reproduce the arcade PCB in software down to the hardware registers, warts and all.
took 12 years, but it just goes to show, nerds > suits
Plug-in Installer?
I wonder if Sony's new SOE Web Installer plug-in has anything to do what this. (said SOE plug-in being installed in all installed browsers by SOE game executables)
Yup, thats a slashdotting alright. ;)
I mean I am starting to read the instruction to dump your bios... That about mean that only the dedicated or those getting a torrent PS2 Bios will use the emulator.
*bird chirping* http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/7510379/PS2_BIOS_Files_(2001-2006) *bird chirping*
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where will i get me sub playstation isos without fucking up my ratio
I'm pretty sure there are PC versions of Winning Eleven (or rather Pro Evolution Soccer as it's called outside of Japan). No need for emulators.
I imagine that in a lot of cases, there are features that console versions have that are cut from PC versions, such as the ability to use more than one gamepad with one machine and one screen. In certain console game genres, a mode supporting two players on one machine is to be expected, but the PC version assumes LAN or online play and thus requires a separate PC and copy of the game per player to make more money for the publisher. No, screen-peeking is not always a blocker, especially in e.g. fighting games and games with co-op missions. In these cases, this makes the console version more desirable for a media PC than the PC version.
Between the sheer smoothness and beauty of XBMC, it's ability to launch NES, SNES, Sega and other emulators
Sure, you can buy a standard PC DVD-ROM drive to read your PS1 and PS2 discs as marcansoft pointed out, and you can buy a Retrode adapter to read your Super NES and Sega Genesis cartridges. But what do you use to dump your NES cartridges? Or do you just play homebrew NES games like Super Bat Puncher, Thwaite, and Zooming Secretary?
The trick would be someone proving damages and not getting the case tossed out of court if they tried to prosecute.
In practice, they don't have to prove damages. They just have to prove the infringement of a copyright to collect statutory damages (which are available if the product's copyright was registered in the U.S. within three months of publication), and even if not, they just have to make the defendant incur attorney's fees.
Getting them illegally is not an option if you as a publisher want to be able to distribute copies of your old games along with a working emulator. Some emulators (especially of the Game Boy Advance) have worked around this by reimplementing all the BIOS calls in native code, thus running the BIOS in high-level emulation.
Or you can target a console. Even if the console uses OpenGL to expose the GPU, you're targeting a single model
How so? You have to target both AMD and NVIDIA and possibly Intel when you develop for PC. You also have to target both AMD (Xbox 360) and NVIDIA (PS3), and possibly really old AMD (Wii) when you develop for consoles.
Yes, but if they're going to do that, then what's the point of using a console?
Being next to a TV. Most people, excluding the geek demographic of Slashdot, aren't going to want to connect a "computer" to a TV and plug in gamepads in order to play local multiplayer games.
On a computer running a 2.2GHz Intel i3 with an nVidia ge-force GT 660 card and 4GB of ram, how good can you get games running?
I can rn Garry's Mod, or any other source game, at highest setting AND run FRAPS at 60FPS full size without everything becoming laggy and shit [even maps with a lot of water, and all sorts of rendering effects] - if that serves any purpose so far as putting into perspective what it currently CAN run.
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot