On Thu, 22 Jun 2000, TFH/Fony wrote:
> The idea is quite good, but I think it would be better to do it on the PC
> (or Mac??) The problem is that in a couple of years, DC, PS/2 or X-Box
> will again be replaced by new consoles that might not be backward
> compatible, rendering your emulator useless. Also diskdrives and other
> pheripherals are easier to get for PC and Mac.
Console lifetimes are quite good. Think of the PSX, it is already about 5
or 6 years old and still games are released for it. And SONY made the PS2
compatible with the PSX, that could become a trend, forcing the competitors
to do the same for their next-generation consoles.
Also, the new wave of consoles is fast enough to run an MSX emulator
programmed in C. So only the low-level code (that interfaces with the
graphics system and sound system etc) would have to be re-written for a new
console. Look at fMSX: most of its code is platform independant.
Note that there is an fMSX port for PSX. But it's not fast enough to be
really usable (so I've heard, I haven't tested it myself).
There are already enough MSX emulators for PC. And they're steadily getting
better, in a couple of years it will be very hard to find differences
between emulators and real machines.
There are some significant differences between consoles and PC/Mac. Kids
will have easier access to a console. Although many families have PCs by
now, most parents don't give their kids complete freedom when using the PC,
because they're afraid the kids will mess up the system. If a kid can get
his (her) own computer, this is no longer a problem and he can experiment
with it as much as he wants. Consoles are attractive because they're cheap,
easy to use and can play games well.
> But I am afraid that most people over here would like to see a real
> machine, and not an emulator...
It depends on who you want to reach. If you want to reach hobbyists and
schools, a real machine would be better. If you want to reach a large
audience, emulator is better because those people already bought the
hardware (console).
Bye,
Maarten
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