Any purists give up and go the PC Emulation route?

[Mike 01Hawk]

Pros

• Saves a TON of space by consolidating all your systems into 1 box.
  
• No more confusing rats nest of power, video, and audio cords.
  
• No more swapping video cords if your TV doesn't have enough inputs.
  
• Video/Audio output is now crisp digital greatness (assuming HDMI).
  
• You can use the controller of your choice.
  
• If you have no morals, you can FINALLY play that one game you could just never find in the wild.

Cons

• Emulation not all ways perfect.
  
• Interface takes a bit to get used to. Not as simple as pushing in a cart and firing the ole console up.
  
• You lose the 'purist' feel.

Thoughts?

Edited July 13, 2010 by Mike 01Hawk

[MagitekAngel]

I've been debating getting an original Xbox and using it as an emulator platform for some time now. As it stands, I'll never just "give up" the massive shelf of consoles I've got plugged in - I find that the older a console, the more it demands to be played on the original hardware. I've got Stella on my PC like probably everyone else on this forum, but I never use it.

[Emehr]

The Wii is great for playing a quick game on emulators when laziness (or the desire to use save points) strikes, but it will never replace my consoles. Playing video games is more than just holding a controller and staring at the screen for me. I like the tactile and visual experience. The games on a shelf, the design of the consoles, and the feel of the different controllers. They are keys to opening memories that would be diluted if I ever went 100% emulation. They have more value. You cannot sell the emulators or the binaries you play on them.

 

One thing I will heartily endorse for emulation is arcade games. For many it is impractical to own more than X number of arcade machines and emulation helps keep this part of history alive.

[Mike 01Hawk]

Oh I would NEVER get rid of my collection Just like every other hoarder on AA it would just find its way to the closet (Never the attic! Gotta be temperature controlled!!!)

 

I would think PC emulation (or XBOX like you said) would just make the games more accessible to me. Just turn on my existing HTPC and boom, I could be playing SMB one second, Pacman the next.

[monzamess]

I think we've had this discussion before.

 

One point that I think gets overlooked a lot is that old hardware is fragile. Emulators have essentially virtualized old machines. If your old game console dies, you spend a while repairing it or hunting for a replacement in working condition (this is obviously less of a problem for popular consoles). If your emulation PC dies, just move the HD to new PC and get on with life. The "new" PC might even be an older freebie which is still good enough to play the games.

[Chuck D. Head]

For me emulation is mostly a way to try a game I could never justify paying for when I have a family to support (Earthbound, etc.) or to try a game I am considering buying. For the most part, I only buy a couple games a year that cost me more than $10. There are a few games that I have used emulation to finish the damn game because it is too hard for me to finish otherwise and I need quick access to the save state buttons. Morgan

[desiv]

One point that I think gets overlooked a lot is that old hardware is fragile.

 

Exactly! That's why the emulator on my XBox is... what? RROD?? DAMMITTT!!!

 

Oh wait, my 7800's still working.. whew..

 

desiv

 

(OK, I don't have an XBox, but I've played one on TV.. er.. wait.. that wasn't it..)

[+wood_jl]

Since PCs all went "widescreen" they are less-suitable for proper emulation. I don't like playing in a little window....FULL SCREEN, BABY! Unfortunately - on my system anyway - this frequently means stretched, unnatural aspect ratio. I was disappointed when **ALL** PCs went widescreen. I don't watch movies on it, nor do I plan to. One manufacturer must have touted "widescreen" as a feature and the others all had to jump on the "me too" bus. Now you can't get a good 4:3 display if you prefer it.

[Shephda]

I have 19 different working consoles and 5 TV\monitors, all setup with switching.

5 systems can be played at a time, and with simply changing a switch box.

 

Emulation is cool on a PSP for traveling, but outside of that it's a tool of the debil!

[accousticguitar]

If your emulation PC dies, just move the HD to new PC and get on with life. The "new" PC might even be an older freebie which is still good enough to play the games.

For me it's usually the HD that dies.

[akator]

I'm a purist... who also loves emulators. I guess I'm strange.

 

I love being able to use original hardware, but I also have to admit that some of the systems I have are not my favorites and don't get much use. I see a point in the future when I'll trim down my collection, since it isn't practical for me to keep a system that only gets used for a few hours every few years. I've also got "backups" of many systems, mainly from fear of the hardware dying. It's a little overkill. For some of my less used items, it would make more sense for me to pass the hardware along to someone else who would use it more.

 

With so many USB-to-classic-controller-adapters available, I've been pleased with how much closer to "the real thing" it is to use an original controller when emulating a system.

 

That said, I'm not ready to get rid of anything yet and switch to emulation

[stalepie]

I think emulation is the future. CRTs and game consoles are no longer being manufactured and when games are re-released today (like on the Virtual Console) they're emulation. After a certain number of years our old game machines won't work anymore, so it will be the only choice.

 

I think it frees up room and simplifies things greatly because theoretically you could program an emulator that emulates all systems, making even the process of setting up your emulator a snap.

[monzamess]

If your emulation PC dies, just move the HD to new PC and get on with life. The "new" PC might even be an older freebie which is still good enough to play the games.

For me it's usually the HD that dies.

 

Ok, make backups, and copy the backups to the new PC. That's actually what I do but I was glossing over the process in the last post.

[4Ks]

I've become so frustrated with my stupid, half-broken atari 2600 that I recently gave up keeping the thing on life support and switched entirely to Stella. I haven't looked back.

[Reaperman]

I have yet to play a perfect emulator, but then again, I'm not really looking for one either. In my experience there's something just not quite right between the controller input and the screen update on PC emulators.

 

I'm in support of flashcarts and other forms of system modding, though. That's basically the same idea, but I feel that the games play better. I also view it as more legitimate than pc emulation, since you can enjoy a game you own, on the hardware platform you own it for. I don't even have a moral problem with leaving the game sealed in it's box, and playing it entirely through the device.

 

I agree that emulation is the future, and that this future is already here. Doesn't mean I want any part of it.

Edited July 13, 2010 by Reaperman

[The_Laird]

No never and never will. I hate emulators, they just never feel the same.

[Atari2600Lives]

I have both.

[PsychoKittyNet]

I used to emulate alot back in high school, since I did not have any money, but for the past few years I have been collecting the actual carts and prefer to play that way.

[dooglehead]

Playing classic games on an emulator is boring.

[desiv]

It's a great question.

I'm torn...

When I started actually seriously working, I was all work and no play and had gotten rid of everything I had owned.

I wasn't even really playing PC games much... Just not much draw..

 

Then I was working on a proxy filter and browsing the internet and came across a program called Pasofami. An SNES emulator for the PC.. The idea that it could be done was pretty amazing, so I started getting into emulators.

(I had never even owned an NES or SNES before)

 

Since then, I've tried just about every emulator out there. And, it got me BACK into real hardware, which I prefer.

 

But I don't look down on emulators at all. I am still amazed by the technology.

And now, the FPGA emulators... Awesome...

 

I might downsize my collection at some time, and move more to emulation on the systems I just don't have space (and time to set up and put away) for...

But I'll never give up all my original hardware either...

 

And as for large scale emulation, I picked up a cheapo arcade cabinet with a Jamma game called Toki in it.

Fun game.. Kept it like that for a year or so.. But now, I mostly keep a PC inside it running Vantage, a vertical old school game emulator.

I can't tell the difference between it playing pacman and a real arcade machine. I know there is one, but I can't tell.

I can plug Toki back in (except I also have to rotate the monitor again, as Toki is Horizontal), but I haven't.

 

A bunch of the classic games in a real cabinet with a real vertically mounted arcade monitor.. Yeah, it's emulated, but I'm OK with that..

 

Now, I also have a (currently broken) Pole Position II machine. I seriously considered going for a multi-driving cabinet... But.. I decided to fix it and leave it as PP II..

I mean, Toki is no Pole Position II.

 

desiv

Edited July 14, 2010 by desiv

[user42]

My desktop...

 

 

Open gamebase...

 

 

Select Game (read manual, look at art, ect..)...

 

 

Play game..

 

 

My USB controller box...

 

[famicommander]

I detest emulators. There is not a single one out there that I would call a 100% reproduction of whatever it's emulating, and that's even ignoring the sentimental and nostalgic parts of the console gaming experience.

 

The sound especially is something that never seems to be quite right. But you also have issues like scaling and aspect ratio. Also, I prefer playing games with the controllers they were designed for. It's a pain in the ass to do that on an emulator. Yeah, I know there are USB adapters but screw that.

 

And all of that is beside the fact that there are some systems that are yet to be emulated well at all. Find me a good Saturn or Jaguar emulator. How about CD-i or 3DO? N-Gage and Atari 5200? Or how about finding an emulator that reproduces the effects of the Virtual Boy or Vecrtex?

[Austin]

Emulation doesn't usually feel right (never has) compared to the real thing.. Often times there are screen jerks, glitches that aren't in the original hardware, and sound hiccups, depending on the emulator you use. Like it was stated earlier, the wide-screen aspect on modern PCs also keeps the view from feeling natural, too.

 

All in all though, I'm not against it.. I've discovered so many games I wouldn't have thanks to emulation, and I thank it for that. Also, emulation is a good poor-man's method of getting screen captures and video footage, as well as ripping game soundtracks.

 

One thing emulation is great for though are things you could not normally get at home, like arcade games. Also, emulation of more modern 3D platforms is quite interesting.. For instance, being able to smooth out the textures, remove the fog, and raise the resolution of Nintendo 64 games. That is downright awesome, IMO.

[goldenegg]

I used to mainly play on original hardware and had a decent sized collection. I did use emulators, but the majority of my gaming was on the original consoles. About 5 years ago, I got to the point where I realized I was more interested in playing the games than having a collection. Emulators were also getting to the point where they were able to provide cycle accurate emulation. I decided I would start thinning the collection to items that had specific meaning to me.

 

One surprise I had was that, while I am extremely fond of many games, owning the original cart meant little to me. I was a lot more interested in owning the console hardware. After thinning down the collection, I was left with a dozen or so consoles and classic computers, with a small amount of original software for each and flash carts. I find I get just as much enjoyment using emulation as I do playing to original consoles, as long as a good gamepad is used.

 

With that said, the emulators I use are specifically computer based. I find that most emulators available for consoles, such as the Xbox and Wii, aren't very accurate and simply don't 'feel' right. The Wii Virtual Console is an exception though, as they've done an awesome job with their emulators. Not all that surprising though, since the emulators were all created with a knowledge level of the original hardware few home developers have.

 

I do what I can though when it comes to supporting original developers, as I know full well that ROMs aren't freely distributable (there are exceptions). I'll always buy the retro gaming collections for various systems and have spent more money than I'll ever openly admit on the Wii Virtual Console (let's just say that one SD card is not enough). If developers came together and provided a way for us to legally purchase ROMs from them, for use in whatever emulator we choose, then I would be first in line with my credit card in hand!

[goldenegg]

My USB controller box...

 

 

Details PLEASE!!!