The DCEmu Network Public Interview (Question #2)

[RCON]

I got into emulation from discovering MAME. For a few years I was an emuholic! Building arcade controls and a couple of cabinets. Then found the PSP and I had to have one. I got into homebrew with the PSP scene then started learning how to program my own.

[b8a]

A few years back I had just returned from Japan and my Aunt, who's a Sweedish interpreter, knew I was looking for a new job and so she would pass me any openings she saw for Japanese interpreters. One of the "jobs" was from someone requesting help on a Bahamut Lagoon translation patch. I responded to the ad and the guy told me that I would need a ROM and an emulator to test. Up until that point I had never heard of full-blown console emulation, just a few commercial games that had been dumped and modded to play on their own. Anyway, it was a great discovery for me because I had bought a few games a few years earlier (most notably Seiken Densetu 3) but was too busy working three+ jobs at the time to play them. By the time I finally got some spare time, all of my SNES controllers had serious problems, so, when I found out about emulation it was the right solution at the right time. I had previously been using my Mac's as strictly work machines, but once I found that I could use emulators on them, those were the first game related applications I put on them. I was pretty shocked to learn that my 10 year-old mac could handle any emulator I put on it flawlessly. It was also a great discovery for me because I used to love gaming, but ever since the 3D consoles started coming out, it became more and more of a world that I couldn't relate to. I'm no fan of indiscriminate 3D usage and the game concepts that seem to get utilized in 3D franchises the most are usually pretty unexciting to me. Luckily, emulators have allowed me to extend the 2D era, and now that most of the systems I ever owned are emulated on the PSP, it's a dream come true since high quality portable 2D gaming has been my own personal holy grail since before the first generation Game Boy came out.

The downside of my introduction to the emulator world is that I shared my discovery with my brother and he promptly became a rom-$#@!, downloading hundreds of games that he never had any intention of buying. Since then I've been a lot more careful about who I tell about it because it's kind of like drugs or alcohol, sure the majority of people may be able to use them responsibly (although I hardly advocate the recreational usage of either), but you never know who's going to let it get out of control until it's too late. Emulators have been a god send, but it's the people out there that treat it as though the games are public domain and therefore their right to download and play without paying for them, that are ruining a very, very good thing for those of us who try to emulate responsibly. But, I'm not trying to start a war about the ethics of emulating, I'm just telling my story...

As for how I got into PSP homebrew... Well, I had wanted a PSP ever since I first heard about them several years ago. I usually wait to buy any new consoles until a few games have been released for it that I want, but as soon as I found out that the PSP could run homemade code and that Sony was locking down it's ability to do so, I ran out and got me a 1.50 system. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that, unless the hardware itself changes, a programmable system can always be modded to do the things that a future non-programmable system could, but once you lose that programmability, the newer systems quickly loose capabilities that older systems once had. I was most interested in using emulators, but with emulators comes the homebrew community, so that was that.

By the way, to anyone out there still looking to get a PSP, don't give up looking for 1.50 systems! I was at a store today (almost a full eight months since 2.00 systems were first shipped) and they had at least 10 brand new 1.50 value packs on display (all of the ones I could see were 1.50). These systems are still out there and I get the feeling that they really aren't that rare at all. Just keep your eyes peeled.

[grin.ch]

I didn't even know what homebrew was until PSP. and I know that's sad, but it's true. Anyway, as it happened, I think I was just looking for the newest PSP UMD game releases and I kept seeing this DCEmu reference. So finally, I came in to check it out and now, I'm a member and an owner of 60-75 homebrew games. Plus, I am a lot more knowledgeable on computers and how they work in general. Thanks for listening, america. and England. and stuff.

btw, I love the site's new look! Good job Wraggster. (If you read this)

[PoorWhiteTrash]

Well, until I got my psp, I had no idea what homebrew was. I didnt even know what an emulator was. So while trolling for porn, I happened along a rom site that lead me to another site to another site that led me here. Have been wondering why I never went to college and learned to write code now. Heck, I am am amazed I was able to downgrade my psp after I thought it would be so cool to access the internet with it, wich I never did, because all the hot spots in michigan are old ladies in menopause. so anyhow, I digress....

I couldnt write myself a clue, so I like to come here and be amazed at what you people can do.

[bacteria]

In the mid 1990's a computer magazine called PC Zone did articles on playing arcade games - MAME - and promoted DavesClassics - a site which specialised in MAME games and screenshots. A further article in PC Zone / PC Format later covered emulating Mario 64 using Ulehue. Wow. I got into emulation because of these articles, and into the internet as I needed the internet go get the emulation.

Sure, I like playing the old emulation games, and still do, but this interest dispelled my lack of interest in consules, and got my interest in same. Because of my interest in emulation, I subsequently bought a GBA, GBA SP, NDS, N64, GameCube and now GP2x. Because of the emulation scene, I ended up buying full price games for some of these Nintendo systems - so "N" actually profited by me getting into emulation! (suck that with a fine straw!).

[moogster66]

I am one of the older gamers. I have owned Pong, all the way up through Atari, Intellivision, and just about every game system after except Colecovision. I have spent major bucks on systems, games and gadgets that go with. And have sold off alot of my stuff because a new system or game came out. About two years ago, I started getting into Xbox modding, which as you all know has a great Emu and homebrew scene. Alot of people say "Why would I want to play a game that is ten years old or more?". I say a great game is like a great song. It will satnd the test of time if it is great. Also, being an older gamer, it brings back fond memories of playing with family and friends. The PSP has also been a great system for having so many different Emu's and homebrew to play with. We are very lucky to have the dedicated coders out there, who made the PSP more fun than it could have been! Thanks to all the coders!

[mutantllama]

Hi Everyone.
I first became interested in the homebrew/Emu scene back in 1997 when my dad brought his first PC (pentium I, 133Mhz, 16meg RAM etc.) New to the internet, I started browsing and looking around, following links in Yahoo. I soon stumbled across Daves Videogame Classics, the #1 Emu and MAME site at the time (along with Atmospheric Heights, anyone remember this one?). I was gobbed smacked; Arcade games long forgotten, now playable at home. So that was the begining....

Fast fwd seven years, and a friend introduced me to the world of the modded Xbox. I soon got my hands on a second hand machine for £50 and payed £100 to have it 'chipped'. Awsome!! at last, arcade and multi console emulation in the livingroom....

January 2006, my mobile phone contract is due to run out soon, so I look round for the best deal. I can have a Motorola on contract with a PSP as a free gift. I look round the web to see what it can do (I'm not a big fan of the Sony Playstation brand), and WOW! multi console emulation is now available where ever! I get the phone, but the PSP is version 2.5, so I sold it on Ebay, and put the money made towards a 1.5 model, and I have never looked back. It's the most amazing handheld I have ever touched, and I have had my fair share over the years.

If the evolution of hand helds continues, where will we be in ten years time? Hmmmmm......

[shadowprophet]

It seems like I was into homebrew ever since the C64. However after my C64 phaze, I was heavily into comercial gameing, untill I ran into emulation somtime around ps 1 era.

Since that time finding true homebrew was rare
As I couldnt find a site as massive as dcemu.

And as I recall. Long before sony was cracking down on the homebrew scene, There was some other group of people trying to erase it off the face of the earth.

There was zsnes and some genesis emulation sites.
But those pages would always move and go up and down randomly. makeing it next to impossible to keep up with whats new.
But the real impact of how big homebrew truely was, didnt hit me untill somtime around the end of the ps 1's life cycle.
So Homebrew was a hard road to follow for me.

Years later.
I lucked up and found dcemu.
The only site I had ever ran across that was dedicated to homebrew, in all console forms.

That was when it finely hit me.
Homebrew will always be there, in one form or another.

That was a good day for me

[geise69]

I first got into emulation around 96. I had the very first Mac PowerPC. It was (i think) a 133mhz machine. I first was playing gameboy sega master system, pc-engine early MAME, and nes stuff. A month later a SNES emulator was released and it eventually turned into snes9x. Then I found emulation.net for mac useres and the vintage gaming network which I believe used to be DavesClassics. For finding games the best place at the time was The Dump. It had such a good supply of games. Getting a windows 95 computer in 97 and playing MagicEngine for the first time was and still is my favorite moment in emulation. Popping in Ys and Lords of Thunder for the first time and having them play pretty much perfect was a dream come true. I loved playing it on my real turbo duo but it just looked better to me on a PC monitor. Also I'm with b8a on the whole 3D game thing. There's some games that are 3d that I love but ever since I bought my Saturn, PSX, and newer systems there always just seemed something missing. There still is something missing. It's like playing all the old FF or Castlevania games and then playing the new ones. It's just not the same. Same goes for Metriod and holy $#@!...Contra. I guess I'm just getting old.

As for homebrew, I didn't get into homebrew till I bought my Japanese Dreamcast. Actually it was a bit after I bought my DC that I found the homebrew scene. Man the DC homebrew scene was and still is amazing. I never would've believed my dreamcast could do the things that the coders have made it do. Which seems kinda funny since I was playing emulators on an old ass Mac PPC. Anyways that's how I got into everything.

Also hey Shadowprophet here is a link that will bring back some memories for you (if you haven't seen this site yet.) http://www.c64-hof.com/

[Eric]

For me it started back the very year i got my Dreamcast 2002. My cousin had told me about dcemulation site i visited and couldnt believe my eyes. At first i was mostly for the emulation and then probably about 2004 i started playing some homebrew games i think the first i ever played was that Smash TV game that was redone and had Mega Man characters by Mr.Sizzler i think thats his name. Anyways that was the great game i played sad it didnt get completed though. I probably played plenty other homebrew games on the PC that including C-Dogs which is still one of my personal favs.