The DCEmu Network Public Interview (Question #2)

To those who dont know what this is ill let you in to what this is.

This is a rather unique experiment if you like of a public interview of up to 40,000 people who are members of the DCEmu Network. We are all here for the love of homebrew and gaming and so the questions will be based around that subject.

With the new Network Forum i only need to post this once for it to show on all the sites :)

Heres question 2

What got you interested in the Homebrew and Emulation Scene ?

(as usual i answer first)

Well if i remember right it was back in around 1996 when i first got a PC, someone installed a Snes emulator on the computer and i was shocked and amazed at seeing Super Mario World on my pc.

If im talking about homebrew only then its the Dreamcast, Boob Dreamcast Research was the premier site at that time and talk of a Media Player and Gameboy Emulator were the hot topics.

OK thats me done, over to the masses :)

Well first thing i had was a SNES emulator on my computer, but i really got into homebrew with PSP. I was watching Attack of the Show on G4 they mentioned firmware 2.6 was cracked i looked it up and here i am now. :D

Well I guess I've been taking apart modifying and putting together electronics since I was five or so lol. The homebrew and emu scene was just a logical step later on along the way, I guess that all started when I purchased my HDD from sony for my PS2 and was angered on spending that much money JUST to play FFXI and bein stuck with a huge hard drive with NOTHING I COULD DO WITH IT!!!!! (Thanks alot Sony you stupid.....) So I started to research and see what else I could do with my hard drive, I had mildly been into emulators before that so I could play with some of my old NES and SNES games on my PC and was thrilled at the possibility of NES and SNES on my TV rather than PC and with a console pad. Low and behold it was such a pain to get a hold of the disks to be able to eXploit my unit I never did end up doing it. Once I saw that hello world was achieved I knew I needed a psp. :)

PSP is what really got me into the homebrew and emulation full blast...but I've been playing roms on my PC's for ages and have always been interested in anything somebody made in their garage (or home office).

I always used to play things like the imported versions of Pokemon Yellow/Gold/etc. before they were released in the USA via emulation, then I of course bought them when they released here. That was a long time ago though...

When I got my PSP, I wanted simply to do 'more' with it; I had been hearing about things like the Wipeout Web hack and I just looked around the net for 'psp hacks' and wherever seemed to have the best news I stayed at. Guess I picked the right place!

As far as emu is concerned, I personally never owned an SNES and I regret it these days. It gives me a chance to sample some of those old classics! Also, I DID have a genesis, but I don't anymore, so now I can relive all my Sonic days (it used to border on obsession!).

As far as non-PSP-related emu goes, I've been messing around with PSX emu to play all my old PSX discs, and I'll be trying to run a DC emulator since it's very hard to find a working Dreamcast these days.... (and DC was the best system EVER MADE).

well i got into emulation was of course a snes emulator and n64 on my computer YEA. Then i started to venture out into looking at other system emulators and got to play a bunch of games that was must play on that system which i never had the chance to play.The psp is what really pull me towards the homebrew and playing all these created games on my spare time and i love it.

i just liked that u could do almost anything u wanted and it was all free cause i dont work so i dont have allot of money

I can't remember a time when I wasn't using homebrew. When I was 5 I remember a friend gave me a copy of a game (he was in high school, friend of the family) that someone in one of his computer classes had written for the Apple II. Joined DCemulation.com before I even got my Dreamcast and I did so a great deal because of the fact that I could play homebrew and emulation on it (I got my Dreamcast when it was still being sold retail, christmas of 01). I got a coder's cable about 2 years later and the rest is recorded in the histories of our good 'ol online forums.

like the new layout i have to say pretty refreshing to the eyes

i couldnt get wireless play workin on my psp so i googled internet on psp it took me to a hack sight because i saw a web portal and i was amazed by the other hacks(homebrew0

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.

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-whore, 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.

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)

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.

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!).

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!

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...... :eek:

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 :p

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 shit...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/

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.

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Originally Posted by 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 shit...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/

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I hadnt seen this place before, I bookied it :p

(I think Homebrew will continue to become a stronger force With the riseing costs of development and the anal rapeings of the current market aimed as us so called (Hard core gamers, ie Suckers with money )
I realize Everyone here is a huge fan of comercial gameing.
But that does not excise the riseing costs of development.
Just look, The price of consoles slowly had been riseing since the nes days. But ever so gently.
Games on the other hand has managed to stay in the same price range since Those days,
remember back in the nes days. As I recall in its prime a good nes game was about a $50 spot.
and that trend continued on to the snes. with the exception of the riseing cost of memory for a short time before cds became a popular format.
I remember paying $80 somthing dollars for phantasy star 4 and street fighter 2, turbo champ edition.
Then the psone came along and games where still $50, yet cds where supposed to be a cheaper format, Hmmm.. Where did this benifit the gamer, The answer. it never did:mad:

And now the price of games is going up another 25$ dollars,
And yeah So what, We can afford it.
That doesnt me its fair and we should be happy about it:(

And not to mention. Weather people have the money to pay these inflated prices or not. Doesnt mean people are stupid enough to pay them.
Yes i know people are adicted to console gameing and no matter what the price this generation. Its going to take more then a little inflation to scare the hard core gamer away.
But thats exactly what the big wigs are counting on.

However. I see a time, in the near future, when homebrew will garner the respect it deserves.
The scene is growing and while one branch may be suffering, Another will just come along and fill that spot.
psp, or x-box, or ps3, or whatever, Homebrew is a community of its own now.
And the coders ( some of them have skills that even exceed. comercial expectations)

I see a bright future for homebrew.
I only hope the green eyed monster doesnt infect this scene like it has its comercial cousin.

Time will tell.
Peace out peeps.
ShadowP :)

well simple questions warrent simple anwers.....DCEMU and the dreamcast boot disc was my first hb project and here i am back at the network years later and a contributing member of our gr8 communiy so no matter how superficial it sounds....my answer is dcemu!!!

What got you interested in the Homebrew and Emulation Scene ?

Stumbling onto Genecyst & Nesticle did it for me I think, it was a long time ago, I remember playing with my Nesticles a lot. That got me interested in what else could be done which lead me to no$gb, Mame, Final Burn, Snes9x, ZSnes, ZX32 etc.. all regaining my lost youth (though I did lose the time again playing on the emulators so I guess I lost it twice really). It wasnt too long after this that I started doing news at the then Daves Arcade Classics later of course renamed to vintage gaming news which just furthered my emulation interests as I found a few new emulators I didnt know of before.

At some point during that time I got myself a DC & wandered to dcemulation discovering a nice new way to emulate sitting in front of my telly, much more comfy than at the PC, with gnuboy, pcsxdc & a genesis emulator I wont name (I was tempted & fell prey to it) among the emulators that had me hooked to my DC for quite some time when I wasnt enjoying Soul Calibur & the rest fo the great games.

In more recent times I'm keeping my interest with emulation on my Xbox & PC as well as my news duties over at EmuHQ & see no sign of it stopping. As long as I can relive my younger days & enjoy doing so I shall, now excuse me while I nip off for some How to be a Complete Ba**ard on my Speccy emulator.

as with hawq I would say nesticle and genecyst and also callus the old csps1 emu. All of which had the same author if memory serves me right...that was about 8 or 9 years ago though.

Yup Bloodlust software, how could I forget Callus in my post? SF2 on my PC was a big thing, Kong or Godzilla big at the time

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What got you interested in the Homebrew and Emulation Scene ?

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NES emulation on PC to start with, but there's nothing like a console so I started with hacks, homebrew, and Emu's on the Playstayion, I stumbled on the DC scene whilst browsing the net looking for info on the PSX GB Emu.

well it started in dec 2001, when i joined boob.co.uk, i was amazed about all this cool stuff for the dreamcast, that none of the mags covered. after a few months i also joined consolevision.com. i was actully folloing the scene for over 6 month be for i got to try homebrew, as i have no cd burner! ;)