| . |
Author:
InVerse
The END DAY
We weren't ready yet. We could have been,
but too many of us thoughtwe were invincible..
untouchable. Those of us that knew the truth hadno power
to make the others recognize how much danger we were in.
Soinstead of preparing for the coming armageddon, we
welcomed it withopen arms.
It started out as a typical enough
Thursday.. who knew that in the span of 24 hours, two
events would occur that would drasticly change the face
of the emulation scene for eternity?
1:15 PM
Sony is suing Connectix. It's on ZDnet, so this time it's
more than likely true. This is bad. If Sony succeeds (and
as much as everyone in the emulation scene wants to say
they have no chance, they just might) then that opens the
flood gates. First authors of shareware/ commercial
emulators can be sued, using Connectix as a precedent.
Then they go after the authors of freeware emulators.
Once a witch hunt begins, it usually does not stop until
the killers are satisfied. But Connectix can't lose,
everybody said. They did nothing wrong. They're probably
right. Sony has about as much chance of winning the case
as OJ Simpson does of being found innocent. Oh...wait...
3:08 PM
Rumors are starting to circulate. A new N64 emulator is
out and it supposedly plays games. Not only does it play
them, it plays them at full speed with excellent graphics
and sound. Bullshit, N64
emulation hasn't advanced that much yet, even if it does
play games, it's not going to play them that well. Then
again, the way this day has been going so far, maybe it
is true.
5:06 PM
Well, by now everybody knows it's real. Some people still
refuse to admit it but that's mainly because they can't
bear to see the emu scene die so soon. The N64 emu is
real. It's called UltraHLE. Not only does it actually
play games, it plays the latest smash, Zelda 64. Not only
does it play Zelda 64, it plays it 99% perfectly. 17
other games are fully playable as well. Father, why hast
thou forsaken us?
The debate over the effect of UltraHLE on the emulation
scene rages on late into the night and for the next
several days. Some say it will destroy the scene, that it
goes against everything the scene
meant to the true believers. Others said it was no big
deal, that N64 emulation was no different than any other
system. Unfortunately, the majority of the people
contributed to the debate with "WHERE
CAN I DOWNLOAD N64 ROMZ??!!??!!"
January 29th, 1999
The official UltraHLE site displays the following
message:
The UltraHLE project was a technical demo, an experiment
to see if N64 emulation really is possible. It was not
designed to be a tool for piracy.
Once it was released, things moved at an unforseen pace.
A lot of people seemed more interested in
acquiring illegal copies of game roms, than looking at
the technical efforts that went into producing the
emulator. We do not condone the use of illegal roms in
any form and this emulator was not designed to be used
for this. The reaction we saw was not the one we
expected. It seems the emulation community is not ready
for something like this. The UltraHLE project is now on
hold, and will be discontinued if this activity
continues. Our aim is to develop emulation technology
forther, not to hurt Nintendo. Without them none of this
would be possible.
I've got two (or is it three?) words to say to
that...bull-fucking-shit. How can anyone with enough
intelligence to create such a technologically advance
emulator actually believe that their program would be
used for anything other than piracy?
Rumors are flying about a possible cease-and-desist order
by Nintendo against Epsilon and Reality Man. No evidence
of any truth concerning this but if it's not true now, it
probably will be in the near future. It's bound to
happen.. the line has been crossed and now it's time to
pay the consequences. Unfortunately, each and every one
of us are going to be suffering as a result.
Picture it... 2 years from now... after a few major
busts, ISPs are paranoid as hell. They delete each and
every ROM site immediately. Not only that, they turn all
abusers into the proper authorities. Emulation is driven
so far underground that the few remaining scene members
forget exactly what daylight looks like.
This really wouldn't be so bad if it
wasn't for the fact that the lamers start narcing out
other scene members to keep from getting charged when
they get busted. Civil war erupts from within the scene
and the video game companies sit back and laugh as we
destroy ourselves.
Sound far fetched? Maybe so.. but I for one sure as hell
intend to plan for it. Things are damned sure going to
change in the scene.
My advice? Fuck the scene.. get what you want and hide
it. I don't agree with N64 emulation now but in 5 years
it'll be a good thing. In 5 years I'll wanna play it. In
5 years, it might not be so easy to go out and download a
ROM any time you want. So for right now, I'm stashing
everything I might want in 5 years.
Is my paranoia justified? I believe so. Does that mean
everything I've listed here will happen? Possibly.. If it
doesn't, though, it'll be one of the few times I'm damn
glad to be wrong.
Just remember.. we could have saved ourselves.
-InVerse
|
. |
