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{{Infobox emulator
|title = bleem!
|logo = Bleem cover artBleem_logo.jpgpng|logowidth = 265200
|last-version = 1.6b
|active = No
|fate = Succumbed to legal fees from battling Sony in court (a battle they won)
|platform = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]]<br/>[[Sega Emulators on Dreamcast emulators|Sega Dreamcast]] <small>(Bleemcast)</small>
|target = [[PlayStation emulators|PlayStation]]
|developer = Bleem Company
|website = [https://web.archive.org/web/20010515082508/http://www.bleem.com/ Official site]
}}
'''Bleem!''' (styled as '''bleem!''') was a closed-source [[PlayStation emulators|PlayStation emulator]] released by the Bleem Company in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and [[Sega Dreamcast emulators|Sega Dreamcast]]. It gained notoriety for being one of the few commercial emulators to be marketed during the PlayStation's lifetime, earning the ire of Sony and thus becoming the subject of a lawsuit.
First released in 1999, Bleem! was initially developed by David Herpolsheimer (president) and Randy Linden,<ref name="company">{{cite web|title=Best Little Emulator Ever Made!|work=Best Little Emulator Ever Made!|first=Tom|last= Rhodes|publisher=Escapist Magazine|url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_117/2295-Best-Little-Emulator-Ever-Made|accessdate=2015-01-02}}</ref> with Will Kempe, Scott Karol, Sean Kauppinen, Bryan Stokes, and Paul Chen, later of Rovio Entertainment, joining the team following its commercial release. The emulator's name was said to have stood for "'''B'''est '''L'''ittle '''E'''mulator '''E'''ver '''M'''ade!", perhaps in reference to its ability to run PS1 games at full speed even on low-end computers, though the bleem! website claims only Randy Linden knows the actual meaning.
Ultimately, three boot disks were released, though a beta has since surfaced on the Internet. Intrepid hackers were able to create Bleemed games—discs of a PlayStation title with the Bleemcast! emulator built in. ISOs for many of these discs continue to circulate on file-sharing networks.
Announced on January 4th, 2021, the Bleem brand was purchased by Piko Interactive for future use as a "retro gaming marketplace" to be called Bleem Powered.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bleem! Making Return as a Digital Games Marketplace|publisher=Piko Interactive|url=https://pikointeractive.com/making-return-as-a-digital-games-mark/}}</ref>
==Controversy==
Two days after Bleem! started taking preorders for their emulator, Sony took umbrage and sued the company for unfair competition and copyright infringement. Bleem! won the suit on all counts, in that their way of reverse-engineering the PS1PlayStation's inner workings was done lawfully, and the use of PlayStation game screenshots was deemed fair use. A protective order was issued to "protect David from Goliath".
This ended in a pyrrhic victory, however, as the lawsuit forced Bleem! out of business due to legal fees. Despite this, the case established a precedent legitimizing console and computer system emulation - – no emulator author has since been sued for copyright infringement (apart from a DMCA complaint from Nintendo over a Github GitHub repo hosting a [[Game Boy Advance emulators|Game Boy Advance emulator ]] that came with some of their games).
==References==
[[Category:Emulators]]
[[Category:Console emulators]]
[[Category:Home console emulators]]
[[Category:PlayStation emulators]]
[[Category:Windows emulation software]]
[[Category:Dreamcast emulation software]]
[[Category:Closed-source emulators]]
[[Category:Commercial emulators]]
