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History of emulation

4,357 bytes removed, 14 April
Atari 2600: Added development info about Stella
This page contains information of console emulation history, For a list of independent updates look at [[Template:News#Previous years|emulator news from previous years]].
Emulation, in general, gained popularity around 1995-1997, [[PC_Emulator_Comparisons#x86_CPU.27s|mostly due to increases in CPU speed]], the increased usage of the Internet, and the increased number of decent emulators.
Activision released the “Atari 2600 Action Pack” for Windows 3.1 on June 1995. It was the first Atari emulator known. Later emulators appeared in 1996, “VCS2600” and “Stella”. <ref>
[https://atariage.com/forums/topic/203848-first-atari-2600-emulator/ First Atari 2600 emulator? forum question by jhd]</ref>
<br>Stella began development in late 1995.<ref>
[https://www.intellimedia.ncsu.edu/people/bwmott/ Info about the Creator and his projects]</ref>
===NES===
*[https://youtu.be/MFY9Kv1c4-Q LGR: Bleem! Commercial PlayStation Emulator]
*[https://youtu.be/UGHul1PrXCE Gaming Historian: From Shady to Legal: How Bleem & VGS Battled Sony]
*[https://youtu.be/vFZvMzRE6TA Definitive Mac Upgrade Guide: That time Steve Jobs promoted PlayStation Emulation]
===Nintendo 64===
===Xbox===
Xbox emulation dates as far back as 2002.* [[Cxbx]] was released as a proof of concept on in August 2002. It can do some test apps, and later commercial games. Discontinued in October 2015.* Xeon, released in 2003, was the first Xbox emulator whose first version can could play games, but the only game that can it could boot and show graphics was Halo CE.
* Dxbx is a fork of Cxbx, released in 2008.
* [[Cxbx-Reloaded]] is a fork of Cxbx, that went open-source in April 2016. Because little work has been done on the original CXBX, its development is very slow (equals 15% playable titles), and like older Xbox emulators, it didn't need a BIOS dump to work.* [[XQEMU]] was the first low-level Xbox emulator. Its first commit was on February 1, 2009. It emulated games at slow speeds. Its last commit was on in December 2019.* [[xemu]] is a continuation of XQEMU, released somewhere in February 2020. It can play 5x more titles than Cxbx-Reloaded, and needed an requires a BIOS dump to work. ====External links====*[https://youtu.be/aiWH4TcFCAY MVG: The Current State of Original Xbox Emulation on the PC]
===Nintendo DS===
==Lawsuits==
''This section is only about Copyright Infringement and DMCA Takedown attempts towards to dumping tools, copying home media and home video content, media player softwares with optical discs encryption and copy protection techniques, codec situations and unofficial software emulators since all of them are somewhat related to emulation, either directly or indirectly.'' Copyright infringement and attempts to remove infringing content through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) have been ongoing issues in the [[Home_Media_Player{{Main|home media and home video]] (especially VCR), [[Ripping_games|dumping tools]] (Lockpick_RCM taken down by Nintendo DMCA), [[Home_Media_Player#Media_player_software|media player softwares with optical discs encryption and copy protection techniques, codec situations]] (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc support etc.) and unofficial software emulation including peripherals such as [[Amiibo]], Skylanders Portal, LEGO Dimensions Toy Pad[https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Wii_U_emulators#Hardware_features_and_peripherals][https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/PlayStation_3_emulators#Peripherals][https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Wii_emulators#Hardware_features_and_peripherals] etc. (see [[Official emulators]] for official software emulators). Early Cases:* [[Wikipedia:Sony_Corp._of_America_v._Universal_City_Studios,_Inc.|Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.]] (1984), also known as the Betamax case: This landmark case established the fair use doctrine for home recording of copyrighted material, allowing VCRs to be sold despite concerns from movie studios. Later Cases:*[[Wikipedia:Sega_v._Accolade|Sega v. Accolade]], Inc. (1991): This case addressed reverse engineering, where Accolade created compatible game cartridges for Sega Genesis consoles. The court ruled that copying the functional elements of a copyrighted work (like the system interface) did not constitute copyright infringement.*[[Wikipedia:Sony_Computer_Entertainment,_Inc._v._Connectix_Corp.|Connectix v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.]] (1997): Connectix created an emulator for Nintendo games, but unlike Bleem!, they avoided including copyrighted code. The court ruled in favor of Connectix, affirming the legality of emulators that do not contain copyrighted material.*[[Wikipedia:UltraHLE#Nintendo's_response_and_UltraHLE's_discontinuation|Nintendo's response to UltraHLE and it's discontinuation]] (1999)*[[Wikipedia:Bleem!#Sony_lawsuit|Bleem! v. Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.]] (2000): [[Bleem!]] developed an emulator for PlayStation games, but Sony successfully sued them for copyright infringement due to Bleem! including copyrighted Sony code in their emulator.[https://www.theregister.com/1999/04/12/bleem_beats_sony/] Recent Developments:*[https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2023/07/20/what-happened-to-dolphin-on-steam/ Dolphin-Steam situation] (2023): The popular emulator Dolphin was briefly unavailable on the Steam digital platform due to potential copyright concerns. However, Valve clarified that it was not a DMCA takedown.*[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1b1mghd/twitter_nintendo_is_suing_the_creators_of_popular/ Nintendo of America Inc. v. Tropic Haze LLC](Yuzu emulator) (2024): Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the developers of the Yuzu Switch emulator, alleging copyright infringement which ended up with the sum of US$2,400,000.00 in favor of Nintendo, and Yuzu emulator official distribution and Yuzu support of Citra ceasing. See [[Yuzu#Lawsuit]] for more information. These cases highlight the complex legal landscape surrounding home video, software emulation and copyright. While software emulators themselves are generally legal, developers must be cautious about including copyrighted material, such as embedded, encrypted system keys or copyrighted code, within their software. This can lead to DMCA takedown notices and potential lawsuits. :*[[PlayStation 2 emulators#MagicGate|PCSX2 and MagicGate]]: The developers of the PlayStation 2 emulator PCSX2 demonstrate an approach to cautious development. They avoided potential copyright issues with MagicGate, an embedded encryption system in some PS2 memory cards, by not directly replicating it within the emulator. While workarounds exist, the PCSX2 team's stance highlights their commitment to reducing the potential for legal complications. To learn more about such cases, examples and challenges, see;*[[PlayStation 2 emulators#MagicGate]]*[[History of emulation#PlayStation]] (Bleem! and VGS cases)*[[History of emulation#Genesis]] (Sega v. Accolade case)*[https://youtu.be/-VqsU1VK3mU Technology Connections: Macrovision - The Copy Protection in VHS]*[https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/1998-99/copyright-infringement/emulationlawsuits.html Stanford University: Emulation Lawsuits - Past and Present]*[https://reddit.com/r/EmuDev r/EmuDev]Legal_Status_of_Emulation}}
==References==
[[Category:FAQs]]
[[Category:Historic emulation software|!]]
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