does anyone here use their PC and emulators as a complete replacement for consoles?

[Anarchist420]

I do for the most part. I just keep my Sega Saturn because I like the way it looks and because you can't use the 3D analog pad with the PC.

I'm still going to get an Xbox 360 soon, but I'm just going to wait until the day PS3 emulators make it out to try out PS3 games.

Emulation has come a long ass way. Sometimes, very rarely, it's not perfect (the N64 emulators have given me the most trouble), but once nullDC's DX10 plugin comes out, I think the PC pretty much is the best platform.

 

[zebano]

Older consoles yes. I have not emulated PS2/PS3/Xbox/Xbox360/Wii yet. My entire NES, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, N64 and PS1 collections are emulated however.

 

[raystorm]

I haven't tried the latest version of SSF but a year or so ago I tried a few of my saturn games and they seemed to play well. The 2D games anyways. Most 3D games were rough in their emulation and there was no kind of filtering option like in many PSX emulators. I use Kega Fusion for my Sega CD games and its pretty much perfect. Magic Engine does a great job for Turboduo games. There aren't any free alternatives to Magic Engine as far as I know.

 

[Anarchist420]

Yeah, I love Kega Fusion.

I actually never tried SSF for 3D games. All of the 2D games I've tried with it run pretty excellent though.

 

[ShawnD1]

Older consoles yes. I have not emulated PS2/PS3/Xbox/Xbox360/Wii yet. My entire NES, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, N64 and PS1 collections are emulated however.

This. I gave away all of my game systems and games. The emulators are actually better than the original game system because they have save states whereas games didn't have savepoints until the Sega Genesis era. Classics like Metroid had these big long passwords that take 20 minutes to enter.
The Sega CD emulator is also better than the real Sega CD because the Sega CD had built in memory and it was very limited. It could only hold maybe 1 game of Popful Mail and 1 game of Lunar. After that, one would need to delete stuff to make space.

 

[Ross Ridge]

I'm still going to get an Xbox 360 soon, but I'm just going to wait until the day PS3 emulators make it out to try out PS3 games.

There may never be a non-hardware based PlayStation 3 (or Xbox 360) emulator. Current PCs can barely emulate a PlayStation 2 at full speed (many games work, but many don't), and CPUs aren't doubling in speed every couple of years anymore. Roughly speaking you need a PC 10 times as fast the emulated console to even think about emulating it, and you'll need a PC on the order of 100 times as fast to emulate it anywhere close to perfection. The PS3 and 360 both have PowerPC CPUs in the 3GHz range, and you'll probably have to wait a very long time to see 30 GHz PC.

 

[NYHoustonman]

I flat-out haven't owned a console since my Sega Genesis.

 

[BHetrick]

I'm still going to get an Xbox 360 soon,.

I went the other direction this summer. I was console only, but being older I just finally got fed up with the vast amount of immaturity, racism, discrimination, and sex talk by majority of teen/pre teen users on Xbox LIVE.

So I've completely given up on the console. I've built a gaming pc and haven't touched the console since then. And boy, I wish I had done this sooner.

Just the difference in graphics alone would have made the switch justifiable (imo). Though now I'm playing catch up with all you veteran pc gamers. Kills are harder to come by (I'm playing a lot of BC2) in fps's on the pc than a console.

 

[Jules]

Nope no need. Already have a Ps3 Slim and Xbox 360 i enjoy.

 

[Staples]

I used to use my Xbox to do it. Now I never play any old games. I really only care about the 8bit and the 16bit games because those are the only emulators that work flawlessly. I never play them anymore because I find the who wired controller a pain in the ass. Boy have I been spoiled by the Xbox 360.

Can anyone tell me if you are now able to mod it and play unsigned code now? If so, I am sure someone has emulators for the 360. Last I heard, modding the drive to steal games was the only mod but this was years ago. And I am well aware any mods will end XBL use.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

There may never be a non-hardware based PlayStation 3 (or Xbox 360) emulator. Current PCs can barely emulate a PlayStation 2 at full speed (many games work, but many don't), and CPUs aren't doubling in speed every couple of years anymore. Roughly speaking you need a PC 10 times as fast the emulated console to even think about emulating it, and you'll need a PC on the order of 100 times as fast to emulate it anywhere close to perfection. The PS3 and 360 both have PowerPC CPUs in the 3GHz range, and you'll probably have to wait a very long time to see 30 GHz PC.

I highly doubt this is the case. I would chalk it up more to the fact that the people making the emulators don't have the time or resources to optimize and emulator so perfectly that it can run current console releases. If an actual software company with a team of coders decided to make an emulator it would be able to pull off the current generation.

 

[Sureshot324]

Played through New Super Mario Bros Wii on an emulator. Wasn't flawless but damn close.

 

[AFurryReptile]

I play Sonic 2 on my droid.

I've been playing Kingdom Hearts on my PC.

 

[Ross Ridge]

I highly doubt this is the case. I would chalk it up more to the fact that the people making the emulators don't have the time or resources to optimize and emulator so perfectly that it can run current console releases. If an actual software company with a team of coders decided to make an emulator it would be able to pull off the current generation.

No, actual software companies haven't managed do much better. Microsoft had to customize their Xbox emulator on the Xbox 360 for each of the limited number of titles it supported. They weren't able to create a perfect emulator that could run any Xbox game at full speed. Sony couldn't emulate the PlayStation 2 on the PlayStation 3 except on the models that had full or partial hardware emulation.

If Microsoft and Sony couldn't do perfect full speed software emulation of their older consoles on their much faster current generation of consoles, how do you expect anyone to emulate a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360 on a PC that CPU-wise is never going to be much faster?

 

[zerocool84]

No, actual software companies haven't managed do much better. Microsoft had to customize their Xbox emulator on the Xbox 360 for each of the limited number of titles it supported. They weren't able to create a perfect emulator that could run any Xbox game at full speed. Sony couldn't emulate the PlayStation 2 on the PlayStation 3 except on the models that had full or partial hardware emulation.

If Microsoft and Sony couldn't do perfect full speed software emulation of their older consoles on their much faster current generation of consoles, how do you expect anyone to emulate a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360 on a PC that CPU-wise is never going to be much faster?

I'm guessing you don't understand how a PC works. Current up to date processors are infinitely faster than what's on a console. Console's can always get away with less power cus they are dedicated machines and the processors are made to do a very set of limited tasks. PC processors have to be able to handle a variety of tasks. The reason why emulators on PC's need powerful computers is cus it's almost always 100% software based emulation which is never optimized well so you need a very powerful computer to deal with the overhead. The reason why Microsoft had trouble with their emulation is first, they changed graphics companies so they had to make up their own software emulation for it and as I said, software emulation is never the best way to go and since consoles aren't that powerful, it's more difficult and they have to take time to optimize every game which takes time and money and it doesn't make sense financially to do it for every game. With the PS3 as you know had hardware emulation which is the best but Sony cut that out to save costs, no other reason.

 

[Ross Ridge]

I'm guessing you don't understand how a PC works. Current up to date processors are infinitely faster than what's on a console. Console's can always get away with less power cus they are dedicated machines and the processors are made to do a very set of limited tasks.

Umm, no. The 3.2GHz PowerPC cores in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 aren't that much slower than the fastest Intel and AMD CPUs cores available today.

PC processors have to be able to handle a variety of tasks. The reason why emulators on PC's need powerful computers is cus it's almost always 100% software based emulation which is never optimized well so you need a very powerful computer to deal with the overhead.

Yes, if you took the time to actually read my posts in this thread before responding, you'd realize that was what I was talking about. You can't emulate in software a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360 on any PC today, or any PC that will be made in the forseeable future.

 

[Staples]

I'm guessing you don't understand how a PC works. Current up to date processors are infinitely faster than what's on a console. Console's can always get away with less power cus they are dedicated machines and the processors are made to do a very set of limited tasks. PC processors have to be able to handle a variety of tasks. The reason why emulators on PC's need powerful computers is cus it's almost always 100% software based emulation which is never optimized well so you need a very powerful computer to deal with the overhead. The reason why Microsoft had trouble with their emulation is first, they changed graphics companies so they had to make up their own software emulation for it and as I said, software emulation is never the best way to go and since consoles aren't that powerful, it's more difficult and they have to take time to optimize every game which takes time and money and it doesn't make sense financially to do it for every game. With the PS3 as you know had hardware emulation which is the best but Sony cut that out to save costs, no other reason.

It's not all about hardware power. The OS of current consoles is very complex and needs to be totally re written for PCs in order for emulators to work correctly. This is why N64 emulators do not work for many games. I have never used an Xbox or PS2 emulator but if there are any, I'd be surprised if more than a handful of games work correctly.

 

[simonizor]

I've used dolphin to emulate the Wii on my PC. It played Super Mario Galaxy 2 very smoothly. The first minute or so, the frame rate was slow, but for some reason it doubled after that. I used my PS3 controller to control it, and I thought it worked better than the Wiimote lol.

 

[BD231]

I keep the console for sports games (360) and a computer for everything else.

 

[coloumb]

No - I tried and I just can't play the old console games while sitting at my pc... it's unnatural.

 

[hellotyler]

Is it legal to emulate games you actually own ? I own so many classic SNES/NES/SEGA games that would be fun to play again, but I wouldn't want to get arrested downloading games or something.

 

[Zenoth]

I still own and play (and occasionally buy) retail 8-Bit, 16-Bit, 32-Bit and 64-Bit era games on my beloved NES, SNES, Genesis, Trubo-Grafx, Nintendo 64 and PSX. I have tried emulators however, some of them are good, and I do appreciate some of the extra filters and higher resolutions that they provide for older games, it's sometimes welcome, but in all honesty I still prefer playing the original "way", with the real controller in my hands and the original looks and sounds of the games on my trusty television while sitting on my comfortable couch.

But I'm not turning my back on emulators entirely, I do play some games I've never tried in the past, and very occasionally I go on eBay and buy one or two of such games I liked for the sake of doing it like the old days, I'm just a nostalgic at heart I guess, but I do still enjoy playing them, although I don't play any of them regularly, it's just very occasional, maybe once per week for around 30 minutes or an hour, especially when I invite friends at home whom I've played most of those games with back in the days, I've played some Perfect Dark and Killer Instinct Gold on my N64 with two of my friends only last week, for a few hours, and we ordered some pizza as well, good times, short moments, brings back memories, we had fun and had good laughs, bringing the friends home and playing games, that's the way to do it in my opinion, rather than playing them alone on a monitor, just feels unnatural indeed (like someone else mentioned).

 

[ibex333]

I flat-out haven't owned a console since my Sega Genesis.

Same here. It just never again felt right to own any console since SEGA Genesis disappeared from the scene.

Spoiler

At one point I really wanted to find out what all the fuss was about so I got a PS2. I really couldn't get into it because aside from God of War, most games felt like they were designed for kids and teens. Also, the analog video signal just doesn't cut it anymore. Finally I got an Xbox 360 with some of the most current games available. (which I really regretted) I found Forza 3 to be boring, and Super Street Fighter IV was lame, because even though I have been a huge SF fan for many years and I literally practiced the same moves 100 times in a row on my $150 arcade stick, I STILL could never pull them off consistently. But those are just console games... Games that are also available on the PC are almost always better on the PC, Modern Warfare 2 really sucked on the Xbox, and was great on the PC, because of the controls. I ended up selling the Xbox 2 weeks after I bought it.

I emulate almost all of the older consoles on the PC and I love it.

 

[Skurge]

It's not all about hardware power. The OS of current consoles is very complex and needs to be totally re written for PCs in order for emulators to work correctly. This is why N64 emulators do not work for many games. I have never used an Xbox or PS2 emulator but if there are any, I'd be surprised if more than a handful of games work correctly.

Actually most PS2 games work on the PCSX2 emulator as long as you have a highly clocked dual core CPU.

I still have my PS2, but I would rather play my games at 1920x1080, Tekken 5 runs between 40-60FPS depending on the level. GT5 runs at 45-50FPS. FF-X and FF-XII run at full 60fps

 

[JujuFish]

Is it legal to emulate games you actually own ? I own so many classic SNES/NES/SEGA games that would be fun to play again, but I wouldn't want to get arrested downloading games or something.

It's illegal, but you'd probably be hard pressed to find someone who thought it was morally wrong.