Console for seemless emulation gaming??? xbox or wii? or other?

[Demon-Seed]

Hey
I have a xbox and want to play retro games on my lcd but have it look nice meaning easy to navigate menus, screenshots, videos etc... I want to play full speed including N64, and PSX. I have farted around with xbox but N64 seems to run like ass. I tried COINOPS works great for the most part but when I add more games many freeze and do not run.

Anyone have suggestions on running emulators with all games out of one box? (Of course cheaply) what about a modded wii? how would it do?

thanks
Jim

[Funnel]

Have you tried CoinOps 4 for Xbox?

[Demon-Seed]

Hey
Yes coinops 4 is very good however many games lock up.... the ones that are included work but if you add any they freeze sometimes. N64 especially.

[racecar]

N64 will also freeze an be a pain to get working even in a pc

Your best bet if you want everything I to Build a PC an have it all running through a nice front end.

[Demon-Seed]

Hey
Yea I was thinking that too. What kinda of computer would I need? Also can  you get wireless PC controllers? (been a very long time since I have tinkered with computers)

[racecar]

Yeah you can get wireless controllers even use xbox 360 ones

Um Depending on what arcade games you want to play depends on your build.

Also not 100% sure with the N64 stuff.. Alot seem to not work 100%. Needs a lot of plugins etc which im not sure with

[Howard_Casto]

N64 emulation is horrible compared to other systems of it's era.  The reason it's horrible is because the emulator authors hacked a lot of 3d functionality instead of emulating it properly, like mame.  At the time it made sense... computers could barely run n64 games.  But now n64 emulation progress is non-existant and we are still left with those hacks that were functional, but take a bit of effort to get working and aren't always stable.

Emulation isn't seamless on any of the consoles unfortunately.  I tried to get such a thing going on the wii, I even went so far as to write several of the tools that allow VC injection as the VC interface IS seamless.  The problem is once actual emulators started showing up on the wii, nobody wanted to fool with injection and emulators on the wii are just like emulators on any other console.... inconsistent interface, buggy.... lacking features, ect...

CoinOps is the closest thing out there.  XBMC tried to unify things before that allowing other programs to be launcehd from within it, but the emu authors have to cooperate and unforunately emulators ported to consoles are generally hacks done by people other than the orignal authors. 

A PC, unfortunately is still the best option.

[northerngames]

xbox is much stronger then the gamecube based wii.

pc is better then both.

[Howard_Casto]

xbox is much stronger then the gamecube based wii.

pc is better then both.

The wii is NOT based on a gamecube... it just has a working gamecube built in because it uses a compatable processor architecture.... the is not the same thing.

The xbox and wii's processors both run at around 730 mhz BUT the wii has higher bus bandwidth and the ati graphics processor is faster than the one in the xbox. 

The xbox is roughly 4 times as large and uses three times as much power.

I'll give you that they are comparable systems, but the wii actually has a slight edge on the xbox.  The xbox isn't more powerful than the wii in any respect, much less "much stronger". 

Not trying to argue, I just don't want misinformation to spread.   

[northerngames]

sorry it's barely a suped up gamecube and I am not here to argue about it either as I know the xbox emu's better then the wii does, has, and will period. 

[hypernova]

Considering I still use my Wii for some things, I prefer it.  I wouldn't want another console sitting around just for retro stuff when it's comparable on the Wii for the things I play (NES and SNES).

However, I think many use an Xbox as a media center or something.  It still has some other great uses, just none that I utilize.

[DaveMMR]

A PC, unfortunately is still the best option.

+1

PC's are the best for all-around emulation as far as I'm concerned. And building a sleek, attractive PC for the living room that fits in nicely with the entertainment center is none too hard. If you're goal is truly "seamless", ditch the consoles and go with an inexpensive PC.  The frontends nowadays (and Media Center) do a great deal to hide Windows.  Plus you'll have some PC games on your living room TV as well. 

Granted, using a console will still be cheaper - but not necessarily easier. Plus you're hitting "walls" left and right and are constantly making concessions (many you already described). From what I've heard, emulation on Xbox has gotten much better since I last tried it out.  But a PC will always give you superior choices and performance.

BTW - If you really search around, check local ads, etc. you may be able to find a suitable PC for cheap or even free. People throw old PCs at me all the time, many of which are just fine for emulation purposes.

[Howard_Casto]

sorry it's barely a suped up gamecube and I am not here to argue about it either as I know the xbox emu's better then the wii does, has, and will period. 

No need to argue... just look it up yourself

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii

Don't change the subject onto the emulators either... the statment made was that the wii is essentially the same as a gamecube (it's not, it's at least twice as powerful) and that the xbox was far more powerful (it's not, it's on par in some ways and inferior in others).  

I would hope that the xbox has better emulators atm... afterall it's been out for 10 years and the wii's only been out for 5.  

Not liking the wii doesn't change reality.


Remember now, I agreed with you that the xbox is a better choice for this project, it just isn't because it has better specs.

[Howard_Casto]

A PC, unfortunately is still the best option.

+1

PC's are the best for all-around emulation as far as I'm concerned. And building a sleek, attractive PC for the living room that fits in nicely with the entertainment center is none too hard. If you're goal is truly "seamless", ditch the consoles and go with an inexpensive PC.  The frontends nowadays (and Media Center) do a great deal to hide Windows.  Plus you'll have some PC games on your living room TV as well. 

Granted, using a console will still be cheaper - but not necessarily easier. Plus you're hitting "walls" left and right and are constantly making concessions (many you already described). From what I've heard, emulation on Xbox has gotten much better since I last tried it out.  But a PC will always give you superior choices and performance.

BTW - If you really search around, check local ads, etc. you may be able to find a suitable PC for cheap or even free. People throw old PCs at me all the time, many of which are just fine for emulation purposes.

Yeah, aside from software limitations, your REAL enemy is hardware.  You've only got 64mb of ram and a 700mhz processor on the last-gen consoles.  Not only that, but the emulators aren't really optmized for the specialized processors the consoles use, so they run slower than they would on linux/windows. 

Even proper snes emulation (see bsnes) really takes 1+ ghz processors. 

[g_block247]

I use my Wii. Seems the systems that matter: NES, SNES, Genesis all run as good as I need it to without getting each console and getting a flash cart for each system....use PC for MAME.

[northerngames]

sorry it's barely a suped up gamecube and I am not here to argue about it either as I know the xbox emu's better then the wii does, has, and will period.  

No need to argue... just look it up yourself

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii

Don't change the subject onto the emulators either... the statment made was that the wii is essentially the same as a gamecube (it's not, it's at least twice as powerful) and that the xbox was far more powerful (it's not, it's on par in some ways and inferior in others).  

I would hope that the xbox has better emulators atm... afterall it's been out for 10 years and the wii's only been out for 5.  

Not liking the wii doesn't change reality.


Remember now, I agreed with you that the xbox is a better choice for this project, it just isn't because it has better specs.

O sorry I thought the point of this thread was for emu's and not who can prove wich system is better as I said before I am not here to argue the xbox emu's better then the wii and the pc is better then both and that's that and could care less what does what as it's not even the point and has nothing to do with this thread here.

[SNAAKE]

wii doesnt output 720p = auto fail

plus I doubt emulation is anywhere near as good as xbox. sure both systems have similar specs but xbox homebrew scene obviously much better.

[Funnel]

wii doesnt output 720p = auto fail

plus I doubt emulation is anywhere near as good as xbox. sure both systems have similar specs but xbox homebrew scene obviously much better.

 
+100000000000000000000000000000000000

[05SRT4]

wii doesnt output 720p = auto fail

plus I doubt emulation is anywhere near as good as xbox. sure both systems have similar specs but xbox homebrew scene obviously much better.

What original consoles output 720p?

[SNAAKE]

WHAT?

[05SRT4]

WHAT?

Sorry I thought my question was clear enough. The topic is Emulation, xbox or wii and you noted Wii doesn't output 720p so I was wondering what pre console could output 720p?

[SNAAKE]

xbox does

[05SRT4]

I understand that Xbox can output 720p but whats that have to do with emulating older consoles?

[SNAAKE]

because I like the unscaled 720p picture on my 720p tv.

wii running 480p/i lags on tvs with higher native resolution. its not too noticeable but the lag is there.