Console emulators on the Xbox (Xport)??

[arcadecab]

Just came across the website for xport.xbox-scene.com which as several popular console emulators ported over to the Xbox.  I was impressed as many of the emulators that were ported I currently use in my setup, and there was some really nice gui screens unique to each console that seemed fairly impressive.  A couple of things I am wondering for those that may have experience:  How does the compatibility of these Xbox (Xport) emulators compare with the typical windows versions.  Does compatibility stay high?
Also, how exactly are the roms played:  off a disc?? or off the harddrive?  How large a harddrive does the Xbox have BTW?  How many games/emulators could fit?
Anyway, not familiar with the Xbox, but was impressed with this site and looking for comments by anyway with experience with it.  In general, how do these emulators work compared to regular PC--performance, look, convenience, etc.  
Thanks.

[Trenchbroom]

For most emulators the Xbox is perfect.  Anything 16 bit or older is pretty much the way it should be--as you would expect from a console that is essentially a PII 733.  Xport's been a little slow with releases lately but there are other emulators by other people out there as well.  

Frontends are pretty cool (especially SNES9X--skinnable, C-64 SID music while you browse for a game...nice!).  Once you get a modded Xbox you can play the games from a burned DVD or straight from the hard drive itself.  

Overall if you want the "sit down in front of the TV in the bean bag chair w/ a controller in my hand" console experience it works well.

[Howard_Casto]

Keep this in mind though... many of the emus have hardcoded directories.... so you can't let's say....  have the emu on the haddrive and point to the dvd for the games.  If you want to have the games on the dvd then you have to burn a copy of the emu straight to the disc.  

There are some exceptions of course.  


Also keep in mind the limited memory. You aren't going to play the latest and greatest fighter on the xbox because it'll give you a memory error. 733 mhz is fine for a emulator but the 64 mb of memory isn't always enough. For console emus you should be fine though.  

Personally I find the front-ends for these emulators lack-luster.  With a few exceptions, none of them display screenshots or artwork of any kind.  Although they look really fancy with their alpha blending they are essentially a glorified list box.  This is fine for the xbox but if I were to say, put it in an arcade cabinet I would be really annoyed.  


There's one last thing to deal with. Unless you have the magic generic tv that all of these developers use to judge the resolution you will have to adjust the screen on EVERY application, emulator or whatever.  This is my only real gripe.  It's very annoying.


For casual play the xbox is a great choice, but if you are thinking of making some sort of dedicated system then I would pass if I were you.  

[arcadecab]

"Once you get a modded Xbox you can play the games from a burned DVD or straight from the hard drive itself"

How do you get a modded Xbox?  Do you have to send it away somewhere??  Open it up and do some soldering?? or is there a disc that is up into the Xbox that does the modifications??  Just wondering how long or expensive the process of modding the Xbox would be and if it would still work properly for regular Xbox games after the modding as taken play?
Thanks.

[Howard_Casto]

ugh.. newbies....

www.xbox-scene.net

[Lilwolf]

Any modchips that work with xbox live yet?  Or maybe one that you can plugin/unplug that doesn't keep any reference to it afterwards?

[Howard_Casto]

All modchips work with xbox live.... they have an off switch....  before you use a live enabled game you turn it off.  No problem.  As a modchip doesn't effect the gameplay of commerical games, there is no reason to have it on while playing them anyway.