The Virtual Game Station (VGS, code named Bonestorm) was an

emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...

Connectix Connectix Corporation was a software and hardware company that released innovative products that were either made obsolete as Apple Computer incorporated the ideas into system software, or were sold to other companies once they became popular. It ...

that allows

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

games to be played on a desktop computer. It was first released for the

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

, in 1999, after being previewed at

Macworld/iWorld Macworld/iWorld (originally Macworld) was an information technology trade show with conference tracks dedicated to Apple Inc., Apple's Mac (computer), Mac platform. It was held annually in the United States during January. Originally ''Macworld Exp ...

the same year by

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...

and

Phil Schiller Philip W. Schiller (born June 8, 1960) is an American businessman, spokesperson, and an Apple Fellow at Apple Inc. He is a prominent figure in Apple's keynotes and has been a member of the company's executive team since Steve Jobs returned to Ap ...

. VGS was created by

Aaron Giles According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ( ...

. The recompiling CPU emulator was written by

Eric Traut Eric Traut is an American software engineer and software emulation pioneer. Traut graduated from Stanford University in 1992. From 1993 to 1995 he worked for Apple Computer, creating a Mac 68K emulator to be used in PowerPC-based Macintoshes.

. Released at a time when the Sony PlayStation was at its peak of popularity, Virtual Game Station was the first PlayStation emulator, for any platform, that enabled games to run at full speed on modestly powerful computer hardware, and the first that supported the vast majority of PlayStation games. It was advertised as running at full speed on the original 233 MHz

iMac G3 The iMac G3, originally released as the iMac, is a series of Macintosh personal computers that Apple Computer sold from 1998 to 2003. The iMac was Apple's first major product release under CEO Steve Jobs following his return to the financiall ...

system (relying on its built-in ATi graphics hardware). The impact of this product changed the available Macintosh game library from a very small, select group to nearly the entire collection of PlayStation games. Graphics could be run full screen, at full speed. Several PlayStation-type hand controllers became available with VGS in mind. The only lacking features were the ability to receive DualShock force-feedback or use light-guns. VGS was initially released for

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

based PlayStation games but later versions were made for

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

based games. Like the PS1, the system was region locked, and copied games would not work either, although it didn't take too long for the hacker community to release a "Mod Chipped" version. Versions 1.1 and 1.2 of VGS attempted to make "modding" more difficult but were soon modified as well. VGS proved to be extremely popular, as it cost less than half the price of a PlayStation and did not require any extra hardware. VGS was later ported to

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. It was slightly less popular there due to competition with other emulators such as bleem!, though it did have better compatibility. Sony perceived VGS as a threat, and filed a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

against Connectix for copyright infringement. The case was eventually closed in favor of Connectix, but Connectix was unable to sell the software in the meantime because Sony had been awarded a temporary injunction. Soon thereafter, Sony purchased VGS from Connectix and discontinued it. By then, the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

was nearly out and the original PlayStation was at the end of its peak, with people looking toward the next-generation consoles.

References

External links

* {{PlayStation (console) 1999 software Classic Mac OS emulation software PlayStation emulators Proprietary video game console emulators Windows emulation software

See also

References

Further reading

External links