Utility Release: UltraMulti v0.2ß
09:34:  This is a wonderful utility for UltraHLE that lets you PLAY GAMES OVER THE INTERNET! Imagine, Mario Kart 64 with someone from Japan! I can't put it on ZD right now, because I'm at school, but when I get home, I'll post it. For now, you can get it at Elite Industries homepage.

4/29/99
Emulator Release: DarcNES v1990428.
18:40:  A new version of DarcNES, NES, SMS, and PCE emulator for Linux, has been released. I though it'd been awhile too, no binary though, yet. What's new:

Emulator News: Snes9x v1.19 for Linux/DOS to be released soon.
17:49:  Well, the subject says it all, a new version of Snes9x for Linux will be released within the next day or so, followed by a new dos version soon after. Needless to say, this new version will be teeming with new features, I can't wait, can you?

Technical Docs News: New Section!
15:57:  I added a new Atari Jaguar section, and fixed some entries that _Bnu forgot to put in the main page. The main page can be accessed here along with the Jaguar documents.

Emulator News: Bleem! status update
14:00:  The official bleem! webpage was updated late last night with information regarding the current status of bleem! It seems that they won another legal battle with Sony. From the webpage:

Sony filed ANOTHER request for a Temporary Restraining Order against bleem! late Friday afternoon - and while we haven't been able to tell you all we wanted to, this was just the latest in a non-sto pseries of legal battles we've been fighting since their FIRST TRO was denied just three weeks ago.

Anyway, at a 3pm hearing today in San Francisco, the Honorable Judge Legge DENIED Sony's latest attempt to stop bleem! from shipping (Wild cheers!).

And with the judge's decision today, the path is FINALLY CLEAR for our release - for the first time, we can work without these "surprises" cropping up every couple of days. And at long last, we're free to tell you everything that's been going on.

The page also explains other reasons for the delay. Be sure to check it out. You may also post your feelings on ZD's Next-Generation message board.

Translation News: Hacks Section Update
11:40:  I have added Ballz's new hack, FF2: Directors Cut which undummies items, and changes text so it's more like the Japanese counterpart.

You can download it off the Hacks section.

Frontend News: StartM72 0.33.5 and StartRAGE 0.9.1
04:17:  Dennis Piet has updated StartM72, his M72 frontend, and StartRAGE, his RAGE frontend. Here's what's new in the release of StartM72:

Emulator News: Bleem! News
19:55:  I'm sure everyone out there is wondering where their Bleem! is at. Don't worry, its coming. Apparently, Game-Over has contacted the Bleem! Team and gotten the inside scoop on the whereabouts of Bleem!. Go read the full article.

Interview News: RealityMan Interviewed
19:31:  RealityMan was just interviewed by FathrDeth of EmuUnlim. It includes what happened with writing UltraHLE, what will come in the future, et cetera. You can catch the interview here.

Emulator Release: Generator/MacOS 0.0.3
18:44:  Richard Bannister strikes again! The port of Generator for MacOS has been updated; here's what's new:

Emulator Release: Handy/MacOS 0.5.3
18:25:  Well, it seems as if Richard Bannister IS alive after all :) The MacOS port of Handy, an Atari Lynx emulator, has been updated. Here's what's new:

- Recompiled using CodeWarrior Pro 4.1, and for the first time ever, compiled with CodeWarrior's Level 4 Optimization. The only reason I've been able to do this is my Mac now has 192MB of RAM - providing enough for CodeWarrior to compile without running out of memory. With a G3/350, it only takes 11 minutes to compile - a far cry from the hours and hours (and eventual crash with no code at all) on my old Mac.

Emulator Release: Pretendo 0.02
14:02:  A new version of Pretendo has been released. Here's what's new:

4/27/99
Interview News: VirtualE Author Interviewed
21:51:  Over on Beyond Emulation, the author of VirtualE has been interviewed. Also, Beyond Emulation plans to have an interview from Ricardo of BrSMS either today or tomorrow.

Go scope out the interview over at Beyond Emulation.

Interview News: SEC Interviews
18:26:  The SEC staff has conducted a few interviews, including the most recent interviews with archeide, of SNEmul, and TRAX, of SNeESe. Feel free to go read these, and here's a link to the SEC and to the archeide interviews. Thanks to kmarx for the news.

Emulator Release: No$MSX 1.1
17:49:  No$MSX, the MSX emulator programmed by the author of the incredible GameBoy emu No$GMB, has been updated. This new release features a few new differentlty optimized versions, such as 80486 protected mode version, 80386 version, XT/AT optimized version, etc. I have only added the 80486 version compatible with Windows 9x to ZD as of yet, but I'll add all of them tomorrow. The 80486 version compatible with Windows 9x is available for download on the MSX emulators page and if you want one of the other versions and you don't have the patience to wait for tomorrow you can download them from the Mo$MSX homepage. Thanks to Arnaud for the news.

Emulator Release: NeoRAGEx 0.5b
17:29:  The NeoRAGEx team has released version 0.5b of their Neo Geo emulator For Windows9x, NeoRAGEx. Here's what's new:

Site News: SiTC is having server problems....
17:23:  First off, for those of you who don't know what SiTC is it's short for Spirit In The Contraption, which is a very popular ROMs site. SiTC is having some problems with their server and they are looking for a server to host them and their files. So if you feel that you can help, go mail SkrEmnJava the SiTC boss, hehe. Thanks to Chris Moeller for informing us about this.

Spirit in the Contraption

Emulator Release: VICE 1.0
14:59:  New ports of VICE, a Commodore 64 emulator for Windows, DOS and UNIX, have been released. Here's the changelist for version 1.0:

Site News: New additions to ZD & contest status
14:26:  Hello everyone, Zophar here with another message for "all the millions (slight pause), and millions" of the Zoph's fans. We have some new additions to ZD.

First off, I'd like to thank the staff of emulationworld.com for providing us with a nice search engine. You can now search all of ZD for anything you want. It's accessible on the sidebar, and you can also reach it here: ZD search engine.

Next off, you may notice that the counters seem a little different. That's because we're using a new CGI counter, which sucks much less CPU from the system, thus making the load go down, which can make faster CGI executing for you guys. Enjoy.

The ZD-Lite page has really taken off! I've received a bunch of e-mails from some of you guys, and you all seem to really like it. I'm glad that it helps you out, and anyone else who'd like a news-only page might want to check it out.

Finally, the NSM contest. If you haven't already entered, or you missed the post about it, you can read the rules right here. I've received a number of submissions so far. While I won't say the exact time or the actual person, I'll say this: if your time is over 60 minutes, don't bother. :)

As always, ZD is nothing without all of you, the people who visit it. Thanks for visiting ZD!

4/26/99
Emulator Release: 1964 0.07
23:53:  Version 0.0.7 of JRMu's open-source N64 emulator has been released. Not only is the source available, but both DOS and Windows 95/98 binaries have been compiled and are available! Here's what's new:

Emulator News: Another MEKA easter egg found!
23:39:  Reiginsei has recently discovered yet another easter egg embedded within MEKA, a Master System & GameGear emulator for DOS. Hold down 'b' on the keyboard and select help from the menu, and then about. A game called BrAin WaSH will then start. Have fun! (If you don't already have MEKA, grab it from the Master System/GameGear emulators page).

Emulator News: Realityman to begin another Emulator?
23:20:  Over on Emuunlim there is news that Realityman has started a new project for something that has yet to be emulated yet. Stay tuned to see what turns up in the next few days.

The news can be found over on Emuunlim.

Thanks to EvilPaul13 for the news

Translation News: Translation Update
18:29:  2 Translations, both of very good games:

Emulator Release: WinEmu 0.45b3
18:28:  Contrary to the name this is NOT a Windows emulator. It's a C16 & Plus4 commodore computer emulator for Windows 9x/NT. This version features NT support, debugger, screen capture, 50Hz timing, bugs and bugfixes.

You can download it on the Commodore 64 emulators page.

Translation News: Hacks Updated
18:23:  2 Hacks have been updated:

Media News: Emulation article in Wired magazine
17:03:  There's an article on emulation in the latest edition of Wired. Thanks to Ian Lippitt, we now have a scan of the article. You can check it out at the link below (it's about 150KB).

Misc. News: SNES Chart 1.90 preview
16:54:  The Scribe has e-mailed ZD to let us know what's coming up in version 1.90 of his SNES compatibility list, The SNES Chart:

Emulator Release: BRMSX 1.160
16:49:  Ricardo Bittencourt has released version 1.160 of his MSX emulator for DOS, BRMSX. Here's what's new:

4/25/99
Emulator Release: MacMAME 0.35b11
21:36:  MacMAME 0.35b11 was released today. Here's the scoop:

Emulator Release: HiVE 1.01
17:46:  HiVE 1.01, the multi arcade game emulator that used to be CAGE, has been updated, and here are the news:

Site News: Clarification on the "lite" version of ZD
04:30:  I hope you are all enjoying the new "Lite" version of ZD that we've added to Zophar's Domain, but I would like to clarify that this page should only be used by people who want news and *only* news. All the links on the sidebar to all the pages of ZD can still only be found on the main page of ZD.

But for those who miss Emu News Service and wish to have a fast news-only rendition of ZD, the Lite version is for you!

Remember, this page exists because of all the thousands of you out there who make it possible by visiting. Thanks for visiting ZD!

Site News: ZD Lite (news-only version)
04:21:  I have made an extra page on Zophars Domain. It is called the news-only version. Basically, it has all the news ZD posts, but on a very small page. So now it loads as fast (if not faster) than Emu News Service used to. So check it out, you might even want to put Zophars Domain as your main homepage that loads up with your browser.

The new "Lite" version of Zophars Domain is available here (http://www.zophar.net/newsonly.html).

Site News: Same thing only faster
01:11:  With a hack here and a slash there, the page you're reading is about 2/3 the size it was before. We hope you appreciate the speed boost.

Media News: Big Classics Contest
00:51:  Walter Day has sent news of the Big Classics Contest to be held in Weirs Beach, NH May 7-9, 1999. It looks to be a big event, I wouldn't mind going to it myself to tell you the truth. It's times like this that I wish I was on my own and financially secure so I could just go.

Anyway, there is a press release which you can read here.

Links Update: 14 sites added
00:48:  I've added 14 sites to the Links page. I also have something to tell all the people who send me links. PLEASE provide which section of the links page you want it in, and a descrtiption. It would make my links maintaining a lot easier. Thanks.

The link page again is here.

Misc. News: Excellent news!
00:44:  Well, a day after I posted the request for a cheap motherboard, my father finally decides to go out and buy me an ASUS P2B! Thank you all for your submissions!

4/24/99
Utility Release: MPS version .15
23:10:  A new version of MPS was released. MPS is a multiple sound player for DOS. It currently plays MP3's, CYM (callus files), WAV, VOC, and MIDI's. Here is whats new:

Utility Release: Mario Improvement 3 version .12
22:43:  Another version of Mario Improvement 3 has been released. Here is whats new:

Site News: Save archives updated
17:58:  Updated: GS0, SPC, SRM, NSM, STA, ZST, CHT, ZMV archives.

Site News: Clarification on the Metroid NSM contest
17:06:  I suppose I didn't make myself clear when I said "no cheating". I received a Metroid NSM today that was fine until 16 minutes and 20 seconds through the game, where the person decided to use the Metroid 'door warp' bug to get himself an item quicker. (If you don't know about this bug, that's even better, heh heh).

I'll allow this person to resubmit an NSM that he didn't cheat in, since I didn't clarify that the 'no-cheat rule' applies to bugs like that as well.

Translation News: Demiforce WWWBoard Returns
10:48:  If you haven't yet noticed, the Demiforce WWWBoard has been fixed after its long sleeping period of over a year. However, since ZMD4 was originally set up as a replacement for demi's, it may or may not be taken down. To give your opinion on this subject, check the message from Zophar on ZMD4.

Emulator Release: AMAME and PMAME beta 11
00:34:  I've added the new beta's of AMAME and PMAME to the M.A.M.E page. Check it out.

The link again is http://www.zophar.net/mame.html.

4/23/99
Misc. News: 6 Genesis Free ROMs added
23:48:  Hey everyone! I've added 4 Genesis demos and 2 Genesis free roms. Several old Censor demos, including one that is a full motion video movie trailer! The 2 free roms include a Genesis version of Berserk, and a ROM you absolutely MUST try! It is called Hardwired. This is probably one of the most impressive things I have ever seen created for the Genesis!

You can go check them out in the Genesis Free ROMs area.

Emulator Release: 1964 source code build 0.0.6
23:09:  A new build of the open source N64 emulator was released. Here is whats new:

Misc. News: NES Icons
20:34:  Well, here's a .zip file containing 184 NES and NES game related icons, feel free to add a bit of NES to your desktop with these. Thanks to some guy, whoever you are, for the icons.

Emulator News: Pics of Bleem! CD
20:18:  Well, someone apparently has Bleem! already. Someone shot some photos of the Bleem disc and case (no centerfold, damn it!) and gave permission to the EmuHQ site to post them. It also notes that the Bleem! disc is simply a key that has to be used every time it gets run.

Want to check the shots out? Go to EmuHQ and like it.

Emulator News: NeoRAGEx was NOT a leak
18:25:  I'd just like to confirm something for everyone. I spoke to one of the authors of NeoRAGEx today, and he's assured me that 0.5 of NeoRAGEx was *NOT* a leak. The 'leak' referred to was a picture of the next version's GUI, NOT the release of NeoRAGEx 0.5. I'm glad we have that all cleared up now.

Also, for anyone who wants to know how to get Baseball Stars working correctly under NeoRAGEx, all you have to do is rename all n138xxxx.xxx ROMs to n042xxxx.xxx and all will be well.

Misc. News: "Looking for Something to Blame"
18:23:  This article is about the Littleton, CO massacre a few days ago. Appearently, people are starting to blame video games. The two kids appearently liked to play deathmatch games like DooM and Quake. My thoughts: Don't blame the games, blame the parents! They are the ones who is supposed to raise the children properly.

"Looking for something to blame"

Misc. News: Status Update
17:31:  Hey, y'all remember my computer problems? My PII computer stopped functioning, I thought it burnt up (because I smelled smoke on the bottom of the contacts), so I went and bought a 333 for $180. I plugged it in my ASUS P2L97 AGP motherboard, and viola! Nothing...

The idiots at ASUS were rude to me on the phone, so *CLICK* and off to find another motherboard. I've had trouble finding one cheap, so pease email me, make suggestions on a 440BX that's in my price range ($0 to $80). Thanks =)

Media News: Sony VS. Connectix Article
13:11:  An article about why Sony has finally succeded with an inujunction against Connectix is available for your reading pleasure here. Go read it, hehe. Thanks to Nathan Flagg for the news.

Emulator Release: Virtual TI 2.00a3
13:06:  Vitual TI is a newly added TI8x emulator that emulates the whole load of TI Calculators from 82 to 89. It's available for your calculator emulation needs on the TI Emulators page.

Site News: Some things
12:35:  Hello everyone, Zophar here again with another "State of ZD" address. I'd like to first thank everyone who have been e-mailing in news updates, it really helps us get news up faster (in fact, so many people have been submitting news pieces that we can barely keep up!) So keep them coming in.

The second thing was a slight addition to yesterday's post about the NSM contest. I said everything EXCEPT when the NSMs were due by! So, the due-date is May 7, 1999. Any NSM's submitted after that date will be ignored, so get cracking! Also, any past or present ZD staff members are NOT eligible for the contest.

The NeoRage X release turned out to be a leaked beta (this is why I've always said that betas should be hard-drive serial # coded), but it was added to the official page anyway, so I guess it can stay on ZD.

Finally, I'd like to mention that the ZD 'award icon' idea to rank the most complete emulators out there is coming along... slowly. But I promise, it will be added within the next few weeks. If anyone has any additional ideas, feel free to e-mail me.

As always, ZD is nothing without its 20,000+ visitors that come daily to get the latest emulation news. Thanks for visiting ZD!

Frontend News: StartM72 0.33.4
05:41:  Wow, these frontend updates I do just get sparser and sparser. Anyway, StartM72, the M72 emulator frontend, has been updated and here are the news:

Interview News: Very short Zoop interview
21:03:  Although it's very short, and not very informative, it's the first interview that's been done with Zoop since the release of MEKA. You can check it out at be.emulationworld.com. Thanks to KoaM for the news.

Emulator Release: NeoRAGE X 0.5
17:01:  What's this? A new version of NeoRAGE? No this is not a joke, it is legit. Finally after months and months of waiting, on it's 8 month aniversary since it's last release, the RAGE team has come through with a totally re-done NeoRAGE. The biggest news...Sound! In all it's wonderful glory. Straight from the readme here's what's new:

Site News: NSM Contest #1 begins!
16:36:  After thinking about it for a while, I've decided to go ahead and begin the world's first NESticle NSM contest! I'll be running the contest once a month (maybe more if it takes off). This month's game will be... Metroid! Here are the rules:

1) You must beat Metroid in NESticle from beginning to end in one session. To record the NES movie (NSM), load the Metroid ROM, go to 'CPU', then to 'NES movie', and then 'record'. Play the game from start to finish (you must beat Mother Brain, then escape. The game is over after the escape). When you've beaten it, go back to 'NES movie', then 'stop'. The person who beats Metroid in the quickest time wins!
2) You may not use any cheat codes, Game Genie codes (they won't work anyway with NES movie recording), passwords, or any other such cheating. You must complete the game from beginning to end.
3) Multiple NSMs from one person will NOT be accepted. If you submit NSMs multiple times, all of your submissions will be deleted.
4) Do NOT ask me or the ZD staff where to obtain a Metroid ROM. If you don't have the ROM, you might want to buy a copier.
5) When complete, zip the NSM file and send it to zophar@voicenet.com. Include a text file with your name & e-mail address.

Now, you're all asking yourselves, 'what's the prize?' Well, the prize is... dun dun dun... a free 3 month account from the same great guys that host us, mercury.ztnet.com (emulationworld.com, ztnet.com, same difference.) You get a Basic 3 month account for nothing, which includes 10 MB of space, 1 background process (yes, you can run 1 IRC eggdrop!) and 1 e-mail account. Lynx, ftp, BitchX and all those other fun things are included on the shell, which uses SSH (you might want to grab SecureCRT).

This is a GREAT service (heck, ZD and about 30 other well-known emulation sites such as psemu.com, retrogames.com, emucamp.com, hu6280.com and system16.com are hosted by these guys), and even if you don't win any contests, it's pretty cheap (5$/month for basic, 10$/month for intermediate, 25$/month for advanced and 50$/month for the big one!).

You can read more about these accounts at mercury.ztnet.com.

So, let's see those awesome Metroid NSMs, and may the best man win! As always, thanks for visiting ZD!

Emulator Release: z26 1.28
15:50:  John Saegar has e-mailed me the latest release of his Atari 2600 emulator for DOS, z26. He is having a little trouble uploading the file to whimsey.com, but you can still grab it from ZD. This version of z26 emulates the 2600's digital voice (you can hear quadrun speak)!

You can download z26 1.28 from the Atari 2600 emulators page.

Emulator Release: M.A.M.E 0.35 (Beta 11)
06:57:  Earlier today the source for M.A.M.E. 0.35 Beta 11 was released. Although there is NO OFFICIAL M.A.M.E 0.35 Beta 11 DOS release, someone has compiled an unofficial version which we will post here until the official copy is released.

Anyway, here's what's new:

New games supported:

Misc. News: S3 Preview 3
05:53:  The Scribe has recently released preview 3 of his huge in-depth SNES chart/information list, S3. You can check it out at the SNES page.

Media News: Connectix Makes Statement on Restraining Order
05:22:  Well, Connectix has already thrown their words into the hat about this whole restraining order thing. To me, it almost looked like they were stepping on broken glass but somehow not getting cut the entire time VGS has been released -- until now.

Anyway, go read. Feel free to post your thoughts about this on the ZD Next-Generation message board.

Media News: Sony 1, Connectix 1
02:42:  Wow. Sony managed to stop the shipment of Connectix's PSX emulator. For the whole story, check it out here.

Here is a bit of the article:

The court order, Connectix details, "does not apply to the tens of thousands of units that Connectix has already shipped, which will still be widely available for resale while supplies last." Connectix adds that it will continue to offer customer support for those who have already bought CVGS or who may buy units that are now in stores.

So the ones that already received their package are lucky.

Once again. The full story is over there.

Thanks goes to Tona for the ICQ message.

4/21/99
Translation News: Dboy 0.49 English Translation
23:16:  As expected, Steven Livingston has come through with a translated what's new for Dboy 0.49. Without further adieu here's what's new:

Emulator Release: Snes9x v1.10 for Solaris (Pentium)
17:47:  A new port (certainly not a new version) of Snes9x port for Solaris was released, this one was compiled on a Pentium i586 machine. A what's new would probably be ludicrous and redundant. :)

Unix SNES page.

Emulator Release: basicNES 0.10
17:33:  basicNES, the NES emulator written in Visual Basic by Don Jarrett, that we've been hearing about and seeing screenshots of has been released! It features full mapper 0 and partial mapper 3 support. It's kinda slow and has no sound as of yet, but feel free to try it out anyway.

It's available for download on the NES Emulators page.

Emulator Release: Nestra v0.61
17:17:  New version of Nestra, NES emulator for Unix, released. Mostly a bugfix version from the last major release (v0.6). What's new:

Technical Docs News: SMS/GG section added
13:03:  Ok, so perhaps I was more bored than I thought, hehe. I supposed that since I added info about the processor that these two use I might as well add some info about them. Have fun, and you can reach the SMS/GG Tech docs section here.

Misc. News: RIP "Ravishing" Rick Rude
12:29:  While totally non-emulation related, I feel that I have to say goodbye to "Ravishing" Rick Rude, a past pro-wrestler who was both in the WWF (held the intercontinental title) and WCW. He died yesterday of causes currently unknown. Rest in peace, Rick.

Emulator News: Bleem! ships!
10:33:  The long-awaited PSX emulator for Windows, Bleem!, has finally shipped! From the official Bleem! homepage:

At long last, after much trial and tribulations, the CDs have finally arrived and the first units are already packed and ready to go! Watch your mailbox for a confirmation notice when your order has shipped. Shipping takes place on a first-in first-out basis and we'll be working all through the night and all through tomorrow and all through whenever until every last order is out the door. Thanks so much for your patience -- we don't have much time to explain the delay right now, but once we get your orders out the door, we'll tell you the whole story ... and it's an ugly one!

Well, looks like people will finally get their Bleem! Thanks to ^Barret^ for the news.

Technical Docs News: Z80 section added
05:37:  I was bored, so I added a technical documents section for the Z80. The Z80 is the processor used in things like the Nintendo GameBoy and the Sega Master System/GG. It hasn't been added to the sidebar yet, but you can reach it here.

4/20/99
Emulator Release: Dboy 0.49
23:00:  A new version of Dboy has been released off the Japanese Dboy page. So far there is no English documentation so we will wait for Steven Livingston to email us with the new features in this release.

For now you can still get Dboy 0.49 from the Gameboy Emulators page.

Links Update: EmuStars on Exposure
22:52:  Exposure will be featuring the 50 most influential people of the emulation community in the near future. Check it out, it sounds like it's going to be interesting.

B|oHazard Exposure2000.

Emulator Release: CPCEMU 1.5
22:38:  A new emulator has been discovered called CPCEMU. There is no web page for it at this time. Since this is new to ZD I will post everything from version 1.3 up. Give it a try it looks pretty nice.

New in v1.5:

Thanks to Tim Riemann (aka Octoate) for the news on CPCEMU and Z80EM.

Utility Release: Z80EM 1.2
22:19:  Z80-Emulation-Core (sourcecode, portable and optimized version) by Marcel de Kogel, has been added to ZD for your Z80 needs. It supports many different compilers and seems to be very versatile.

Get it at the Z80 Emulators page.

Emulator Release: WinUAE 0.8.8 Release 3
22:11:  A new version of WinUAE has been released, chock full of fixes, here's what's new:

Misc. News: RPG-Net Returns!
19:21:  Since its closure last year, RPG-Net has a return date of September. However, the page has been updated with a April 30th release! If you don't remember RPG-Net, it was an RPG/Emulation/Translation related site.

You can keep on updates at RPG-Net Homepage.

Site News: News group errors
19:06:  Well, if you haven't seen, I started propogating ZMD messages this afternoon. However, I had erroneously sent them to the wrong news group and to the wrong web board...this problem has been fixed.

Please note, that you'll find weird messages that make no sense until things get going. This is because they're replies from previously posted messages, but the news server didn't exist when the original message was posted, so it thinks the reply is the main message. Confusing? A bit...

ZMD is online at news.emulationworld.com in the group comp.emulation.emuworld.zd.wwwboard.zmd, and the other 4 boards will be switched over late tonight or tomorrow after our main board is officially pronounced as "working".

Remember, right now, you CANNOT post via news...you can only read. I guess by next week you'll be able to post.

Misc. News: Littleton, Colorado Massacre (it can't be called a shooting)
18:50:  This morning, in a Littleton, Colorado high school (Columbine High School), something awful went down. Multiple suspects and people in the school are already confirmed dead, and from what I'm hearing, the toll is as many as 25 people -- or more. The nickname of the group the suspects were affiliated with? The "Trenchcoat Mafia".

This personally scares me, almost brings me to tears, and makes me ask the question, "Why?" It reminds me of Oklahoma City -- that was the last thing that truly kept me glued to my TV when it happened. They focused on certain groups of people, such as minorities and athletes.

Any comments on it? Post them on Talk of the Town.

Emulator News: Cyber Warrior X leaves the Snes9x team
17:33:  It's just been announced on Cyber Warrior X's homepage that he has resigned from the Snes9x team. (By the way, the Snes9x site just got a redesign, you might want to check it out). He lists a number of reasons why he left (he used to maintain the Snes9x DOS port), which you can read about on his page. Good luck, cwx!

Emulator Release: gbemu 0.42.4 added
04:18:  Here's a nice GameBoy emulator for Windows. This one is quite fast and emulates a few mappers. From what I saw it did it good. I don't really know how the heck we missed this one, but I guess there will always be strange emulator pages out there that we won't know about, heh. Anyway, it's available for download on the GameBoy Emulators page.

Links Update: 6 sites added
02:45:  I've added 6 sites to the links page. And a note to all people sending in links. Make sure you have the correct address. If not, I can't put the link up.

Check out the updated links over at the Links page

Emulator Release: Arnold release March 12th
02:19:  I have just added a CPC emulator called Arnold to Zophars Domain. I don't know what version it is, because the readme, nor website tells me. So I will call it the March 12th release. Here is whats new in the March 12th release:

Utility Release: Danji Conversion Tool 99 Beta 2
00:53:  A new beta has been released to the public. Here is whats new.

Utility Release: Direct Pad Pro 5.0
00:33:  Wow! Just released was Direct Pad Pro 5.0! I asked Earle to add support for Virtual Boy controllers, and he did! With the little information I gave him. Anyway, here is a list of what's new:

Emulator Release: NESEM 1.0
00:10:  NESEM is a new NES emulator that is written in BASIC. Go check it out at the NES page.

4/19/99
Site News: Web board upgrade to support news!
23:38:  Tomorrow, the web boards may have a few minutes of downtime during the day and night while I switch the code over to support our news groups, and synch the web board/news group databases. While you will be able to read via news, you cannot post via news.

Once again, thanks for all your support for helping to test our news server. If you didn't check it out yet, go for it: news.emulationworld.com, and our groups are in comp.emulation.emuworld.zd. If you'd like to see a group or have questions/comments, email me.

Emulator Release: Just For Fun 0.20
23:27:  Just For Fun (JFF) v0.20 has been released. Not much new, aside from 1 new game.

Emulator Release: Virtual-E 0.3b
21:01:  A new version of the Virtual Boy emulator Virtual-E has been released. The best news is that a few games are now playable! Straight from the readme, here's exactly what's new:

Emulator Release: Meka 0.12
20:54:  The new version of Meka has been made public. Here's what's new:

Emulator News: basicNES supports mapper #3
17:16:  basicNES, the NES emulator programmed in Visual Basic for Win9x, now runs mapper #3 games. There's no release as of yet, but you can go admire the nice new screenshot that's up at the basicNES homepage.

Emulator Release: fMSX 2.1 for Amiga
17:11:  No, we haven't started carrying emulators for the Amiga. At least not yet, heh. But I thought I'd update anyway, since I've tried this one out and I feel that if any other Amiga users are looking at this page should know that this release has occured. You can read more about fMSX for Amiga and download it from the Amiga fMSX homepage

Misc. News: Cherryoms FTP back up
03:55:  Well, after a long period of downtime, the FTP is now back up, with many hundreds of NES, GameBoy, SNES, Arcade roms, and more!

Go and check out Cherryroms.

4/18/99
Site News: New sections
23:27:  After a night chock full of computer problems, I've been able to upload a few new emulators for Mac sections. Check them out, if you dare.

Utility Release: XSPC 1.0 beta 1
23:26:  A new SPC player, XSPC, has been released. It runs on Win9X and uses the Snes9x SPC700 core. For more info, check out the SPC page.

Misc. News: Dave's Classics returns!
22:03:  After a few weeks of on and off downtime due to some problems, Dave's Classics has returned! The current page is now hosted by Warzone Network. Be sure to check out the return of Dave's Video Game Classics as soon as possible. Welcome back, Dave!

Emulator Release: Raine v0.20
20:20:  A new Raine's out....here's what's new:

• Added a vsync autodetect option, which will only vsync when a game uses a direct mapper and the palette is really changed.
  
• Busy mouse sprite, from _Iceball_.
  
• Added a better savegame format. Loading of the old format is fully supported.
  
• Made some visual improvements to the gui and made active window draggable, added game count information to game select window.
  
• Zooming in H-System games and sprite fixes.
  
• Fixed a sprite chain problem in WWF Superstars.
  
• Added sound pause for hardware ym3812 emulation (thx cgfm for adlib info).
  
• Zooming in B-System games and sprite fixes.
  
• Fixed several memory leaks, with some nice debugging routines from Mirko Buffoni :).
  
• Zooming in F2-System games and sprite fixes.
  
• Sprite Zooming in F3-System games and fixes.
  
• Fixed a bug when expanding directory names to full path.
  
• Changed to Allegro 3.11 (joystick bug fixes, and a new joystick supported: Wingman Warrior).
  
• Improved the 'mapped' colour mappers so they look always correct without vsync.
  
• Added Legend of Makaj dipswitches from Udirnel.
  
• Added cheats.txt: secrets and cheat modes for the supported games.
  
• YM3812 frequency is now supported for hardware emulation. Thanks to Carl/DSC and JH.
  
• Added keyboard leds for most Taito games.
  
• Removed debug numbers from Mega Blast screen (oops).
  
• Fixed Cybattler and 64th Street missing sound (oops).
  
• Fixed background gfx in Rodland 'secret' levels.
  
• Changed the way bankswitching is handled in Z80 emulation for extra speed.
  
• Changed MZ80 memory interface to be more like Starscream's.
  
• Lots of gfx emulation merged (no speed loss, and in most cases a speed increase and improved accuracy).
  
• Action Replay search added to gui.
  
• rdtsc timer, more accurate timing, no more dropping to 59fps in Win9x-dosbox :).
  
• Lots of small game fixes, changes, and other stuff.
  
• Sound added on Toki

Emulator Release: Pretendo 0.01
16:43:  A new version of Pretendo has been released. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: Ultee 0.3a
15:15:  Ultee is a new NES emulator for Windows 9x and DirectX. Here are some of the features:

Emulator News: MEKA 0.12 Registered
14:50:  MEKA is only availible to registered people. The public version will be availible in a few days. Here's a list of what's new:

Misc. News: E-mail problems
14:29:  My @zophar.net e-mail address was mysteriously removed Thursday night. It has since been restored; if anybody tried to send me any updates or submitted an update for a MACINTOSH EMULATOR ONLY, please submit them to me again! Thanks a lot!

Emulator Release: Handy 0.60
03:02:  After over 5 months of inactivity, Keith Wilkins has released version 0.60 of his Lynx emulator for Windows, Handy. Here's what's new:

Utility Release: BGMapper 1.43
02:55:  A new version of BGMapper was released 10 days ago, because he was having problems uploading it. Anyway, here is what's new:

Links Update: 8 sites added
02:45:  Wow, I had to go through a bunch of e-mail for non emu related sites and more. Keep sending your links in, but hey, take it easy. :)

You can see the links over here.

Emulator News: basicNES
01:35:  A screenshot of 1942 running on basicNES is on the basicNES homepage. Check it out. It looks pretty good for a start.

Again, the site is here.

Emulator News: Raine emulator page updated once again
01:22:  Well, the Rainemu page page has been updated again. (Just release it already!) It has more screenshots of games playable in version 0.20. They also mentioned that it is closer to release. But, I expect another page update in the future. Dont you?

You can go check out the screenshots over at the Raine Emulator Page.

Thanks goes to hyperX for the e-mail.

Interview News: Interview with Co-Creator of Q*Bert
01:13:  Now here is an interesting interview. Check it out, it is with the co-creator of the ever so popular video game classic called Q*Bert. I find it interesting knowing how one of the creators of the classics tells how he feels about how his video game, and how far it has come. From Atari, to SuperNES. (possibly further) And even cartoons, and stamps with Q*Bert as the star. I think if you read only one article in your life about classic games, read this one.

You can catch the whole story over at the Onion's A.V. Club.

Thanks goes to Skrybe for the e-mail.

4/17/99
Emulator Release: WiNES 0.101
19:22:  WiNES, a new NES emulator for Windows 9X, has been released. This emulator doesn't work that many games yet, but the mapper emulation is done with the help of plugins and as usual plugins often let many people get together and work on parts of things independantly.
Anyways, here are the things it features so far:

Translation News: ASCII Begins to strike
01:35:  This was the message found on Kanji Hacks translation board, which stated that they would have to stop all of their projects until further notice:

To: Mr.Richard 'Tnomad' Perrin

From: Yukio Yorozu
Attorney-at-Law
Date: April 13, 1999
Re:WARNING for your Copyright Infringement By E-Mail

WARNING

ASCII Co. hereby express its complaint against your serious copyright infringement, i.e., (i)your copying ASCII's RPG Tukuru (herein after referred to as 'Product'), one of the famous Japanese game software package developed and marketed by ASCII Co. for the 'Super Family Computer(SNES)' manufactured by Nintendo and 'Windows OS platform' manufactured by MicroSoft, (ii)patching English localization, and (iii)transmitting this Product via your Web-Site as 'RPG Maker 95'(herein after referred to as 'Pirated Edition').

To our regret, ASCII have NOT received your application for a license, including, but not limited to, copy, localize in English, and/or transmit via Internet, and therefore, your Pirated Edition clearly infringes, at least, ASCII's copyright under the Laws of Japan and the United Kingdom.

Thus, ASCII give you a warning that if you wouldn't keep following steps, ASCII will take legal action in both Japan and the U.K. 1. You shall mail (postal mail and E-mail) an apology letter to Mr. Hirokazu Hamamura, General Manager of Entertainment Media Division, ASCII Co., with its principal office is located 1-18-10 Wakabayashi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 154-0023 Japan, written by you (if you belongs to any entity, representative person of the entity shall write this letter), within ten (10) days from the date of this WARNING, and you shall clearly state that; (1) you clearly recognize that your conduct consists copyright infringement, (2) you express your sincere apology for your conduct toward ASCII Co., and (3) you promise that you will do NO MORE copyright infringement conduct against ASCII Co.,and 2. You shall stop your Pireted Edition's transmission on your Web-site AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

If you faithfully trace ASCII's direction described herein, ASCII may consider to commence discussion for granting you a license for your legitimate copy, localization, and marketing English version of the Product..

Again, please be sure that if you follow ASCII's direction, you/your entity may obtain a chance to legitimately copy, localize, and market/transmit the English version of the Product, and if you deviate such direction, ASCII may take appropriate legal action.

Your paying attention to this letter and faithfully keep ASCII's direction would be highly appreciated.
___________________
Yukio Yorozu
Attorney-at-Law

Well, this may be one of the first video game translation groups to be attacked by a company... Hopefully this will be the last.

Emulator Release: PowerMSX 0.04
00:42:  A new version of PowerMSX has been released. What's new you ask? Here's what's new:

4/16/99
Misc. News: Voodoo 3 benchmarks with UltraHLE
22:48:  Emulation HQ did some very extensive benchmarks of UltraHLE on the Voodoo 2 and Voodoo 3 3000 cards. It's a nice read. I can't wait to get a Voodoo 3 3000 card to test it out myself. :)

Anyway, here it is: EmuHQ Voodoo 3 3000 benchmarks.

Misc. News: Dave's Video Game Classics in Need of a New Host
19:01:  It seem's as though Dave's Video Game Classics is in need of a new host:

Dave's Video Game Classics is looking for a new home. If you are interested in hosting our site, please contact us via e-mail. In the e-mail, please make sure to discuss details about hosting arrangements, web space, and so forth. Also, because of this sudden change one might be tempted to blame to current host UGO. Please understand that this is NOT their fault at all. It is just time for the page to move on. UGO has given this site nearly three great years of hosting, and certainly, without their help, this site might never have reached the popularity it has today.

If you're interested in helping out Dave's, check out the Dave's Classics suspension page for more info.

Emulator Release: WinUAE 0.88 Release 2
16:03:  WinUAE, the really great Amiga emulator, has been updated and here are the news:

Media News: Video Games chosen for the 1980 stamps
12:58:  The US Postal Service recently took an online vote on what the commerative 1980s stamps should feature, and it seems that video games have won, with 268,746 votes! Way to go! You can check out the full article at the link below. Thanks to Eller for the news.

Media News: Classic Gaming Expo '99 press release
12:48:  Classic Gaming Expo '99 has e-mailed me their latest press release. From the release:

VALLEY STREAM, NY -- Hot on the heals of an announcement by Hasbro Interactive to publish eleven Namco blockbuster classic video games including "Pac-Man" and "Galaga", the Classic Gaming Expo '99(tm) (CGE'99) promoters released a partial list of celebrities scheduled to attend the August event. In all, over thirty video game and computer pioneers have confirmed plans to actively participate, including industry legends such as Mr. Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, and Mr. Ralph Baer, father of the Magnavox Odyssey.

Among the many industry dignitaries that have confirmed their plans to attend are:

-- Mr. Steve Cartwright, Activision designer of such classic hits as "Megamania" and "Barnstorming" for the Atari VCS.

-- Mr. David Crane, Atari programmer and Activision co-founder. Designer of numerous Atari VCS classics including "Outlaw", "Slot Machine", "Freeway", and the mega-hit "Pitfall!".

-- Mr. Rob Fulop, Atari programmer and Imagic co-founder. Designed the Atari VCS versions of "Night Driver" and "Missile Command", as well as "Demon Attack". Also responsible for the highly-controversial Sega CD title, "Night Trap".

-- Mr. Arnie Katz, Mr. Bill Kunkel, and Ms. Joyce Worley. The pioneers of videogame magazine publishing. This elite media trio was responsible for co-founding Electronic Games Magazine and several others throughout the years.

-- Mr. Ed Logg, the creator of numerous arcade mega-hits including "Asteroids", "Centipede", "Millipede", "Gauntlet", and "Xybots".

-- Mr. Jay Smith, mastermind responsible for bringing us the Vectrex, the first and only vector home game system.

I don't know about you, but my mouth is watering. ;) Now if only I could get to Las Vegas.

Be sure to check out the official CGE99 website at the link below.

Emulator News: Raine 0.20 progress report
12:42:  Once again, we have more progress reports to share with you from the Raine front. From the official page:

We will start with Ashura Blaster from Taito.

Also from Visco here is, Earth Joker. The first one was a team cooperation to get it and the second was possible again thanks to AraCorn help, so please go to Romlist and help him because we owe it to him.

Updated the Wanted Boards/Roms Page. We decided to ask all of you, what do you think of setting up a donation page to get boards or also to have some of them loaned to us for emulation purposes. Tell me what do you think about it here.

Expect some more news before the upcoming release of version 0.20.

To view the pictures, check out the official Raine page from the link below. Thanks to hyperX for the news.

Media News: More of MAME in the news
11:25:  USA Today is reporting an article on MAME, and its legalities and what not. There's nothing in this article that surprises me, but you might want to check it out anyway at the link below. Thanks to Hiroshi for the news.

Emulator Release: New Bleem! Demo
06:47:  A new demo of Bleem! has been released for your playstation pleasure. It is reported to be a bit faster and supports a few more games. Straight off the web page, here's the details on it:

here's an updated demo with a couple of fixes we ran across along the way... By popular demand, CASTLEVANIA (u/c), TOMB RAIDER 2(u/c), and STREET FIGHTER COLLECTION(j, probably u/c) are all working now!

You can get the new Bleem! Demo from the Playstation Emulators page.

Misc. News: Is Daves Dead?
00:22:  NO, Daves Classics is still alive. Go read Dave's message and get the latest news. It basically says that www.davesclassics.com wouldn't resolve yesterday or most of today due to network tweaks at UGO, not because the site is dead.

Misc. News: 3 skins added
00:00:  I have just added 3 more skins to the ZD-spc skins page. Check them out.

You can get them over at the ZD-spc skins page.

4/15/99
Utility Release: ClrMAME 1.33
23:40:  ClrMAME is out. What's ClrMAME you say? It's a handy dandy little program that will fix up your happy MAME roms. Kudos to Roman Scherzer for making it. HEY! He lives in Bonn, Germany! I used to live there! Anyhow it's up for grabs here.

Utility Release: UltraHLP 2.4
23:36:  A new version of the awsome UltraHLE utility called UltraHLP was released! Here is a list of things that are new:

Misc. News: ZD newsgroup
23:09:  ZD has a new feature now...we're currently in the test phase of having the first usenet area. For those who don't know what UseNet is, then you can just skip the rest of this post. But for those who frequent the newsgroups, please point your news reader to news.emulationworld.com and post on the 'general' forum. We need some conversations started to test out the integrity of the server itself and see whether it's configured right. Keep a look out because in the near future our message boards will be echoed on the news server.

Emulator Release: FCFan Plus 1.07
23:03:  A new version of FCFan Plus, a NES emulator for Windows (also in the same "series" as GGFan Plus), has been released. Once again, I cannot tell you what's new because I can't read Japanese, and once again thanks to Pikaraichu for the e-mail.

Get FCFan Plus 1.07 from the NES Emulators page.

Emulator Release: GGFan Plus 1.09
22:59:  A new version of GGFan Plus, a Master System/Game Gear emulator for Windows, has been released! Unfortunately, I can't tell you what's new, because I can't read Japanese. Thanks to Pikaraichu for the e-mail.

Get GGFan Plus 1.09 at the Sega Master System/Game Gear page.

Media News: The Emulation Craze
22:57:  The Toronto Star writes an article about emulation. You can read the article over at the Toronto Star's "Fast Forward" section. Basically it talks about how emulation is growing, and that it is basically impossible to stop. And I found this part a bit... stupid:

"And with faster PCs, huge hard drives and broadband modems, it's probably inevitable some pimply faced 15-year-old will figure out a way to hack Sega Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation 2 games shortly after they come out this year and next."

Whats that all about? Are they saying that programmers look like that? Maybe ones that don't wash their faces. Anyway, I'm disappointed in this article, and Toronto Star. A 9 year old could have written a better one.

Go ahead and read the Article... you might like it.

Thanks to Mend0zA for the e-mail.

Emulator Release: LoopyNES 4/15/99 beta
22:41:  Looks like we got another version of the loopyNES beta, whoo hoo! Thanks to Darkmazda for telling us about it. Still no sound but here's what you get:

Site News: 'Tis Zophar again
17:03:  Hello everyone, Zophar here with another batch of fun ZD ideas that I'd like to share with you all.

First off, I've always felt that my ratings of all the different emulators out there were just too good. By this I mean, most emulator reviews on ZD make every emulator sound as good as the other (mainly because I hate discouraging emulator authors by giving bad reviews). Then I remembered that Archaic Ruins used to have an "AR's pick award' or something to that extent, where the fastest, most compatible, and generally best all-around emulators received a little icon, so people new to the site, or who just wanted to know which emulators the site recommended, could now know.

So I thought, why doesn't ZD do something like that? For example, in our SNES section, I could put a little 'ZD pick!' icon next to ZSNES and Snes9x, which are the 2 most popular, most compatible, etc., emulators available that emulate the SNES. Please offer your comments by e-mailing me.

The second thing I was thinking of was a NESticle NSM contest, where I would name a game that someone would record, and you'd have to go straight through the game. Whoever got through the game the quickest, following the rules set forth, would win a prize (maybe some cash or something else I would dig up). Would this interest anyone? If so, feel free to e-mail me with your feelings.

Finally, if anyone can think of anything else they'd like to see at ZD (anything but commercial ROMs or a revival of the BIOS section), you know where to e-mail.

Remember, ZD is nothing without the support of every last one of you who visits. Thanks for visiting ZD!

Translation News: Site worthy of mention
04:58:  A man named AnimeGod has come up with a neat idea of making "guides" for japanese SNES games, with instructions and a quick story line.
I reccomend you check out his page, if you are Japanese impared.

AnimeGod's Japanese Name Guide for SNES Games

Misc. News: GBLander 0.002 with colours!
03:19:  GBLander, a homebrewn freeware GameBoy ROM, has been updated. And this new version features colours! So go download it and try it out on DBOY, No$Gmb, or maybe even your copier or something since the homepage states that it works great on a real GameBoy.

It's available for download on the Homebrewn GameBoy ROMs page.

Misc. News: 2 ZD-spc skins added
02:57:  I have added 2 more skins for the .SPC player, ZD-spc. They are pretty good looking, and I am working hard on the next release of ZD-spc, so here is a couple things to look forward too:

- New Preferences
- 1.18a sound core for SNES9x

Two other things... but I wont go into them right now. :)

So you can download ZD-spc at the ZD-spc page.
And you can download the skins at the ZD-spc Skins page.

Links Update: 8 sites added and a new section
02:51:  I've added 8 sites to the links page. I have also taken the liberty of adding a new section called "Non Emulation related sites" in case anyone wanted to send me some good links of pages they go to. And I just want you to send me sites dealing with computers, MP3's, and that sorta stuff... nothing like infoseek.com, or cnn.com... I think its self-explanatory.

So go ahead and check them out. You can see all the latest links, and the new section over at the Links Page.

Site News: Save archives update
02:31:  Updated: SPC, STA, ZST, ZMV archives.

Emulator Release: Z26 1.27
01:25:  John Saegar has released version 1.27 of his Atari 2600 emulator for DOS, Z26. Here's what's new:

Misc. News: DarkMazda's Domain Turns 1 Year Old
00:11:  Happy Birthday to DarkMazda's Domain! DMD has been around for 1 whole year, and we wish them many more years to come.

4/14/99
Emulator News: DBOY 0.48b changelist
23:58:  Thanks to Steven Livingston, we now have the changelist to DBOY 0.48b. Here's what's new:

Interview News: Virtual-E Author Interviewed
23:54:  Alberto Covarrubias, the author of Virtual-E, has been interviewd by The Red Area. Go check the interview out if you're interested.

Emulator Release: MacMAME 0.35b10
20:51:  MacMAME has been updated to version 0.35b10. Here's what's new from the MacMAME homepage:

Emulator Release: X-Mame v0.35b10.2
20:16:  A new beta version of the X-Mame, multiple arcade machine emulator, this one is a bugfix of b10.1. What's new:

Emulator Release: BrSMS 1.20r
17:25:  The registered version of BrSMS 1.20, a Sega Master System & GameGear emulator for DOS, has been distributed to registered users. There is one change in this version:

Utility Release: Danji Conversion Tool 99 Public Beta 1
17:25:  Version 1.0b1 is out! But, this is the FIRST public beta of DCT 99 so, there will be bugs. This Utility makes your danji rom conversions a lot easier + "unofficial" games support. Check it out!

You can check it out at the NeoGeo Utilities page.

Utility Release: Mario Improvement 3
16:50:  From a different author, but the same idea as Mario Improvement 1, Mario Improvement 3 is a utility that enables you to edit the levels of Mario Brothers 3. It works perfect (so far from what I've tested) on the levels 1-1, 1-3, 1-1 (bonus area), 1-2 (bonus area). You gotta try out this utility, its very cool!

You can download it now from the Facelift Utilities page.

Emulator Release: UltraHLE-Z 2.7
13:39:  This here is a TOTALLY unendorsed and unsupported version of UltraHLE and it has not been released by the UltraHLE team. So please note that you should not bug the UltraHLE team about this one. Here's the stuff it features:

Emulator News: Nemu64 progress report
04:38:  As you can see from the official Nemu64 page, progress is coming along nicely. Mortal Kombat Trilogy now gets to the select fighter screen. Other games look very nice, such as Dark Rift. Be sure to check out the official page at the link below. Thanks to EmuUnlim for the news.

Emulator Release: DBOY 0.48b
00:52:  Another new version of DBOY, a Gameboy emulator for DOS, has been released. I don't know what's new in version 0.48b yet. You can download it from the Gameboy emulators page. Thanks to Pikaraichu for the news.

4/13/99
Interview News: TeleKawaru Interviewed by SEC
22:04:  SEC has conducted an interview with TeleKawaru author of the Snes9x DOS port.

The interview can be found here.

AND

The SEC can be found here.

Utility Release: Update of the week
19:25:  Got some new patches posted here:

Misc. News: Kevorkian sentenced to 10 - 25 years
16:31:  A few weeks ago, Dr. Kevorkian, who has been involved in a number of assisted suicides, was found guilty of second-degree murder in Michigan, and today he was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in jail.

According to Michigan law, it's illegal to assist a suicide. It's just swell to know that according to Michigan state law, if you're suffering from a terminal illness that renders you unable to move, you are forced to die in misery. (It's times like this that make me ashamed to live in the United States of America. I'm glad Pennsylvania upholds my constitutional rights though).

You can read more at the article below. Feel free to post anything you want about this on Talk of the Town.

Media News: Video Game companies being sued!
16:25:  It seems that the families of three students murdered by a 14-year old boy who went on a rampage last year are suing various video game companies, including Sony, Sega and Nintendo. It would seem as though video game companies are getting a taste of what it's like to be sued on ludicrous charges that hold no water. Be sure to check out the article at the link below.

Emulator Release: Shark 3.0d
15:56:  Shark, a multi-arcade emulator for Windows95, was updated yesterday to version 3.0d. For some reason, the Dead Serious Clan doesn't like putting changelists in their emulators... but thanks to Retrogames, we know that the following is new in Shark 3.0d:

The new version contains exciting new bug fixes and a finalized version of New Zealand Story together with multiplayer fixes for various games. New in Shark V3.0D is the support for exotic new input devices.

You can download Shark 3.0d from the Multi-Arcade emulators page.

Emulator Release: MAME32 0.35 Beta 10
15:31:  The Windows port of MAME has been officially brought to sync with the latest DOS beta, 0.35 Beta 10. You can download it from the MAME page. Thanks to www.retrogames.com for the news.

Misc. News: Some things
15:30:  Hello everybody, Zophar here. Yesterday I spent most of the day at the Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, to see the Phillies home opener. Of course, we lost (as usual) to the Atlanta Braves, 8-6. It was still a good game, but the Philadelphia jinx didn't leave us in time.

A few days ago, I gave out my ICQ # so that people who wanted to get in contact with me could... boy, was that a bad move on my part. :) I think about 1,000 or so of you added me to their contact list before I checked the 'Ask for Authorization' box. I just want you all to realize that I'd love to be able to message all of you back, but if I did, I'd never be able to update ZD, or go to baseball games. ;)

Finally, _Bnu will be in charge of the Technical Documents section while Apoc gets his computer fixed up.

That's all. As always, ZD is nothing without each and every one of you. Thanks for visiting ZD!

Site News: Mailing lists?
15:19:  I was discussing with Zophar the possibility of having a mailing list for ZD, where we would send out emails for each major update (not EVERY update). Sounds like a neat idea....

Another possibility, is creating old BBS-style offline mail packets for the message boards, so you can wipe the dust off of Blue Wave and such. While this breaks the ethics of a "web board", it'll allow you to retrieve all the new messages from the board, and then browse through them at your leisure.

My last idea, and this is kind of drastic, but we would put a newsgroup server on our provider and cross post web board <-> newsgroup.

Go ahead and email me at swampgas@bigfoot.com with some feedback on which ideas are cool and which ones suck:)

Emulator News: More info on Ninja
14:25:  Ok, Thanks to Subbie, we now have a translation of what the description says on the Ninja homepage.

Well, we have seen Meka, and we want to say that we think it's amazing, every one, not only a emulator gamer, but any programmer, should take a look. This will help to keep getting better our emulator to get this quality... ;) ...well starting with Ninja, we have to say that it's by 0.8.2ß version and our friend VeneNossO (alias Noso) is making a compatibility chart, thanks buddy. But we only have the Master System section we'll soon have the GameGear and Megadrive too.

Master System/Game Gear 95%
It emulates almos every game at good speed and with acceptable sound. We only have to remove some graphic bugs.

Megadrive 70%
Actually the 60% of the ROMs are well amulated, but they have very important graphic and sound errors that make
half of them unplayable.

Megadrive 32X 1%
It only reads the ROM title and a couple of more things. Well, it's a start :)

Mega CD 0%
We'll begin soon, thanks for the help.

Hopefully, we can see some greater progress on this well planned out emulator in the future.

Emulator News: Ninja - SEGA multi console emulator
07:55:  A new SEGA emulator seems to be in the works. The homepage is in Spanish, but I managed to understand a few things. SMS/GG emulation is 96% complete, MegaDrive emulation is 70% complete, 32X is 1% complete and MegaCD is 0% complete. This all sounds reasonable, considering that it doesn't claim to emulate the 32X, heh. The homepage is located here. Also, the author of this emu was saying something about Meka on his page, but I don't have the slightest idea what he's saying.

Emulator News: 1964
07:52:  Strange news subject, huh? I guess you just had to look, heh. 1964 is a new N64 emulator that's a bit different from all the others. No, it doesn't play all commercial games or anything like that, but it's Open Source. Which means that ANYONE can participate with a bit of code to make this emulator work. The source code has been added to the N64 Emulators page so feel free to take a look at it.

Technical Docs News: 6502, 65816 and 68000 sections added
04:27:  I've added tech docs sections for the 6502, 65816 and 68000 CPUs. These sections can not be reached by the side bar as of yet, but I'm hoping that'll be fixed soon. Meanwhile you can reach them here: 6502 tech docs, 65816 tech docs, 68000 tech docs. There aren't many up yet, but enough for someone to base at least one or two CPU cores on, hehe.

Misc. News: Added a ZD-spc skin
01:36:  Kenny sent me a cool looking ZD-spc skin. Take a look at it. And, I uploaded the wrong index yesturday... how... I don't know. But now, it is up there, along with Kenny's skin, and Wattz3k's.

So take a look at the ZD-spc skins page. And don't forget, you can send me your Skins to have up on the page. And who knows, your skin might be on the next ZD-spc release!

Emulator Release: X-mame v0.35b10.1
00:42:  A new beta version of the X-Mame, multiple arcade machine emulator for Unix (X11). I thought it would never be released, this version catches up with the DOS version since it jumped from b8.1 to b10.1, there apparently wasn't time for b9.1 to be released. Anyway, what's new:

beta 9.1:

4/12/99
Emulator News: NEmu64 plays commercial games!!
23:18:  You can take a look at the pictures at the Offical Nemu64 Website! Here is what was posted there:

This is maybe the news many of you have been waiting for. Mortal Kombat Trilogy almost works in Nemu64. I still have some graphics glitches, crashes and errors but it is progressing very well. I would like to fix that completely before I release a new version, but a release is planned :-)

Talk about a fast growing emulator. Go and take a look! Here is the site again.

Offical Nemu64 Website.

Misc. News: #emu Efnet Channel statistics
19:11:  Hi there, I just wanted to announce that every week, I'm going to whip out my logs from #emu Efnet and post stats from the channel here to ZD, then after a month is up, I'll post a monthly stats page. Every week you'll see a new update to the page with different information on it each week. It's pretty cool, check it out.

The #emu Efnet Stats page.

Utility Release: RomCenter 1.2
05:14:  RomCenter 1.2, the MAME ROM checker and stuffie duffie, has been updated. Here are the news:

Links Update: 10 sites added
23:28:  Well, after a week of adding over 30 links... Here I am adding 10 more. Man... These emulation sites just keep comming up!

Check out the new links, over at the Links Page.

Emulator Release: Reality Boy 0.65 Released
23:28:  A new version of Reality Boy 0.65 has been released. You may not recognize the name simply because it was previously known as VBemu98. Both the Dos AND Unix versions have been updated, here's what's new:

Dos:

Misc. News: Jet Pak DX v0.006 for Gameboy Released
23:23:  The homebrew Gameboy ROM Jet Pak DX has been updated to version 0.06. You are now able to pick up the pieces of the shuttle to try to put it together. When you do so, then you must fuel the shuttle. I word of advice. Don't try to play this one with the keyboard. :)

You can check this fun little game out for yourself in the Gameboy Homebrew ROMs area.

Emulator Release: Pretendo 0.00
18:23:  Pretendo is a new NES emulator for Win9X/DirectX. It is still in its very early stages, but go check it out at the NES page anyway.

Emulator Release: Hu6280 Win 1.89 Beta 11
17:36:  A new version of Hu6280 Win, a TG-16 emulator for Windows95/98, has been released. Here's what's new in version 1.89 Beta 11:

Emulator Release: Boycott 0.50 Beta 1
17:01:  Gollum has released version 0.50 Beta 1 of his Gameboy emulator for DOS, Boycott. Here's what's new:

Emulator News: GGFan Plus 1.07
16:44:  Thanks to Steven Livingston, we now have the changes translated to GGFan Plus 1.07. Here it is:

Misc. News: S3 SNES Chart updated
15:49:  The S3 Super Nintendo Chart has been updated. Some changes were made to the A section, and the B section was added. This is a chart that contains various information about SNES games, including Name, Author/Vendor, Year Released, Type of Game, Language Game is in, Info on Game, Opinion of Game, and the recommended emu to run the game on.

You can check out the S3 chart at the top of the SNES Emulators section.

Emulator Release: GGFan Plus 1.07
14:51:  Here's the new version of GG Fan Plus, but I can't tell you what's new becaise I don't know. Its in Japanese. Oh well, get it at the Game Gear page.

Utility Release: New UltraHLE ini Instruction Manual
01:48:  Nintenda has released an updated version of his N64 ini instruction manual. You can pick it up at either UltraHLE.com or EmuHQ.com.

Misc. News: Compatibility list Research by The Scribe
01:45:  The Scribe has done some SNES research concerning G/MD titles. All of his information came from The Teleparc games database. He had planned to do an S3 update however computer problems have hindered this effort. Hopefully he'll get himself back in action soon and get that update done. He'd still like reviews from anybody who'll submit 'em, and he welcomes any corrections from the true-blood SNES/SFC types out there.

Misc. News: New episode of Back In Time
01:34:  Mike Stulir has released a new version of Back in Time, a Retro radio show. From the e-mail:

The latest episode of Back In Time has been posted, and my guest is Dana Henry, Director of Public Relations for Hasbro Interactive. Dana and I recently conducted an hour-long interview, which you will hear in its entirety. That interview covered a number of subjects, with particular focus on their stance with the classic gamers, arcade emulation, the IDSA, etc. Other subjects include their recent acquisition of the Atari properties, and their future plans for those classic Atari games.

Dana made three product announcements during this interview. Two of the three new products had not been publicly announced before, and Back In Time has the EXCLUSIVE news. One of those announcements is for an emulation related product to be released this summer!!!

This is an episode not to miss. If you are a classic gamer, or a fan of classic game emulation, visit the Back In Time web site and listen to the latest episode. Back In Time is a web site dedicated to classic gaming and computing. The web site covers many subjects pertaining to classic video games, with an emphasis on the classic Atari arcade video games, home console video games, and computers.

Be sure to visit it at the link below.

4/10/99
Emulator Release: Nestra v0.6 for Linux
20:32:  New version of Nestra, NES emulator for Linux, released today (thanks to Raven for the news). There hasn't been a new release of Nestra for quite awhile, but in this version the video emulation has been completely rewritten it seems. What's new:

Emulator Release: z26 1.26
19:24:  z26, an Atari 2600 emulator, has been updated and here are the news:

Site News: Ways to contact me
00:15:  Hello everyone, Zophar here with another fun 'state of ZD' post. (Guess which other staff member used to do this every once and a while, and you win a cookie).

Over the years, and the last few months especially, I've noticed that more and more people would like to get in contact with me in other ways not including e-mail (ie, real time chatting), and not everyone uses IRC. So I, in my enduring wisdom, downloaded some things that can help people contact me if you're bored, or just want to chat.

ICQ: I resurrected my 1 1/2 year old ICQ account, and re-downloaded the latest ICQ, for those of you who use ICQ and find it useful, and who are just dying to contact me. My UIN is 6474224, so contact me if you dare.

AOL IM: Yes, I know what many of you are thinking, hehe. But for those people that use it, my... umm... 'screen name' is Zophar666. See, look at all the trouble I go through for you guys. ;)

IRC: I hope this is what the majority of you choose. I've used IRC since 1995, in BBS days. The only real way to chat, IMO. You can find me as 'Zophar' on efnet, in #retrogamers or #zopharsdomain.

Well, that's all the ways I can think of, unless you'd rather e-mail me. As always, ZD is nothing without its visitors. Thanks for visiting ZD!

4/9/99
Emulator Release: Hu6280 1.89 Beta 10
21:52:  Version 1.89 Beta 10 of Jamsponge's TG-16/PC-Engine emulator for Windows has just been released! Here's what's new in this version:

Media News: Sony loses! Expect Bleem! to ship shortly
21:18:  In another victory for emulation, Sony Computer Entertainment of America's request to block bleem! from being shipped has been denied! From the article:

"We're very happy with the court's decision," says David Herpolsheimer, head of Sales & Marketing for Bleem, LLC. "We've always held that bleem! will be good for Sony, since it expands the PlayStation's reach to millions of PC gamers. We've always worked to respect the interests of Sony and all PlayStation developers, and have repeatedly reached out to address any legitimate concerns they might have. In spite of Sony's recent actions, our door remains open and we hope Sony will see what industry-insiders and retailers already know: that bleem! can only result in a larger market for PlayStation games, and increased sales of PlayStation software overall."

A big thanks to Ramze for informing me of the article. Check the full article out at the link below. The current score: Emulation - 3, Sony - 0.

Emulator News: BrSMS 1.19r
19:01:  A new release of BrSMS, a Sega Master System & GameGear emulator for DOS, is now available. Here's what's new in version 1.19r:

Frontend News: New UZI released
18:50:  UZI, a really good ZSNES frontend, has been updated. This new version fixes a few bugs and adds ROMInfo and some other stuff.

You can get it from the SNES Emulator frontends page.

Emulator News: DBOY 0.48a changes translated
16:45:  Once again, Steven Livingston has submitted a translated change list. Here's what's new in DBOY 0.48a:

Emulator News: Megasis 0.03 changes translation
16:31:  Steven Livingston to the rescue, once again. Here's what's new in Megasis 0.03:

Misc. News: The Flyer and Poster Archive for Mame v2.3
15:54:  The Flyer and Poster Archive for MAME is a website dedicated to providing all sorts of scans related to the arcade machines which MAME emulates. This week's update adds 18 new scans, while 6 have been replaced, for a grand total of 548. You'll want to check out this archive at the link below if you're an arcade buff.

Emulator Release: AMAME & PMAME 0.35 Beta 10
12:56:  The AMD and Pentium optimized versions of MAME have been compiled and released by Rodimus Prime. Both the ASM and C versions are available at the MAME page. Thanks to www.retrogames.com for the news.

Emulator Release: DBOY 0.48a
12:42:  A new release of DBOY, a Gameboy emulator for DOS, has been released. I await the translation of the changes from Steven Livingston. You can download DBOY 0.48a from the Gameboy emulators page.

Emulator Release: Megasis 0.03
12:06:  A new release of Megasis, a Genesis emulator (japanese) for Windows95/98, is now available. I just tried it out, and even though I don't know exactly what's new (due to the readme being in japanese), I can tell you that the sound emulation is INCREDIBLE. The only downside is it's immense slowness (on my 375mhz Celeron, it can't achieve full speed if the window is more than 2X). Still, you'll want to check it out.

If anyone knows what's new in this version, please e-mail me. Thanks to Pikaraichu for the news. You can download Megasis 0.03 from the Genesis emulators page.

Emulator Release: loopyNES 4-5-99 beta
11:52:  It seems that a few days ago, after the release of loopyNES 4-4-99 beta, a newer version that fixes a color problem in Adventure Island 3 was released. It's just a minor update, and there is nothing else new. Thanks to The Giomancer for the word.

You can download loopyNES 4-5-99 beta from the NES emulators page.

Misc. News: Glide Underground launches petition
11:40:  Glide Underground has recently launched a petition to allow Glide wrappers to be distributed. There are a lot of submitted petitions so far, and from the looks of it, 3DFX will be getting some really bad publicity over this. You can check out the petition at the link below. Thanks to Drekk Noreh for the news.

Utility News: SNES Dev Studio v1.00
01:15:  An SNES development kit has been released. It is "designed" to make assembler coding on the 65c816 just a bit more convenient. It has a calculator to convert HiRom addresses to LowRom addresses, and a basic editor for making tiles. Check this out if you are interested in making programs for the SNES.

You can download it at the SNES Utilities page.

Links Update: 7 sites added
01:01:  Woohoo. The links are just pouring in. Check out the links page to see whats new!

You can check the new links over at the Links page.

4/8/99
Emulator Release: Power MSX 0.03
22:06:  Power MSX is a new MSX emulator. It supports MSX1 emulation, and varias other features. Thanks to Arnaud for the news. You can go download it at the MSX page.

Media News: SONY attacks bleem!
21:12:  In a not-so-shocking news story, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has asked a federal judge to block shipment of bleem!. We all knew this would happen sooner or later, it just turns out that it happened sooner. You will want to read this entire article at the link below. ZD will keep you posted with any furthur developments.

Emulator News: MEKA does NOT support NES emulation
21:02:  After all of the wondering whether or not MEKA supports NES emulation, I can confirm it for you right here. My e-mail to Zoop:

Hey Zoop, just curious... was the NES compatibility a late April Fool's joke?

His reply:

Yes.

It's still a great emulator, it just doesn't support the NES in any way, shape or form. If you still don't have it, grab it from the Sega Master System & GameGear emulators page.

Emulator Release: MAME 0.35 Beta 10
20:56:  Blam, a brand new beta of M.A.M.E. (DOS) has been released, chock full of new stuff to play with. I won't delay you much longer, here's what's new in version 0.35 Beta 10:

New games supported:

Emulator News: Raine status report
15:29:  Although this is over a day old, we somehow missed it, so we'll tell you all about it now. The official Raine page has been updated with the following details concerning the next version of Raine:

Fear not we will be releasing a new Raine version soon, and to continue giving news about emulated games here is the Arkanoid 2 US and Jap version pics has promised.

And here is another great game from Taito, Don Doko Don following their tradition of cute platform games. You can all say thanks to Jrom for this one. :)

Thanks to hyperX of The Raine Forest for the news.

Emulator Release: UltraSWE 1.00
15:18:  A swedish translation of UltraHLE, deemed UltraSWE, has been released. It will be added to ZD later today or tommorow (currently, EmulationWorld is going through an upgrade so I don't want to upload files just yet). You can read more about it at EmuSphere.

Site News: Poll updated again -- vote.
15:17:  Well, well.... I just updated the poll again, and the results of that last poll need to be talked about. The last poll, in a way, was a fluke poll. Two of the sites died or went down for an undetermined period while the poll was going on (I just decided to put one on there because it died the day I put on the last poll). Too bad they ranked 1-2 as the top votegetters. :)

BTW, anyone notice the tongue-in-cheek in the first poll option? :)

Anyway, here's that last poll:

What emulation site, besides ZD, do you think is the best?

Choice 1 was: "I don't give a care if it's dead, Emu News World keeps me up-to-date."
It received 86 votes (21.3 percent).

Choice 2 was: "Retrogames is the best site around."
It received 32 votes (7.9 percent).

Choice 3 was: "EmuUnlim rocks, especially because of E-Mail Wars."
It received 23 votes (5.7 percent).

Choice 4 was: "Classicgaming is actually as good as Fragmaster likes to think it is."
It received 10 votes (2.5 percent).

Choice 5 was: "Dave's Classics is the best site -- I've been going there for years."
It received 92 votes (22.8 percent).

Choice 6 was: "I don't think that there are any sites better than EmuCamp."
It received 7 votes (1.7 percent).

Choice 7 was: "Archaic Ruins may be old, but I still go there all the time."
It received 38 votes (9.4 percent).

Choice 8 was: "JoseQ's EmuViews is probably the most well-done of the big emu sites."
It received 7 votes (1.7 percent).

Choice 9 was: "I don't like these sites; I go to other ones."
It received 60 votes (14.9 percent).

Choice 10 was: "I don't really care."
It received 49 votes (12.1 percent).

Now, for the new poll. This one won't be post-dated, fortunately. Here's the question:
What do you think of ROM site disclaimers?

Someone e-mailed me asking this question, and I thought it was a good one, so I threw it on there. Thanks to Malbolgia for the idea, and go vote.

Emulator News: NEMU compatibility
14:40:  Sterling Beck has e-mailed ZD to let us know that he's tried a bunch of N64 games with NEMU, and surprisingly, it can actually show the N64 logo and even play some music in a couple games:

Emulator Release: More MEKA easter eggs
14:20:  Some more MEKA easter eggs for you that you may or may not have read about elsewhere:

Emulator Release: VGB Linux 1.5
14:07:  Marat Fayzullin has informed ZD that he's compiled VGB 1.5, his multi-platform Gameboy emulator, for Linux. The binaries are available at the VGB homepage, which you can access at the link below.

Emulator Release: DBOY 0.48
13:41:  A new version of DBOY, a Gameboy emulator for DOS, has been released. Here's what's new, courtesy of Steven Livingston:

Misc. News: The Matrix
13:31:  Hi everyone, Zophar here. After another 24 hours of real life (tm), I've once again returned. Yesterday, I went with a few friends to see The Matrix. If you haven't seen it yet, GO SEE IT! If you thought Total Recall was weird, this movie ranks 11 out of 10 on the Zophar weird-o-meter.

I'll be doing some updates that were missed yesterday (they were actually done, but this news page wasn't updated due to a CGI malfunction).

And, as always, this page is made possible by everyone who visits. Thanks for visiting ZD!

Translation News: Megagirl???
03:17:  Yep, someone did it. Blueboy hacked Megaman 1 so that it's all girl like!

Pick it up at the Hacks page.

4/7/99
Misc. News: Final Fantasy Anthology?
23:07:  Well, its official. Part of the Final Fantasy Collection is coming to the US. Yeah, I said part because we only get Final Fantasy 5 & 6. I guess its better than nothing... Read about it at IGN.

Misc. News: Quotes Page Updated
23:02:  After wrestling with the cgi / html for the quotes page for the past 2 months I've finally began my mega update for the quotes pages. Not too many new things on the Lame quotes page, but lots of new stuff on the Funny quotes. Check em out if you get a chance.

On a side note, we're still hoping to get some kind of a wrestling section here on ZD, hopefully more to come in the future.

Emulator Release: TrueReality v0.1.2(1999040500)
22:47:  A new version of the TrueReality, n64 emulator for Unix.
Version 0.1.2 (dev. v. 1999040500), are we switching to normal version numbers now? Anyway, the what's new, as wierd as it may be:

Misc. News: 3DFX contacts Glide Underground
22:46:  Well, it looks like that Glide Underground received a bunch of e-mails from 3DFX claiming that some of the wrappers on their site were programmed from the SDK, which is not legal. So it looks like GU will stop having wrappers on their site. Anyway, go ahead and read it for yourself.

You can read the e-mails, and the news here

Links Update: 13 sites added
22:33:  There we go. I've added 13 sites to my links page. Thanks to all who sent in their links, and remember to keep sending them in!

You can go to the links by Smashing your mouse here.

Misc. News: Jet Pak DX v0.05 for Gameboy released
22:19:  Quang has informed me of the clone of the Sinclair Spectrum classic Jet Pac he is working on for Color Gameboy, amply titled "Jet Pak DX". You are able to fly around and shoot the rocks, however, the pieces of the ship don't do a nything yet.

I invite you all to download it from the Gameboy Homebrew ROMS area.

Utility News: XcheatED version 2.0 Beta 1
21:58:  A new version of XcheatED was released, and here is what's new:

Translation News: Final Fantasy Epica
20:59:  A new version of Final Fantasy Epica v.0.8 was released. Epica is a hack of Final Fantasy 1.

Get it on the Hacks section.

4/6/99
Links updated: 5 sites added
20:22:  I have just finished adding 5 sites to the links page.

So go ahead and take a trip to the Links Page... you might like a site.

Misc. News: Some stuff
19:40:  Well this is probably as low as I can go, but I have put up a video game music server, lots of it good old nintendo stuff, and newer stuff, in total there is 10 GIGs, which is a heck of a lot. In any case, it's a Hotline server, which you can download the client from the link. It's basicly a mix of FTP/Message Board with graphical enhancements. My server IP is taichou.dynip.com, and you do not need a login to download. Warning is that, no mor e than 20 people can download at once. So if you cant, wait a bit, or try again later. Any questions or comments? Mail me Also, Yes I know my icon is a bit gimped up, and should be fixed by tommorrow. Thanks

Site News: Nintendo 64 Section Added
18:22:  I've added the N64 emulators for Mac section. It can be found by clicking on the link below.

Emulator Release: Nemu64 v0.02
18:09:  Nemu64, a quickly growing N64 emulator, rolled off the assembly (haw..a pun) line. Here's what's new:

• Dynamic Recompilation
  
• Bugfixes in the CPU core
  
• More bugfixes in the CPU core
  
• Even more bugfixes in the CPU core
  
• Changed handling of invalid opcodes, so the emu doesn't crash that much anymore
  
• DirectDraw plugin
  
• Bugfixes in the DirectSound plugin; doesn't crash anymore if you
  don't have a soundcard
  
• Added "dummy sound" plugin, so you can turn sound off if you
  experience any problems
  
• Speeded up COP1
  
• Added some more RSP opcodes
  
• Added some sprite types to the RDP Graphics engine
  
• Added possibility to let the graphics plugin do RDP.
  
• Added speed hacks
  
• Added pause function

Misc. News: Dave's Down Again
17:27:  Well, Dave's Classics is down again, and AGAIN heads to the UGO page. The new message is this:

"We know that many of you depend on Dave's for the latest in retro-gaming and regret any inconvenience this may cause. We are working for a speedy resolution to this matter."

If you wish to talk about this, UGO has a link to his message board

Misc. News: Correction on previous update...
15:04:  Yesterday I posted about the new Bleem! and its USB support. Personally, I have no clue what that means, but Das Megabyte was kind enough to explain it to me via email:

The USB update has NOTHING to do with USB per se, but rather with the USB updated version of win95. This affects a lot more than just people with usb; it affects anybody with a Via chipset, a U-Scsi-3 board, an AGP video card, or more than 64 meg of R AM running Win95. The new virtual memory driver that came with the USB update was very powerful & entirely new (which is why it crashed all previous versions of bleem!).

He also said it looks "awesome as hell" on an AGP video card. Once again, you can grab Bleem! from the PSX page.

Translation News: New Trans and hacks...woop
02:53:  A new Bald Mario hack patch, and a few translation patches:

4/5/99
Misc. News: Friendly reminder.
21:25:  Hey everyone! I wanted to point this out to all of you. I have received a few news submissions from folks about Homebrew and Demo ROMs that are out there from people. However, they have only been the name of the game, with no l ink to where I may find it, or a person to contact about it. I just wanted to remind all of you that when you use the submit news function on this site, please include a URL to the page that we can find the news, info, game, etc at. For those of you tha t were unaware that you could send us news, if you scroll up towards the top of the page, there is a link that states, "Feel free to submit news to Zophar's Domain." It's right below the counter. This is the best way to help us keep on top of news we mi ght have missed, or perhaps let us know about a game you are creating. Thank you!

Check out the Submit News area.

Misc. News: GB Lander v0.01 Homebrew ROM released
21:17:  .-=FoulOne=-. has pointed out this neat little game he is working on for the Gameboy. It is a mix of some of his favorites, including Lunar Lander, Gravitar and Thrust. It has a neat gravity effect to it. While it is an early b eta, it's worth checking out. Have fun bouncing off the walls!

You can grab this game in the Gameboy Homebrew ROMs area.

Emulator Release: RockNES 0.81a!
19:04:  RockNES has received an update, and this new version fixes the NASTY problems some people had. Go download it on the NES Emulators page.

Emulator News: What is new in FPCE 0.91
18:43:  I've received a translation of the things that are new in FPCE 0.91. It was actually available in the readme all the time, hehe. I just assumed that the readme was in French too. Anyway, thanks to wizler for the translation and he re are the news:

Emulator Release: DarcNES Unofficial DOS
13:57:  A new version of the unofficial DOS port of DarcNES has been released. It should have the same features as the current source. Get it at the NES page.

Emulator Release: loopyNES 4-4-99 beta
13:15:  A new 'secret' beta which can be found by any person with half a brain over at the loopyNES official homepage, has been released. Here's what's new in the 4-4-99 beta:

Emulator News: More on A-Saturn
13:01:  Yesterday, a new release of A-Saturn, a Saturn emulator for Windows, was released. Today, I've received an e-mail from someone who shall remain anonymous who informs me that A-Saturn is far from getting a demo to run, much less a commercial CD. This person is working on a Saturn emulator of his own, so we'll keep you posted as more news develops.

Emulator Release: Meka 0.11
12:57:  Zoop's masterpiece Sega Master System & GameGear emulator, Meka, has been updated to version 0.11 only 2 days after its initial release! The primary fix is the crash bug, which no longer occurs. Here's the full list of changes:

4/4/99
Emulator Release: FPCE 0.91 added
20:31:  FPCE, the TG16 emulator on which XPCE was based, received an update quite a while ago but we missed that, heh. Anyway, it has now been added to the Turbo Grafx 16 Emulators page. I can't really tell you what's new or what it features since I'm not good at all with French.

Emulator News: MEKA doesn't emulate the MSX
20:23:  Just a quick note: the screenshot about MEKA emulating the MSX was a late April Fool's joke. ;) (Not mine either!)

Emulator News: basicNES news
20:04:  basicNES, the new NES emulator that is being programmed in VB by Don Jarrett, has made some progress: The graphics work perfectly now, except for the sprites and the palette. He will move on to fixing that up as gathers up a few more ROMs for testing.

Emulator Release: Bochs v990219 for Windows and Unix added
19:29:  I've added Bochs (gee, it's fun to say) v990219, a PC emulator to the DOS/Win and Unix PC pages. Apparently Bochs emulates a PC well enough to run Win95/98 or Linux, impressive. This is the first version on ZD, so no what's new... Thanks to Alexandru Constantin for the news.

DOS/Win PC emulators page.
Unix PC emulators page.

Emulator Release: Hu6280 Win 1.89 Beta 9
18:49:  Jamsponge has released a new version of his TG-16 emulator for Windows, Hu6280Win. Here's what's new in version 1.89 Beta 9:

Emulator Release: A-Saturn 0.14
18:13:  It seems that Saturn emulation is being revived. A new version of A-Saturn, a Saturn emulator for Windows which currently doesn't run any games, has been released. I don't know what's new in 0.14. I've heard rumours that it shows the title screen to Panzer Dragoon, but I couldn't get it working myself. If anyone has any addition information on this emulator, please e-mail me.

Thanks to Matrim for the news. You can download A-Saturn 0.14 from the Saturn emulators page.

Technical Docs News: Status Update
14:36:  My PentiumII 266 died last night, so I won't be able to do any more updates to ZD until I get it fixed. So don't expect any new tech docs for a while.. =(

Emulator News: More MEKA Easter Eggs
08:09:  MEKA easter eggs are pouring in like mad! Here's some more fun things that have been discovered within MEKA 0.10:

Emulator Release: RockNES 0.81
07:56:  Fx3 has detected a problem with RockNES's 0.80 sound init code which can be hazardous to some hard drive's health. I haven't heard any reports of damaged hard disks, which is good, but I urge you all to download RockNES 0.81, which fixes that problem:

Translation News: LZW Doc Added!
06:37:  CzarDragon has sent us a doc of his, explaining the LZW compression used in many games such as FF7 and Record of Lodoss War.

Get it on the Romhack Documentation page.

Translation News: New Patches
06:29:  2 new translation patches for Easter Day:

Misc. News: Daylight savings time
03:30:  Don't forget to update your clocks. I don't think you have to for your PC, because it should do it automatically. It does for me. Just a little warning in case you remembered to set your alarm clock, but not your coffee machine, and it starts an hour early. :)

Links Update: 13 sites added
03:23:  I guess this new system using Alamone's new.gif is working out pretty good. Now when you visit the links page, you can see whats new from the past week. This week I've added 13 sites. And deleted some too. Today is the last day for these sites to be new, seems how the week is over. So take a look quick before I update tomorrow.

You can check out the updated Links page, who knows, you might find something you like.

And don't forget to submit me your emulation site to gypsies@accglobal.net.

4/3/99
Misc. News: MEKA "kinda-easter egg"
17:54:  A new easter egg, well kind of, has been found in MEKA. If you start MEKA and go to the menus "Machine" -> "Power" -> "On" the Master System introduction screen will appear. Then hold button 1 & 2 and push Up and the famous "Snail Game" will start. Thanks to Jair for this piece of news.

Emulator Release: Frodo v4.1 and Pfau Zeh v0.8 for Unix added
14:47:  I added Frodo and Pfau Zeh to the C64 page, they aren't exactly new releases, but they're new to me, new to you, and new to ZD... Frodo and Pfau Zeh are both free, non-commercial, emulators. Pfau Zeh only emulates C64 VIC-20, but Frodo emulates VIC-20, 6510, etc.

Unix C64 page.

Emulator News: Meka 0.10 Easter Eggs
14:14:  As some of you have probably figured out, there are a bunch of 'easter eggs' hidden within Zoop's MEKA. For instance, editing the cfg file and setting nes_sucks to 0 will cause a funny message if you try to run MEKA. :)

Go ahead and e-mail in with any findings of MEKA easter eggs you have. Also, feel free to discuss anything you want about MEKA on Zophar's Message Domain. (Hey, every other site employs this tactic, so shall I!)

Emulator Release: RockNES 0.80
14:08:  A new version of RockNES, Fx3's NES emulator for DOS, is now available. Here's what's new in version 0.80:

Emulator Release: FCE Ultra 0.12
13:46:  FCE Ultra, a NES emulator, version .12 has been released. Here's what is new:

Emulator Release: MEKA 0.10!
13:17:  Yes people, this is the moment you've been waiting for. On April 4, 1997, NESticle arrived for the NES. 2 years later, on April 3, 1999, MEKA has been released. This is by far the show-stopper in Sega Master System & GameGear emulation. Zoop has outdone himself with this emulator. It emulates all of the following:

Emulator Release: Ultra64 Version 4299
12:13:  A new version of this developing N64 emulator, Ultra64 is out. Right now it only emulates the memory and CPU, although it can read the ROM headers. You can download it from our Nintendo64 page or the Ultra64 site.

Thanks to DarkMazda's Domain for the news.

Misc. News: Moonlit Coalition announces 4th emulator
11:26:  Moonlit Coalition has announced the fourth system to be emulated by this amazing multiemulator, Moonrise. The announced systems so far are N64, PSX, NES, and now Gameboy. They also have redesigned their page, so say goodbye to frames.

Emulator News: BasicNES
04:58:  Don Jarrett has e-mailed ZD about a new emulator he's working on for Windows in Visual Basic: BasicNES. This NES emulator currently can "sort of" run the demo "cart.nes", and you can check out the screenshot from the official BasicNES homepage at the link below. When it's released, you'll be able to find it on ZD, of course.

Misc. News: Melissa Virus creator caught
04:54:  In totally non-emulation related news, the creator of the "Melissa" macro virus, which clogged the e-mail systems of tons of computers. He was traced through the use of a hacked AOL account. One of many more reasons why people might not want to use AOL. ;)

Thanks to ChiPPy for the news. You can check out the full CNN article at the link below.

4/2/99
Media News: Gamecenter lets the cat out of the bag on Dave's Classics...
23:28:  Everyone has been speculating as to why Dave's Classics went down over the past few days. Now, thanks to Gamecenter.com, we have an answer. It was Sony and the BIOS issue, just like I thought it was. :) Here's a quote derived from the article:

According to court documents acquired by Gamecenter, Sony alleges that ActionWorld willfully copied the proprietary PlayStation BIOS onto the Dave's Classics Web site, and made it available as a download to visitors up until at least March 23.

Anyway, go read the whole thing. Thanks to everyone who bothered to mail in about it.

Oh yeah, on an unrelated note, I finally updated my personal web page after eight months of non-updating. Please look at it. Have any opinons on it? I don't care.

Utility News: 3 SNES utilities released
22:24:  The author of 3 utilities for the SNES sent me an e-mail about them. They are as follows:

BgMapper: A utility that opens ZSNES save states, and movies, and captures the currently placed picture on a screen. Useful for making digital maps.

SpriteView: A utility that opens ZSNES save states and extracts all the sprites in it, and lets you veiw them.

TileView: Same as SpriteView, but lets you view Tiles instead.

I find BgMapper the most useful, but, the other ones will soon come along, but only with time.

You can download these utilities, along with others at the SNES Utilities page.

Emulator News: RockNES 0.80 update
20:35:  The official RockNES homepage is reporting that RockNES 0.80 should be released this weekend, along with a compatiblity list. Thanks to www.davesclassics.com for the news.

Emulator News: Meka Status update
20:03:  Meka, Zoop's upcoming Sega 8 bit emulator for DOS is coming along nicely. Check out the link below for a sneak peak at Meka's rockin' GUI, it's really something to marvel over. Move over Bloodlust. ;)

Misc. News: Dave's Classics returns!
19:47:  After a brief downtime, Dave's Classics, one of the most popular classic gaming site, is back up, although the FTP is still down. Posted on the site...

Sigh.. Another period of down time, just like a few months ago. For the time being anyway, I am not allowed to discuss the details. If you guys have questions, and i'm sure you do, head on over to UGO's website and send them your questions....

Be sure to check it out.

Emulator Release: NO$MSX 1.0
19:41:  A new MSX emulator has been released by the same person who created NO$GMB and NO$CPC. From the official homepage:

Hello to no$msx, this emulator has been solely programmed for the reason that I needed a fast emulator that let me play H.E.R.O. and Beamrider, please notice that no$msx could hardly compete with other emulators, not much work put into the project, and not much support planned in future.

The program doesn't support MSX2, the video emulation includes only the most basic requirements, same for interrupt emulation, actually practically everything that wasn't required for the above two games is missing, alltogether I spent only 6 days of action coding on the project.

However, the CPU emulation is stable and fast, raw disk images are supported, sound is crappy, and all games that I did test (alltogether around 4 or 5) did work, I would be sure that lots of games won't work, but as I said, not much further support planned.

Thanks to Markus_25 for the news. You can download NO$MSX from the MSX emulators page.

Translation News: Rockman and Forte 99%!
18:29:  YnT Released a new Rockman and Forte patch, which translates 99% of the game!

Misc. News: Two Glide wrappers have been updated
17:09:  Two Glide wrappers have been updated: MGlide and XGL200. If you don't know what a Glide wrapper is, it's a thing that allows you to run(some) applications and games that require Glide on gfx cards that don't support Glide but support Direct3D or OpenGL. You can read more about these at The Glide Underground.

Misc. News: The Sega 8-bit Chart v1.11
13:59:  The Scribe, who I have proclaimed the "compatibility list guru" (lots of guru proclaiming today) has released v1.11 of his Sega 8-bit compatibility list. Here's what's new:

Emulator News: FCFAN 1.05 changes translation
13:14:  Although it was released over 2 weeks ago, and has been on ZD for that length of time, we didn't have a translation of the changes. Thanks to emulator "what's new translation guru" Steven Livingston, we now know what's new:

Emulator Release: KBMAME AMD and PII optimized
12:36:  Yesterday, there was a new KBMAME. Today, it's been re-released in AMD and PII optimized forms. Get them if you have either, on the MAME page!

4/1/99
Emulator Release: New KBMame source codes
23:48:  New versions of KBMAME, a NeoGeo MAME, were released. Here's what's new:

Misc. News: Two more SPC scripts released
22:39:  I've added two more scripts to the ZD-spc page for playing SPC's in mIRC. One is written by MrMerrow (sorry for the long wait, :D) and the other by DickSmoka. :D

You can download them from the ZD-spc page.

Emulator Release: MacMAME 0.35b9
18:55:  MacMAME 0.35b9 has been released. Here's what's new:

Misc. News: E-Mail address change
18:00:  I've decided to take advantage of the new zophar.net e-mail addresses being offered. For all Zophar's Domain-related stuff, you can reach me at the address below.

Utility News: SquareFont 2.0
16:58:  SquareFont, the SoundFont that makes your Squaresoft midis sound more like the real thing, has been updated to version 2.0. The readme doesn't really say what is new, and neither did the author in his e-mail, but let's assume it 's better and bug fixed and stuff since it has, after all, been updated.
You get get it from the SoundFonts page.

Frontend News: StartM72 0.33.3
16:27:  StartM72, the M72 arcade game emulator frontend, has been updated. It comes with quite a good number of new things:

Emulator Release: Virtual-E 0.2b
11:06:  A new version of Virtual-E has been released. Here's what's new:

Emulator News: Meka progress report
02:46:  The official Meka homepage has been updated with some MP3s from Phantasy Star (japanese), which sound better than the american version due to the YM2413 FM chipset support for the j apanese version. Be sure to check them out. Let's hope Meka is released soon (I can hardly wait)!

Misc. Update: Retrogames turns 1 year old!
02:38:  Today, Atila's Retrogames website has turned 1 year old! We here at ZD would like to wish Atila's site a happy 1st birthday, and let's hope that it's the start of a decade of birthdays!