OverClocked : Platforms :
Sony Playstation (PSX)
   


   
 

Personally, i think it's safe to say that Sony won the "next-gen" wars . . . Sega, despite having tons of really good titles, just didn't have hardware OR marketing muscle to compete with Sony's beast, and Nintendo unwisely went with expensive cartridges and a difficult programming interface that discouraged third-party development. I credit Sony with getting an entirely new generation of gamers hooked; I believe, decades from now, many younguns will look back on the PSX the way we look back on the 2600, with nostalgic reverie.

. . . so many great games from so many developers, a huge import market, and - not unimportantly - MOD chips that let you play imports . . and . . uh . . . "backups" . .

As much as Sony changed the console market, emulation of the PSX had made its own share of landmark advances . . . Psemu and Psyke made a lot of headlines way back when, Psyke being the first console emu to use dynamic recompilation, to my knowlede, and Psemu using a badass plugin system . . . AdriPSX is still making progress on the "free" front, but the two best emus are currently VGS and Bleem!, both of which are commercially available at fine software and Gourmet Food stores near you . . .
   
   
 

Specifications:



 CPU
R3000A 32 bit RISC processor
Clock- 33.8688MHz
Operating performance - 30 MIPS
Instruction Cache - 4 KB
Data Cache - 1 KB BUS - 132 MB/sec.
OS ROM: 512 Kilobytes 		CD-ROM
Data Transfer Rate (DMA TO RAM) 150 KB/sec. (Normal) 300 KB/sec. (Double speed) CD ROM buffer: 32 Kilobytes Maximum Capacity - 660 Megabytes

GRAPHICS
16.7 million colors
Resolution: 256x224 - 740x480 Sprite/BG drawing
Adjustable frame buffer
No line restriction
Unlimited CLUTs (Color Look-Up Tables)
4,000 8x8 pixel sprites with individual scaling and rotation Simultaneous backgrounds (Parallax scrolling)
360,000 polygons/sec

AUDIO
24 Channels 44.1KHz sample rate PCM audio source Digital effects include: Envelope Looping Digital Reverb Load up to 512K of sampled waveforms Supports MIDI Instruments Sound RAM: 512 Kilobytes
   
   
 
Emulators

Bleem!
BLEEEEEEEEM! The cause of much debate, yelling, screaming, pulling out of hair, and - believe it or not - FUN, Bleem! is the first widely distributed commerical emulator, and does a pretty good job at enhancing PSX games with D3D graphics . . . Randy Linden & team continue to update it, and it has many users . . . Some people may disagree, but we think it's worth the $30
WIN
Connectix VGS
Connectix, after a long legal battle with SONY that it WON (woohoo!) released the windows port of its previoulsy mac-only playstation emu, Virtual Game Station. Currently, there is no 3D acceleration support, but compatibility is a bit better than bleem!, and there are plans for 3d and network play support
WIN
PSemu PRO
Ahh, Psemu . . . long story . . . once the most promising PSX emu out there, using an awesome plugin system for input, 3d, etc., Psemu was discontinued after a beta was leaked . . since then, the psemu page has had several cryptic messages and updates . . . while we love the emu, the way it's been handled is unfortunate . . Psemu GFX plugins work with IMPACT, incidentally
WIN
PCSX
PCSX is one of the coolest new emus on the block . . it already runs some commercial games, has a pretty logo, is hosted at emuforce.com, and looks to be one of the best FREE playstation emulators in development . . only time will tell . . . . .
WIN
FPSE
ALSO hosted at emuforce is this up-and-coming contender, which runs some commercial games plus has initial MDEC support for playing those groovy cutscenes we all know and love . . . also one to watch & expect big things from!
WIN
   
   
 
   
Top 9 PSX girls we'd like to date (and why):
1. Mei Ling (Metal Gear Solid) - she was cute, she told really bad jokes, and she used a lot of sexual innuendo . . solid snake? . . mmm hmmmm

2. The Ridge Racer 4 girl - Yeah, I know, she has some sort of name, but who cares . . she breaks her shoe in the opening FMV, and YOU are there to . . . assist

3. Aeris (FF7) - a sentimental favorite . . her gouraud shaded nature only took her so far, but she had charm . . .

4. ANY CAPCOM Girl . . . just about! . . . Cammy, Karin, Sakura, Chun Li, Morrigan, Lilith, Yuri, Hokuto - it's just too much . . .

5. Gamera (from Gamera 2000) . . . what? you didn't know Gamera was female? Fool! . . . . . what a hottie!

6. Mai Shiranui (KOF98) - more jiggle than jello, and a good fighter too . . .

7. Umihara (from Umihara) - Perhaps too young, but that bionic-commando rope thing she gots has interesting possibilities . . . .

8. Jessica (from LUNAR SSS) . . . totally, totally . . . Alex can have Luna and her obnoxious singing any day of the week, I'm with Jessica . . .

9. Katy Kat (Parappa the Rapper) - MEOW! Combine 70's fashion with a strong 90's sensibility and you get a babalicious cat that can think AND dance