PlayStation 2 Emulators

PlayStation 2 Emulators

As the Sony PlayStation 2 is easily one of the best selling home video game consoles of all time, it really should come as no surprise that there are countless "enthusiasts" out there working hard on emulating the system in order to play popular PS2 games on their home PCs. Want to know just a little more about PlayStation 2 Emulators? Then keep reading, and -- go ahead -- add your own knowledge to the mix if you wish.

Legalities

Before we get started, I have to go through the usual song and dance about legalities. Just like the Xbox Emulators on the market, having the software itself is not illegal in and of itself. After all, it's just another computer program. However, the downloading of ROMs off the internet is a different issue altogether. If you were to "rip" the video game ROMs from games you already own, you'd probably be in much better shape than taking the shadier means of peer-to-peer networks, bulletin boards, and the like. That said, most homebrew applications and freely-distributed titles from independent developers are likely fair game. As always, exercise caution... be safe out there, kids!

PCSX2

PCSX2 is the followup to PCSX that originally acted as an emulator to the original PSone. Maintained by Linuzappz, PCSX2 is available for both Microsoft Windows and Linux environments. The latest release of the open source program -- version 0.9 -- was launched on April 3, 2006. There are several distinct difficulties in playing PS2 ROMs using PCSX2, though, including speed and control issues. In fact, the average framerate of games played using PCSX2 is only between 2 and 15 frames per second. This can be incredibly frustrating, and is a problem even with some of the most powerful gaming computers out there. That said, it is still one of the more popular PS2 emulators out there -- especially for lower-resolution, lower-speed games -- and serves as a benchmark for other PlayStation 2 emulators.

NeutrinoSX2

NeutrinoSX2, also known simply as nSX2, is still under heavy development and is not yet capable of playing any commercial games at this time. Like the PCSX2, much of this has to do with the graphics and framerate, because the PS2 sports a multicore architecture that is difficult to mimic on a single-core PC CPU. With the growing popularity of Intel's Core Duo technology, we may be getting closer to overcoming this obstacle.

The recommended requirements for NeutrinoSX2 are:

• Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz (or AMD XP)
• 512MB RAM
• 200+ MB free swap space
• MS DX9 compatible hardware
• Latest DirectX
• A powerful video card
• Windows XP

PS2emu

PS2emu is another adequately powered PlayStation 2 emulator that is readily available as freeware. At 359kb, it is a minimal download and easily worth a shot for simple homebrew titles. Originally developed by "Roor", "shunt", and "Scar_T", PS2emu requires that you gain certain BIOS files in order to use it (SCPH10000.BIN and ROM1.BIN).

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