Bleem!

Infobox_Software
name = bleem!


caption = The interface of the discontinued bleem! emulator
developer = bleem!
latest_release_version = 1.6b
latest_release_date = August 16, 2001
operating_system = MS Windows, Dreamcast
genre = Emulator
license = Proprietary
website = [http://www.bleem.com www.bleem.com] (dead see [http://web.archive.org/web/20010515082508/http://www.bleem.com/ mirror] )

bleem! was a commercial PlayStation emulator released by the bleem Company in 1999 for IBM-compatible PCs and SEGA Dreamcast.

History

bleem! is a PlayStation emulator software designed to allow people to play original PlayStation games on their PC computers or Dreamcast gaming consoles (the Dreamcast version is called bleemcast!). It was released on March 1999. The company that developed and commercialized bleem! initially consisted of just two people, Chadwick Horn (President) and Randy Linden cite web | title = Best Little Emulator Ever Made! | work = "Best Little Emulator Ever Made!" | author = Tom Rhodes| publisher = Escapist Magazine | url = http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/print/2295 | accessdate = 2007-10-03 ] .

Context

bleem! was incredibly advanced for its time. To allow for full-speed emulation of what was at the time a current generation console on even lower-end computers, the authors coded bleem! in assembly. This allowed them to create more precise optimizations.cite web | title = Interview with bleem author | " | author = Dragon¥en| url = http://www.elitegamer.com/retro/emuscene/ble-101298.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-03 ] Unlike other PlayStation emulators of the time (including Connectix's commercial Virtual Game Station), it made better use of a PC's 3D graphics hardware and had a variety of filters used to make games look better than they did on an actual PlayStation console. Emulators at that time primarily used software rendering, with plug-ins for 3D cards still being buggy. Bugs plagued bleem! as well, with all but one game (which was, fittingly enough, "One") being plagued by major bugs according to bleem's own compatibility charts.

In 1999, bleem! hired marketing and PR director Sean Kauppinen to commercialize the software after meeting on the beach in Puerto Rico at the Latin Channels Show. Kauppinen was there to represent 3dfx's sales efforts to place 3dfx products with South American distributors. Instead, the marketing blitz behind bleem! was born.

bleem! was also released in 3 other versions for the Sega Dreamcast called Bleemcast! to play the popular PlayStation games "Gran Turismo 2", "Metal Gear Solid" and "Tekken 3". bleemcast! was originally planned as an emulator to support PlayStation's entire library, but this soon became an impossibility due to the amount of testing required to support such a large library of games, as well as the lack of a possible software update on the Sega Dreamcast platform. Early ads in magazines advertising bleemcast! claimed that it would bring 400 new games to Dreamcast.

bleem! used low-level memory emulation and other risky technology. It did not function on operating systems using the Windows NT kernel, including Windows 2000. In fact, bleem!'s statement at the time was that bleem! would never support running on Windows NT-based systems, as Windows 98 was the dominant operating system at the time; many users feel that this decision also signaled the end of bleem!.

Users wishing to run bleem! on unsupported platforms would require the use of virtualization software, such as Virtual PC or a VMware product, to run a compatible operating system, such as Windows 98, inside of their existing system. A simpler (but still nowhere near simple) alternative would be to dual-boot with a compatible operating system, or to install one on an older computer.

Ultimately Sony sued bleem! out of business after it lost its case to Connectix. bleem! simply ran out of money to defend itself. Even after Connectix won their infringement case where they had used the PlayStation BIOS, bleem! never used the PlayStation BIOS and was thus "less guilty" than Connectix who were found not guilty.

Legacy

Since bleem!'s demise, other PlayStation emulators such as ePSXe and pSX have surpassed bleem! in terms of hardware support and features; however, some of these emulators still require a dumped version of the PlayStation BIOS to function, while bleem! does not. PCSX is one of the newer freeware PlayStation emulators that do not require a BIOS to operate.

Controversy

Copy protection

To combat software piracy of the small downloadable emulator, the user had to buy the bleem!-CD. A CD containing about 35 MB with a DirectX distributable and the actual version of bleem! available at the time of the CD's printing. The rest of the CD was only for copy protection and was impossible to copy with conventional means; however the copy protection was cracked nevertheless within two weeks of the release.

Further updates to the emulator were free, until the company ceased operation several years later.

ony lawsuit

Two days after bleem! started taking preorders for their emulator, Sony filed suit against them alleging that they were violating their rights and that providing access for PlayStation games to run on non-Sony hardware constituted unfair competition.

Ultimately bleem! won in court and a protective order was issued to "protect David from Goliath". Sony lost on all counts, including bleem!'s use of screenshots of PlayStation games on its packaging. The court noted that bleem!'s use of copyrighted screenshots was considered fair use and should be allowed to continue.

Despite the legal victories, the legal fees allegedly forced the company out of business. eBay auctions of some of the company's possessions were held soon after - including a huge library of worldwide game releases apparently used for compatibility testing.

References

Other