For much of 1999, a reoccurring buzzword on many respected online publications has been console emulation. Bluntly speaking, a console emulator allows someone to run their favorite console game on his or her home computer. This technology has attracted a lot of attention, both good and bad.

Most of these emulators are available on the Internet, and can be downloaded for free. However, so are illegal copies of console games, which can be used on these emulators. The top console game manufacturers are not behind the deployment of these emulators, so where are these emulators coming from? Who is writing them and why? What are legal issues involved?

My lecture will answer these questions by discussing the following:

• the mechanics behind an emulator
• the growth and spread of the console emulator "community"
• the legality behind emulators and the response from console manufacturers
• the response form console manufactures and console game programmers.

I will also discuss some interesting advancements made in console emulation technology.

I myself have been involved with console emulation for over three years. The website that I manage, "EmulationZone.Org" is a respected website in the console emulator community and it has been commended by C|Net as "[one of] the best emulator sites on the web."