For years, Apple prevented developers from running console game emulators on the App Store, but that changed earlier this year amid antitrust investigations in the EU. Interestingly, a few years before all this App Store drama, Steve Jobs once proudly unveiled a PlayStation emulator for the Mac at an Apple event.
Apple Once Promoted Game Emulators for the Mac
The year was 1999, and Apple was set to announce updates to the iMac G3 and a new Power Mac G3 at the Macworld Expo. During the event, Steve Jobs often emphasized that Macs were also great gaming machines, but there was one particular demo that was worth revisiting.
Jobs, along with Phil Schiller, unveiled the Connectix Virtual Game Station (VGS) on stage. It was the first PlayStation emulator capable of running games at full speed for any platform. VGS was released on Mac first, and to demonstrate this, Schiller played a live emulated version of Crash Bandicoot: Warped at the launch.
“Our goal is to build the best gaming machine in the world,” Jobs said, comparing the Mac to the original PlayStation, considered the most popular gaming console in the world at the time. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could play some of these games, too?” Jobs said before announcing the VGS. “It’s just a phenomenal idea,” Schiller later said.
The VGS cost $49 and was officially compatible only with original PlayStation game CDs. Unsurprisingly, Sony didn’t like the idea, and filed a lawsuit against Connectix for copyright infringement. The twist? Connectix won the case, and Sony had to buy emulation software to shut it down.
Years later, Apple completely changed its policy on game emulation. From the very beginning, the App Store banned emulation software. That's why it's so interesting to see Jobs and Schiller excited about a game emulator. But of course, we're talking about the same era when Macs shipped with Microsoft Internet Explorer.
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Now, although Apple doesn't say much about it, game emulators are finally allowed in the App Store, and many of them are available for download.
Are there any other memorable moments from Apple's keynotes that you remember? Let us know in the comments section below.
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