Hacking How long does everyone think until an emulator?

[Twili]

Since the common key was leaked, we can and have been decrypting content. When do you think people will start putting reverse-engineering efforts towards a Wii U emulator?

 

[NWPlayer123]

Probably once the new Webkit exploit is out and people can start poking around on their own (kinda hard to do blind + binaries vs a running system)

 

[osaka35]

Since the common key was leaked, we can and have been decrypting content. When do you think people will start putting reverse-engineering efforts towards a Wii U emulator?

Wait, you mean like, an emulator that plays Wii U games?

 

[Pedeadstrian]

It can be hard enough (FPS-wise) to run some Wii games. I imagine Wii-U games will be much harder.

 

[DarkFlare69]

Wait, you mean like, an emulator that plays Wii U games?

Yes, that's what he means.

 

[RevPokemon]

Soon™

 

[Twili]

Wait, you mean like, an emulator that plays Wii U games?

Yes. I want to emulate commercial software.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Yes. I want to emulate commercial software.

Circa 2020 as SOON™. Happy waiting.

 

[aspico]

This year?

 

[fatsquirrel]

Since the common key was leaked, we can and have been decrypting content. When do you think people will start putting reverse-engineering efforts towards a Wii U emulator?

At current pace?
Probably at the same time we will be able to fire rainbow colored lasers out of our asses

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Since there's still no Original Xbox, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 emulators working properly what makes you think a Wii U emu would be easier?

 

[Osha]

Since there's still no Original Xbox, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 emulators working properly what makes you think a Wii U emu would be easier?

This, especially considering the architecture of the console. Can you imagine how much stress emulating two screens on a computer would create ?
Sure, the DS works relatively well nowadays, but how many years did it take to get to this point ? And the WiiU is much more powerful than that.

 

[aspico]

Since the common key was leaked, we can and have been decrypting content. When do you think people will start putting reverse-engineering efforts towards a Wii U emulator?

Do we have access to iso's of Mario Kart 8 for instance?

 

[TemplarGR]

Actually, hardware wise we are already at a good point to emulate consoles like the Wii U/Xbox360/PS3. An Intel Skylake architecture CPU due to release this year, is going to be more than enough. While the Xbox and the PS3 have high frequency CPUs, their IPC is abysmall compared to modern x86 cpus.

The Wii U cpu has almost the same cpu as the Wii, just 3 cores instead of one and double the speed. The 3 cores are not a problem, since we have unused cores on our systems anyway... The double speed is more of a concern, but i believe a modern cpu will do fine...

The problem is reverse engineering their apis and architecture and emulating it. This will take MANY years of commited effort from skilled developers... Modern consoles are fairly complex. It is not like earlier 8/16 bit systems where even one individual could create an emulator by himself...

So, the problem is not one of hardware, but of software. It will be really hard to find people willing to commit the effort for such a task...

PS: One other reason we don't have Xbox360 and PS3 emulators is because there is no interest in getting one. Most games have released PC ports, and those few exclusives are irrelevant and not worth the huge effort. Same with the original Xbox, why emulate it?

 

[Bimmel]

At current pace?
Probably at the same time we will be able to fire rainbow colored lasers out of our asses

I like the idea. Its like an adult version of the Care Bears.

 

[NostalgicMillennial]

emulator?...no. I'd say pirate chip or Modchip.

there's doubloons to be made yarr

 

[WiiCube_2013]

This, especially considering the architecture of the console. Can you imagine how much stress emulating two screens on a computer would create ?
Sure, the DS works relatively well nowadays, but how many years did it take to get to this point ? And the WiiU is much more powerful than that.

Most games worth playing on the Wii U work perfectly fine with the top screen only and the bottom only serves for information.

1. Mario Kart 8 - TV (GamePad shows info + motion controls)
2. Bayonetta 2 - TV
3. Lego City Undercover - TV (GamePad is unfortunately the only controller compatible with it but this Lego game isn't much different to the rest)
4. Mario 3D World - TV (GamePad is only necessary for Captain Toad stages and getting through platforms you need to blow/tap the mic)
5. Sonic Lost World - TV (functions like a standard platformer but requires the GamePad for some odd reason and it's used for motion controls)
6. Captain Toad - TV (but the GamePad is forced as the main controller unnecessarily - it'd have worked perfectly with the WUPC)
7. Smash - TV (GamePad's for info and amiibo tapping)
8. Pikmin 3 - TV
9. Wonderful 101 - TV (think the GamePad you can use it to draw lines but it works fine with the WUPC)

I'd like to see a Wii U emu a couple years later when it's ready 'cause I'm just not a fan of the GamePad at all and I'd give some of these forced-GamePad games a chance again.

By the way, 9 is the actual number of Wii U games published by Nintendo that I have while the rest are from third parties. I've tried a whole lot of Wii U games but came to the conclusion very little of it was worth playing and owning.

 

[TemplarGR]

By the way, 9 is the actual number of Wii U games published by Nintendo that I have while the rest are from third parties. I've tried a whole lot of Wii U games but came to the conclusion very little of it was worth playing and owning.

And that is the main problem. Not a huge incentive to work so hard for only a couple of games worth playing. Fanboys keep screaming "Wii U has better games" but this is simply not true at all... Actually, its library is quite poor for 2 and a half years on the market...

 

[Alexander Prime]

I seem to remember reading that Wii U games access hardware functions through libraries provided by the system, rather than directly. Would it be reasonable to guess that an "emulator" running its games would actually just be a PPC interpreter and a set of libraries providing the same functionality on the host system, similar to WINE or JVM?

 

[TemplarGR]

I seem to remember reading that Wii U games access hardware functions through libraries provided by the system, rather than directly. Would it be reasonable to guess that an "emulator" running its games would actually just be a PPC interpreter and a set of libraries providing the same functionality on the host system, similar to WINE or JVM?

All modern consoles work like that... The problem is, that reverse engineering these libraries and creating their equivalent on another architecture from scratch, is a huge task. Try asking WINE developers how easy it is...