Xbox Is Suspending Players Caught Using Emulators - Gameranx
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It looks like Microsoft is cracking down hard for those found using emulators on the Xbox console lineup.

For a good while, there was a bit of hype built around the Xbox Series S, in particular for the retro gaming scene. It was a cheaper device that offered a small form factor. Likewise, it allowed consumers to download emulators and enjoy various retro video games. But while this process was available, some consumers were skeptical. Of course, it didn’t take Microsoft too long before they outright banned emulators from being available in the marketplace, making it impossible to download and enjoy. That’s just the emulators being used in the Xbox Series X/S retail mode.

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RETAIL MODE ON XBOX IS DEAD!

  • 15-day suspensions handed out to users of retail emulators as a warning shot from Microsoft.
  • Devs warning users to delete emulators
  • Retail Mode team disbanding and shutting down the Patreon. Sorry to bear the bad news. RT to warn others

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  • LillyPipOPEnglish
    3·
    11 months ago

    I totally agree. It’s not frivolous; it’s an important part of who we are now, and it’s a real shame we’re already losing it.

    In case you’re interested, there’s a fantastic video by NeverKnowsBest on the entire history of video games that I watched yesterday and found fascinating. There’s lots of vintage footage and interviews that I’d never seen before. It’s six hours long and I watched it in one go, it was so interesting.

    I hope there are enough independent people saving at least some of our gaming history, because it’s a shame to see it evaporate like this.

    • Kuro@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      11 months ago

      Watched that documentary a couple months ago (also all at once) and can vouch

      It’s a great video

    • swordsmanluke@programming.devEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      I hope there are enough independent people saving at least some of our gaming history, because it’s a shame to see it evaporate like this.

      I have a buddy who had fond memories of an old Apple ][ game, but he couldn’t find it anywhere. No copy of the software existed anywhere he could find, for sale or otherwise.

      After a literal decade of searching, he finally found a copy of the game disk on eBay! He picked up a 5.25" floppy USB drive, hooked up an Apple ][ emulator… And nothing. The disk was encrypted in some way that made it unreadable.

      Not one to give up easily, he then found and purchased an Apple ][ with a working drive.

      The disk worked!

      He started researching old copy protection schemes and it turned out that the disk had information written between the standard tracks to make it unreadable by standard hardware, but accessible to the software on the disk when it manually tweaked the drive head’s position.

      One USB driver patch (and a couple months) later, he was able to extract the original software from the disk for archival. It works in emulators and is finally archived.

      • LillyPipOPEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        That’s amazing. I’m glad some independent people are doing things like this. Kudos to your friend.