JPEM - No public dev tools and plenty of locked layouts,
But it's for your own good, of course.....

First off, let's blow away the "We don't want to upset JPM" smokescreen that's been thrown up around this one; true, JPEM is capable of emulating some relatively recent machines, true, if everyone had dev tools some people might take it upon themselves to see how far they could push things.

But really - does it make any difference?

JPM are either going to leave JPEM alone or they aren't - and the lead taken by Barcrest, Empire, Global, MDM and QPS suggests that they are. MPU3/4 is capable of emulating some very recent machines (Empire's Apache Gold, Pitfall and Crossfire for example), some Empire, Global and QPS machines which use MPU4 technology are still being sold. Many MPU4 machines could still be considered to be commercially viable, particularly the club machines which have a much longer shelf life than pub/arcade machines. And what has been the net result of this, have the "threatened" companies taken action? No, they haven't. Let's just clarify that, not a peep, not one single comment, threat, or intervention of any kind.

And lest we forget, the scene has already demonstrated considerable maturity with what it does and doesn't release. Layouts for machines too recent to be on Empire's "OK to emulate" list do exist, I have them myself, but even I, the most evil "hell-bent on destroying the scene" lunatic there is has not released them. The porn hacks were roundly condemned by just about everyone, they fell on stony ground, no one wanted them. It's called restraint and understanding what's best for the good of everybody - and this scene already has it in generous measures without being dictated to.

The lessons learnt with MAME (where certain companies have mercilessly pursued websites for offering twenty year old ROMs for download), juxtaposed with the lessons of MPU3/4 (sanity and common sense) tells us that minute details such as exactly what "the scene" considers on and off-limits is neither here nor there, and a total red herring when used as justification for a closed, cliquey development (non) community. Companies either make a decision to act, or not to act.

JPEM cannot, without some serious code modification, emulate JPM's newer machines, moreover, JPEM is closed source, and those at the helm have made it quite clear they will not make the required modifications to the code. ROMs are not widespread, and it would be a relatively trivial matter to "lock" JPEM so that it won't run certain ROMs anyway and, far above and beyond anything else, no one wants to see JPEM fail, no one wants to start hacking about to try and get Tomb Raider running (which it won't anyway, JPM's Impact hardware has changed over the years, the most recent machines that it could conceivably run are at least a few years old) - so why can't we have a bit of faith in the scene and the community?

Even at this early stage of JPEM's life, the benefits of public dev tools and unlocked layouts are plain to see. The Roller Coaster layout, whilst undoubtedly assured its place in history as the first JPEM release, is a mess. How many people out there would love to sit down for a few hours and lick it into some sort of proper shape? (Or at least correct the errors and fill in the missing values). Indiana Jones contains more than its fair share of errors, a missing Staff Of Ra square, incorrect mystery awards, spelling mistakes, and an overall appearance that makes little effort to recreate the original machine. What better way to give JPEM a kick start could there be than several established MPU3/4 designers grappling with the dev tools and friendly, unlocked layouts in an attempt to give something to everyone?

Even if JPEM is altered to include "crippled" dev tools so that it can only modify existing, officially sanctioned releases (how's that for an idea?), we'd still not get anywhere as the layouts are locked. So if you're champing at the bit to tidy up Roller Coaster, or the "Path To Ritches" (should be Pathway To Riches) text on Indiana Jones is really starting to get on your goat, tough - because there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Why? Erm, just because, that's why.

Besides which, who's chancing their arms on this one anyway? It's not the emulator's coders, as emulation in and of itself is entirely legal (and that's been upheld in court). It's not those behind MPU Forums and JPM Forums, because they carry no copyrighted materials. In fact, the only people putting their necks on the line here are those looking after the fruit machine emulation websites that carry ROMs and layouts - if the shit hits the fan it's the webmasters' living rooms that are going to get splattered - those who wax lyrical about the importance of locked layouts and restrictions on who can and can't do something as simple as have a play with dev tools will be the ones left sat atop their ivory tower saying, "Well I'm not doing anything wrong".

24th April 2002