Interview with Tratax... (11/25/98)
Interview by : 64bit
Notice : this is the same interview posted @ emuunlim... 64bit is going to probably be doing interviews for both sites from now on, EmuUnlim and EliteGamer will be working closly together... hopefully we can set a new trend of friendship and partnership... as opposed to the current COMPETITION that seems to be flooding the "scene" as of late :)
[ www.emuunlim.com ]

<64Bit>You are on the verge of releasing a new version of PSemu Pro, what are some of the new features that have ben added?
<Tratax>There has been so much personal things going on for me, that I kinda lost track of all that has happened. Anyway, more compatibility, more plugins (especially some nice new PAD plugins!).

<64Bit>I have noticed when trying out games with the beta that before didn't show anything, they pretty much all now show something. When do you expect PSemu Pro to have 100% compatibility?
<Tratax>It will never be 100%. There will always be SOME game that doesnt look exactly right. But we try to get it as close to 100% as possible

<64Bit>It has just been announced that the PSemu Pro team will be joining up with the Psyke team to create a Psx emu called Tab. Has the emu Tab already been started? Is there a set release date for Tab yet?
<Tratax>Tab is just a teamname, we will just keep PSEmu Pro as an emulator. Basically we will just improve PSEmu Pro with things that we can learn from PSyke. Moonshadow has the latest source for PSEmu Pro, and he is checking our GTE routines to see if they can be improved. He'll make some nice GPU plugins  as well. About PSyke .. well .. Rasky is so busy with his job that he doesnt have time to work on PSyke. With Moonshadow working on the team, his routines wont go to waste.

<64Bit>Many people in the meulation community consider you to be one of the greatest emulator programmers ever, who do you consider to be the greatest emulator programmers ever?
<Tratax>Hmmm .. difficult question. There are several very good programmers in the emulation scene. It would be unfair to miss one of them. Marat has done a lot I think. I know a lot of people disagree with his 'pay for windows  version' policy, but they are forgetting that he publishes his source for the Unix version. I actually ported fMSX to the Playstation using that source. I *know* how nasty windows users can be, and with a shareware version you get rid of a LOT of nasty questions. Of course
I could be calling Sardu a great programmer, but that is just a lot of sucking up right now .. (inside joke:)

<64Bit>What are your views on the infamous emu known as bleem?
<Tratax>Sounds cool, Totally possible, Will be an interesting lawsuit with Sony, WHERE IS IT !???  Thats what I think of it :)

<64Bit>Do you think that commercial emulators will hurt or help the emulation scene?
<Tratax>This depends on the outcome of the lawsuit. It will certainly change, though there are not that many possible systems that could be 'legally' emulated.

<64Bit>Do you feel that the Idsa's recent actions against emulation websites will eventually make the scene go underground?
<Tratax>Well, the ROM piracy will have to go underground. I dont see sites about UAE (amiga emulator) or other system emulators going underground. They  have nothing to hide in the form of ROMS.

<64Bit>Where do you see emulation in 10 years? And in 20 years?
<Tratax>In 10 years, emulation will probably so mainstream that we dont even  realise we are using emulators to run our applications. Its more used to compensate for the differences between the available computer systems. With the higher speeds, platform independant languages like  JAVA (as long as MS doesnt get control over it) will make emulation almost 'standard' to run applications. In 20 years .. geez! 20 years ago they thought banking applications werent going to last so long, and they could use 2 digits for the year. How am I supposed to know what is going to happen then ? :) I just dont see emulation going away until all computer systems are going to be   compatible.

<64Bit>What are some consoles that you would like to see emulated?
<Tratax>Humm .. what is left to emulate ? N64 probably .. but well I just like GoldenEye on the N64, so a conversion of that would be enough for  me.

<64Bit>Who do you think would win in a fight between Super Mario, Sonic The Hedgehog, and Crash Bandicoot?
<Tratax>Mario can only jump on his enemies, and we probably all know that it isnt wise to step on a hedgehog on our bare feet let alone JUMP on one..  Crash is still thinking in a very 'fixed' path (see crash 1,2 and even 3) So if Sonic can get up to speed, he can probably smash em both away.

<64Bit>Out of every ganme console ever released, which one would you call the lamest?
<Tratax>Well, I think that the Sega Saturn is probably the messiest hardware wise. About the lamest console .. I dont own much consoles, so I cant really tell.

<64Bit>What video game would you call the lamest ever?
<Tratax>You are trying to get me into a e-mail flamewar with the one addict of the  title I am going to name .. right ? Well, on the PSX I was *very*  dissappointed with 'Burning Road'. I sometimes wondered how that ever got past Sony Quality control. Of course .. there are probably MUCH more horrible games, but this is the one that I remembered at this time.

<64Bit>Would you be interested in emulating the Dreamcast or Psx2?
<Tratax>DreamCast is VERY interesting to emulate ...  About PSX2 .. I dont even know what it is going to be based on, so  I cant tell yet.

<64Bit>What is your current favorite Psx game that PSemu Pro is able to run perfectly?
<Tratax>Soul Edge is running quite nice now, but it is still not perfect. Gran Turismo doesnt run quite right, but it is going to be cool if I can get the speed right, and Moonshadow can get rid of that 'Bouncy cars' with GTE fixes.

<64Bit>Is there any plans to ever add Netplay to PSemu Pro?
<Tratax>there are so many possible things we can do to improve PSEmu Pro,  and netplay is one of them. If it will ever get done .. we'll just  have to see. Its mostly dependant on the time we spend on the emulator.

<64Bit>If you could shock the world in a language besides english in less than half a million words, what would ya say?
<Tratax>qay'be'. tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'. jlSaHbe'. Duj tlvoqtaH Bleem, Dochvetlh DIlmeH Huch 'ar DaneH - That good enough for you ? If you ever manage to decode it .. :)) It *is* a language ... which I am not that good at.

<64Bit>What emulation news site do you personally use the most?
<Tratax>EmuNews gives me the headlines. I like EmuViews and Emu Unlimited for the interviews and background information.

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