Screenshot of the Atari 2600 homebrew "Four Play" (2006)

Homebrew is a term frequently applied to video games that are produced by consumers on proprietary game platforms; in other words, game platforms that are not typically user-programmable, or use proprietary hardware for storage. The Atari 2600 is a Video game console released in October 1977 The word proprietary indicates that a party or proprietor exercises private Ownership, control or use over an item of Property. Sometimes games developed on official development kits, such as Net Yaroze or PS2 Linux, are included in the definition. The is a Development kit for the PlayStation Video game console. Linux for PlayStation 2 is a kit released by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2002 that allows the PlayStation 2 console to be used as a Personal computer Some of these typically go under more frequently used labels, such as freeware. Freeware is computer Software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee The term doesn't, however, include commercially sold games that are developed without the console manufacturer's license. A popular type of homebrewed games is fangames. Fangames are computer and video games made by fans based on one or more established video games

In Japan, these games are usually called Dojin soft, which is the way of saying this software is not illegal depending on what the software does. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. also sometimes called, are Video games created by Japanese hobbyists or hobbyist groups (referred to as "circles" more for fun than for profit essentially the

Development

Homebrew games are typically developed to be used with emulators. An emulator duplicates (provides an emulation of the functions of one System using a different system so that the second system behaves like (and appears to There have been efforts to use actual console hardware; Atari 2600 homebrew developers can use various methods, for example, audio transfer via the SuperCharger module. The Atari 2600 is a Video game console released in October 1977 Game Boy Advance homebrew developers have several ways to use flash memory cartridges (see Game Boy Advance flash cartridges). The Game Boy Advance (often shortened to GBA) is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed A Game Boy Advance flash cartridge is one of several cartridges containing Flash memory that have been developed for use in the Nintendo Game Boy Advance

The Atari 2600 and Nintendo Entertainment System are interesting because they both use the 6502 instruction set which is likely to be familiar to people who have programmed 8-bit computers, such as the Commodore 64. The Atari 2600 is a Video game console released in October 1977 The Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated as NES or simply Nintendo) is an 8-bit Video game console that was released by The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit Microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle for MOS Technology in 1975

Today, along with the Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, and the PlayStation Portable, the most frequently used platforms for homebrew development, represent a good part of the older generations of the consoles - the Atari 2600 and Nintendo Entertainment System. The is Sega 's most recent Video game console and the successor to the Sega Saturn. The Game Boy Advance (often shortened to GBA) is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. The PlayStation Portable (officially abbreviated PSP) is a Handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The Atari 2600 is a Video game console released in October 1977 The Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated as NES or simply Nintendo) is an 8-bit Video game console that was released by

A big factor is that the platforms (and portable platforms in general) are simple enough that a very small team, or a lone programmer, can make a decent enough game for them, therefore favoring homebrew projects which are usually undertaken by small teams or individuals.

All of the major sixth generation consoles enjoy some popularity with modders, but less so than earlier generations. The sixth-generation era (sometimes referred to as the 128-bit era; see "Number of bits" below refers to the computer and Video games Mostly this is because producing software for powerful platforms needs more resources, there aren't very good emulators for these platforms yet, and the consoles themselves often employ rather complex systems to prevent unauthorized code. Homebrew developers often have to use "loopholes" to get their software to run.

Atari 2600

Atari 2600

The Atari 2600, released in 1977, is a popular platform for homebrew projects. The Atari 2600 is a Video game console released in October 1977 Games created for the Atari can be executed using either an emulator or copied directly to a blank cartridge making use of either a PROM or EPROM chip. An emulator duplicates (provides an emulation of the functions of one System using a different system so that the second system behaves like (and appears to A programmable read-only memory ( PROM) or field programmable read-only memory ( FPROM) is a form of digital memory where the setting of each bit is An EPROM, or E rasable P rogrammable '''''R'''ead-'''O'''nly '''M'''emory'', is a type of memory chip that retains its This allows the construction of homebrew cartridges that will run on an original Atari 2600. Unlike later systems such as the Microsoft Xbox, the Atari does not require a modchip. A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to modify or disable built-in restrictions and limitations of many popular Videogame consoles

"Go Fish" (2005)

Although there is one high-level compiler available for the Atari 2600 (Batari Basic), most of the development on the platform is still done in 6502 assembly language. The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit Microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle for MOS Technology in 1975 See the terminology section below for information regarding inconsistent use of the terms assembly and assembler Homebrews written for the Atari 2600 in assembly language are typically considered programming challenges for expert-level computer scientists. The Atari 2600 is a Video game console released in October 1977 Unlike later video game consoles, the Atari 2600 lacked video memory. Instead, the program runs simultaneously with the television screen and updates graphical registers a fraction of a second before the television draws each scanline. A scan line is one line or row in a Raster scanning pattern such as a video line on a Cathode ray tube (CRT display of a television or computer

For each scanline, the Atari 2600 can only draw two custom graphical objects (8 bits each), a "playfield" consisting of 20 bits, and three solid pixels called Missile 0, Missile 1, and the "ball". ^[1] Timing is critical in this environment. If the program takes too long to update the registers, the television will update the screen before the graphics are properly initialized, resulting in glitches or video problems. In this respect, Atari 2600 programming could be considered a form of hard real-time computing.

Sega Master System and Genesis

Although on a much lesser scale, both the Sega Master System and Genesis/Mega Drive do enjoy some homebrew development, as there is no physical lockout mechanism (akin to Nintendo's 10NES); thus, running homebrew software on that hardware is much easier. The Sega Master System is an 8-bit cartridge-based Video game console that was manufactured by Sega and was first released in 1986. The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990 But the efforts in the homebrew-scene for Sega's 16-Bit-machine have been growing recently, as there are now several full games in development to be released not only as a ROM image, but in physical form, such as Pier Solar or a port of the classic Teenage Queen. Pier

Frog Feast for the Mega Drive and Good Deal Games' Mighty Mighty Missile for the Mega CD are examples of released homebrew games for Sega consoles. Frog Feast is an after-market Video game developed by Rastersoft for several game consoles The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990 The is an add-on device for the Sega Mega Drive that was released in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan.

The Sega Saturn has a relatively small, yet very creative homebrew website in Denmark and is slowly increasing in popularity. The is a 32-bit Video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America

Sixth generation consoles

Sega Dreamcast

The Sega Dreamcast was a console that, while over shadowed by its later competitors, is particularly lauded for its homebrew development capabilities because it does not need any modchip to run them. The is Sega 's most recent Video game console and the successor to the Sega Saturn.

One example is Last Hope released by Red Spot Games in 2007, which was actually a port from a Neo-Geo homebrew game. Last Hope is a single-player side-scrolling Shoot 'em up Video game for the Neo Geo AES, Neo Geo CD, and Sega Dreamcast

PlayStation 2

Early versions of the PlayStation 2 have a buffer overflow bug in the part of the BIOS that handles PS1 game compatibility; hackers figured out how to turn this into a loophole called the PS2 Independence Exploit, allowing the use of homebrew software. The PS2 Independence Exploit allows the execution of homebrew programs on an unmodified PlayStation 2. Another option for homebrew development is the use of a modchip. A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to modify or disable built-in restrictions and limitations of many popular Videogame consoles Or, developers can use a PS2 hard drive and HD Loader. HD Loader is a program for the PlayStation 2 video game console which allow users to play games installed to the optional Hard drive peripheral available for

Sony also released an official homebrew-development kit that allows PlayStation 2 to run Linux. See the PS2 Linux article for more information. Linux for PlayStation 2 is a kit released by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2002 that allows the PlayStation 2 console to be used as a Personal computer

Nintendo GameCube

Nintendo GameCube

The GameCube, when it comes to homebrew, has historically enjoyed little success because it uses quite obscure hardware. The, often abbreviated as GCN, is Nintendo 's fourth home Video game console and is part of the sixth generation console era. The, often abbreviated as GCN, is Nintendo 's fourth home Video game console and is part of the sixth generation console era. False rumors claimed that the GameCube used non-standard DVD-media that was incompatible with consumer DVD burners, or stated that GameCube discs spun backwards, claiming that the discs were written from the outside in.

In fact, the only barrier to burning GameCube discs with a consumer DVD burner is the Burst Cutting Area, a "barcode" in the innermost ring of the disc, an area inaccessible to most burners and writeable only by very expensive disc pressing machines. For a long time the only way to run homebrew software on GameCube was through a patching-system exploit of Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II, requiring users to find the game and a Broadband Adapter. Phantasy Star Online ( PSO) is an online RPG title originally released for Dreamcast in 2000 Both of these are difficult to find because a disc has been released (under the name Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus) and thus the original PSO is rarely sold, and because the Broadband Adapter is not often carried in stores due to the Gamecube's very limited selection of online games. Phantasy Star Online ( PSO) is an online RPG title originally released for Dreamcast in 2000

Currently the most common method is to use a special loader software, often using a modchip, and homebrew software can be loaded from DVD-R, SD card (with an SD Gekko adapter), or over Ethernet. A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to modify or disable built-in restrictions and limitations of many popular Videogame consoles DVD-R is a DVD recordable format A DVD-R typically has a storage capacity of 4 Secure Digital ( SD) is a non-volatile Memory card format developed by Matsushita, SanDisk, and Toshiba for use in As the GameCube's case does not fit a full-size DVD-R, third party replacement cases are available. Most of GameCube homebrew software is developed to emulate other videogame systems such as NES, SNES, Master System, Genesis, Turbografx-16, Game Gear, GameBoy, GB Color, GBA, Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo CD, MAME, N64,. . .

Recently a full-fledged IDE has taken form to aid homebrewers. http://sourceforge.net/projects/gceclipse/

Microsoft Xbox

The Xbox console uses several measures, including cryptographically signed code to obfuscated firmware. The Xbox is a sixth-generation Video game console produced by Microsoft Corporation. The primary method of executing homebrew code required installing a mod chip which could be flashed with a modified Microsoft BIOS. A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to modify or disable built-in restrictions and limitations of many popular Videogame consoles In Computing, the BIOS (ˈbaɪoʊs This BIOS allowed the system to boot unsigned executables (XBEs) and control several hardware variables, such as region coding and video mode. With the leak of Microsoft's official development kit (XDK) homebrew coders were able to write replacement Xbox GUIs (known as dashboards), games and applications for the Xbox. The Xbox Development Kit (XDK is a Software development kit created by Microsoft used to write software for the Xbox gaming system

A softmod which uses a commercial game such as 007: Agent Under Fire, Mech Assault or Splinter Cell to load up homebrew software has been discovered. A softmod is the act of using software to modify the intended behaviour of hardware such as video cards sound cards or game consoles in a way that can unlock or enable disabled James Bond 007 Agent Under Fire is a First-person shooter Video game based on the James Bond franchise MechAssault was the first Mech Video game published for the Xbox. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a series of Video games endorsed by American author Tom Clancy. This method utilizes modified font and sound files to cause the Xbox to intentionally crash and load one of the homebrew dashboards. Once in this condition, the Xbox was now able execute homebrew games and applications.

Because the Xbox uses standard PC libraries, writing homebrew games is extremely easy, as the vast majority of commands available for a PC programmer are available to an Xbox homebrew programmer. This ease of coding is the same reason that commercial developers loved the Xbox.

One of the more common type of homebrew games for the Xbox are ports of PC games whose source has been publicly released or leaked. Many classic PC games have been released for Xbox, but most are created with the XDK which limits their availability. The only places to find these ports are through IRC or peer-to-peer browsers. For other uses of the term see Peer-to-peer (disambiguation For peer-to-peer networks used for file sharing see File sharing

The Xbox system is also very adept at running emulators which have been ported from PC. An emulator duplicates (provides an emulation of the functions of one System using a different system so that the second system behaves like (and appears to The Xbox is able to emulate systems up to the previous generation, including the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation. The, often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo 's third home Video game console for the international market The PlayStation (abbreviated PS, PSone, PS1, or informally as PSX) is a 32-bit fifth generation Video game console For this reason, many different emulators have been created for the Xbox, and some of them have even more development support than their PC counterparts.

Recently, progress has been made in the creation of a legal development kit for the Xbox, known as OpenXDK. OpenXDK is a legal Open source development system for the Microsoft Xbox Game console. The OpenXDK is intended to allow coders to create new applications and games, as well as port existing source codes, without using illegally obtained Microsoft software. The games and applications created under the OpenXDK can be legally hosted on the net, and downloaded by users.

Even after the release of the Xbox 360, the Xbox homebrew scene remains extremely active, with new game ports, emulators, and applications coming out weekly. The Xbox 360 is the second Video game console produced by Microsoft, and was developed in cooperation with IBM, ATI, and SiS. Microsoft is currently encouraging Xbox 360 homebrewed content with XNA, though at a charge of $99 per year. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer Microsoft XNA (" X NA's N ot A cronymed" in other words XNA is not an acronym is a set of tools with a managed runtime environment provided by

Seventh generation consoles

PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Main article: PlayStation Portable homebrew

Nintendo DS

Main article: Nintendo DS homebrew

Xbox 360

Microsoft has released a free Software Development Kit (SDK) to would-be homebrew programmers. PlayStation Nintendo DS homebrew is software written for the Nintendo DS by hobbyist programmers as opposed to a software/game production company Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer This SDK, called XNA Game Studio Express, is a free version of the SDK available to professional development companies. A software development kit ( SDK or " devkit " is typically a set of development tools that allows a Software engineer to create applications Microsoft XNA (" X NA's N ot A cronymed" in other words XNA is not an acronym is a set of tools with a managed runtime environment provided by A software development kit ( SDK or " devkit " is typically a set of development tools that allows a Software engineer to create applications Microsoft has announced that the games written with XNA Studio Express will be made available -- for no cost -- to all Xbox 360 owners, an announcement is due in Q3 2007. The Xbox 360 is the second Video game console produced by Microsoft, and was developed in cooperation with IBM, ATI, and SiS. This will allow creators of homebrew content access to their target audience of Xbox 360 owners. It is believed that a new "XNA Community" blade will appear in the console's Dashboard, similar to the Xbox Live Arcade. Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA is an online service operated by Microsoft that is used to digitally distribute video games to Xbox and Xbox 360 owners

On March 20, 2007 it was announced that a hack using the previously discovered Hypervisor Vulnerabilty in the Xbox 360 kernel versions 4532 and 4548 had been developed to allow users to run XeLL, a Linux bootloader. Events 1600 - The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The initial hack was beyond the average user and required an Xbox serial cable to be installed and a flashed DVD Drive firmware. Felix Domke, the programmer behind XeLL has since announced a live bootable Linux CD suitable for novice users, with the capabilities to be installed to the SATA hard drive of the Xbox 360. Despite the availability of such a distribution, the Xbox 360 still isn't considered a popular platform for homebrew development, given the dependence of the exploit on the DVD-ROM being able to load a burnt DVD game, a modified version of the game King Kong, and two older kernel revisions of the console itself.

A group independent of Microsoft is working on the means to run homebrew code, as part of the Free60 project. Free60 is the successor to the Xbox Linux Project that aims to put Linux, BSD, or Darwin on the Microsoft Xbox 360 using

PlayStation 3

The Playstation 3 has been designed to run other operating systems from day one. Very soon after launch, the first users managed to install Fedora Core 5 onto the Playstation 3 via the 'Install Other OS' option in the PS3's XMB (Cross Media Bar), which also allows configuring the PS3 to boot into the other OS installed by default.

So far, several Linux flavors have been successfully installed to the PS3, such as Fedora Core 5, Fedora Core 6, Gentoo and Yellow Dog Linux (YDL). The Fedora Operating system is an RPM -based general purpose Linux distribution, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored The Gentoo Linux Operating system (ˈdʒɛntuː is a Linux distribution based on the Portage Package management system. Yellow Dog Linux, also YDL, is a free-software, open-source Operating system for the Sony PlayStation 3, PowerPC The latter comes installed with the Cell SDK by default, allowing programmers a low cost entry into Cell programming. See also: Linux for PlayStation 3

At this point graphics support is limited to framebuffer access only (no access to the PS3's graphics chip RSX yet). The PlayStation 3 is capable of running Linux as well as other Operating systems if installed on the console's Hard drive. Since NVIDIA has a good track record when it comes to releasing Linux drivers for its products, there is some hope that Linux on PS3 will be able to support the RSX graphics card eventually. The multinational NVIDIA Corporation ( (ɪnˈvɪdiə specializes in the manufacture of graphics-processor technologies for Workstations In the meantime however, they will have to make do with framebuffer access and software-only implementations of OpenGL, such as Mesa 3D. A port of Lua Player, which will implement Mesa 3D, is already underway. Lua for the PlayStation Portable is interpreted with Lua Player.

Homebrew developers do have access to the revolutionary Cell microprocessor, including 6 of its 7 active Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs). Cell is a Microprocessor architecture jointly developed by Sony Computer Entertainment, Toshiba, and IBM, an The Game OS resides under a hypervisor and prevents users to take full control of the PS3's hardware. In Computing, a hypervisor, also called virtual machine monitor, is a virtualization platform that allows multiple Operating systems to run on This is a robust security measure which has helped Sony feel secure enough to allow users to install other operating systems to the PS3.

The Sixaxis controller has also been exposed to Linux, but as of yet no driver seems to have been successfully created that exposes its tilt sensor and accelerometer functionality. An accelerometer is a device for measuring Acceleration and gravity induced reaction forces

From May 2008 a vunerability was found in the Playstation 3 allowing users to install debug firmware allowing backups of games to be ran.

Nintendo Wii

Main article: Wii homebrew

GP2X

The GP2X by Gamepark Holdings is fully dedicated to running homebrew software. Wii homebrew refers to the reuse of Nintendo 's Wii game console hardware accessories and software for purposes outside of those intended by the manufacturer The GP2X is an open-source Linux -based handheld Video game console and media player created by GamePark Holdings GamePark Holdings is a South Korean company responsible for creating the GP2X that was founded by former employees of the game maker GamePark in 2005

Gizmondo

The Gizmondo was cracked early 2006. The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console with General Packet Radio Service and Global Positioning System technology which was manufactured by Tiger Telematics Because Tiger Telematics, the creator of Gizmondo, is bankrupt, a small but loyal fan base provided a fair amount of homebrew applications and emulators. The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console with General Packet Radio Service and Global Positioning System technology which was manufactured by Tiger Telematics

Pandora

Made by the people who made the G2PX. This is their new portable hand-held console made for homebrew. more info http://openpandora.org/

NUON

The Nuon was a game chip built into several DVD players. Nuon is a technology that adds additional features to a DVD player. The company who made the system called VM Labs released a homebrew SDK just before they went bankrupt. VM Labs was the company behind the Nuon technology which was used in several DVD players from Samsung, Toshiba, & RCA and the "Streamaster" The graphical capabilities are on par with the PlayStation. The PlayStation (abbreviated PS, PSone, PS1, or informally as PSX) is a 32-bit fifth generation Video game console The homebrew SDK & homebrew apps written in Nuon can be downloaded from http://www.nuon-dome.com/download.html. Homebrew Nuon apps can only be played on Samsung DVD-N50x and RCA Nuon DVD players.

References

External links

• Homebrewgames.co.uk (English)
• DC Emu news (English)
• GP2x developers forums (English, Dutch)
• Dev-Scene Nintendo related Homebrew Portal (English)
• PDRoms – Homebrew News and Downloads for many systems (English)
• AtariAge - Atari 2600, 5200, 7800 and ColecoVision homebrews