Xenia (emulator)
Xenia is a free and open-source emulator for Microsoft Windows that allows Xbox 360 console games to be played on a personal computer. As of March 2014, the emulator is capable of playing the 2008 Xbox Live Arcade title Frogger 2 at a low framerate. The developer, Ben Vanik, plans to improve the emulation speed as well as add support for other Xbox 360 titles.
Development
In March 2014, the author of the emulator, Vanik, released a proof of concept video showing that the emulator is capable of playing Frogger 2, a 2008 Xbox Live Arcade title. This marked the emulator's first playable commercial title. Development of the emulator has moved at a slow pace, and the March video is the result of four years of development work. The video shows the game being emulated at a low framerate which the author attributes to the program using a debug interpreter for emulation; as development progresses, the speed should increase to a more playable level. In addition to speed increases, Vanik plans for the emulator to support playing other titles in the future. The author stated that the goal of the Xenia project is to disseminate research information on modern device and operating system emulation. Emulation of the PlayStation 3 also began emerging in early 2014 with the release of the RPCS3 emulator project.
Reception
CinemaBlend's William Usher speculated that with Xenia, the PC might be able to play Xbox 360 games sooner than 360's successor, the Xbox One console, which lacks backward compatibility. Bartłomiej Sieja, writing for the Polish gaming news site GameZilla.pl, worried about the possible legal repercussions that the project might face: Microsoft, the creator of the Xbox 360, might take umbrage with the idea of their console being emulated freely on the computer.
See also
- RPCS3, the first PlayStation 3 emulator