Sorry it’s up so late. I’ve been busy meeting deadlines.

We’ve been mighty spoiled by Sixtyforce developer Gerrit recently. The 0.9.6 update reported on last time was quickly followed by 0.9.7, with automatic update notifications added alongside a slew of bug fixes. Get it from the Sixtyforce (or 64ce, as I hear the cool kids call it) website. And don’t forget to register to support further development.

SpeedofMac’s website went down a while back, and hosting troubles led to him moving to ConsoleEmu.com. Head there for the same downloads and information about (NES and later) console emulators that you came to expect from the previous incarnation, now with a more platform-agnostic outlook.

BSNES is no more; byuu has renamed his super-accurate Super Nintendo emulator Higan after adding multi-system support. You can now also use it to play NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS games. The source code is Linux only at this stage. No word yet on whether Richard Bannister is in any way equipped to port it to the Mac. This is the official Higan page.

Continue reading for more emulator news, including major updates to FS-UAE and zxsp and new versions of OpenMSX, ARAnyM, Stella, Bizhawk, and more.

Nintendo 64 emulator Sixtyforce got a rare update recently. Version 0.9.6 adds code-signing, 64-bit Intel support, bug fixes, updated memory protection, USB controller hot-pluggable support, faster texture conversions, basic Conker’s Bad Fur Day support, and loads more. It also drops PowerPC support. See here for the full release notes. Limtc on the forums has reported less jerky performance and better sound. Grab it here, and be sure to let us know how it performs for you. 

Parallels 8 has been released. New features include full Mountain Lion integration—full screen, Mission Control, multi-touch gestures, Launchpad, Notification Center, etc—a presentation wizard, dictation, shared bluetooth, shared trash, drag and drop attachments in Outlook, and some other stuff. You can run Mountain Lion as a guest OS, too (bring on the infinite recursion). It also comes with the usual performance improvements and enhanced security. Check it out here.

There’s heavy competition, though, as VMware Fusion 5 dropped this month. It comes “loaded with more than 70 new features.” There’s Launchpad integration, AirPlay Mirroring, Notification Center support, a new UI, Mountain Lion guest support, Windows 8 “optimization,” USB 3 support, “near-native” performance, improved battery life, faster 3D graphics, one-click snapshots, a new Linux 3D graphics driver, and a new “embedded learning center.” You can peruse the full sales pitch here.

Continue reading for more updates, including new versions of DBGL, VirtualBox, QEMU, Bochs, and others, and an upcoming FS-UAE 2.0 release.

MacScene's new sister site Archive.vg launched its public beta at the end of July. It's shooting to be the IMDb of video games, and has had some great feedback so far. The Archive.vg iPhone app was just released on the App Store (free!), with near-full access to the database—it's missing screenshots, but it has credits and contributors (which you won't find on the website just yet). The app also has collections, which you can expect on the site at a later date. On the Archive blog, two articles may be of special interest to MacScene regulars: An Emulator for the Rest of Us—How OpenEmu Changes Everything and The Perils, Challenges, and Uncertainty of Collecting and Preserving Video Games.

Dapplegrey, a DOSBox frontend, reached a major milestone sometime recently—version 3.0. I can't kind find any release notes, but it has a shiny new UI and organisational features—along with a new icon. Mountain Lion users take note that it's not signed for Gatekeeper. You can get it from the Classics for X website.

Classic adventure game interpreter ScummVM version 1.5.0 "Picnic Basket" has been released. This update adds support for 11 more titles, including Backyard Baseball 2003, Dreamweb, Blue Force, and Once Upon A Time: Little Red Riding Hood. Changes include "dramatically" improved MT-32 emulation and TrueType font support. See the Release Notes for more details. As always, you can download the latest release from the ScummVM downloads page.

Continue reading for more emulator updates, including new versions of OpenMSX and Sheepshaver, a name change for gbpablog, and more.

Yep, it's official. We're definitely not vaporware. You can go visit the site right now and have a look around. Go! Check out the blog, browse around the games, register and post on the forums, upload screenshots/wallpaper, and spread the word. We want Archive to reach as many people as possible.

Click here to go directly to the announcement post.

And since MacScene is primarily an emulation site, make sure you read our first feature story: An Emulator for the Rest of Us—How OpenEmu Changes Everything.

After nearly a year without updates, PlayStation 2 emulator PCSX2 has received two new versions in a week. Version 0.9.6 was updated to perform better in OS X Lion. Then 0.9.7 Alpha was released a few days later. Zedr0n included side-by-side screenshot comparisons to showcase the visual improvements between 0.9.6 and 0.9.7. You can get it, and check out the screenshots, at the PCSX2 for Mac website. As with all alpha software, proceed with caution.

MacScene regular seanstar has released new software for the NES Power Glove—more than 20 years since the ill-fated contraption was mercilessly retired. NESGlovPhone lets you perform music in real-time, on an actual NES, using the Mattel Power Glove to interact with the NES sound chip. It offers a "reasonably intuitive musical interface" and multiple modes of interaction. So it turns out it wasn't an April Fools joke. If you have a working Power Glove, NES, and devcart, get your copy at the Psych Software website.

Apple II emulator Virtual ][ has hit version 7.0. The new update provides full OS X Mountain Lion compatibility, improves accuracy of high-resolution colors, modernises the appearance of the main window, added the Bulgarian character set, and added the option to save a memory dump of the virtual machine to a file. Get it from the Virtual ][ website.

Continue reading for more updates, including new versions of Micro64 (plus a video), SheepShaver, CrossOver Mac, Boxer, Stella, and more.

Boxer, a DOSBox-powered DOS emulator, has been updated to version 1.3. The release notes list taking screenshots and fast-forwarding games among the new features, with heaps of bugfixes and improvements to input handling and gameboxes. Get it from the official Boxer website.

Multi-system emulator Mednafen has been updated to version 0.9.22-WIP, while Jazzin's launcher app NekoLauncher Mednafen received an update (0.9.22 Build 21) to fix a crash bug. Mednafen's new version includes improvements to and L3 and R3 button simulation in the PlayStation emulation, improved Sega Genesis/Mega Drive YM2612 emulation, and broken compatibility with 0.9.21-WIP Genesis/Mega Drive save states. See the NekoLauncher site for more details, and download it at the Mednafen forums.

Amiga emulator FS-UAE has been updated to version 1.2.1, fixing a crash that occurred when saving states with mounted directories. See the FS-UAE website to learn more about this games-focused emulator.

Continue reading for updates to JPCSP, Mini vMac, XRoar, Stella, VirtualBox, and more.

Bizhawk, a multi-system emulator with built-in TAS recording capabilities, has been ported to the Mac. It eschews an OS X-native UI in favor of a wrapper that keeps the features from the Windows version. There are no plans for a Mac-native UI in the future, unfortunately. See the MacScene discussion thread for more details, or download Bizhawk via the TASVideos forums.

Nintendo DS emulator DeSmuME version 0.9.8 has finally been released. Chief among changes is a new Cocoa front-end, which seems to improve the responsiveness. This update also provides a "host of compatibility fixes"—loads of graphical and core bugfixes. Get it from the DeSmuME website.

The developers of ResidualVM issued a call-out for playtesters on April 15 for an upcoming 0.1.0 release. ResidualVM is a sister project to ScummVM that currently supports Grim Fandango to a point of completeability. Details for the playtesting can be found here, while you can learn more about the project at the ResidualVM website.

Angelo Salese has stepped down as MAME project lead because of "real life issues and concerns." Miodrag Milanovic is now in charge.

Continue reading for more emulator news and updates, including new versions of FS-UAE, PCSX-Reloaded, Mini vMac, and more.

Amiga emulator FS-UAE has hit version 1.0.0. The new release brings performance improvements, new configuration options, improved net play support, improved relative path handling in configuration files, and the ability to change controllers during game play. See the changelog for the full list, or get it from the FS-UAE website.

JPCSP, a PSP emulator, has new svn builds available. Recent changes include improved compatibility for software render, a new frame skip option, preliminary support for ad hoc connection, and compiler fixes. Head over to the official JPCSP website for more details.

ARAnyM, a virtual machine for running 32-bit Atari ST/TT/Falcon operating systems, was updated twice in March. Version 0.9.12 offers a new precise FPU emulation core, an important fix to CPU CAS instruction emulation, and more, while 0.9.13 includes a couple of important bug fixes. Get it at the ARAnyM website.

Continue reading for more updates, including new Mini vMac and Sheepshaver builds, the typical VirtualBox maintenance release, a new version of Stella, and more.