After years of development, OpenEmu, the frontend to rule them all, is finally out in an official capacity. Combining Apple-like skeuomorphic design and polish with iTunes-style ROM organisation, support for a plethora of gamepads, and a plugin system that integrates individual emulator engines as “cores”, OpenEmu mostly (it has its flaws, I’d argue) lives up to expectations as the emulator for the rest of us. The official release (available here) comes in two flavours: a 1.0 build with around a dozen 8-bit and 16-bit consoles supported, and an experimental build that adds a bunch more systems and cores (including PSP, Saturn, and N64) that aren’t quite stable enough for the prime time. Congrats to Mucx and company on the overwhelmingly positive reception it’s had so far.
Nintendo 64 emulator Sixtyforce has been updated to version 0.9.8. This release brings Retina support, PAL video timing, a new full screen mode, loads of bug fixes, and “several” major optimisations. Download it from the official Sixtyforce website, and remember to register to encourage Gerrit to take more time out of his acting career to work on it.
After yet another lengthy delay, Sega Saturn emulator Yabause is back with a big release obscured by an incremental version number. Yabause 0.9.13 adds support for mdf/mds dumps, CD+G, and the Saturn mouse and 3D control pad. It also improves the user interface and emulation, gets Netlink up and running, adds SH2 debugging features, and fixes CD audio emulation. The devs are actively recruiting translators and technical writers to help out, too. Learn about all this, and more, at the Yabause website.
Continue reading for Mac floppy emulator hardware and more updates, including new PPSSPP, Sweet16, Mednafen, Mini vMac, and more.
Mac gaming classic Pathways into Darkness, a precursor to Bungie's more famous first-person series Marathon and Halo, has been ported to OS X. This is a faithful, loving, free port with full blessings from Bungie. 
There’s a new MSX emulator on the scene. CocoaMSX is based on 
Just over a year since the last release, Nintendo DS emulator DeSmuME has hit version 0.9.9. This build introduces a new JIT CPU core, which the devs say “yields some impressive speedups,” and specifically improves the OS X port with a ton of new options and enhancements. There’s also a bunch of bug fixes across the entire emulator. Get it from the official 
Gaming-focused Amiga emulator FS-UAE has moved to 
MacScene's new sister site 
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 
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 
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 
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 
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 
Angelo Salese has 
The Mac App Store launched in early January, pulling an impressive one million app downloads in the first 24 hours of operation. The initial lineup of 1000 apps has expanded considerably over the past few weeks. For gamers and emulation enthusiasts, the impact of the store is still unclear. It is certainly good for the exposure of games on OS X, but could potentially discourage people from looking elsewhere for software that doesn't meet Apple's stringent requirements. The only emulator that seems to have made it past Apple so far is 
Apple's stringent approval policies have come under fire recently, following the listing of an unauthorised clone of Wolfire's Lugaru HD game which severely undercut the price of the original. The developers of this unauthorised version claim to be within the rights of the GPL2 licence under which the source was released back in May, while Wolfire insists that the assets -- graphics, sound, other artwork -- are protected and may not be redistributed. At the time of writing both versions remain on the Mac App Store. Also see the 
A new(-ish) emulator called OpenEmulator -- not to be confused with Open Emu -- aims to be "an accurate, portable emulator of legacy computer systems." Development efforts are currently focused on implementing a Mac OS X interface and emulating the Apple I and MOS KIM-1 computers, although there is also functional Apple II support. The emulator notably uses a software components framework, which allows the simple addition of expansion devices and peripherals (including virtual monitors). See the 
Leading digital distribution platform 
