Editing Bleem! (section)

==History==
Bleem! was a PlayStation emulator designed to allow people to play original PlayStation games on [[Windows 9x|Windows 95 or 98]] or on the [[Dreamcast]] (the Dreamcast version was called Bleemcast!). It was released in March 1999. The company that developed and commercialized Bleem! initially consisted of just two people, David Herpolsheimer (president) and [[Randy Linden]],<ref name="company">{{cite web|title=Best Little Emulator Ever Made!|first=Tom|last= Rhodes|publisher=Escapist Magazine|url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_117/2295-Best-Little-Emulator-Ever-Made|accessdate=2022-06-15|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822113532/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_117/2295-Best-Little-Emulator-Ever-Made|archivedate=2018-08-22}}</ref> but in the commercial phase included Will Kempe, Scott Karol, [[Sean Kauppinen]], Bryan Stokes, [[James Sinclair (Entrepreneur)|James Sinclair]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rfgeneration.com/cgi-bin/getinfo.pl?ID=U-071-S-00150-A|title=RF Generation: Bleem! for Gran Turismo 2 (Sega Dreamcast)|website=www.rfgeneration.com|access-date=2018-10-29}}</ref> and Paul Chen, later of [[Rovio Entertainment]].

===Context===
To allow for full-speed emulation on lower-end computers of what was at the time a current generation console, the authors coded Bleem! in [[assembly language|assembly]]. This allowed them to create precise optimizations.<ref name="assembly">{{cite web | title = Interview with bleem author | author = Dragon¥en | url = http://www.elitegamer.com/retro/emuscene/ble-101298.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-03 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928143958/http://www.elitegamer.com/retro/emuscene/ble-101298.htm | archivedate = 2007-09-28 }}</ref>  Unlike [[Connectix]]'s commercial [[Virtual Game Station]], it made use of a PC's 3D graphics hardware for rendering, allowing for enhanced resolutions and filtered textures not possible in real-time software rendering of the time.

Bleem! used low-level memory emulation and other real-mode technology. It did not function on operating systems using the [[Architecture of Windows NT#Kernel mode|Windows NT kernel]], including [[Windows 2000]].  In fact, Bleem!'s statement at the time was that Bleem! would never support running on [[Windows NT]]-based systems, as [[Windows 98]] was the dominant operating system at the time.

[[Sony]], despite having lost [[Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix Corp.|its case]] with Connectix, continued to pursue legal action against Bleem!. Bleem!, financially unable to defend itself, was forced to go out of business.

As of 2005, two members of the team were working for Sony: Randy Linden was working for [[Sony Computer Entertainment|SCEA]] on porting titles and looking at the possibility of emulation of previous generation titles for the next PlayStation,{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} and [[Sean Kauppinen]] was promoting ''[[EverQuest II]]'' and ''[[Star Wars Galaxies]]'' for [[Sony Online Entertainment]].

===Copy protection===
To combat [[Copyright infringement of software|redistribution]] of the small downloadable [[emulator]], the user had to buy the Bleem!-CD, containing about 35 MB of data: a [[DirectX]] distributable and the actual version of Bleem! available at the time of the CD's printing.  The rest of the CD was only for copy protection and was impossible to copy by conventional means; nevertheless, the copy protection was cracked within two weeks of the release.

Further updates to the emulator were free until the company ceased operation several years later.