eli5 If video game consoles are essentially just weaker computers, why did it take so long for PCs to get 7th gen console emulators, why are we only just getting 8th gen emulators, and how long until we see 9th gen emulators?
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A lot of it is because the how different the software is (consoles don’t exactly run on windows 10). This means that the coding is different (similar to how just because something runs on windows doesn’t mean it will on Linux and Mac, devs have to spend time on porting it to those systems).
Because emulators are working within the windows 10 environment, it complicates matters since the games were never meant to do so. Because porting over every single game would be unrealistic, emulators essentially work by re-engineering the console software, and have it boot up within the windows system.
However, PC hardware and the software attached to that hardware is still not made for console code, so there’s some inefficiency. Imagine having someone who’s a native English speaker, having to translate to Spanish.
So in a way, it’s kinda like asking “if someone with a PHD in English is better at language than someone with primary school education in Spain, why is the English PHD person not nearly as good at Spanish?”.
Or, ” If the world’s strongest man is such a great athlete, why can’t he run 5 miles?” (Or the opposite, “if X athlete is so amazing, why can’t they deadlift 1100 pounds?”). Both things are related, but they’re far enough away that they’re not going to be nearly as good at the new thing as they are at their own.
Because of this, a PC using emulators essentially need to be 50-100% better than whatever the original console is, add in needing to re-engineer the entire thing as well, it takes a long time (not to mention, emulators are not made by companies, but volunteers, so it’s often a small handful of people working on it).
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