[jeff_tyrrill]

The emulator change is a minor rule change about bundling and is not what many of the reactions to the change think.

What people seem to think this means: Open-ended retro game emulators like Snes9x and Dolphin are now allowed. (I don't think this is correct.)

What the change is actually doing: If you are the licensed publisher of a retro game collection, you can now offer them in one app (including perhaps downloading additional games added to the collection later) instead of splitting them into individual apps. Each game must be individually vouched for.[1]

What is not changing: "Emulators" have long been allowed if the emulated code is bundled with the app and it is officially licensed.

[1] https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

"4.7 [...] You are responsible for all such software offered in your app, including ensuring that such software complies with these Guidelines and all applicable laws. [...]"

and

"4.7.4 You must provide an index of software and metadata available in your app. It must include universal links that lead to all of the software offered in your app."

[CharlesW]

> What the change is actually doing: If you are the licensed publisher of a retro game collection, you can now offer them in one app (including perhaps downloading additional games added to the collection later) instead of splitting them into individual apps.

How is this different than the one-app retro games collections that Apple has always allowed?

(1) https://toucharcade.com/2011/04/06/atari-brings-100-retro-ti... (2) https://www.engadget.com/2012-02-24-midway-arcade-brings-jou... (3) https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/21/15845580/sega-forever-ret...

[jeff_tyrrill]

I think mainly the ability to download additional games, and more specifically, games emulated from a different platform rather than game content written as HTML/JavaScript.

I may be wrong about the bundling in terms of the collection, but I still think this is more about Apple's general stance on "stores within an app", and the rule change is folding retro game emulators in as another exception to that, and not a change primarily about emulator allowability in general.

[jeff_tyrrill]

Based on the release of multiple emulators in the App Store in the past few days (including Delta which looks like it is here to stay), it looks like I got this wrong. My original comment made sense to me based on my reading of the rules, but it looks like they really are allowing open-ended emulators that can load ROMs from anywhere.

[sunpazed]

Interestingly outside of games and consoles there are “emulators” that run classic HP calculators in the store. They emulate the HP Nut processor which runs small ROM dumps.

[TillE]

Given the policy, I'm still really unclear about how ScummVM was allowed into the iOS app store. Maybe it was a mistake, but it's been up there for months.

There's no conceptual difference between interpreting SCUMM bytecode and interpreting 65816 machine code.

[chongli]

It’s a business difference, not a conceptual one. No one cares if you want to fire up Secret of Monkey Island on your iPad. One company in particular really does care if you want to play Super Mario World on your iPhone. That’s the difference.

[al_borland]

My knee jerk reaction is to be disappointed by this, but I had an NES emulator on my first gen jailbroken iPhone back in 2007 or 2008. It was cool for a few days, but ultimately, I didn’t use it.

[bluescrn]

Yeah, there's not much point bothering if you're limited to a touchscreen

And if you're going to the effort of using a separate controller, you might as well use a separate gaming device.

[throwaway48476]

There are controllers that integrate your phone and using your phone makes financial sense and reduces the hassle of having to carry a separate device.

[musicale]

Gamesir G8 Galileo is my winning option for USB-C (after trying Backbone One, Razer Kishi, and others.)

Makes for a pretty solid gaming* handheld, with a design that is similar to the Switch, Steam Deck, etc.

*(if you can find mobile games without awful monetization schemes)

[bluescrn]

> using your phone makes financial sense

We're talking about Apple devices here...

[al_borland]

Anyone still making “Apple overpriced” comments hasn’t really looked at prices in a long time.

Starting prices of the normal phones:

iPhone 15 - $799

iPhone 15+ - $899

Samsung S24 - $859

Samsung S24+ - $999

[Firmwarrior]

Personally I'd rather be able to game on my beefy iPhone 15 with a clip-on gamepad than have to lug around a slow, loud, gigantic Steam Deck or a laughably primitive Switch

[iggldiggl]

> Yeah, there's not much point bothering if you're limited to a touchscreen

Mmhm, I used to have a PDA [1] which had four hardware buttons below the screen and a D-pad, and that was rather nifty for that kind of games.

[1] Asus MyPal A620 – it came as part of a car navigation system which was gifted to us by some relatives. We never used the navigation part much, but because the whole thing was based on a regular Windows Mobile PDA which could run any software available, I appropriated it for myself :-)