Bleem's President Vents

Recently, GameSpot News sat down with David Herpolsheimer, president of Bleem LLC, to discuss life after the launch of its first product to retailers. (Bleem, the PlayStation emulation software, was released on the first of this month.) He's still dealing with Sony lawyers (which have increased in number as of late--according to some, there are now eight people dedicated to ending Bleem), and his only obstacle now is his rising legal fees.

Herpolsheimer says that Bleem sales have been quite good, claiming that in the past two weeks the company has managed to sell more than 50,000 units. With the great success the product has seen with electronics retailer Fry's, other larger mass-market chains such as Wal-Mart and Buyrite are expressing interest in carrying Bleem, and Herpolsheimer is currently in discussions with them. He's also had contact with distributors in other countries and continents who are interested in bringing Bleem into their markets. He seems pleased with how things are progressing, and it's easy to see why.

One of Herpolsheimer's biggest complaints is that people often mistake Bleem for something it's not. He commented that the press has been especially harsh on the product, pointing out such flaws as its inability to play certain games, or that there's too much slowdown or no music. Addressing those criticisms, he says that he never claimed Bleem was a fully functional PlayStation for the PC; instead, it's meant to be a way for people to play some of their PlayStation titles on their PCs with upgraded graphics. And he's very proud every time the team gets a new title to work perfectly on Bleem. We asked which game is currently the most requested for tweaking to perfection on Bleem, and Herpolsheimer quickly replied, "Metal Gear Solid."

We also talked with the Bleem president about the future of his product and company. One of the first questions just had to ask was whether he'd consider doing a Dreamcast version (to allow PlayStation titles to be played on the Dreamcast). Herpolsheimer commented that while there had been some discussion about such a version, there aren't any finalized plans. Bleem was originally developed with the intention of keeping Sony happy--it had even been offered to Sony but was turned down. A product like the Dreamcast Bleem (referred to jokingly by Herpolsheimer as "Bleemcast") would be in strict violation of Sony's wishes. The Bleem president also commented that there had been requests for a Saturn emulator on the Dreamcast, but at this point it didn't seem feasible, as Saturn games are nearly impossible to purchase anymore, and the system has a limited audience in the US. Herpolsheimer sees a large future in emulation. He explained how likely it is that future consoles will be able to play software from several different systems through internal emulation.

The option to do a Dreamcast emulator for the PC isn't all that unfeasible either. Windows 95/98 shares a derivation of the DirectX game API with the Dreamcast. VideoLogic is releasing a video card with a 3D graphics processor, in the Neon 250, similar to the one in the Dreamcast, so building an emulator for the PC might produce the same high-end graphics with less compatibility and fewer speed issues.

Several game developers have taken a strong liking to Bleem according to Herpolsheimer. He's had several discussions with developers who have informed him that they have been using his product to develop or test their titles due to their blue PlayStations (development units used to play non-final titles) constantly failing to operate. He mentioned that developers designing titles to work on Bleem will automatically be fully functional on the PlayStation hardware with little or no tweaking. Herpolsheimer also pointed out that one of the largest developers of PlayStation software--one whose name he couldn't reveal--was developing with Bleem in mind and had just ordered several copies of Bleem to help test their products.

With Bleem quickly becoming more and more mainstream (entering into the Walmart market would be huge for the company), Herpolsheimer has become even more dedicated to his mission. He's attempting to get his product out to as many retailers as fast as he can. His only wish is that he could make some money from Bleem sales. Up until now most of the company earnings have gone to paying legal fees--over $250,000 worth. Yet Herpolsheimer is optimistic about the future. We sat down with him to play a game of Gran Turismo (which looked stunningly good on Bleem), and he commented that even though there are many things still left to fix with Bleem, just being able to play a few games like that in hi-res is worth the 29 bucks. Frankly, we'd have to agree with him.