Bleem!'s President On The Record

"What's your freaking problem?" David Herpolsheimer, president of bleem! jokes. He'd love for some prominent figure in the gaming industry to stand up and say this publicly to Sony in support of his PlayStation emulation software called bleem. But despite the countless number of headaches and ordeals he's had because of Sony, he holds no grudge against the electronics giant. Last week GameSpot News sat down with the bleem! cofounder and president to discuss the release of bleem!, the future of bleem! enhancements, and what it's like dealing with Sony.

Although he's weary from having been awake for 24 hours straight - accumulating no more than ten hours of sleep for the entire week - David is talkative as ever. He tells about how he spent the past night working on the latest set of guidelines to help people through bleem! compatibility issues. He's definitely dedicated to his work. With more than 2,000 emails in his mailbox still waiting to be answered, he'd better be.

Most of his time is spent helping users installing and running bleem! What kinds of problems have bleem! users been facing since its official release at E3? "It was really important for us to get the full program out for E3, and we were a bit rushed. So we didn't have time to fully educate our users about the quirks of DirectX drivers, and the full build had a couple of bugs that ­ unfortunately ­ affected compatibility" The company's plan all along has been to tackle bugs as people reported them. "Nothing ever comes out completely bug free, and we completely anticipated bugs. But when we polled our users months back, they overwhelmingly responded, 'Just release it and let us find any bugs ... as long as you fix them quickly.'" But this type of strategy has led to a portion of disgruntled purchasers. According to Herpolsheimer, bleem! is actively fielding every problem it comes across. "For the most part, everyone has been incredibly pleased with our decision to release bleem! at E3. The hard-core users have been incredibly supportive and are happy to try different solutions." The main point he wants to stress is that, "We will continue to do this until the code is completely right."

Most of the problems Herpolsheimer and his company have faced in the beginning concerned video-card driver and DirectX 6.0 problems. Bleem has also seen many users having problems with their CD-ROM drives not accessing the bleem! Disc, “Some DVD and 40X or higher CD-ROM drives seem to have problems, because they don't fully support the CD-ROM format - but we've received many reports that the new Windows 98SE update corrects those issues for many users." He says his company is working on a better support system and bleem!'s web site is constantly updated with updated information to help users. "We've also faced a few problems because DirectX is so finicky. bleem! is one of a handful of programs to require DirectX 6, and finding approved drivers can be a scavenger hunt."

As for the retail version of bleem!, Herpolsheimer says that it is still a month from release. The company is currently working on packaging for it and intends to have a final gold disc ready soon. "Right now, we're working on getting permission from companies to include compatible drivers on our CD-ROM."

Of course, the topic of Sony and its E3 run-in with bleem! had to come up. For those who haven't heard, Sony, unable to get a court to file and injunction against bleem!, managed to get E3 officials to force bleem! to rid its booth of copyrighted Sony material. Surprisingly, David is quite calm about the affair, "Oh, I completely know where they are coming from, and I can understand why they are attempting to go after us. I just wish they could see things from our vantage point." He's calm on the matter because legally he has nothing to worry about. "We've had technical experts and lawyers check through our program and operation, and they've all said we're in the clear." He's just surprised no one has ever come at the emulation scene from the direction bleem! did. From its early beginnings, bleem! has always kept Sony's interests in mind. "Bleem! can benefit Sony and other publishers with more software sales."

And of note, David revealed that he actually spoke to Sony Computer Entertainment of America president and COO, Kaz Hirai. "I figured, before the whole legal thing got out of control, maybe there was a way to address their concerns and work together - so I called the guy. And I have to say, I was impressed - Kaz struck me as friendly, honest, and open. But in the end, he still stuck to the company line - 'The only acceptable solution is to remove bleem! from the market,' and said he'd call if anything changed. I'm still waiting."

So what does David see for the future of bleem? "Well, we're compiling lists of the top games people want to see compatible with bleem!, and working to add them to our compatibility list. The nice thing is, when we make one new game work, a bunch of other games from the same company often start working, too." The company is also currently working on steering-wheel support and other devices, such as force feedback, and possibly even light guns. David mentions that a company has created an adapter that allows the PlayStation controller to be used on a PC - and would be ideal to use in tandem with bleem!. He also hints that he is looking to work with companies like Datel to allow its cheat codes to work with the bleem! software. Other features that could come into play down the road are LAN multiplayer modes for games. Just imagine being able to play Tekken 3 on your PlayStation against another gamer over a network; gamers could experience networking power long before the next generation of systems releases to consumers.

With the gaming world spinning around his head, its amazing that Herpolsheimer is so calm. But part of his calm voice may come from being humbled by bleem!'s success, as he reflects, "I've dealt with online sales in the past, and never before have I ever seen a product do so well on the net with no advertising. It's amazing."