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GameBoy Advance emulator for iOS, no jailbreak required

github.com

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Re: GameBoy Advance emulator for iOS, no jailbreak required

#11
post #2

Pretty cool idea, the no jailbreak thing, while true, is a bit disingenuous though, since you need your own developer account. What are the chances that Apple would just revoke all the keys used to build this app? Surely it's against their TOS?

"What are the chances that Apple would just revoke all the keys used to build this app?"

I'm going to guess the chances are near zero. Picture the lurking possibility that Apple revokes your developer key, essentially shutting down your business, because you merely built something on your own hardware that they didn't like. You didn't distribute it, the code never left your network, you just built it. I feel that every argument for "developers will never leave iOS even if Apple does..." goes out the window at that point.

Re: GameBoy Advance emulator for iOS, no jailbreak required

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure you need a dev account? I haven't tried it (yet), but the page claims: "No jailbreak OR developer account required :)"

They're using MacBuildServer, which provisions it with its own enterprise account, which is against ToS and I would expect macbuildserver's public provisioning to get shut down and the profile revoked

Are there any other examples of apps that would normally be forbidden in the App Store that can be installed in this way?

Re: GameBoy Advance emulator for iOS, no jailbreak required

#13

Its always amazed me that Nintendo hasn't cashed in yet on creating an official emulator for iPhone/Andriod and releasing thier huge collection of old games in an official marketplace for people to download.... there is no doubt how popular that would be. Everyone would be playing pokemon again.

It would mean more or less an exit to Nintendo's hardware business.

Plus, they're sitting on piles of money, so they're not exactly in a hurry.

Re: GameBoy Advance emulator for iOS, no jailbreak required

#14

Its always amazed me that Nintendo hasn't cashed in yet on creating an official emulator for iPhone/Andriod and releasing thier huge collection of old games in an official marketplace for people to download.... there is no doubt how popular that would be. Everyone would be playing pokemon again.

There would probably be legal issues with people who had already bought the games in their original cartridge form who don't feel they should have to pay for the game again. It would also stop at Gameboy Advance games, because it becomes increasingly hard to fit two screens worth of content onto an iPhone screen with the necessary buttons and directional pad.

Re: GameBoy Advance emulator for iOS, no jailbreak required

#15
post #7
post #5

Without external controller support (and hardware) these projects are all just proof of concept. That is, in this case you're still better of with an Android device and a controller via OTG/BT.

iOS 7 is getting official external game controller APIs: https://developer.apple.com/library/etc/redirect/WWDR/GameCo... So there's a future for that.

You could also use an iCade or some other controller that uses the iCade protocol.

Re: GameBoy Advance emulator for iOS, no jailbreak required

#17
post #2

Pretty cool idea, the no jailbreak thing, while true, is a bit disingenuous though, since you need your own developer account. What are the chances that Apple would just revoke all the keys used to build this app? Surely it's against their TOS?

"What are the chances that Apple would just revoke all the keys used to build this app?" I'm going to guess the chances are near zero. Picture the lurking possibility that Apple revokes your developer key, essentially shutting down your business, because you merely built something on your own hardware that they didn't like. You didn't distribute it, the code never left your network, you just built it. I feel that eve…

MacBuildServer is distributing the .ipa files they have inhouse signed to anyone that wants it. Apple would only revoke the certs used to sign apps that are distributed outside that assigned enterprise.

Re: GameBoy Advance emulator for iOS, no jailbreak required

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're using MacBuildServer, which provisions it with its own enterprise account, which is against ToS and I would expect macbuildserver's public provisioning to get shut down and the profile revoked

MacBuildServer created at least one of the certs they use for signing inhouse/universal distribution apps on 2013-05-15T16:48:45Z, and it has not yet been revoked. If it does get revoked, they can just remove that part of their service, and continue to allow people to upload their certs, keys and provisioning profiles for building server side. (o.O) Once MBS becomes more popular, Apple will have to react to prevent o…

Yep, it's just this one feature, the rest of the build service is safe, and potentially cool from a features standpoint. I assume the fear is it would be fairly trivial to add an app store on top of this.

Re: GameBoy Advance emulator for iOS, no jailbreak required

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What are the chances that Apple would just revoke all the keys used to build this app?" I'm going to guess the chances are near zero. Picture the lurking possibility that Apple revokes your developer key, essentially shutting down your business, because you merely built something on your own hardware that they didn't like. You didn't distribute it, the code never left your network, you just built it. I feel that eve…

MacBuildServer is distributing the .ipa files they have inhouse signed to anyone that wants it. Apple would only revoke the certs used to sign apps that are distributed outside that assigned enterprise.

Okay, that I could see happening, and I wouldn't have much of a problem with it (abusing the enterprise keys and all). Perhaps I misread, as I took it to be asking about the general case of any dev who downloads source and clicks "Product/Run".
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