Java games for PS3 + PS4 + XB1

[MisthaLu]

Did you know you can code a game with Java, and run it on PlayStation 3 + PlayStation 4 + Xbox One from the very same disc? It'll even run on the forthcoming PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett. And if it's a really simple game, it'll also run on a standard livingroom blu-ray player.

This is because all of these consoles feature a blu-ray player, and all blu-ray players run Java as part of the blu-ray specification.

It is obviously a limited platform, in several aspects. Don't expect to be able to code fullblown 3D shooters with it. But it will do fine for the average retro-styled game that we see on so many other platforms already.

Here's a YouTube video of my latest Blu-Play game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2gDEbjSYtg

And here's a YouTube video of my first Blu-Play game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bC5FV-2AY4

Blu-ray Java games are also used on commercial movies sometimes.
The movie "Bolt" has "Bolt's Be-Awesome Mission":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ4QUlbM6_c

The movie "Ratatouille" has "Gusteau's Gormet Game":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aatH8C2mjHc

The movie "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" has "Liar's Dice Game", which I will probably make a video of soon.

Even some standalone Blu-ray Java games has been released.
Who doesn't know "Dragon's Lair"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB7m0mJ47TQ

And "Space Ace"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZEg69wMq3Y

I also used Blu-ray Java to create a diskmag-like eBook about how I experienced the good old 8-bit days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg33a0wk3Mk

The advantage with Java homebrew over native homebrew (apart from being able to target 5 consoles), is that you don't need to jailbreak or mod your console to run it. The consoles were designed for this. The whole idea with including Java on Blu-ray players was exactly to offer games and other apps as bonus content on movies.
The "disadvantage" (if you will) is that you need to burn the ISO onto a disc to play it - unless you do have a jailbroken console, in which case you can play it from harddisk.

See https://www.blu-play.com if you'd like to explore this more.

 

[Dirk]

Wow, no, I didn't know that. That's a pretty cool feature. Now of course I wonder if one could code an NES emulator in java so you could play NES games on your PlayStation or Xbox.

 

[Mugi]

as far as i know, there already are a couple nes emulators made in java

on a side note, i didnt know this either. i mean, i knew you can do some stuff like that, but i didnt know it's a full java implementation that would allow stuff to this extend lol.
it's pretty neat.

 

[MisthaLu]

Wow, no, I didn't know that. That's a pretty cool feature. Now of course I wonder if one could code an NES emulator in java so you could play NES games on your PlayStation or Xbox.

Yes, someone has made a NES emulator with BD-J:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MbXsJLpdc0

And someone also a Gameboy emulator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cqQ2hFiKpo

They were never finished though, so they don't have sound.

And here's a BD-J demo, to show more of what's possible to do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_E9VaXywG0
I should note though, that this demo is running on PowerDVD software mediaplayer on PC - not an actually PlayStation. Expect slower speeds on a real console. Still impressive though.