Now that Macworld 99 is over and the hype begins to fade from the Connectix Virtual Game Station, the first commercially available PlayStation emulator for the Macintosh, we can reveal how it performs in the real world.

　　It should be noted that these tests were done on a revision B iMac with G3 233MHz and reportedly performance improved with machines equipped with faster 255 to 300MHz processors.

　　Metal Gear Solid was the first game we tested the software with. Graphics look blockier and the framerate suffers a little but overall gameplay isn't too shabby. There are minor audio glitches like beeps and skips which are annoying, but overall it's fairly impressive. The performance is similar with other Connectix recommended games like Crash 3 and the original Tekken. Another plus is the ability to create your own memory cards, which can be used in conjunction with the Dex drive or simply traded via E-mail.

　　Next we tried several non-recommended games like Ridge Racer, Tekken 2, and Dead or Alive. At best, the framerate is bad or the games won't load. At worst, they'll crash your machine and/or seriously mess with the functionality of your Game Station.

　　The verdict? If you don't own a PlayStation and want to play PS games on your Mac, it's the only game in town and not such a bad deal. For everyone else, the rather small amount of problem free software and the degradation in the quality of the software means you'll end up buying a PlayStation (if you don't already own one) anyway to get the most out of the games.