Cygnus Solutions delivered a software-simulation environment to Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) on Monday that will let developers build next generation PlayStation games without having the final hardware.

　　The advantage is an obvious one - before Sony begins building the chips that will comprise the retail version of the PlayStation 2, developers can begin the long task of building the first generation of PlayStation games on machines they already own.

　　"Cygnus was successful in delivering software development technologies during the development of the PlayStation console," said Shin'ichi Okamoto, vice president of software development at SCEI. "In looking at future gaming technologies, SCEI turned to Cygnus to develop a virtual hardware environment that would allow SCEI engineers and game developers to begin creation of their titles prior to the availability of the next generation PlayStation platform."

　　Gamers have already seen some of Cygnus' early work with the next generation PlayStation with Sony's demonstrations in Japan and at the more recent Game Developers Conference this month.

　　The announcement comes after two years of working with SCEI and Toshiba. Other than just the emulation software, Cygnus has also built a complete programming environment with an optimized GNUPro C/C++ compiler, debugger, assembler, and other utilities for building games for the PlayStation 2.

　　Tools built by Cygnus help to benefit a wide range of developers using Linux, Windows 95/NT, and UNIX systems.