Well, to start from the top, the amount of hardware for consoles is staggering. There is hardware for almost any system including SMS/GG, SNES, NES, GB, Genesis and many other less poplular systems. The main thing is a copier or "backup" unit, used to copy a cartridge to your PC, or to disk, where used later to play that game again.

Now that we have the basic concept that you can get it on your PC, we get the idea that you can transfer it from machine to machine, even from PC to MAC. Thats where the trading part of the scene comes in. Many people like to trade games and programs to run on their copier systems.

Now you may be wondering, "What if I don't have a backup system," and "Why can't I just play it on my computer?" That's where a large portion of the programming comes in. There are many programs called "emulators" that will run the image on your computer, and believe me, the people who write these are wizards. Many of the emulators require hundreds of pages of coding. Also, many people program utilities to change the image. There are even those who change the image to edit the game itself, or even write new games.

As far as groups go, there are a few (not too many) that cover the console scene. Some of these include: Anthrax who makes copiers, Console Consortium who releases games, and Damaged Cybernetics which does about anything from releasing, to sponsering the authors that write Emulators. Also, outside groups and people are involved, such as UCF, who has cracked some of the programs, and ^RaZoR^ has released a few of the EMUs.

As you can see, the console scene is basically a complete scene in itself. So, if you are interested, join #emu on EFnet, or if you like WWW, goto DC's homepage for a lot of information on the console scene, but remember, look around before you ask, because if it's around, someone has put up a page about it, and believe me, the console people don't look kindly upon often asked questions.

Cya online :)

Shadow Dragon