Is there such a thing?

[GHoosdum]

First, I'm going to preface this post by saying if it's a violation of any forum rule, any mod can feel free to delete the thread. If you do, please PM me that you did so I don't go looking for the thread again. ;)

I don't know how long it typically takes to develop a solid emulator for a game system, but I am on a quest. Later this year, I plan on rebuilding my HTPC. when I do so, I'd like to get rid of as many components as I possibly can from my entertainment center. One of the items that I have is a GameCube. Does a viable GC emulator for PC exist which uses the PC's DVD-ROM drive to read the store-bought Nintendo game discs to play the games? I plan on hooking up 2-4 Xbox 2 controllers to the HTPC in order to do as much of the gaming on the PC as possible, in order to eliminate the variety of game consoles that I own from cluttering the place up...

[Gargoyle]

I've heard that there's an emulator called Dolphin that can play commercial games, but I couldn't find any info as to whether those were copies of the game on your hard drive, or the actual discs.

One thing seems certain, it'll need to be a powerful machine. Emulators take serveral times the processing power than the console itself uses.

[Thrax]

Not to mention, the GC emulator would not only have to emulate the console's hardware, but translate from PPC/Altivec.