Emulators and Roms: Right or Wrong

[Caimekaze]

The way I see it, if I never planned on buying it in the first place, me downloading it wouldn't have any impact on their profit margin.

So, you wouldn't pay for it, but you still want to be able to enjoy it.

But nintendo usually does this: look kids, we've made a new mario game! Its exactly the same like the old one, except that this time the bricks in the background will be yellow! wow!

Quite. Which game were you talking about, exactly? Because I haven't seen a single repeated game touted as a brand new one come from them lately.

 

[necrosmash]

To emulate any console, you generally need a far more powerful computer than the console itself was for it to work properly. Due to that, I think the gap in time while hardware catches up to allow us to emulate these games gurantees that, once emulation of any console is doable, the company is no longer selling hard copies of the games for said console. Sure, there's re-releases on newer consoles and stuff like that, but they come with their own benefits (like the fact that the old games come in a neat collection/compilation, or that they're guaranteed to work, etc.)

I love emulators, and see nothing wrong with them. They're just a way of guaranteeing that people can keep appreciating awesome games, no matter how old they are.

 

[BlindMessiah94]

Oh come on, nintendo doesnt LOOSE

I think you mean lose.

Yeah, and thats why i payed for lets say the new prince of persia, assasins creed, modern warfare, dragon age and other NEW games that are actually worth paying for.

But nintendo usually does this: look kids, we've made a new mario game! Its exactly the same like the old one, except that this time the bricks in the background will be yellow! wow!

And I think you mean paid.
So older games aren't worth paying for? I guess that's why they never re-release games on different consoles. Oh, wait, they do.
I think that if Nintendo offered the old games as roms on their site for purchasable download, people would pay for them. Look at iTunes. People pay for songs all the time even though you can still get them for free. At least give people the option to buy older games, otherwise you basically are asking them to pirate them. Virtual Console is alright but heck, it doesn't offer everything.
Also, maybe I love a series so much like, Final Fantasy for example, I want to play every game. I can't do that without emulators or ebay or some means to acquire them. And Squeenix and Nintendo certainly aren't selling FF Mystic Quest anyday soon.

 

[wordsmith]

have you ever had an illegal emulator on your pc?, and if you have, have people come up to you and said, "Oh you dirty piraite!". ive only have had one Emulator, a SNES one and the only reason i got it is so i could play "Earthbound", i live in europe so the game was never releashed here. Whats your opinion on Emulators?

To be fair, I don't know many people who don't y'arr stuff. I don't condone it, but I don't know anyone around here who would say "you dirty pirate" without getting dumped on their ass for it.

 

[zauxz]

But nintendo usually does this: look kids, we've made a new mario game! Its exactly the same like the old one, except that this time the bricks in the background will be yellow! wow!

Quite. Which game were you talking about, exactly? Because I haven't seen a single repeated game touted as a brand new one come from them lately.

The new mario game for egzample. It had an exactly one new idea.

 

[Amnestic]

have you ever had an illegal emulator on your pc?, and if you have, have people come up to you and said, "Oh you dirty piraite!". ive only have had one Emulator, a SNES one and the only reason i got it is so i could play "Earthbound", i live in europe so the game was never releashed here. Whats your opinion on Emulators?

Just a little point but Emulators are not illegal as long as you own/owned(eg it broke) console but even then I don't think they are as they allow you to use PS1, etc games on your PC.
Roms however, are as long as you have never owned the game ie not bought it.

Technically for the Emulation to be legal you have to rip the BIOS files from the console yourself. Otherwise it's entirely legal unless, as you say, you are using ROMs.

While I recognise that that's the law, does that not strike anyone else as completely illogical?

If I own(ed) a game, and I own(ed) a console, I'm not entitled to download the exact same game I own(ed) to emulate on my PC, but I am entitled to rip the BIOS to emulate it?

Come on. That's just fecking stupid.

I mean, it's not like the Wii has been made fully backwards compatible with the previous generations of consoles and that they're selling the old games online for it or anything.

Why should I have to pay again for a game I already bought? Further, what if I don't own a Wii but I did own a NES?

 

[Rokar333]

I think emulators are fine for abandonware (or what is basically abandonware even if it is not officially so.) However I think that if they are attempting to resell the game on a console you own, are you really saying you wouldn't fork over the 5$-$10 (For older games you know you like.)

I also guess that it's alright to use emulators to try out games they are reselling because it's not like you can rent NES games anymore, how else can you try before you buy.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

They're right if the games are impossible to get (for a decent price). Why should I suffer cause I was born in the wrong generation? And they're not losing any money, as they're not selling the games anymore.

 

[Susano]

GBA Emulator for Final Fantasy advance IV and VI.
*Guilty*

 

[TimeLord]

Emulators and roms mean I can play Pokemon Yellow without a Gameboy, so I like them

 

[MBurner 93]

I only emulate games I already own but cant play anymore, for whatever reason.

 

[Lukeje]

have you ever had an illegal emulator on your pc?, and if you have, have people come up to you and said, "Oh you dirty piraite!". ive only have had one Emulator, a SNES one and the only reason i got it is so i could play "Earthbound", i live in europe so the game was never releashed here. Whats your opinion on Emulators?

Just a little point but Emulators are not illegal as long as you own/owned(eg it broke) console but even then I don't think they are as they allow you to use PS1, etc games on your PC.
Roms however, are as long as you have never owned the game ie not bought it.

Technically for the Emulation to be legal you have to rip the BIOS files from the console yourself. Otherwise it's entirely legal unless, as you say, you are using ROMs.

While I recognise that that's the law, does that not strike anyone else as completely illogical?

If I own(ed) a game, and I own(ed) a console, I'm not entitled to download the exact same game I own(ed) to emulate on my PC, but I am entitled to rip the BIOS to emulate it?

Come on. That's just fecking stupid.

But when you bought the console you bought the rights to use the BIOS. That's the point.

I mean, it's not like the Wii has been made fully backwards compatible with the previous generations of consoles and that they're selling the old games online for it or anything.

Why should I have to pay again for a game I already bought? Further, what if I don't own a Wii but I did own a NES?

That's not what fenrizz was implying. fenrizz said that Nintendo is not losing any money if you download the games. An argument could be made that they were.

 

[Lullabye]

I have emulators for games that are not produced anymore, as well as games I've bought yet have broken or the console was sent away to be fixed etc.....I don't like to download games i have the money to go out and buy legally. It's just stealing then.

 

[number2301]

No. This argument always pops up when discussing current gen piracy and it's no more valid here than in that discussion. A pirated copy does not equal a sale lost, it's a sale that never was. Companies like to show these "financial loss" statistics when they defend DRM, claiming that the number of pirated copies equated to x number of sales dollars. But in reality, the vast majority of pirates would not purchase the game if the pirated version was not available, buyers will always be buyers, and pirates will always pirate.

Exactly, the piracy is theft argument is rubbish. If I decided to download game X right now company X makes no money. If I choose not to download it the situation is the exact same.

And if the issue is the developers not making money then everytime I go out and buy a game from my local second hand games store (because I'm sure as hell not paying full price) the developers don't get any money, but what I'm doing is perfectly legal.

In essence, cry more big companies, piracy is NOT theft and in terms of the problems the world faces you making slightly less money from your produce isn't a very high priority.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

I use them.
I am no old-school gamer, I haven't played any of those games and that's why I want to check them out.
It's not piracy. I wouldn't buy an old console. Nintendo isn't losing crap.

 

[Pink_Pirate]

No. This argument always pops up when discussing current gen piracy and it's no more valid here than in that discussion. A pirated copy does not equal a sale lost, it's a sale that never was. Companies like to show these "financial loss" statistics when they defend DRM, claiming that the number of pirated copies equated to x number of sales dollars. But in reality, the vast majority of pirates would not purchase the game if the pirated version was not available, buyers will always be buyers, and pirates will always pirate.

Exactly, the piracy is theft argument is rubbish. If I decided to download game X right now company X makes no money. If I choose not to download it the situation is the exact same.

And if the issue is the developers not making money then everytime I go out and buy a game from my local second hand games store (because I'm sure as hell not paying full price) the developers don't get any money, but what I'm doing is perfectly legal.

In essence, cry more big companies, piracy is NOT theft and in terms of the problems the world faces you making slightly less money from your produce isn't a very high priority.

That is true, in terms of market profit, downloading a game is the exact same as not buying it. IT is still a moral violation, it's having your cake and eating it. saying i don't want to pay for this game, but im still going to play is morally wrong. Personally i think the whole moral discussion is bullcrap, But its just interesting to looks at all the perspectives.

 

[Phototoxin]

Having my entire childhood in a flash drive? You bet your sweet ass I use emulators. Sometimes, you just have to get your Streets of Rage on.

You define all that is good in life.

I think its ok to have games that you own especially if the console is borked

 

[Jandau]

As far as I'm concerned, anything two generations old is fair game (that would be PSX and older). Also, anything that I can't acquire legaly (assuming it's been out for a while) is usually acceptable.

I've emulated a large number of NES, SNES and GBA games in the past few years, as well as any old DOS classics that I remember fondly.

Hmmm, this got me thinking, maybe I should look up a N64 emulator, never played anything on that one...

 

[NeutralDrow]

I do have an emulator for the NES, SNES, Genesis (also have an extensive hard copy library), and Game Boy. My library is pretty much games I didn't have available otherwise...though the Virtual Console has cut this list down some.

And I have a PS1 emulator for FF7. I own a copy of the game, I just don't have save capability that works on a PS2.

 

[S29 Afterlife]

i have only the classic consoles, being as i was born in the wrong century.
freaking 90's..
i only have s SNES emulator and a GBA mine because i dropped mine in water a pack of wolves at mine.