Loves me some emus. Never bothered replacing my old ps2 when it broke so I just play my games on the pc instead, 'course I wouldn't have to if SOMEONE put backwards compatibility in their consoles....
As long as your emulating a game that isn't available anymore and especially is on a system that's been discontinued, there's nothing wrong with using it. It's only wrong when it's used for piracy on current games.Swishdude said:I invite you to listen to me go on a brief little rant about video game emulation.
I know everyone here at the Escapist can be super opinionated about emulation, so let's hear it. Do you feel emulation is wrong or right?
What is the argument against piracy other than lack of support for the developer? I also want to hear some self-excoriation for your admission to piracy earlier in your life, which you claim there is "no good excuse".racrevel said:All this "grey" area stuff is pretty much the same excuses pirates make anyway, pretty much cheapness and laziness.. If you want to find these games you can, you just still need to pay for them saying its overpriced or hard to find or doesnt support the developer is a pretty poor excuse to what amounts to piracy. When there are generally a ton on ebay you are just being cheap and lazy.
I would say yes. The justification usually made in this case is "I would totally buy the game if I could, but I can't, so piracy is okay". Unless you had a different justification, you're probably morally obligated to buy.FoolKiller said:I'm a fan of it in order to play older games that are unreasonable to find for one reason or another.
Say you wanted to play a game from years past but couldn't find it. Then download it and beat it. Afterwards, its re-released (unlikely, but technically possible), would you be morally obligated to purchase it?
That really is all I want for Christmas.faefrost said:I'm not understanding the controversy, if there is in fact one? The OP isn't encouraging pirate roms and such. He is begging the old school game companies to release there old shit in an officially emulated form to run on a new system, for money even. That seems like a fair and reasonable idea no matter which way you look at it.
I was making a comparison on how we can get feature films on home video, even really old ones. I'm fully aware that it's not digital emulation.zidine100 said:citizen kane coming to dvd is not emulation its a god damn re release. There not EMULATING old hardware on the freaking dvd, or let me put it another way, that's like calling all pc ports emulation. Ever wonder why emulators are slow on some systems, because there emulating the hardware for crying out loud.
im just being picky but that just annoyed the hell out of me, it seems he doesn't understand emulation is about emulating and documenting the hardware, its not about porting a game to the pc.
And for historical purposes alone emulators are awesome.
And technically speaking im going to clarify here that to stay legal you have to dump your own bios (if the emulator requires it) and games, easy enough for some of the modern cd consoles ps1 ect (im calling that modern dang it) but good luck getting the hardware to dump some of the older carts, im looking at you arcade boards.
Nice hidden passive-aggressive high-horse riding there.V da Mighty Taco said:I take it I'm alone in avoiding using emulators for this very reason then - it seems to similar to piracy to me for me to do it. As much as I'd like to run Turok 2 on a system that can actually handle it, my massive insistence on adhering to my morals causes me to just stick with playing it on the N64.Adeptus Aspartem said:Is this a thing now? Being anti-something-that-never-ever-was-a-problem?
This thread is literally the first time i heard anyone in rl & on the internet say something negative about emulating - except raging that the emulator doesnt work![]()
Back when i was 13? I used to pirate games and movies, was being poor a good excuse? No, did i know it was wrong? Yes, i just ignored all the warnings and used excuses to cover it i could have lived without them, but once i got a job i started buying all the games i once downloaded, i now own all the dvds i downloaded, Music not so much as i dont listen to it, i own maybe 2 cd's? My iphone is filled with my gfs music (she buys cds i dont) and the escapist podcastsVeylon said:What is the argument against piracy other than lack of support for the developer? I also want to hear some self-excoriation for your admission to piracy earlier in your life, which you claim there is "no good excuse".racrevel said:All this "grey" area stuff is pretty much the same excuses pirates make anyway, pretty much cheapness and laziness.. If you want to find these games you can, you just still need to pay for them saying its overpriced or hard to find or doesnt support the developer is a pretty poor excuse to what amounts to piracy. When there are generally a ton on ebay you are just being cheap and lazy.
They're not another option, because they run all the oldies on DOSBox... an emulator.CardinalPiggles said:Of course we now have places like GOG giving another brilliant option.
The reason why is because Emulation does not equal piracy. You can take the files off of anything and emulate it to play on another system and theres nothing wrong with that. Its your property so you can do whatever you want with it. People are even more for regular emulation where a company takes an old game and puts it on something else. Kind of how Atlus had Persona 4 on PS2 originally but recently rereleased it on the PS Vitaklaynexas3 said:The Escapist community. Avid against piracy, but when it's for emulation, hell yeah it's alright.
I myself use emulators, don't think I'm knocking it, I just find it amusing how contradictory this community can be.