Poll: A Rant About Emulation!

excalipoor

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Triaed said:
Just because a company can't or won't exercise their right to come after you for illegally downloading a ROM does not mean that they do not have the right and ownership of that intellectual property.
And at no point have I disputed that. You're reading something in my posts that just isn't there. What I'm saying is that the only thing standing between legal emulation of consoles on PC, and piracy, is how the users choose to use this freedom given to them.
 

sneakypenguin

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Emulation is fine by me, I still don't understand why Ninsegony don't release a legit emulation program and sell old titles for .99-4.99 I'd pay a few bucks for a legit working rogue squadron. Not like they are making money off it now, seems like a no brainer.
 

Charli

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I make sure I own/have owned (beyond salvation) before I even consider emulating. And I have had to make my own images, I don't file share or pirate games though. In the case of Sega's 'steam Genesis program emulator' it's SO POORLY DONE. I own all 3 old (main) sonic games on that thing but I refuse to play it that way because it uses way more firepower than it needs. I emulate because ...well it's efficiency, I like their games, not their method of distribution or whatever it's doing.

There's a few old playstation games I've put on my PC as well due to the disks being very shakily on the edge of 'unreadable'.

It's convenience. I'm doing things with products that I own, the only arguments against emulation are that it 'enables piracy'. Sure. But so do bars enable alcoholics. So piss off and leave me to my gaming.


In otherwords yes if companies did this legally and cheaply they'd pull in money.
 

Accountfailed

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May 27, 2009
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glyngaris said:
There are no intelligent arguments against emulation period.
Actually... :p

I do agree that there is nothing wrong with emulation, however I have found one situation where I cannot bring myself to emulate games, as it goes red in my moral radar. It just so happens I go to college about a 5 minute walk from a retro videogame store, with a bunch of very friendly and helpful clerks staffing it. Now as it stands my computer doesn't emulate ps1-era consoles very well at all, so where I can emulate N64 games my experienced is damaged somewhat. So where I CAN emulate, the experience is lessened, and I don't even need to because I have specialty shop conveniently located nearby. As a result of this, I cannot bring myself to emulate N64 games with the knowledge that it will run worse, and by not buying the game from the store I'm taking money away from a niche business that I would hate to see go.

I guess my point is that if you can buy it from a small business that could use the money, and that business isn't particularly hard to get to, and you don't have the means to emulate well anyway, then you shouldn't. But I doubt many other people have the same situation as I do.
 

FFP2

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I love it. Being able to play literally every console game up until the Wii in 720p... Bliss.
 

Adeptus Aspartem

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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 :p
 

Disturbed-Hell

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Mar 18, 2010
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So long as you have a legal copy of the game and console that you're emulating, sure. Why shouldn't it be? You already have the right to play the game so I don't see how anything can really stop you. On the other hand, if you don't own the game, then the emulation is ok but you're pirating the game which I do have a problem with.
 

blackrave

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WickedFire said:
blackrave said:
Sadly I gave away my Sega Genesis and my Comix Zone cartridge
I love that game, it is really awesome
But now my only option is playing Comix Zone on emulator :(
Actually, there is another option: http://store.steampowered.com/app/34272/
WHAT?!!
WHAAAAAT!!??!!
[head explodes]

But seriously thank you so much, I never expected Comix Zone there
Now I must search Dune:Battle for Arakis on Steam as well
Or Contra Hard Corps
{searches for no result]
Aw well, Comix Zone will be good enough :D
 

Mr. Omega

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Jul 1, 2010
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My belief is that if there is a legit way to get it without getting outdated or imported hardware, there isn't an excuse.

For example: Before Nintendo announced Earthbound was coming to the Virtual Console, I would think that it was ok to get Earthbound on an emulator because there was no other way. Now that it has been announced, there is an up-to-date legitimate way to get the game, so emulation would be little more than piracy. "Oh, but I don't want to get a WiiU for just one game!" Yeah, well I don't want to get a 360 to play Halo. Suck it up or admit you have no moral ground to stand on.

Only other exception is if you actually have a copy of the game you're emulating.
 

Generic4me

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While I suppose some might argue that emulation MIGHT deter potential sales of re-released or fairly modern games, it takes a while for emulation of a console to get to a playable level, long past the majority of sales the company would've gotten.

It's still a grey-area, and I remember there was a Wii emulator that came out fairly early at a playable level (if your PC was a tank, but still).

Also, downloading ROMs is still a grey-area, even if you own the games, and downloading a BIOS if the emulator can't emulate one is also pretty-grey.
 

zidine100

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Mar 19, 2009
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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.
 

What Do I Care

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I don't have problem with it. I like getting the old arcade machine games like the Alien Vs. Predator beat em up, I could never complete when I was a kid, mainly cause I didn't have enough money for extra lives or because my mum would kick my ass if I wasn't home by 9pm.
 

V da Mighty Taco

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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 :p
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.
 

Ken Sapp

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Apr 1, 2010
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Triaed said:
excalipoor said:
Triaed said:
Well, as long as you own the license (either have the physical game or can prove you purchased it through XBLA, PSN, Steam or similar); if you don't then you cannot download or play the ROM. Nothing "honour system" about that.
There's absolutely nothing beyond your own sensibilities stopping you from downloading whatever you want. Nobody is ever going to come knocking to find out whether you have the license or not. It's legal as long as you play by the rules, but the rules aren't enforced. So yes, I'd call that an honor system.
I am not going to start a flame war (I've never had), but that statement is wrong. Just because a company can't or won't exercise their right to come after you for illegally downloading a ROM does not mean that they do not have the right and ownership of that intellectual property.

I'll concede the few cases when the software has become public domain or even the gray area of abandoned rights (abandonware).
Actually his statement is almost right. If a company does not reasonably attempt to enforce its copyright, ie sending Cease-and-Desist letters and filing lawsuits, then it loses that copyright. Which is why you see some companies carrying out high dollar lawsuits and seeking large sums in damages from individuals who barely or only questionably infringed a copyright, trademark or patent. At least that is the case here in America. Personally, I believe that creators have right to compensation for their labors and if I don't agree that the product should cost what they are asking then I don't buy it or pirate it. OTOH if a company has gone out of business or has allowed a property to become abandonware and are no longer attempting to make money off of a property... That is more of a case by case grey area IMO.
 

Craig Rigby

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Aug 7, 2012
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Emulation is awesome, and I've never got why anyone would see a problem with it. as long as the games are not being sold anymore you are not stealing from anyone, as no one is making any money from it anyway.

I still have all of my old consoles but I'm sure some of them don't work anymore and I know for certain that my 32X was always very finicky because of those weird metal rods you have to lock it in with.
A few years ago I took my Dreamcast out and after a few hours the laser just stopped working or something. my parents forced me to shove all of my old stuff in sheds to get covered in rain and rat urine and it's not like they sell any of that anymore (the consoles, I'm sure that some freak is selling rat piss somewhere on the Internet) and the Dreamcast has been out of service since like 2006 (even though there is still a games market for it in Japan). fortunately I have a backup so I got lucky, but not everyone is in a position. so how do they play their old games that they paid so much money for in the first place? If you have given all other alternative you cannot complain when somebody emulates your Product, you don't really have any right to anyone when they paid for it legally in the first place as most emulator fans did.

As a sidenote, I was pretty peeved off when I found out that Dreamcasts work on PC monitors as well as regular televisions because I could've had one in my room for years. When my parents moved my room around they took my television and I've been trying to convince them for years to let me have my consoles downstairs. I was even more peeved off to find out that light gun games do not work on flatscreen televisions, meaning that True light gun games regardless of bullshit laws based around them, are essentially dead. an era has ended. BRING BACK CRT!
 

PoolCleaningRobot

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Mar 18, 2012
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Its a godsend really. It preserves old and forgotten games. I know that no matter what happens to my old beloved titles, there either is or will be a rom of the game and an emulator to play it with
 

SecondPrize

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Mar 12, 2012
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As I understand it, Emulating games is okay only if you can't purchase it anywhere or own the game AND copy it (make the ROM) yourself. These two both narrow the instances of legal use of roms down very greatly. Most people who use them can't/won't make the roms themselves. While developers may not release all of their old titles for sale, there is a large collectors market for old cartridges and the like. If you can pick up copy of Crystalis in good condition for $70, welp, you're able to purchase it.
 

FoolKiller

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Feb 8, 2008
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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?