I think they should be considered illegal still but under certain situations should they be fine. Like someone else said, if the game is "rare" to find or you own the game. I heard this discussion elsewhere and remember someone saying that people should pay or donate from $1 up to $5 for the games. The issue is that is when someone has something free for so long the complain and whine when they have to pay for it all of a sudden.
Your view on emulators.
- Thread starter JWRosser
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Also, there's too many people to donate to. Designer, Publisher, and--in the case of licensed games--the IP owner. The best option would be for more classics to be re-released on virtual console, steam, XBL arcade, ect.KaiserKnight said:
Edit: Oh, hey, just saw this was your first post. Welcome to the escapist!
Thanks. Been visiting often so thought I should finally join. Well for outdated games or rare games a $5 donation to some charity (that is what I meant by donating) would seem fair since such old games being sold at a flea market, garage sale or even by Gamestop for some reason...the Publishers are making no money. Why not help a cause and get something in return, once donated there is some type of...proof that would let the websites know you did such a thing and can download it all you want.starwarsgeek said:
Yes, people will download and then give the game out free anyways but that means that someone at least donated one time for it right?
I only use emulators to play really old games I can't buy in the store anymore... or nostalgic ones I use to own. If you can't obtain it by regular means, I don't see what's wrong with using an emulator.
Oh, okay. Yeah, that'd be cool, but I doubt many websites would agree to it. Great idea though.KaiserKnight said:
Honestly, at this point I'd like to see some games go public domain... anything where the publishing company went out of business or they simply don't retain backup copies of the game... there are some games out there that have only been kept from being completely unavailable through illegal emulation... and maybe a few half-broken cartridges that are 30 years old.
Mind you, when a company is willing to distribute their old games such as with WiiWare classic games or remakes on handheld systems... well, then I'm fully behind the concept of "only keep ROMs for games you actually own". Even if you don't own the system to play your purchased copy of the game on.
Mind you, when a company is willing to distribute their old games such as with WiiWare classic games or remakes on handheld systems... well, then I'm fully behind the concept of "only keep ROMs for games you actually own". Even if you don't own the system to play your purchased copy of the game on.
Emulators are fine imo...
I mean personally I think you should only use them for convenience sake like if you have a Playstation already but it doesn't work or can't be bothered to set it up or if you use it to play old obscure games that are already out of print, very expensive and from a studio that's been long dead or something like that... that's my take on it anyway...<.<
I mean personally I think you should only use them for convenience sake like if you have a Playstation already but it doesn't work or can't be bothered to set it up or if you use it to play old obscure games that are already out of print, very expensive and from a studio that's been long dead or something like that... that's my take on it anyway...<.<
They allow me to play games like LSD on Ps1 without having to shell out $250 because it's rare and a collectible. That's all I use them for, and anything that's actually accessible to me is something I will buy.
I have an old game boy emulator which I use to play the old final fantasy games on ten times speed because I feel like they are way to slow paced normally but other than that I don't mess with em much. (I own all the final fantasy games and a DS so I don't feel very much remorse about that, I just didn't have the patience for how long it takes for them to talk about stupid things....)
I will admit I have been very tempted to download the crystal chronicles games and that fancy final fantasy mortal combat type game I think it was called Gerhtz? I don't more because play station emulators are kind of Ehhh...
I will admit I have been very tempted to download the crystal chronicles games and that fancy final fantasy mortal combat type game I think it was called Gerhtz? I don't more because play station emulators are kind of Ehhh...
From an archivist / librarian's point of view they're a godsend; the gaming community using the internet to preserve classics in the absence of a proper institution.
From a publisher's point of view, they can be harmful piracy tools if they decide to re-release classic games via whatever service they're offering. Nintendo, selling old mario and squaresoft games for $2.50, for example... For awhile, to avoid legal action, a lot of emu sites stopped carrying Mario ROMS and like titles for fear of being targeted for crossing that line.
From a collectors point of view, they're a cut rate choice to the genuine article, but nobody's going to look down their nose at their convince and role in preserving classics.
From a publisher's point of view, they can be harmful piracy tools if they decide to re-release classic games via whatever service they're offering. Nintendo, selling old mario and squaresoft games for $2.50, for example... For awhile, to avoid legal action, a lot of emu sites stopped carrying Mario ROMS and like titles for fear of being targeted for crossing that line.
From a collectors point of view, they're a cut rate choice to the genuine article, but nobody's going to look down their nose at their convince and role in preserving classics.
Hi, I'm the guy who only downloads games that he legally owns.varulfic said:
OT: Yeah they're great, but they give people an easy (and inviting) way to break the law. This isn't the emulator's fault. Just as guns are not at fault for people killing others with them.
All I'm arguing is that the emulator itself is legal. Violate Nintendo or Sega's copyright? Actually, no. Reverse engineering is also legal.Maraveno said:
However, if your friends have every Genesis/SNES rom? That would be illegal. Making a Xbox 360/PS3 emulator would be perfectly legal though. Downloading most of the games wouldn't.
A lot of the time games DO go "public domain" and it becomes (more) legal to download them.loc978 said:
The fact that a program CAN be used for illegal means, doesn't mean it necessarily WILL be used for illegal means. It's sort of like how, well... bongs are legal. Marijuana is not.Maraveno said:
As an added thought, most people who developed an emulator don't provide any games with it in the download. It's usually shifty third-party sites that do that.
There are many legal applications for such a program. There is nothing that makes them inherently illegal. To allow them to be banned because of a potential illegal application would be a foolish surrendering of more basic liberties.
For example? I have a virtualNES emulator. I use it to play homebrew NES games, like Super Bat Puncher. Fantastic game. This is a perfectly legal use of an emulator.
An emulator is ~SIMPLY~ a piece of software to replicate within a computer the hardware of another device. This is true of Virtual Machine programs as well.
Example:
I have a DS Emulator that I (theoretically) use to play the ROM's of 5 of the 7 Pokemon game I ~LEGALLY~ own the carts of (DPPT & HGSS), as under Fair Use laws (particularly of Australia) whilst I own a legitimate copy of a piece of data (be it a Vinal LP of Elvis, a Diablo II CD set, or a DS Cart), I can legally create, own & use a backup copy of said data (LP into MP3, CD's into ISO's, Cart into ROM) to use in lieu of the original item. However, under these same laws, if I sold off (or otherwise handed over) the original form of the data (the LP, CD's or Cart) then I either have to hand over the copy (MP3, ISO, ROM) of the data (eg: any CD's I made from the ISO's) or destroy (delete) it.
A Virtual Machine (or VM) works similarly except it replicates the hardware environment of a computer system inside an Operating System (or OS) in order to run other OSes, typically for either testing OSes and programs before roll-out (aka: installing) or to run an OS for older programs that do not run in a current OS or an OS that is of a different maker (eg: running Win95/98 games on Win7, or 95/98 games on a Linux distro).
Both times you are using one piece of software to run another piece of software outside of the typical boundaries of hardware, yet one gets branded with the term "Piracy" (Emulation of console hardware for console games) and the other one is done without any negative branding (emulation of computer hardware to run computer programs (including games)) even though BOTH can be used to run programs legally or illegally (eg: using a VM in Linux to run a copy of Windows 7, either to prevent another sale of over-priced software, or to test the OS before deciding on building a system with Win7).
In fact, when you get down to brass tacks, a Console Emulator is little more than a Virtual Machine aimed at replicating console hardware as software on a more capable platform.
Example:
I have a DS Emulator that I (theoretically) use to play the ROM's of 5 of the 7 Pokemon game I ~LEGALLY~ own the carts of (DPPT & HGSS), as under Fair Use laws (particularly of Australia) whilst I own a legitimate copy of a piece of data (be it a Vinal LP of Elvis, a Diablo II CD set, or a DS Cart), I can legally create, own & use a backup copy of said data (LP into MP3, CD's into ISO's, Cart into ROM) to use in lieu of the original item. However, under these same laws, if I sold off (or otherwise handed over) the original form of the data (the LP, CD's or Cart) then I either have to hand over the copy (MP3, ISO, ROM) of the data (eg: any CD's I made from the ISO's) or destroy (delete) it.
A Virtual Machine (or VM) works similarly except it replicates the hardware environment of a computer system inside an Operating System (or OS) in order to run other OSes, typically for either testing OSes and programs before roll-out (aka: installing) or to run an OS for older programs that do not run in a current OS or an OS that is of a different maker (eg: running Win95/98 games on Win7, or 95/98 games on a Linux distro).
Both times you are using one piece of software to run another piece of software outside of the typical boundaries of hardware, yet one gets branded with the term "Piracy" (Emulation of console hardware for console games) and the other one is done without any negative branding (emulation of computer hardware to run computer programs (including games)) even though BOTH can be used to run programs legally or illegally (eg: using a VM in Linux to run a copy of Windows 7, either to prevent another sale of over-priced software, or to test the OS before deciding on building a system with Win7).
In fact, when you get down to brass tacks, a Console Emulator is little more than a Virtual Machine aimed at replicating console hardware as software on a more capable platform.