Can Emultation EVER Be Legitimized?

[GE Master]

This is something that is bothering me. It's all about perception I suppose, but for the authors of the emu's and plugins, should these projects really be "illegal" or backroom/behind closed doors. Really though, the work on these things is amazing and I'm sure that even the guys who developed the games would want to see and play them.

I was at an interview at EA the other day and the topic of emulation was brought up, which led into the ROM questions. My frustration is this.

Nobody here can say what's legal or what's illegal. It's basically a taboo subject which is part of my frustration. If you listen to Nintendo what we are doing is illegal as hell. But the real angle is the ROMS themselves.

I have a Gameshark Pro. It has a port. I have utilities on the PC. I can use the utilities so that I can use the emulators to play GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. NOW UNDERSTAND THIS LOGIC. I have a record. It has a line out. I have a program on the PC so that I can listen to the record on my cd player. I own the damn record! HOW THE FvCK IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT THAN USING A GAME ON THE PC!!!!

Understand this is extremely frustrating to me. I'm not a lawyer but listen to the logic here. What's logical what's unlogical. Is what I'm doing actually illegal? I'm revamping the entire look and feel of my website. Instead of GoldenEyeForever.com-GoldenEye Multiplayer Lives, it will now be -Evolution of GoldenEye. I've debated for some time now about talking opening about emulation and how it kicks a$$ on my site. Well the time seems about right.

Perhaps the question posed is too controversial. I mean think of Jabo who applies for a job somewhere. Say a game company. Does he mention his work in the emulation scene or not? Won't this open up the "how did you get your ROMS" question? BAH. I think there is no reason that this scene can't be open and legitimized based on my above argument. A lot of you probably don't care about this subject but I believe it's important. Nobody here has stood up and said this is TOTAL BS.

 

[rcgamer]

actually, emulators are perfectly legal. and its legal to play roms that you own. thats regardless of what nintendo has to say. nintendo games are software and as such you are legally entitled to make a backup of the game. and since of course you cant make a game cartridge you make a rom . the illegal part is the downloading of roms. or making your roms available to download. that is why asking for roms or where to get roms is against the rules here.

furthermore there is a legit company that offers atari roms downloads(i think its like a rental thing but i could be wrong about that. im not sure how the whole thing works.). i cant think of the url for it . but the prices that were quoted seemed ridiculous to me(actually im just a cheap ass). for games that are 25 years old. but thats just my opinion.

edit\ i found the url of the company i was talking about. its called starroms. http://www.starroms.com/
to mods this is a perfectly legit site that pays royalties to companies that they get games from.
here is an interview with the owner of staroms if your interested.
http://curmudgeongamer.com/article.php?story=20031117201659765

 

[Stezo2k]

actually, emulators are perfectly legal. and its legal to play roms that you own. thats regardless of what nintendo has to say. nintendo games are software and as such you are legally entitled to make a backup of the game. and since of course you cant make a game cartridge you make a rom . the illegal part is the downloading of roms

what i find silly is downloading roms of games you already own being illegal because your copying somebody esle's game

it's silly really, and nintendo can't be that mad about emulation that more, i've seen a nintendo magazine with nes games bundled on it for use with the pc about a month ago

 

[Cadex]

It's not illegal because of the technology itself, but because of what people do with that technology - violate copyright laws. While you might not do it personally, there are many people who share roms they have not paid for, essentially getting a commercial game for free. Banning roms might not the most logical way to prevent this, but it is probably one of the easiest. I completely understand why game companies want it to be illegal - their primary goal is to make a profit.

 

[Gent]

edit\ i found the url of the company i was talking about. its called starroms. http://www.starroms.com/
to mods this is a perfectly legit site that pays royalties to companies that they get games from.
here is an interview with the owner of staroms if your interested.
http://curmudgeongamer.com/article.php?story=20031117201659765

I've been following the Progression of starroms.com for quite awhile now.

I really hope this picksup and More Companies sit up and take note.

I would love to see starroms.com supplying Nes/Snes/N64 Legally and hope one day either they or Nintendo themselves start such a Fantastic Legal Service to allow Emulators to be used with Commercially bought Roms for such Classic Consoles to be played on Equally Fantastic Emulators.

Heres living in hope.

 

[Doomulation]

Ya, gent's right. Buying the emulator for the same price as the console & the games just as much, they'd lose nothing.
Downloading games you own may be silly, but have you ever thought that you're actually helping those who purposedly rip the games so you (and others who do not have the game) can aquire it for free?

 

[PsyMan]

In my opinion, a very reasonable law would be to allow the creation of unlimited backup copies of software that we legally own as long as two or more copies of this software are not used simultaneously.
Companies like Nintendo claim that making roms of games we own is illegal because they are afraid. They afraid of PIRACY and I don't blame them. Companies like Nintendo and SEGA that their primary profit comes from video games lose a lot of money from piracy (that is why they try to protect their software so much).
Nintendo claims that roms are illegal obviously because anyone with a backup device can buy a game and play it on a high level emulator without buying the actual console (if everybody was doing this, it was going to be a disaster for Nintendo).

Right now I am having a very serious problem. In my country videogames (including consoles and arcades) became legal in 1984 but now I can't go to the arcades, not because I really can't but because in my country there are no arcades, they are illegal. A new law came up last year that made all arcade machines illegal. That's because in my country they are now considered as "gambling machines". MAME seems as the only ray of light in this dark but playing games with it is illegal too. What IS legal anyway? I don't believe that I have to go to an other country to play my favorite all time arcade classics

PS: I am from Greece so if you intend to come here for the Olympic games
do not expect to play Pacman or Space invaders (or anything similar).

 

[Allnatural]

I wouldn't consider emulation a "backroom" phenomenon. I've seen an increasing number of references to emulation (usually MAME) in gaming and PC magazines, and said references are always positive. Granted, they do point out the "gray-area" nature of roms, but it's always with a wink and a nod. Hell, even Miyamoto mentioned emulation in a positive way some time ago. The downloading/distribution of roms may be illegal, but you don't see Nintendo or other companies pursuing and prosecuting offenders the way the RIAA is doing with music.

I have a Gameshark Pro. It has a port. I have utilities on the PC. I can use the utilities so that I can use the emulators to play GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. NOW UNDERSTAND THIS LOGIC. I have a record. It has a line out. I have a program on the PC so that I can listen to the record on my cd player. I own the damn record! HOW THE FvCK IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT THAN USING A GAME ON THE PC!!!!

That argument loses validity with the increasing number of protected CDs that won't play in a PC.

 

[Trotterwatch]

Yep, emulation is becoming pretty mainstream in the gaming press. At least 2 of the magazines I buy frequently (PC Zone and Games TM) have regular emulation features.

 

[Talas]

Aye, I also think that emulation gets more and more popular around the world. I myself wrote a small feature for the German Press Agency (dpa - Biggest in Germany) about Emulation.

 

[Nighty0]

Yep, emulation is becoming pretty mainstream in the gaming press. At least 2 of the magazines I buy frequently (PC Zone and Games TM) have regular emulation features.

Here i saw a month ago a maganize about games with a CD containing PD roms and how to download the emus, how to play that PD roms......
A complete magazine (50 pages) with howtos of PJ64SP1, VisualBoyAdvance, ePSXe, z26, and some others emus i don't remember
AND they not say yes, but some specialized magazines (Nintendo World, EGMBrasil) have so perfect pictures, looks like they not used (if you understand me) the old photo camera......