Does emulation lead to bankruptcy?

[NssOne]

This was a stupid discussion on the G4TV.com Handheld Gaming forum (where I'm trying to spread the word about the GP32). For some reason, people there believe that emulation of gaming systems will lead to bankruptcy. I tell them they been brainwashed. Then they call me a cheap bastard. Then I call them dumbasses. No, not really. I stopped at the part where they call me a cheap bastard and explain to them my idea for companies to embrace the idea of retro-gaming. Especially with as far as technology has come in the last decade since the days of 16-bit.

But the way I see it is this: People shouldn't have to want to steal. Companies shouldn't have to be ripped off. People shouldn't have to be ripped off by used game stores. Companies shouldn't be looking the other way to the trends of emulation and embrace this concept more (without ripping consumers off).

 

[Toris]

I vote "Yes & No", emulation of old systems, nes, sms, whatever, isn't going to harm the developers, since the games are out of production.

However, emulation of newer systems, such as the GBA, will harm developers, maybe only slightly, but it will harm them, as a few people would likely want to just download the game instead of pay for it.

 

[NssOne]

Yeah, you're right, I forgot to mention that I'm also against the use of emulators for current game systems. I was just mainly talking about pre-32-bt era. The whole discussion is here. Don't freak, they really are that stupid and brainwashed there.

 

[RoboJoe32]

Rofl, emulation leading to bankruptcy....


SNES and Genesis are already off of the market and dead, what's there to bankrupt? And nintendo go bankrupt? Maybe if sony kicks their last line of defense (GBA SP's) ass with PSP maybe... But due to emulation? No. (there are tons of full speed GBA emus out there and it's selling insanely well, piracy is rampant but the gaming industry still makes money)

 

[rpgchocobo]

i vote no it doesnt leade to bankruptcy if u already own the actual cartridge. if u own the game then u contributed to the gaming market already by paying for the origanal game. in other words, no. :lol:

 

[NssOne]

Well, we all know most emulation is not of commercially available systems. But we also know that most of the ROMs obtained are not of backups of games people already own. I was just upset at this guy saying emulation causes companies to go broke.

 

[extremegamer]

Lets take a look back at the game systems that went broke shall we...hhmmmm Atari. Well they had crappy marketing, crappy advertising, and crappy systems that couldn't compete. No emulation involved and most people don't even care about Atari emulators except maybe the ST, Now lets look at Sega. Sega had the Atari Syndrome, lets release a ton of systems all at the same time. Sega CD, 32x, Genesis II, Genesis III, CDX, Nomad, Saturn, Dreamcast, and then lets not support any of them. Thats where they went wrong, emulation not a factor. Tiger Game.com, well, can't really say much there, but emulation played no part. Nintendo, the Gameboy came out in or around 1987, wasn't given an upgrade until the crappy gameboy color came out. Was the largest selling system and when the emulation age came around was highly emulated, but still outsold any other system. Emulation not a factor. N64, lived a short life span only because it was not a CD system and was limited with its video, sound and memory limitations. Not emulation. GameBoy advanced. This is the only system I can see that would have a problem with emulation, but since most of the GBA owners are kids, i would say. Emulation is no threat.

In short, to say emulation leads to bankrupcy is absolutely absurd. Since most of the emulated systems that run great are dead systems, I don't see the harm. The amount of money lost in emulation of the systems today have to be so small compared to the amount of systems and games sold, mostly GBA, and if emulation is such a big deal, then why not make a big deal of MODS that allow to play burned games on PS and XBOX.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Babymech]

Actually, and this might come as a surprise to most of you, emulation does tend to lead to bankruptcy. Before I started playing emulated games I was a model of fiscal responsibility - two steps ahead of my creditors and always with enough tucked away to cover my ass. Then I downloaded genecyst and nesticle, you know, just for kicks. Next thing I know I'm filing for Chapter 11 and my house is auctioned off to rednecks. EMULATION MADE ME BANKRUPT DAMN IT

 

[extremegamer]

never looked at that angle....LOL, you want to go bankrupt playing an addictive game, go to www1.nexon.net and check out Darkages or Nexus. I have a subscription to both and woooo, i have to take a break every month or so for a month or so, i swear they are using subliminal messages to keep people hooked.

 

[NssOne]

True that. I didn't think about how I worded the question. But I'm also a fan of one of the most addictive RPGs ever: MajroMUD. It's been a long time since I played it but it can be an expensive gaming addiction. It's so amazing sometimes how much games really cost people.

 

[Azure]

NO

 

[GurtyGurt]

I noticed a pattern a few years ago: Companies started saying "Yeah, it's okay to emulate our old C64/Spectrum/whatever games" and then a year or two later they got bought out by Infogrames. So I guess the answer could be yes in a sense!

 

[generalnmx]

If the company depends on remakes, of course they'll go bankrupt with emulation taking away their buisness.

Of course, if the company depends on remakes, then they're not really a video game development company...they're more of a video game redevelopment company.

Here is where it gets tricky - these companies are fighting for their survival, as the general idea of emulation makes their idea of remaking old games on new consoles unprofitable. So the question becomes, where do we draw the line? Should the makers of "Video Professor" be able to sue the numerous internet sites (and growing) that give quality tutorials for free? Perhaps that is a bad analogy, but you see where I am getting - the companies are facing a huge loss of buisness because of an advance in technology, and they are fighting tooth and nail to make it illegal. Funny, ne?

 

[Rico]

The thing that annoyed me worst was that M3wThr33 moron who owned entire romsets "for archival purposes" yet bashed them and called Nss a 'cheap bastard'. Is he a troll or something? And the way he said "check alt.binaries.emulators.nintendo - but that won't mean anything to you" as if he's the only one who knows what Usenet is. The fact that assholes like him have over 3000 posts easily gives a view of the content of the forums as a whole.

 

[NssOne]

Yes, it's strangely sad. He appears to have been there since day one and I don't really think the G4 channel has been around for that long. Maybe a year and a half at best. M3wThr33 must just think he's a god because he's such a posting whore on the G4TV boards.

Over 90% of the handheld forum is about 'Which GBA game is the best' and 'Nintendo are gods!' and 'I love my handheld's library of games which most of them were already made before and not really updated in any way and a cheap ripoff by a now faceless game corporation' and crap like that. They like to bash any handheld that isn't made by Nintendo. Yeah, everybody bashed N-Gage, but they also like to argue about PSP versus the GBA SP and crap like that. Even the Zodiac is more of a blip on their radars than the GP32 is. I just try to keep the topic alive on those forums for awareness sake.

 

[NssOne]

Well, since you loved that M3wThr33 guy so much, I though you'd might like to see this also. Yes, he does appear to be a real prick now.