so... you won't be using your Pyra for emulation now will you?

[codifies]

...because even if you own the game turns out its illegal !

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/why-most-roms-are-illegal,37512.html

*sigh* IP owners just don't get good will and community, even if roms are "pirated" to the nth degree, release a little retro box that looks like a previous console and put some old "officially" licensed games on it, (or even just a retro collection rom for a new console) ... you *really* think it won't sell ???

The biggest buyers will be the "evil" pirates.... (this is backed up by research)

it just exasperates me...

 

[CommanderB]

But this is based on US law. How is it in other countries like Germany?

Gesendet von meinem SM-N9005 mit Tapatalk

 

[ZXDunny]

Well, having just read the article it seems that although it may be unlawful to download a copy of a ROM you're likely not going to prison for it, and the chances are even better for you the older the game is. If you're distributing ROMs then that's another matter and you're fair game to the owners of the IP.

And emulators themselves are not in any way unlawful to own or operate or distribute.

So yeah, if I do end up with a Pyra I most certainly will use it to emulate old systems, and no amount of scaremongering on here will put me off.

 

[EvilDragon]

Use the Retrode

 

[Swordfish II]

...because even if you own the game turns out its illegal !

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/why-most-roms-are-illegal,37512.html

*sigh* IP owners just don't get good will and community, even if roms are "pirated" to the nth degree, release a little retro box that looks like a previous console and put some old "officially" licensed games on it, (or even just a retro collection rom for a new console) ... you *really* think it won't sell ???

The biggest buyers will be the "evil" pirates.... (this is backed up by research)

it just exasperates me...

It's funny though because Nintendo themselves use roms.

https://www.eurogamer.net/amp/2017-01-18-did-nintendo-download-a-mario-rom-and-sell-it-back-to-us

 

[spud42]

But this is based on US law. How is it in other countries like Germany?

Gesendet von meinem SM-N9005 mit Tapatalk

funny Us law only applies in the US... there is a whole new world out there that is not the US...shock horror...[/sarcasm]

 

[Caine]

It's funny though because Nintendo themselves use roms.

Any why wouldn't they? It is obviously a great way of doing it and they are in their legal right to do so.

funny Us law only applies in the US... there is a whole new world out there that is not the US...shock horror...[/sarcasm]

Parser error on line 1 column 113, expected '.' but found [/sarcasm], missing [sarcasm] tag?

 

[spud42]

you missed the point. they downloaded a pirated version of the internet used in the Wii virtual console and apparently others.. the rom itself says who copied it...

 

[second exodous]

there is a whole new world out there that is not the US

a whole old world out there. . .

 

[Caine]

you missed the point. they downloaded a pirated version of the internet used in the Wii virtual console and apparently others.. the rom itself says who copied it...

Yes, I read that. They are legally allowed to download it, as they own the rights. It also makes sense, downloading it is a lot easier and cheaper than dumping it yourself.

 

[Swordfish II]

Yes, I read that. They are legally allowed to download it, as they own the rights. It also makes sense, downloading it is a lot easier and cheaper than dumping it yourself.

Seems a bit hypocritical though no?

"you shouldn't be able to download roms....but we will from the same people we are suing and use them in the Wii, NES classic and SNES classic"

 

[levi]

They don't own the rights to the bit of code the ripper added when he ripped it though. If he was to be a dick about it he'd be able to take them to court, though he probably wouldn't win, paid lawyering being a thing.

I don't see how this article acually changes anything. I spent a few years buying emulated collections of games so that I could pull the roms out of the disc, which I think counts as my own backup so long as I don't distribute those roms. And I own a retrode so I have backed up all of the N64 games I can find that I own as well as the handful of SNES ones I've inherited. The only difficulty I've had is obtaining NDS images to use with DraStic, since while I have an R4 card and a couple of DS consoles, I never picked up a device for the GBA slot, which I assume I'd need to transfer execution to to be able to pull out the R4 and insert my game cart to be backed up, so I had to download some of those from the internet. It's fair to say I have never heard of these two sites closed down in that news story though, so I didn't use those.

 

[Caine]

Seems a bit hypocritical though no?

Whether or not downloading a rom is illegal depends on who is downloading it. I think that in this case their hypocrisy can be easily justified.

Nintendo could argue that they are losing money when the roms are downloaded illegally (though the amount is highly debatable).
At least this way they minimise their losses by saving some money on their end and by monetising something that is out there anyway.

 

[second exodous]

The roms are so small for pre PS1 systems and they are out there. Nintendo can sue all they want, roms are never going to be hard to get. Look at the much lager files of music and movies, not hard to find. All this suing is pointless. Roms being available didn't hurt their classic systems sales at all. No one that was on the fence though 'I have these roms, I don't think I'll buy this SNES classic'.

Also, these are mainly old games they're talking about, not hurting them. When they do release classic games they make a crap ton of money, not sure what they're complaining about.

Illegal yes, finally destructive no.

 

[Wally]

Do what GOG did, make the games usable on whatever platform you like with any emulator then we'll talk. I don't want to have to use a 3DS or iOS device just to play Super Mario Bros 3.

Oh and before I forget, Nintendo has had some sega classics remade on the 3DS, Fantasy Zone for example, It's not the same game.. Give up already

 

[rygD]

Yes, yes I will. Arrr...

 

[elvissteinjr]

The only difficulty I've had is obtaining NDS images to use with DraStic, since while I have an R4 card and a couple of DS consoles, I never picked up a device for the GBA slot, which I assume I'd need to transfer execution to to be able to pull out the R4 and insert my game cart to be backed up, so I had to download some of those from the internet.

The NDS Backup Tool Wifi was an option for slot 1 cards actually. But it was super slow of course.

 

[spud42]

Whether or not downloading a rom is illegal depends on who is downloading it. I think that in this case their hypocrisy can be easily justified.

Nintendo could argue that they are losing money when the roms are downloaded illegally (though the amount is highly debatable).
At least this way they minimise their losses by saving some money on their end and by monetising something that is out there anyway.

but WHY are they downloading something from the internet that they own and should have the original in their own archives?? where is the original copy that the cartridges were originally made from?? why doesnt nintendo have the original?

 

[Caine]

but WHY are they downloading something from the internet that they own and should have the original in their own archives?? where is the original copy that the cartridges were originally made from?? why doesnt nintendo have the original?

Well, that's a good question. Naturally I do not know the answer, but:

• They may not have it. A lot of source code has been lost over the years, why not binaries?
• It may be more costly to fetch it from the archive than to download a ROM.
• Despite company policies, some employees may be lazy and/or careless.

Given the legal nature of this content, I would still fetch it from the archive, but Nintendo has made poor decision more often. If I recall correctly then the only difference between an important master password on the GameCube and the Wii was that it was all-caps on the Wii.

 

[levi]

Pretty much any physical action of leaving your office chair, opening a door and opening a filing cabinet is going to me more costly just in terms of employee salary than the same employee going to a romz site, filling in a capcha and downloading the rom there and then.

In fact, it's got to the point that a lot of my archives which are in a different room and on cloned hard discs that I slot into a USB caddy are probably not worth my time to plug in any more, apart from the few that are pretty much unobtainable these days (RIP UKNova). That doesn't apply to my roms though, which are 90% 8-bit and therefore tiny despite being mostly complete across a few systems I've owned, and therefore mostly unzipped on whatever systems I'm on.