Support NeoGAF

[kevboard]

I'm not sure of the exact timeline, but the GBA released in Japan in March 2001, and June 2001 in the US. I remember there being day one ROM dumps of the US games and they were playable.

yup. the GBA was basically spawn camped by emulators lol

 

[Wolzard]

Correlation does not imply causation. This is a fallacy.

Emulators are designed to replicate hardware/software on another platform for which it was not originally designed. The computing industry in general has used this for decades.
However, just as it's possible to use piracy on original hardware, if the emulator is a copy, it will behave the same way. And people take advantage of this.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Guns are used for violence and crime, doesn't make them illegal.

Knifes too. And baseball bats, ropes, cars, etc etc.

 

[keefged4]

Christ almighty there are some shit takes in here. No, Emulation isn't piracy.

Piracy is Piracy.

 

[Anthony Soprano]

you can stop the sham, you don't do those bottom 3 things and you know it.

and btw, I voted 'no' in the poll - I strongly support emulation for systems and software no longer in retail production.

also why'd your console get banned?

I bought all the first party Nintendo games so I'd have physical copies of them and I play them in 4K. What you're arguing for is DRM for the sake of DRM, to put a broom handle up the butt of the consumer for profit margins. Won't somebody PLEASE think of the megacorps? Your argument makes zero sense from a consumer protection standpoint. By your logic, it would allow a software publisher to restrict a VR game to a specific VR headset for no reason other than "buy our piece of plastic and silicon, too!"

Back in the day, console hardware wasn't so similar to PC hardware, so it wasn't possible to emulate a lot of niche consoles easily. Why should there be a barrier to a better gaming experience behind a hardware paywall? Half of the point in the console manufacturers not moving their first party titles to PC, especially in the case of Nintendo, is likely so they can nickel and dime the consumer under the guise of a unique experience that is actually worse than what a lot of them they already own and play PC games on. Most of the time they deliver hardware with planned obsolence that isn't modular or repairable by the consumer, hardware that is usually behind in tech so that they can sell you something it should have came with in the next two years under the guise of an upgrade.

You say you draw the line at systems and software no longer in retail production - why? You're still ripping off Nintendo and all the other companies when you load an 8-bit or 16-bit rom, because those can still be sold electronically through their first-party emulators. When you buy a game these days, do you think the original developers are getting royalties or anything? Your money is going to executives and publishers and storefronts that weren't even involved with the development of the game.

Your console gets banned as soon as you connect to the service with it, regardless of whether you only play homebrew or play game dumps you made or game dumps someone else made. It's been that way since PS3/360 days. It's very clear you aren't in the scene of true preservation, or anti-DRM that hurts the consumer experience, or believe in being able to own the actual hardware you purchase. So, you might want to step out of this conversation if all you're going to do is call people liars. It doesn't seem like you have a horse in it beyond white knighting a megacorp that constantly rips off it's customers with poor quality products.

 

[StereoVsn]

But what about legal ROMs? There are devs creating games for retro systems that sell just the ROM for you to play in the emulator or your choice, or with flash carts on original hardware.

Sega until recently sold the Genesis/Mega Drive Collection on Steam. When you install it, it downloaded unencrypted copies of the ROMs for you to play as you want. https://steamdb.info/app/34270/

Downloading or copying a game you don't own in some other way is piracy. Running a ROM on an emulator is not piracy.

There are/were also plenty of games sold on GoG that were essentially ROMs.

 

[Anthony Soprano]

If you wanna talk about things that are illegal, we should start talking about how really shitty software should be able to be refunded and more consumer protection laws around it. Above video, in my opinion, just shows that Nintendo is a shitball company now that doesn't care about making a quality product - even around their most popular first party intellectual properties. If you can only get a good experience out of the broken product you paid for by buying ANOTHER product (IE; Switch 2) or modding to overclock (and then being banned from Nintendo Switch Online forever), then you're a shitball company that should go the way of the dinosaur.

 

[SScorpio]

There are/were also plenty of games sold on GoG that were essentially ROMs.

Which ones? I thought they were going to start doing ROMs with the semi recent Breath of Fire IV release. But it turns out there was a mostly unknown PC release which was updated.

They have so far stuck to PC games even for games people have been asking for Amiga or FM Towns versions which were better than the DOS release.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Emulation is the gateway leading to piracy.

 

[Lokaum D+]

If buying isnt owning, piracy isnt stealing.

So, no

 

[Dacvak]

I used emulators everyday…

…when I play the NSO games on my Switch. So no, it's not piracy.

Spoiler

I'm not being high and mighty, though. I also use PC emulators. Just making a point.

 

[Felessan]

In particular cases - no
In general - yes
Normally you have a right to emulate something you own
But 99% of emulators users don't bother with legally obtaining copy and that's piracy
And unless game explicitly was shared with public no matter how abandonware it is, it's still a theft to download it's copy. IP rights protected for 70 years after author death and successor can claim rights any time, and they are not obliged to share rights to anyone (sell copies of product).

 

[nkarafo]

Do you believe a pirated rom site is about legit emulation?

What do pirated rom sites have to do with emulation?

Emulation is legal. Pirated rom sites are not.

 

[Felessan]

If buying isnt owning, piracy isnt stealing.
So, no

Stealing leased car is still a theft

 

[Anthony Soprano]

Emulation is the gateway leading to piracy.

Emulation is the gateway to modding, improvement, preservation.

Bad DRM is the gateway leading to piracy. Not investing in their hardware security. Not adopting technology like Denuvo. If Nintendo just went to Steam/Epic or it's own PC client (they wouldn't do the former because they are cheapskates and the latter because they are horrible architects), they could adopt Denuvo and never have to deal with piracy by in large, although there are minor exceptions to Denuvo cracks. But hey, then they wouldn't be able to charge you money to play online when Valve does it for free, baby.

"One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It's a service issue," explained Newell during his time on stage at the Washington Technology Industry Association's (WTIA) Tech NW conference. "The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It's by giving those people a service that's better than what they're receiving from the pirates."
- Gabe Newell

Imagine being Nintendo with source code and not being able to even touch what cleanroom decompilations can do. Mind boggling how inept they are.

 

[Naz93]

Guns are used for violence and crime, doesn't make them illegal.

No but they're heavily restricted everywhere (excluding the US), and you still have to pay for a gun license. Emulators have no restrictions.