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What do you think of emulation?

A

Acosta

Member
First of all, please, remember the TOS, no rom´s site linking, no ISOs, just use your head before posting something that can get you banned.

I wanted to know what do you think about emulation, specially I would like to know what do you think about abandonware and emulation of old machines (two generation behind).

I have a mixed opinion about the issue. There a lot of games that I never had the chance to buy because the place I live or becacuse I had no money at that times. There are hundreds of games I have not played, but as a passionated of this industry I feel really curious to test for myself. Sometimes I have bought old software from E-bay or shops, but I can´t see how buying a second hand copy of an ancient title that is not in the shops anymore benefits the ones that developed the game.

So what do you think about it?
 
Gaijin To Ronin said:
Sometimes I have bought old software from E-bay or shops, but I can´t see how buying a second hand copy of an ancient title that is not in the shops anymore benefits the ones that developed the game.
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It doesn't. that's why you have to buy them on Revolution!
 
I think the only way to really curb emulation is to keep older games available. Nintendo bringing back it's classics for download on Rev. would be an example of this
 
When it comes to console games - I'm all for it but I do try to buy the originals when (if) I can, and run them on the old machines. Abandonware is awesome, too, especially since old PC games are all but impossible to find.
 
emulation...

it's handy for trying out old games that I wouldn't otherwise have gotten the chance of playing again.

I don't play many emulated games through, simply because I don't have the patience for them anymore. Even the better ones.
 
It doesn't. that's why you have to buy them on Revolution!
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Well, I think it´s a great idea myself. I am little afraid of the possible execution and the avalibility of games (because I want to be able to download games that I was not able to buy in my country, even if they are not translated). But I think it´s a great idea and will let to people as me to download games knowing they are giving their money to the ones that deserve it.
 
I'm in favor of it.

I have a friend of a friend who is one of the more open older gamers I know and when people come over his house, if they talk about liking old games he gives them a home-painted dreamcast with an emulation disc inside that has all the best nes/snes games. Complete with easy to use instructions. It's cheap to do and his cases are pretty cool. Some look like a nes, some were all black with white lettering that say "FREE GAMES 4 U!!!" and other goofy things like that. It's more about neat gifts or promoting gaming to gaming afraid individuals, but I told him we'll go hand them out to people thinking about revolutions.
 
I don't emulate games, but I don't see how it's any different than checking a CD or a book out of the library.
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That is a great point, it would be nice to have some type of service that alow people to check the games from past without concerns about if it´s legal or not.
 
I have tried lots of emulated games, but I have never been able to get into one. It's always just made me want the original hardware. Playing console games on a PC just doesn't feel right/comfortable to me, and snes/PC Engine/Megadrive emulation on DC and PS2 frankly isn't worth it. I have yet to try emulation on an Xbox. That might change my opinion, but right now emulation makes me buy more original stuff.
 
i'm into emulation and think it's great... though more often than not, i'm playing an old game that i already played before on the original system... i'm not usually playing a classic game i never played before... i'd say it's about 75/25 in favor of replaying games vs stuff i've never tried before...
 
YAR!

thats all I have to say^^

actually I'll add this: If it where not for emulaters and roms hundreds if not thousands of games would be lost forever. Most of them the world would not really miss, but there are alot that deserve to be preserved. For historys sake, ya know?
 
It's not morally right or justifiable, but it's not a huge evil either. Most users end up screwing themselves anyway. They'll go nuts, becoming rom "collectors" and ruin their attention span and appreciation for games in general.

I've gone on to purchase real copies for most roms I've played more than 20 minutes, and in many cases I wouldn't have bought the game if I never sampled it first. That's still not right, but I have no guilt.
 
Where is that really gay pirate picture someone posted in a emulation topic before......because he is needed here......
 
I feel games, no matter the age, should always be available in some way, shape, or form. That's all there is to it.

Can't say I have much of a standpoint on it, morally. Piracy exists, people do it, etc. Nobody's perfect, either.

I am completely fascinated by emulation in general, though. Something about seeing VF3 run on my PC, even at .5 fps, is awesome.
 
I've gone on to purchase real copies for most roms I've played more than 20 minutes, and in many cases I wouldn't have bought the game if I never sampled it first. That's still not right, but I have no guilt
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And how do you feel knowing that a real copy of a game that you like it´s possibly a second (or third) hand copy? You are just paying someone that want to clean his room or that has speculated with games to obtain a benefit from the work of others.

Please, don´t misunderstood me, I feel it´s completely right to sell something you have bought, but personally I don´t feel better when I bought the real copy of the game I enjoyed on emu, because I know I haven´t done absolutely nothing for the ones that actually developed it.

Actually, I would download a rom I don´t own before that changing a game by other or selling a new game I have completed , because I think I hurt more the industry with that, even if it´s legal and roms are not.

Of course, this is just myself. I am not giving moral lessons or telling anyone what to do, it´s just how I think myself.
 
Please, don´t misunderstood me, I feel it´s completely right to sell something you have bought, but personally I don´t feel better when I bought the real copy of the game I enjoyed on emu, because I know I haven´t done absolutely nothing for the ones that actually developed it.
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I thought the original game price factored in second-hand sales.
 
zesty said:
I <3 emulation. It's the main reason I modded my Xbox. It's given new life to my PSP.
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Hear Hear! Emulation is very, very awesome.

How else could you play classics that never made it to the english language

Play Bahamut Lagoon in english and tell me Emulation isn't your new God.

Relive your entire childhood on the go with games like E.V.O. or Chrono Trigger on PSP.

Play games you heard were great but never had a chance to try.

Most of you would have never heard of Gunstar Heros or Lunar if it werent for emulation.
 
Tain said:
I thought the original game price factored in second-hand sales.
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If you mean the prices are adjusted so that the manufacturer will turn a profit overall despite the competition from used games (which don't make any money for them), that's probably accurate.
 
I love emulation, thanks to it I can still play a lot of the classic games that are no longer available at my local arcades.
 
I can understand why emulation of current games is undesirable.
However, I cannot help but laugh at Nintendo and Sega for shutting down emulation sites that have NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy/Color and now even N64 ROMS. There is no market for those games anymore, and there won't ever be again.

Nintendo is retarded if they think some subscription service to classic titles (that you have to pay for) is going to be successful.

If you wanna defend emulation of XBox, PS2, GameCube, GBA, PSP, etc. games, I totally understand. Anything else? They're wasting more money than they would if they just chose to not shut down those emulation sites. Why? There's no market for those games anymore. It's dead. Extinct. You can shut down all of those emulation sites, and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference because it's not like those people would go out to Target and buy that SNES game. THEY CAN'T.

And Nintendo is a good 10 years late with finally offering old titles to gamers thru some kind of online subscription service. Should've done it in '95 and allowed legal emulation with the PC if they really wanted to kill illegal emulation off... there's nothing they can do now.
 
I´m not sure I get you, could you explain a little more?
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I just remember people arguing that the $50.00 price covers the sale of used games, or else titles would be significantly cheaper.

If you mean the prices are adjusted so that the manufacturer will turn a profit overall despite the competition from used games (which don't make any money for them), that's probably accurate.
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There we go. :)
 
Hellraizah said:
I agree with everything Nintendo says on this webpage.
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Right, so you have no problem reconciling:

The backup/archival copy exception is a very narrow limitation relating to a copy being made by the rightful owner of an authentic game to ensure he or she has one in the event of damage or destruction of the authentic.
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and

Are Game Copying Devices Illegal?

Yes. Game copiers enable users to illegally copy video game software onto floppy disks, writeable compact disks or the hard drive of a personal computer.
Click to expand...
 
Diablos said:
I can understand why emulation of current games is undesirable.
However, I cannot help but laugh at Nintendo and Sega for shutting down emulation sites that have NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy/Color and now even N64 ROMS. There is no market for those games anymore, and there won't ever be again.
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That's sort of silly to say given all the classic compilations released by various companies.
 
Generally, I think emulation is necessary and good because it protects and saves legacy software and helps to keep the history of the medium alive and viable. Many old arcade games would now be lost without emulation, since the emulation preserves these games when the hardware fails. I shudder to think what will happen to CPS3 games if CPS3 is not emulated since Capcom doesn't service their arcade hardware anymore and the CPS3 requires servicing to remain workable.

On the other hand, it sucks that emulation is so closely related to piracy. SNK for example, has lost tons of money due to piracy of their arcade games due to emulation.

I like where Nintendo is going with emulation - an official, supported, emulation platform that users can use legally and software providers can be compensated for their efforts.


That said, it should be really cheap - if I have to pay 20 bucks for a ROM I won't be happy.
 
levious said:
That's sort of silly to say given all the classic compilations released by various companies.
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Not really. There's a reason those don't sell too well, and it's not emulation.
Think of it this way: You just bought a PS2. What's the first game you're gonna play? Sonic Mega Collection? :lol :lol
 
I just remember people arguing that the $50.00 price covers the sale of used games, or else titles would be significantly cheaper.
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Ah, sorry, yes, I have heard it too, but I haven´t finished to believe it at all. I suppose that what it means is that given the prediction of the publisher, they will get a benefit with that price even if there is renting, second hand and piratery. I doubt they do it to cover such practices, but to get a benefit even if there is negative factors as that ones.

If you think about it, both concepts are almost the same one, but the one you have exposed sounds as if people that buy at full price it´s actually paying to allow other people to pay less for their games, sounds a little odd.
 
Diablos said:
And Nintendo is a good 10 years late with finally offering old titles to gamers thru some kind of online subscription service. Should've done it in '95 and allowed legal emulation with the PC if they really wanted to kill illegal emulation off... there's nothing they can do now.
Click to expand...

Nintendo said:
How Come Nintendo Does Not Take Steps Towards Legitimizing Nintendo Emulators?

Emulators developed to play illegally copied Nintendo software promote piracy. That's like asking why doesn't Nintendo legitimize piracy. It doesn't make any business sense. It's that simple and not open to debate.
Click to expand...
.
 
MAME is a godsend. Console emulation is very spotty. For whatever reason the more powerful my PC is, the worse performance I get on the console emulators. Maybe it's WIN XP, I dunno, but they've all become glitchtastic on me (except real simple stuff like Atari 2600 emu).
 
Emulation is imo just ok to check out a rare classic game before buying it or to play games not released over hear, for example Super Mario RPG which has never been released in Germany.
 
I'm a fan of emulation, but sometimes the huge romlists available make me a little uneasy. I remember when pc emulation first started, sites that hosted lots of roms at once were few and far between (well, other than a few that I'm sure you guys are familliar with, but some of those didn't last long), but nowadays, you can literally download every game in a system's library all in one place. I mostly use emulation to replay games I already own anyways, and every now and then, I'll try a classic I haevn't played. I am a big fan of buying the origional game if its still in circulation though, so if there's a title I really liked on emu, chances are if it gets re-released its mine (I do this for games I already do own too, whitness: Sonic Mega-collection).

I emulate mostly out of convenience, and because I love the games in question, and I have a profound respect for the devs who put countless hours into making them, there really is no justification for emulating roms one doesn't own, but I beleive as a whole the emulation scene has done more good than harm to the industry as far as keeping interest in old names and faces goes, it's not as destructive as say: the PC piracy scene where current games can be obtained at the click of a mouse. I'm not saying devs don't lose money over it, because they do, just that it's not really as bothersome as full-scale piracy of current games.
 
As others said, emulation is a way for me to be able to play old games from many systems on only one medium.

It's sad though that if I want to play Chrono Trigger on the go that I have to do it thru the PSP. That game could (and should) have been done on GBA eons ago.

Sometimes I wonder if a iTunes approach would work in the sense that you have an emulator with a username/password where you download ROMs for 1$ or something...
 
Generally, I think it is a positive thing. I was unfortunate enough to only own a genesis as a kid. When I got some rpg ROMs for SNES and played gems like FF3(6) and Chrono Trigger without having to pay a goldmine for each, I began to appreciate Square's stuff and venture on to greater pastures. Afterall, buying them used and not buying them at all offers no credit to the developers anyway, and I'm out hundreds of dollars. Yeah, I guess one is illegal...but what can I say? These are masterpiece games...and I would pay them for it if it was still in production.
 
I love emulation. It's very convenient and fun. I've also been able to enjoy a number of games that I never would have been able to play otherwise (like Star Ocean on the SNES).
 
Propagandhim said:
Generally, I think it is a positive thing. I was unfortunate enough to only own a genesis as a kid. When I got some rpg ROMs for SNES and played gems like FF3(6) and Chrono Trigger without having to pay a goldmine for each, I began to appreciate Square's stuff and venture on to greater pastures. Afterall, buying them used and not buying them at all offers no credit to the developers anyway, and I'm out hundreds of dollars. Yeah, I guess one is illegal...but what can I say? These are masterpiece games...and I would pay them for it if it was still in production.
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did you not ever have a playstation/PS2? FF Collection/Anthologies are both still easy to find for 20 or less.
 
And how do you feel knowing that a real copy of a game that you like it´s possibly a second (or third) hand copy? You are just paying someone that want to clean his room or that has speculated with games to obtain a benefit from the work of others.

Please, don´t misunderstood me, I feel it´s completely right to sell something you have bought, but personally I don´t feel better when I bought the real copy of the game I enjoyed on emu, because I know I haven´t done absolutely nothing for the ones that actually developed it.

Actually, I would download a rom I don´t own before that changing a game by other or selling a new game I have completed , because I think I hurt more the industry with that, even if it´s legal and roms are not.

Of course, this is just myself. I am not giving moral lessons or telling anyone what to do, it´s just how I think myself.
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Well, game stores also buy games from consumers only to resell them. I think it's all the same in the end. It's up to the game companies to have compilation packs available for every current system if they want a profit. Even if they don't, I want to legally own something that I enjoy.

Nintendo is retarded if they think some subscription service to classic titles (that you have to pay for) is going to be successful.
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I think it will be successful. Starting tomorrow I'll be working full-time again and I'll only want to play video games maybe 4-5 hours a week. If I have a Revolution and want to play some old Nintendo game I don't own, I'd much rather quickly and legally download it for $1-$10 bucks than waste time setting up emus, calibrating controllers, searching rom sites and dealing with spyware. Internet media distribution may be the new standard 15 years from now.
 
dark10x said:
They also have technical issues...
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anything besides load times? Never noticed anything else myself. I know you're a bit of a stickler for perfection though, nothing wrong with that.
 
did you not ever have a playstation/PS2? FF Collection/Anthologies are both still easy to find for 20 or less.
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Right. 2 weeks ago I wanted to play Chrono Trigger, couldn't find it near me, so I downloaded the rom. I checked another store further away after beating it and still couldn't find it. I'll order it online soon if I have to. :D
 
did you not ever have a playstation/PS2? FF Collection/Anthologies are both still easy to find for 20 or less.
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Yep :). I am a happy owner of both FF Anthology(FF6 on it) and FF Chronicles(Chrono Trigger on it) (3 years after I had completed both games).
 
anything besides load times? Never noticed anything else myself. I know you're a bit of a stickler for perfection though, nothing wrong with that.
Click to expand...

I heard the sound is messed up.
 
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