Emulators

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10/04/2008, 3:56 PM
Block G Raptor

Emulators

Just wondering if anyone knows what the story is with emulators from a copyright POV. are they legal because the games machines ie NES SNES C64 etc and Games are no longer in production? or are they strictly non-Kosher ? anyone suggest any good ones (If its ok with the Mods)
10/04/2008, 3:58 PM
jebus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Block G Raptor

Just wondering if anyone knows what the story is with emulators from a copyright POV. are they legal because the games machines ie NES SNES C64 etc and Games are no longer in production? or are they strictly non-Kosher ? anyone suggest any good ones (If its ok with the Mods)

I think they're legal, but honestly I'd recommend buying a SNES, Megadrive, whatever on E Bay, there's no greater feeling than having a SNES to come home to every night :) Beats the socks off the PS and the XBox every day of the week
10/04/2008, 4:07 PM
tetsujin1979

Used to be big into the scene in college, less so in recent times.
Emulators themselves are legal, but use of a copyrighted BIOS to run games is not.
Also, using saved game ROM files from games you don't own is illegal.
Still, the original Mario Kart is a blast playing online using Kaillera!
10/04/2008, 7:52 PM
dfx-

Quote:

Originally Posted by jebus

Beats the socks off the PS and the XBox every day of the week

Agreed. Have a SNES that's under the weather for the last while, found a few cartridges for it including MarioKart recently too. Must be another 30 or so somewhere.
11/04/2008, 2:12 AM
GavinZac

They aren't legal. Besides, most of them have been released in the last year for the Nintendo Wii for €5.

I own a master system, megadrive, saturn, dreamcast, gameboy colour and of course, Nintendo Wii for all my retro gaming needs :D
11/04/2008, 8:34 AM
anto1208

The 360 has a big library of old games street fighter 2 mortal kombat 2 worms double dragon etc etc . the playable demop is free and the games are i think a fiver. But normally after playing the demo the fond memories of these games are short lived and you sit there think why was this so popular !! :D

Emulators themselves are legal as they can be used to play homebrew games the downloading of copywrited games id say isnt . but i dont think anyone is going to be too bothered about it
11/04/2008, 10:22 AM
GavinZac

Quote:

Originally Posted by anto1208

Emulators themselves are legal as they can be used to play homebrew games the downloading of copywrited games id say isnt . but i dont think anyone is going to be too bothered about it

Well, either the emulator uses a copyrighted BIOS such as the ones for the recent consoles, or actually just rewrites what the console/BIOS did, which is patent/copyright infringement as much as me releasing "doo wa diddy diddy dum diddy doo" as a single would be.

Obviously the ROM images themselves are illegal too.