Roms: illegal, or no?

[punk_Blood 0]

iv'e actually done a lot of research before downloading roms onto my computer and,

 

it is illegal to play roms if you dont have the original game, however, not illegal to own roms....

 

 

basically, you can own them, just dont play em... according to the law

[Zeriab 9]

To illustrate why, imagine you go into your local DVD store to buy a DVD. Now, obviously, if you purchase a DVD from the store, it does not make it legal for you to shoplift another copy of the same DVD for "backup purposes".

 

Let me fix your analogy so it better fits.

 

To illustrate why, imagine you go into your local DVD store to buy a DVD. Now, if you purchase a DVD from the store, will it be legal to create a backup copy from another equivalent DVD which you have not purchased? (Let's ignore the practical problems with this)

 

Taking a backup copy of a DVD seems to be different since dumping a rom of games you own is apparently illegal. (In the US at least)

 

 

Owning a rom is NOT illegal in itself, but owning a rom acquired through illegal means is.

It's clear that owning a rom and playing a rom in itself is not illegal. Just consider WiiWare with its Virtual Console for example.

 

 

Either way its a slippery slope no matter what. A guy got busted in Japan awile ago for hosting ds roms and was sued by Nintendo

That is different. Hosting roms which you do not have the permission to is for example immediate breach of the copyright.

Of course it is not legal.

 

*hugs*

[rgangsta 43]

Some ROMS are not illegal. Emulators aren't either. I have a hacked PSP which has a GBA and GBC emulator on it and the ROMS I have are legal because I got them from a legal source. I got them from Brothersoft.

 

ROMS are legal just as long as you don't distribute or you get them from a legal source.

[Noob Saibot 38]

Some ROMS are not illegal. Emulators aren't either. I have a hacked PSP which has a GBA and GBC emulator on it and the ROMS I have are legal because I got them from a legal source. I got them from Brothersoft.

 

ROMS are legal just as long as you don't distribute or you get them from a legal source.

 

 

http://www.brothersoft.com/games/emulator/

[Leon 55]

Let me fix your analogy so it better fits.

 

To illustrate why, imagine you go into your local DVD store to buy a DVD. Now, if you purchase a DVD from the store, will it be legal to create a backup copy from another equivalent DVD which you have not purchased? (Let's ignore the practical problems with this)

 

Taking a backup copy of a DVD seems to be different since dumping a rom of games you own is apparently illegal. (In the US at least)

 

 

Owning a rom is NOT illegal in itself, but owning a rom acquired through illegal means is.

It's clear that owning a rom and playing a rom in itself is not illegal. Just consider WiiWare with its Virtual Console for example.

 

*hugs*

 

I am just curious, what is the difference between dumping a rom using a program like iso buster of a game you own, and getting the digital copy of a DVD from the DVD itself, (which many dvds provide these days.)

[Zeriab 9]

Yes indeed.

I am also curious if there is some philosophical reasoning.

 

I personally think that reason is mainly bureaucratic.

There are lobbyisms for reducing the rights of the consumers which has been more successful for console games than for DVDs.

[formlesstree4 18]

...this is exactly why when I write programs, they go Open Source and licensed under the GNU GPL v3 License...

[laansolo 3]

Dont bust me, please. I own roms and emulators, only because i can never find the oldschool Snes and duck hunt. So if i will get in trouble for wanting to play a game system that no longer exists, and you cant find a RELIABLE one on Ebay or craigs list, then ya, i will download one because these games were before my time and I hate how people think that Ebay is Oh So Reliable and that if you want something, go there. So, personally, i dont care if you have them, but i do, and i dont have any of the new systems, just N64, Sega, Snes, and SOME gameboy color. But thats it. I dont think its a good idea to get a emulator for, like a XBox 360, because you can get one of those easily without going on Ebay.

[Leophard 0]

You do know that this thread had been dead for over a month, right? But hey, if we're continuing now anyway... :sweatdrop:

 

I for one believe that it is okay to obtain roms and emulators, but only for the old consoles such as the classic NES, SNES, SEGA, GBA, etc. I don't think that either of these are sold a lot anymore anyway, if some places even still sell these things.

To be honest though, I did once try to get an emulator for the Xbox 360, but I ended up not using it. It was too unreliable, you had to go through a lot of trouble to get it to work, and there are barely any roms for it around the internet. I suppose that this is likely the same case with most (or perhaps all) modern consoles as well, so there actually won't even be much point in getting an emulator for these.

[evil cabbage 9]

Hold on - 360 emulator?? Did you actually get it to work at all, because if you did not, I doubt it would ever have worked because a CPU that can emulate the 360's CPU would require almost quadruple the power of the 360s actual CPU in order to emulate - any person who knows a lot about emulation will tell you that if you ask them (they get really ticked off if people ask them for 360 and ps3 emulators)

[Leophard 0]

Well, the emulator did work, but it was very glitchy, buggy and slow - Which is what I ment when I called it unreliable.

Also, the rom I used turned out to contain a virus... :sweatdrop:

[Arkbennett 16]

That article refers to roms as a generalization (i.e old consoles where the companies have gone bankrupt). I would also like to quote this, from the article

"However, in the U.S. it has been illegal since 1983 for a user to create their own backups of video game ROMs onto other cartridges"

 

 

No matter how you sugar coat it, it is still illegal.

 

I would like to add to this debate anyways. It is to my understanding from every ROM site I have gone to, there is a disclaimer stating that downloading a ROM and possessing them for more than 24 hour period is illegal, if you do not yet own the original copy.

 

Evil Cabbage read that article wrong, it is stating that if you create a back-up ROM onto another cartridge, it is illegal. Had he read further into it the subject, instead of just pasting it as quickly as possible to prove a point, he would have understood that Atari was suing JS&A for manufacturing a device that enabled users to more or less make copies cartridge copies of their video games.

 

This Wikipedia article has not started if it is illegal or not to actually make back-ups for personal use. All others examples are citing different situations in which ROMs are illegal.

[laansolo 3]

You do know that this thread had been dead for over a month, right? But hey, if we're continuing now anyway... :sweatdrop:

 

Oh... really? Well, this is slightly.. um, embarassing. :sweatdrop:

[Zeriab 9]

Dont bust me, please. I own roms and emulators, only because i can never find the oldschool Snes and duck hunt. So if i will get in trouble for wanting to play a game system that no longer exists, and you cant find a RELIABLE one on Ebay or craigs list, then ya, i will download one because these games were before my time and I hate how people think that Ebay is Oh So Reliable and that if you want something, go there. So, personally, i dont care if you have them, but i do, and i dont have any of the new systems, just N64, Sega, Snes, and SOME gameboy color. But thats it. I dont think its a good idea to get a emulator for, like a XBox 360, because you can get one of those easily without going on Ebay.

Wii + WiiWare has a nice selection ^_^

 

I would like to add to this debate anyways. It is to my understanding from every ROM site I have gone to, there is a disclaimer stating that downloading a ROM and possessing them for more than 24 hour period is illegal, if you do not yet own the original copy.

That is probably bullshit though.

You can definitely get busted if you breach copyrights by hosting roms.

[Kiriashi 117]

I agree with Zeriab. as always

 

 

And seriously, 24 hours? xD

 

You can have this cake, but only for 24 hours.

[laansolo 3]

Wii + WiiWare has a nice selection ^_^

 

I unfortunantly have no Wii, nor do i have the money, so, yea. But thank you. I am assuming wii ware has the origional Nintendo games.

 

Also, the psp also has a LEGAL hack, so that you can play the older games.

 

Last but not least, does the XBox 360 have anything like Wii Ware? It is just a question, because I think that microsoft needs to do a bit more, only because `.with that interact thing, they will need to add more stuff to it.

 

And on a side note, Duck Hunt is awesome. Just got a Nintendo that came with it from a bargain bin.