How do people feel about ROMS? (Discussion, not requests)

[fluffyrussell]

i have been happily downloading gba roms for the last couple of months and can't say i feel especially gulity. i have given nintendo a stack of my cash in the past thirteen years and do resent paying for a game twice (i.e. yoshi's island). this is not my arguement, as i have downloaded and enjoyed plenty of games that are gba exclusives.

but you know what? i don't care. i never play handheld games through fully and would never have the choice and access i have now to all these games. i am justifing nothing, only my enjoyment of having limitless choice.

this is my first foray into piracy since owning an amiga at school. do people download xbox and ps2 games from the net? if so, wow!

[Che Musashi]

I'm not really a big piracy fan of anykind. I can understand the 'economics' of it. But think of it this way. The people who made the game were paid by nintendo, based on the revenue they would make from you buying the game.

Stealing it shortchanges them. If you feel the games are too expensive you should start a movement to change that. Still I know this is the ROM zone so I'm probably slaughtering alot of sacred cows by not being a fan of it.

I have a right to steal games because I've paid for them in the past. Maybe instead of buying movie tickets you can have friends let you in, after they pay for it. I shoudn't have to buy DVD's movies can be downloaded off the net. Why pay for a meal, I've had to buy food my whole life. I think I'll just go to the supermarket and eat it there.

Just a thought.

[Moodmon]

I can't condone the modern consoles, as you really are stealing off the companies.

Some of the older ones I can maybe stretch to. Butyou can buy those joysticks with around 10 games on. I have downloaded ROMs in the past. The only defense I can give is that these are games I would have struggled to get legit in this country (like Chrono Trigger and Seiken Densetsu 3). To my shame I also have the likes of Super Metroid and Super Mario World.

Yet, when playing them I felt no guilt at all. The consoles were dead, the company has ceased to make money from it, and I enjoyed playing them.

Yes, I am going to hell.

[olly]

It's fairly simple the way I see it. If the games are modern - the definition of which being "Able to buy new in the shops" you must buy them. Piracy is theft.

If they are not able to be purchased new, your downloading the game for free is not at the expense of the publisher.

[Olympichero]

Personally, I think piracy is fine up to a certain extent.

With your GBA roms I can see what youre saying but I do think that if you spend a significant time on the game then you owe it to the producers to pay for it and so should buy it.

If it wasnt for piracy I wouldnt have been introduced to games such as Disgaea. Its near impossible to play an import game without buying it here and so by downloading it I tried it out and found it sucked me in so I decided to purchase it. Had I not liked it? Well then I simply wouldnt have played it. The only other situation I would consider downloading a game is if you have a game ordered and you download the ROM/ISO before it arrives, imo you have already paid for the game so in principle you are not really doing much wrong.

But as I stated before, if you do enjoy a game then you owe it to yourself and the company to pay for it to support them and encourage them to make more games.

[Burai]

I download ROMS and ISO's of current games because I want to know whether they are worth my hard earned before shelling out.

Sadly the very nature of the gaming press is to work with the best interests of the game and magazine publishers in mind and thusly can no longer be trusted. Similarly, demo discs are shakey because you're not always getting something of the quality that the final game will be. PGR2 demo was from a build compiled back in April for E3, for example.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

The search function is a wonderful thing:

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/viewtopic.php?t=10911&highlight=piracy

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/viewtopic.php?t=8412&highlight=piracy

[dataDave]

I used to use NeoRage + roms to help me remember if the old Neo classics were as good as how I remembered them before splashing out on Paypal.

It saved me from buying King of the Monsters 2 and a few other turkeys. If only I'd have downloaded the World Heroes series.

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Recently, I've been playing Kawaks online with some people from this forum (up until my joystick convertor naffed up).

Using my DC sticks, the games were spot on. No more loading times for the earlier titles or nothing. I own everything on the Saturn and Dreamcast anyhow, although I have pondered over buying a Supergun setup in the past - I don't think I will now, I'll just save up for a decent PC for home and a nice big projector instead.

Capcom should endorse stuff like this and release official roms for a small download fee, say ?5 each or something with a subscription fee for access to a vs. server. That'd get my vote.

What really pisses me off is when people flame others for playing Neo Roms when all they own themselves is an inferior PS2/DC port or what have you. In effect, a port can be as shoddy as a ROM - I'd rather play the rom of Garou over the DC version anyday of the week.

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I'm not really a big piracy fan of anykind. I can understand the 'economics' of it. But think of it this way. The people who made the game were paid by nintendo, based on the revenue they would make from you buying the game.

I know what you're saying mate, and I agree with you. Although can't the same point be made against buying a used/import game from someone?

[Moodmon]

Mr Biscuit, I'd argue this is a topic dedicated to the rights and wrongs of ROMs, rather than piracy as a whole (such as cheap ?1 games at computer fairs).

[Olympichero]

The search function is a wonderful thing:

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/viewtopic.php?t=10911&highlight=piracy

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/viewtopic....ghlight=piracy

Not really the same topic, same area but not same topic.

[Crispin]

Without a ROM I never would have experienced Arkanoid or DragonWarrior. The NES croaked over four years before I played these. My brother had a NES, just couldn't get games for it.

And let us face it, without MAME, my generation would have wondered what exactly we were missing out. It doesn't recreate the atmosphere, but it gives you a sense of the past and how far gaming has come, and how far it has stood still.

But ROMs for Next Gen, not good. I don't mind N64 or back, simply because Nintendo did a product recall on everything, including Paper Mario. So I can only get it second hand. And not a single penny of that goes either to Nintendo or the people who made it.

But next gen. big no no. I can wait for it to come down in price. It's when the damn things disappear off the face of the earth that it becomes a problem. To me, there is no distinction between emulation and buying second hand older games for older systems as either way no one is going to lose their job because of lost profits.

[lordcookie]

The extent of my piracy is a disc of Final Burn that I use on my xbox. On the whole I dont mind piracy if it is relating to a game that wont be sold new in a shop (i.e. snes era etc), but I wouldnt be happy about downloading modern titles, not even GBA games. If I want to try out a game I will buy it and if I dont like it I will sell it on (you only lose a couple of quid so it is like renting it) or if you buy them from places like Game you could return it in time for a full refund.

Plus I would only get GBA roms if I had a flashlinker so I could actually play it on the GBA. The experience of playing the games on a PC are vastly different to the way it was intended.

[baad bwoy]

My belief is that if a person chooses to aquire a rom via downloading it or whatever its up to them, similarly if a person chooses to download a movie from the internet, thats also up to them, im sick of this holier than thou stance taken by many reguarding this practice. Of course with people downloading roms etc for free there is a drop in profits for the software companies, and many companies are suffering, particularly the smaller ones. But at the end of the day it is a matter for the individuals conscience not other people to choose or dictate for them.

[Destrukticor]

with me it s try before you buy thing,

i have to my shame downloaded some pretty big games and if it wasn't for this forum and a nice net connection i would have never brought psyvariar. but thats not saying it was right, just that every game i have downloaded i have brought. (i haven't downloaded hundreds just the odd one or two that have been recommended on here i like em i buy em)
SNES era stuff is slighltly different as without paying lots of money on ebay or even online places like VGI and the like i could never had enjoyed chrono trigger and final fantasy 3\6
yes if it comes down to it im a thief but i try to give generously to the companies i feel deserve my cash, also money back deals are fine if the thing is out in PAL land but what if its a jap only release? not quite so easy to get the cash back then..

i have rambled a bit apologies.

[fluffyrussell]

interesting. i have a flash linker and play everything on my gba. to be honest the price of most gba games is ridicous. for a game that you play in the front room with enormous production value i think 30+ pounds is fine - but for a 2d handheld (often of SNES classics) game? i don't think so.

anyway, i am going to continue to happily download gba games as long as they make them...

mario and luigi superstar saga is just divine.