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No, actually, it doesn't. You could, for example, use a device like this as a system debugger. And Nintendo's problem is that you "have" to use a copied ROM for emulation, which is also incorrect, as you can play games directly from the ROM.

Thirdly, the games are already available; IT RUNS EMULATOR ROMS.

If something is advertised as running ROMs, what will the console makers say? I'm not a lawyer, but I see potential for a lawsuit on grounds of "inducing infringement" (MGM v. Grokster) unless the manufacturer makes a point of advertising it for use with the Retrode or similar copier, which opens up a defense under 17 USC 117(a)(1):

It is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner.

I thought one could already use Super NES controllers with any USB host supporting HID through this adapter, and I thought one could already use Super NES Game Paks with any USB host supporting Mass Storage through this adapter.

Also, I just checked and at my local pawn shop, an actual SNES system costs less than a raspberry pi unit lol.

I thought one could already use Super NES controllers with any USB host supporting HID through this adapter, and I thought one could already use Super NES Game Paks with any USB host supporting Mass Storage through this adapter.

nor can I go to walmart and get a device that lets me transfer my NES/SNES/N64/Turbo-Grafix-16/Genesis/Neo Geo cartridges and play them on the Wii.

Not exactly on sale in Walmart, but the Retrode will let you rip SNES/Megadrive/Genesis carts to play on emulators, since the Retrode presents the cartridges as rom files you can probably plug this into the Wii and play games directly from the cart using an emulator on the Homebrew Channel.

With a Retrode you can dump your own SNES and Genesis ROMs as easily as plugging in a cartridge to a USB mass storage device, and adapters have been made to also dump Atari 2600, N64, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Turbo Graphx 16, and Virtual Boy ROMs. Probably as legal as it's going to get if you own the cartridges - the Retrode might not classify as a circumvention device as it simply asks the cartridges for data and the cartridges supply it. The few cartridges with copy protection that don't simply surrender their data (eg. SMRPG) tend to not work.

Given that you mentioned MAME you're probably more interested in arcade ROMs; maybe an EEPROM reader would be more useful to you? Much trickier though.

I think the Retrode is just what you're looking for =)

Again this sacrifices customize-ability and functionality at the alter of ease of use.

But I don't see why sacrificing functionality in media center mode necessarily has to be taken to the point that one needs the device manufacturer's cryptographic imprimatur for a particular work before he can view that work on a machine.

This just means the easy dumbed down and the grownup version are both there, you are still forced to choose.

Web users are forced to choose which web sites they view, but few people mind it. If the choice to switch between the desktop and a Front Row/XMB/XBMC style interface isn't in the way all the time, I don't see how the user will feel "forced to choose" any more than a traditional PC user in the administrator group is "forced to choose" whether to elevate to run a given program.

But in the status quo, users feel forced not to choose. For example, video gamers can have indie games or local multiplayer, not both.

There is no need for special "licensed ROMs" when you can just buy off-the-shelf games.

What off-the-shelf games are made for Pandora?

I don't know what sorts of media the Pandora natively reads.

SD cards containing Debian ARM packages.

US copyright law title 17 section 117

I'm aware of this. Buying used game cartridges for Sega Genesis and Super NES and dumping them with a Retrode adapter works. But I can't think of a lot of other consoles for which an easy-to-use cart copier exists. For example, what copier do you recommend for NES games, other than one that the end user must solder into an authentic NES?

Furthermore, relying on emulators limits the player to only those games that fit into the technical capabilities of the emulated systems. The Pandora hardware has the same chipset as a Motorola Droid and is supposed to be at least as powerful as a PS2 when running native software, except emulation is stuck at roughly the PlayStation generation. Both the Pandora and the PSP can emulate the PS1, but the PSP also has native games that never appeared on the PS1. What's the Pandora counterpart to Me and My Katamari? Or GTA series?

Section 117 of US copyright law allows for this.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/117.html

Which a judge isn't likely to apply in your favor if you are working from a ROM that you downloaded from the Internet. As I understand 117, in order for a MAME ROM to be considered lawfully made, you have to desolder the ROM ICs from the authentic PCB and then dump each of them with an EPROM programmer. It's easier for Sega Genesis and Super NES software, for which a cartridge dumper exists.

Because you can't control the close substitutes that are being sold either. For example, all three major video game consoles are like iPhones

Don't change the subject because you were wrong.

You are correct that I was wrong that the video game consoles are like iPhones. They don't have a cellular radio. Please allow me to rephrase my original comment more accurately:

Because you can't control the close substitutes that are being sold either. For example, all three major video game consoles are like iPod Touch products.

A HTC Desire costs A$600 whilst an Ipod touch costs A$400

In the United States, an unlocked HTC Desire costs 500 to 600 USD while an iPod Touch costs 200 USD.

You've heard of a Lan party right.

For a LAN party to work, each player has to own his own PC. A lot of families still have fewer PCs than people, and if one member of the household has dismantled the PC and taken it to a LAN party, another member of the household cannot use it to pay bills or go on Facebook until the first person has returned. And I don't see how one would carry a desktop PC from home to the site of the party on a bicycle.

Different games have different audiences, so your point being?

Say a company too small for a console license wants to develop a game for a console audience. What should the company do to prevent the universal customer reaction from being "Nice game you got there; too bad it's only for the PC."

Can I plug my Street Fighter II cartridge into my Wii?

Super Street Fighter II is in Virtual Console. If you're talking specifically about not rebuying, then there's a cartridge reader for the PC, but one would still run into the screen size problem.

Under the law of Slashdot's home country, downloading games from the Internet is copyright infringement ( UMG v. MP3.com ), but dumping your own is not (17 USC 117(a)(1)). With PlayStation, if you own the authentic game disc and a PC with a CD drive, you can dump the game to an ISO. With Super NES and Genesis, if you own the Game Pak and a Retrode cartridge reader, you can dump the game to a ROM. NES is far more difficult, as the copier comes as a kit soldered into the NES, but there are also some freeware games for the NES, such as my own LJ65.

If you also run a long USB cable, you can hook up all kinds of stuff, especially joysticks for emulation

An emulator on an HTPC with an optical drive works fine for PlayStation game discs. But emulating classic cartridge-based consoles has one drawback: figuring out how to copy your game cartridges into the PC. Easily available dumpers like the Retrode don't support the ColecoVision yet.

Besides, you're going to have a PC anyway--might as well spend an extra $100-$200 to make it games-capable

The problem is if you want to hook the PC up to a TV, you may need a second PC.

The back catalog of PC games is huge, too

True, but a lot of the old PC games won't run on anything but MS-DOS or Windows 9x. But you're right that GOG, DOSBox, and ScummVM can run a lot of the PC classics.

and even bigger if you use it to catch up on all the console games you missed the first time around.

Sure, you can emulate Genesis and Super NES by dumping your carts with a Retrode adapter. But it's a lot harder to dump NES carts; currently, you need to take a working front-loading NES, desolder the CPU, and solder in a shim board. (Don't recommend downloading; UMG v. MP3.com.)

About the only thing it can't do is satisfy social (i.e. in person) multiplayer

As far as I can tell, that's a software issue; PCs support Xbox 360 gamepads, and most new TVs have a PC input. So in your humble opinion, is there a market for PC games that support in-person multiplayer?

In some countries, it is legal to make a single dump of a cartridge you own and use it so long as you aren't playing the original at the same time.

That'd be fine if there were an NES counterpart to the Retrode or some other cart dumper for sale that didn't require the owner to solder.