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Is ROM Collecting Wrong, or Just Misunderstood?
An anonymous reader writes "Game Bunker has posted an interesting article on whether you should own roms or not. With the latest piracy concerns, I think it's a good topic to bring up." The various writers at Game Bunker do a good job of showing the different sides of this issue, with some siding with industry while others, like most of us, merely want to play old games without having to dig up an ancient console.
A few opinions on the subject doesn't change the law. Copyright violations are illegal. Morality is a different issue.
Many people mistake copyright as being about money--it's not. It's about control. If a company doesn't want people playing their games anymore...well they can't stop those who have already purchased legitimate copies of those games, but they can stop future people from buying the games by stopping production. That doesn't give the public the right to pirate the games.
That said, I don't think anyone has any moral problem with pirating NES roms since, frankly, you can't get the games anymore. But older, classic games being included in newer products (the original Metroid on the Metroid Prime disc, for example) and even Atari games being bundled with a controller that plugs directly into a TV's AV inputs really prove that there is still money to be made with these old games, and it muddies the moral dilemma.
Why don't these ROM companies have a site that lets you download them for 99 cents each; an Apple Music Store sort of thing?
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I think is that they are recycling much of the NES/SNES era stuff on the GBA. So I suppose they could have a valid argument that if ROMs keep floating around a GBA port won't sell. And lagally they are in the right as well. I don't happen to agree in many cases, but they are right.
One thing I'd like to see, but I doubt it will happen is Nintendo throwing the entire NES/SNES library on a GameCube disc for like $50-100, and you could play them all, just choose your game from a menu. That alone would make the 'cube worth purchasing.
"Windows Me offers tremendous reliability and stability improvements..." -- Paul Thurott
It would be a shame if, 10 years from now, no one has the chance to play great games like Mario Bros 3, The Legend of Zelda, or Metroid.
Mario Bros. 3 will be re-released as Super Mario Advance 4, the Legend of Zelda is available on Animal Crossing, and Metroid is available on Metroid Prime.
Are we starting to understand why Nintendo doesn't like ROMs?
Would nintendo prefer me playing a rom of super mario brothers that i didnt pay for, or playing on the X-Box? Personally speaking, id rather be playing the rom, having been a life long fan on nintendo, the opportunity to play some of the games from yester year (and discover some new ones) has just reinforced my preference towards them over ps2/xbox.
It all goes back to the nature of copyright, "To promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." This balances the benefit to the public of having a work in the public domain. I would argue that when a copyright holder is not using their copyright "To promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts" (i.e., suppressing knowledge instead of making it available) then they are violating that original copyright agreement, and therefore should not get the benefits of its protection.
Note that this would not be as big a deal if other parts of that language were actually enforced as well, such as the "for limited times" part, or the "exclusive right to their respective inventions and discoveries" (emphasis mine) part. This would imply that a person could reasonably expect a copyright (on, say, the song "Happy Birthday") to expire sometime, perhaps not too long after the death of the original author(s). It would also imply that copyrights can't be transferred or sold. But that isn't the world we live in, sadly.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
I realize this is semantics to some, but not to others.
I read comic books; I don't give a shit what they're worth, or what they'll be worth in the future.
People collect roms to give themselves a buzz, "gotta catch them all" type shit. I play roms, old things that cannot be purchased anywhere but ebay for outrageous prices due to insane cart collectors. I don't emulate n64; that system is still just about new, for God's sake.
NES games is a different matter, especially famicom games that never made it over. It's fun to play them and see what we missed in the USA, and it's more fun to play a game that is slightly different, like the Japanese Bionic Command, complete with nazi references intact. Master D indeed.
Lastly, translated Japanese roms are awsome. We may not have gotten most of the original Final Fantasy games here to the USA, but now I can play most of them thanks to fan translations.
Legal? No. Perhaps the owners of older games could look at their property and decide if perhaps it might not be beneficial to them to release their old games as roms, aka, let them be freely downloaded.. ah, blah blah, ramble.
I completely agree - finding out there's a prequel/sequel to a game you played that's only available in Japanese sucks - but you're wrong about Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy Origins (PSX): FF I + II
Final Fantasy Chronicles (PSX): FF IV+ Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy Anthology (PSX): FF V + VI
So as you can see, after Sony's E3 FF XI announcement, the only game in the (main) series not published in north america is FF III.
Was using the NES/SNES roms "right" before the games were published on the PSX? Did it become wrong afterwards? what about FF III? How about if you play that, then it's published in your region? Do you have a moral obligation to buy it then?
My personal situation is, I like playing the EXACT game as intended. You can argue translating them ruins that, but for an RPG you don't really have much of a choice.
I also like seeing differences between games that are localized for the USA and not.. different graphics, different story, etc. I guess I already made that point with Bionic Commando, though..
Getting back to your comment, however, if I enjoy a rom that I've downloaded and don't already own in it's original form, and a rerelease happens for modern hardware, I'll buy the original. Sega's Sonic collection for GameCube might look like shit on my big tv, but it was worth supporting Sega's effort of emulating the games that I enjoyed.
Video games, CDs, movies, etc should come with some kind of like...serial number or offical looking slip of paper saying you have bought a license. I've lost more cds and carts than I have mp3s and roms. Most of the mp3s I have are from CDs I lost. Of course, I could never prove I did by "Iron Maiden - Live after Death" in 6th grade so I could technically be in big trouble for owning the mp3s.