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Sega Sells Classic Genesis ROMs On Japanese Site

Posted by simoniker on from the sega-sells-sea-shells dept.

Thanks to 1UP for its story revealing that Sega is opening a Japanese ROM download service for classic Genesis games, meaning that "players can download and play an array of 16-bit games on their PCs" completely legally. According to the piece, "The service charges a monthly fee of 1,000 yen (about $9) for unlimited downloads. 30 games will be available at launch, with about 10 new games joining them each month." Launch titles include Gunstar Heroes, Ecco the Dolphin, Phantasy Star II, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and "Sega plans to eventually build a library of more than 100 games, as well as community features where retro-gaming enthusiasts can meet and chat", but there's no news on a similar service in the West, and it's a little unclear whether you can keep the games after stopping monthly payments.

3 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Amazing! by Bagels · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Legal ROM downloads that a mainstream consumer might be interested in, at a reasonable price! Take notes, RIAA folks; *this* sort of thing is what we'd like to see for legal music downloads. Granted, there's far more than 30 pieces of music out there (this service is only offering 30 to start with), but the principle's the same.

    A few questions: How are the ROMs to be played - do you have to download them each time you want to play and run them through an online emulator, or has Sega made their own emulator software? On a similar note, how does saving work - will it allow things like multiple save files and other such benefits that emulators typically offer? Are there any plans to release games from the less-popular Genesis add-ons (32x, Sega CD)? None of those are really deal-breakers, but they would certainly sweeten the deal.

    --
    --- Bwah?
  2. Interesting by neostorm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But if there is only a library of 100 ROMs total (eventually), what's to keep subscribed when they've downloaded them all? From my experience, it doesn't take a long time to download 100 16-bit ROMs, and "community features" featuring chats and forums aren't really worth $10 a month are they? That's what we have GameFAQs.com for.

  3. Rental by moronga · · Score: 3, Interesting

    According to the little blurb here:

    http://sega.jp/product/home.html

    it's a rental service, so you presumably have to pay the monthly fee to keep playing the games you've downloaded. (I could be wrong, but I'm not sure what else "rental" could mean.)

    They're launching the service next Thursday, so I guess we'll see.