Classic Emulation Centre

[dessa14]

if you have a website with classic roms or classic console or computer emulators on it, post a link here, spread the classics.

Disclaimer: all links posted here should be coresponding to the copyrights of the respective owners of the intellectual property of these programs, all roms should be deleted within twenty-four hours of aquirement unless you own the original program.




thanks,
dizzy

[frogbeastegg]

[party pooper frog mode]

Using ROMs is an awkward legal area, and I'm not convinced the 24 hour thing is anything more than a widely spread myth rather than an actual, legal principle. Unless the copyright owners of the game have released it for this kind of use it counts as piracy, even if the games two decades old. Emulators, certainly console ones, are even dodgier legal ground.

So any links to them will be removed, just like links to so called abandonware.

[/party pooper frog mode]

However, there are many web (Java etc) and freeware versions of games very closely based on many of the old classics, and links to them should be alright.

Here you go, asteroids (http://zerogames.com/game/space-alien-games/asteriods.html) webgame. Seems very much like the old version I remember, except prettier. I'm still crap at it. :gring:

[dessa14]

how about emulators, from my understanding emulators are perfectly legal, maybe not roms, but emulators are, and then the people can do a search for their own roms, which should be freeware.

thanks,
dizzy

[frogbeastegg]

I've seen articles on companies going against emulators in court, with success too. Sony and Nintendo quite notably, a few years back. The whole Bleem! issue. The argument is (so far as I understand it; I'm not a lawyer) that they facilitate and aid piracy, even if for a dead platform, and also potentially harm revenues from new and legal ports of the old games, such as Nintendo's current spree of old NES titles appearing on the GBA.

[GoreBag]

I dug up a revamped copy of Dungeons of Daggorath, made to work on modern-day PCs, rather than the Tandy 16 colour on which it was originally released. Other than that, roms and emulators are only legal if you own the original game.

[dessa14]

well i own the original games and the original machines, its just the original machines sometimes have spacks..., especially those nasty controls not working after you get so pissed off you toss the control across the room....!

thanks,
dizzy

[Big_John]

i don't think roms or emulators are legal, tbh. here are some sites relating to the issue:

http://www.realvalue.net/brian/piracy/emulation.html
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1427363
http://www.nintendo.com/corp/faqs/legal.html#what%20are%20ROMs
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/EmuFAQ2000/AppendixC.htm
http://digital-law-online.info/cases/41PQ2D1705.htm

apparently the last link (sega v. maphia) firmly established the illegality of using roms you yourself did not create (and distributing those which you did, maybe?).
have fun trying to figure it all out froggy. :nice:

[dessa14]

[Gah!] they will stop at nothing will they....
firstly they charge you a small fortune for their games and consoles when they do come out, and then SEVERAL years after the last machine left the shop shelves, they won't let you run the game for free on your computer, even if you have the machine and games, but they don't work due to age....
they really annoy me sometimes...

[snip. No, that would count as encouraging piracy]

thanks,
dizzy

[frogbeastegg]

ROMs are illegal unless you own the original game. Distributing ROMS is illegal. Those links are very clear; they support my earlier words.

Whether a game is 2 days old or 20 years old the org's piracy rules apply. Discussing ROMs and emulation is acceptable; posting links or offering to give people links is not.

Topic closed, since it is attracting more trouble than talk.