24th January 2003, 2:29 PM
Any emulation site with games that are currently on the market has no REAL excuse. You see "24 hours" or "only if you own the game", but everyone knows no one actually follows that... its just an excuse...
However, I agree with Weltall. There are a LOT of old games that will NEVER see the light of day again. Those, like PC Abandonware (games that developers don't sell anymore but you still want to play) are technically illegal but I have no problem at all with it... its not like there is any other way of playing those games.
http://www.the-underdogs.org/faq.php#a3
Oh, BTW, on the Abandonware issue, this link is pretty good. Read that answer and the next one. Then they have four links... the first one is to a good article at Moby Games. ( http://www.mobygames.com/featured_article/feature=7/ ). Read that too, if you want. The Underdogs is site with LOTS of abandonware games (more than any other abandonware site I've found, by FAR)... but unlike most abandonware sites, they are responsible and only give downloads for games that are actually not sold anywhere... many "abandonware" sites have downloads for lots of old games that are actually still being sold. Thats just Warez with a different name... but this one only have non-available games. I fully support that as well. If the developer (or a reseller) isn't selling it I want some way to be able to play it... and I won't otherwise. Nor will anyone else. That's why the IDSA and other group's attempts to kill abandonware sites is so awful, IMO... yes, I do understand why. They want to keep their intellectual property theirs. However, it isn't nice to the consumers to not allow people to have games... so I like those sites. Same for Classicgaming ( http://www.classicgaming.com ). That site only has old, out of print systems... no NES, SNES, or anything newer than that. The newest ones they have are Sega Master System, some arcade games, and (only older) Neo Geo games... and lots of older systems. Not as attractive to people wanting Roms, but it avoids pretty much any issues over if the games are still for sale somewhere...
Oh, and as for me, I download roms because I don't have most of those systems. The only systems I have for consoles, after all, are GB, GBC, and N64... and I want to play the older ones, and don't have any way to. I have no money to buy old systems, and even if I did have the money I'd rather spend it on newer games... I do buy a lot of games (I already have gotten as presents and/or bought 8 games since Christmas), and find 2 platforms more than spends the money I have (PC and NGC), so if I want to play anything else, emulation is the only way.
Not to mention that most of the games I have would be very very hard to find. Oh, and a lot (most, I'm sure) of them are ones I would never buy if they cost money... Also, for systems I do have (GBC and N64), having the rom doesn't mean I won't someday get the game (like how I recently bought Banjo-Tooie). Why? Emulated console games just don't look or play as well on PCs as they do on consoles... N64 looks sharper on a PC screen, but overall the games look far better on a TV. And Game Boy just isn't meant for PC monitors.
However, I agree with Weltall. There are a LOT of old games that will NEVER see the light of day again. Those, like PC Abandonware (games that developers don't sell anymore but you still want to play) are technically illegal but I have no problem at all with it... its not like there is any other way of playing those games.
http://www.the-underdogs.org/faq.php#a3
Oh, BTW, on the Abandonware issue, this link is pretty good. Read that answer and the next one. Then they have four links... the first one is to a good article at Moby Games. ( http://www.mobygames.com/featured_article/feature=7/ ). Read that too, if you want. The Underdogs is site with LOTS of abandonware games (more than any other abandonware site I've found, by FAR)... but unlike most abandonware sites, they are responsible and only give downloads for games that are actually not sold anywhere... many "abandonware" sites have downloads for lots of old games that are actually still being sold. Thats just Warez with a different name... but this one only have non-available games. I fully support that as well. If the developer (or a reseller) isn't selling it I want some way to be able to play it... and I won't otherwise. Nor will anyone else. That's why the IDSA and other group's attempts to kill abandonware sites is so awful, IMO... yes, I do understand why. They want to keep their intellectual property theirs. However, it isn't nice to the consumers to not allow people to have games... so I like those sites. Same for Classicgaming ( http://www.classicgaming.com ). That site only has old, out of print systems... no NES, SNES, or anything newer than that. The newest ones they have are Sega Master System, some arcade games, and (only older) Neo Geo games... and lots of older systems. Not as attractive to people wanting Roms, but it avoids pretty much any issues over if the games are still for sale somewhere...
Oh, and as for me, I download roms because I don't have most of those systems. The only systems I have for consoles, after all, are GB, GBC, and N64... and I want to play the older ones, and don't have any way to. I have no money to buy old systems, and even if I did have the money I'd rather spend it on newer games... I do buy a lot of games (I already have gotten as presents and/or bought 8 games since Christmas), and find 2 platforms more than spends the money I have (PC and NGC), so if I want to play anything else, emulation is the only way.
Not to mention that most of the games I have would be very very hard to find. Oh, and a lot (most, I'm sure) of them are ones I would never buy if they cost money... Also, for systems I do have (GBC and N64), having the rom doesn't mean I won't someday get the game (like how I recently bought Banjo-Tooie). Why? Emulated console games just don't look or play as well on PCs as they do on consoles... N64 looks sharper on a PC screen, but overall the games look far better on a TV. And Game Boy just isn't meant for PC monitors.