Nintendo Emulators and Roms Question

[-=VampyR=-]

Hi there! :D
As soon as Nintendo Revolution comes out,all emulators and roms related to Nintendo become illegal? I mean,we won't find any new versions of ZSNES,VBA,FCEULTRA...on EZ to name a few? :o
Of course I know some roms are illegal,but I was just wondering if you guys will still host Nintendo related emus,or other support files.
I'm curious how many roms-emulator sites will be "warned" by Nintendo officials.:confused:

Just asking 'cuz I know NR will have backwards compatability with all older systems.Hope I didn't bother you too much.

[Lefteris_D]

To my knowledge we have not received any "warning" letters yet regarding that matter.

[-=VampyR=-]

And I hope you won't.
But if they become illegal they will be removed,right? ;)

[Lefteris_D]

But if they become illegal they will be removed,right? ;)
The Emulator Zone currently hosts no game roms/ISO's copyrighted by any game publishers(Nintendo, Sega, Sony etc). We only host free emulation software so there is nothing to remove.

Be sure that if Nintendo or any other company decides to take action against emulators they will also target the sites of the developers and many sites like The Emulator Zone.

[-=VampyR=-]

I knew you guys have no roms here...just curios about the emulators.

Be sure that if Nintendo or any other company decides to take action against emulators they will also target the sites of the developers and many sites like The Emulator Zone.
That's my answer.Let's hope Nintendo won't do that.Long live EZ!I've found much help here,thanks.
Thanks again for the info Lefteris_D!

[Jale]

Well, I don't really know if Nintendo and other companies are going to take actions against emulation sites because emulation promotes piracy for them.

[hagbard]

Fight against emulation it's futile. Nintendo is trying to stop emulation since years, but ROMs aside they can't go much further. Non commercial emulators are legal, no matter Nintendo hates it.

[Zach]

You can't shut down something that has been reversed engineered. As long as the emulators don't use proprietary Nintendo code, etc. They really have no real legal recourse. The only thing they can really do if they wanted to be assholes, is make up some BS claims and drag emulator authors through court, forcing them to either fight until they are bankrupt, or until they stop making the emulator, or until Nintendo buys them out.

[hagbard]

The Sony vs Connectix affair would be a perfect example about that. The only way the japanese company could stop Virtual Game Station development (and sales, of course) was buying the project copyrights from Connectix.

[cloud4004]

Even if Nintendo Roms & Emus became illegal... People would still find a way to download them.

[-=VampyR=-]

Even if Nintendo Roms & Emus became illegal... People would still find a way to download them.
It's like saying: There are no PS2/xbox .ISO's available on the net,torrents or otherwise.
Or that 2 years or less policy,everybody had Metal Slug 5,S.Shodown 5 or whatever KOF fighting game...the roms roam :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:

[Genome]

Even if Nintendo Roms & Emus became illegal... People would still find a way to download them.
where there is a will to be cheap and rebel...there is a way;)

[egg]

Nintendo would have a hard time sueing anybody over emulators, because the CPUs being emulated were all made by other companies (Motorola, or instance).

The only thing they might be able to get you on would be the BIOS files, which can always be removed from the emulators (and made available elsewhere).

[Jale]

Sorry to bump this one, but I have something to say. If Nintendo takes action against this site, it shouldn't be totally closed. In fact, the emulators should be removed and the forum can be kept to discuss games related to every console.

[-=VampyR=-]

Sorry to bump this one, but I have something to say. If Nintendo takes action against this site, it shouldn't be totally closed. In fact, the emulators should be removed and the forum can be kept to discuss games related to every console.

Nintendo doesn't (and won't) know EZ exists unless someone :D gives THEM a link here...and usually they go for ESA protected games.

Emulators are property of their creator and not Nintendo.

[Durandal]

I don't know. One side argues that if you own a legally purchased copy of a game, you can download a ROM, even if the game isn't "abandonware". But Nintendo insists that downloading ROMS, even if you have the game already, is illegal.

[GHDpro]

The thing is that while Nintendo likes to think so, emulator's are not really illegal.
For the most part they just emulate the generic hardware that Nintendo consoles
are made off. And even if they would start taking action against emulators, I'd think
they'd start with the authors of those emulators, not with sites hosting them.

And even then it's not likely they'll be succesful in officially declaring emulators illegal:
Sony has tried a few times, only to fail. I suppose the only angle Nintendo could possibly
take against emulators is to find some loophole in the DMCA that would make them
illegal, like if some emulator for some reason "facilitates in copyright infringement".

However emulators are like video recorders; while you could make illegal copies or in
the case of emulators play illegal ROMs with/on them, they can also be used for
perfectly legal purposes, like copying home movies (VCR) or testing home made games (emulator).

ROMs of course, are a different story. ROMs of commercial games have always been illegal.
But as we're not hosting those (just a few home-made ones), we should be safe.

Just FYI, the closest thing that this site ever got to getting a legal notice can be found here:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=363514

[Lefteris_D]

Just FYI, the closest thing that this site ever got to getting a legal notice can be found here: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=363514
At least now everyone knows why we stick by the "no roms" policy. We don't want to give anyone valid excuses for lawsuits.

[UniverseJDJ]

It's useless to try and stop it. It won't work. People are way too determined to get games to be stopped...

[alcoatjez]

It's useless to try and stop it. It won't work. People are way too determined to get games to be stopped...

You can never stop it, but they can make it very hard. It's the same as with copy protections. Not everyone knows how to break them, but some do.

[-=VampyR=-]

At least now everyone knows why we stick by the "no roms" policy. We don't want to give anyone valid excuses for lawsuits.

I don't think "everyone" knows.

And as long as you don't host/post links to PS2/GC/XBOX/X360 games the worst that could happen is shut you down (which would be a shame since EZ is one of the best emu resources...I'm talking about the site,not the forums which are less than friendly)...and you should move your server.

Huge penalties (in $$$ or jailtime) come from hosting current-gen/nextgen games and some ESA protected games...not OLD roms.
EZ is just playing it safe because someone might someday bend the law.... ;)

[Jale]

Move to Venezuela! :D

[-=VampyR=-]

SORRY to bring this old thread to your attention.

EZ does not do ROMS...but take a look here:
http://www.nintendo.com/corp/faqs/legal.html


Can Websites and/or Internet Content Providers be Held Liable for Violation of Intellectual Property Rights if they are Only Providing Links to Illegal Software and/or Other Illegal Devices?

Yes. Personal Websites and/or Internet Content Providers sites That link to Nintendo ROMs, Nintendo emulators and/or illegal copying devices can be held liable for copyright and trademark violations, regardless of whether the illegal software and/or devices are on their site or whether they are linking to the sites where the illegal items are found.
Gotta love teh big N,no ?

Emus are as illegal as roms for them.

[DudeJustDoIT]

When did that take effect i never herd of that before.