Nintendo Emulators and Roms Question

[-=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

[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 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.