Emulation = Warez OR Noble Cause

[MasJ]

This is a big issue of discussion in my opinion. But no one ever brings it up. I am going to write an article on this topic for emuparadise.org so I'd just like to know what you guys think.
So this is what you have to think about, and tell me your opinion on it:

Emulation has been used by many people excessively for game piracy, warez and other purposes, we can safely label that as the DARK side of emulation. We all know that emulator authors don't make emulators to promote piracy but to maintain a finess over their own skills which most other people lack.
But today, how many people are sticking to the noble cause that emulation was really started out with ? Are people more interested in pirating N64 roms and PSX Iso's or in rediscovering those age old games with which we all grew up ? These are some of the questions I want answers to....
Emulation took birth with a very noble cause in mind, that people could play all those wonderful games of the past, that we could show our children the joy of PacMan (which they may not appreciate, but would still be a proud moment for us). Great titles such as Super Mario World and Castlevania among others would not have been able to come back to us without emulation.
So how many people out there realize what emulation in it's great totality stands for ? How many people realize that emulation is not about emulating Mario Party on your PC, but actually about remembering and reliving the joyous moments that we all had as kids with our two button NES controllers and making Mario jumping all around the place trying to save the princess for all we're worth!

Please comment.

[Christopher Time]

Personally I�ve always felt the same exact way about this issue.
Originally I started emulating to play all those old classics I could no longer go in a store and buy.
More recently I�ve gotten into N64 and Sega CD emulation because of games I missed out on.
I do not emulate PSX as I own a PSX and their games are easily found in stores everywhere.
If for any reason I do use a PSX Emu it�s to take pictures of my game in action or something like that.
It�s coming to the point where people Emulate just to cheat the companies out of money.. That�s sad.
Because.. Emulation is to allow us to play those games we missed not cheat the companies!
I used to be against N64 Emulation actually because of this..
But I�m not as strict about it since the GC came out.
Mainly because it�ll only be a short matter of time till the N64 becomes a forgotten art of a system.
Hopefully piracy wont overtake our original goal.. But instead we continue a clean community.
Also as a final note.. I�m not saying I haven�t gotten newer games or what not like this..
Because to be perfectly honest I have, But seriously.. It�s just one of those things.

[Slim]

I use emulation for playing old SNES and NES games that I loved when I was younger more than anything, but also for playing games that I never had a chance to play, like imports. I use a psx emulator to play games that I own, as I traded my psx for a 64 not long after they came out (I don't want to start an argument over which was better). And N64 emulation I feel is pretty poor, so If I find an N64 rom that I love, I will no doubt buy it. But rather than trying to get new console emulation as they come, I've become far more interested in consoles before my time and arcade emulation (I never had a video arcade or anything within a couple of hundred km of where I have lived). That's what I've always felt emulation was about, reliving games that are now, not easy to come across.

[D]

I use emulation for playing games i liked when i was little such as Sonic and Super Mario World. I have all the roms of the Snes and Mega Drive games i liked back then.

I dont have roms for things like master system because i never played the games and know i woulnt like them now.

I have N64 roms because the N64 is now dead. The N64 was my favourite console ever and most of the N64 roms i have, i own the originals of too.

I dont know if anyone else has found this but i hardly ever play any of my roms i download anyway.

Hope this all makes sense :bliss:

[Cosmic]

I totally agree with you MasJ. I orignally got into emulation in the summer of 1999, when a friend of my dad's told him that it would be possible for me to play all my Commodore 64 games on my PC. Since I had a SNES taking up my TV and didn't have much room to set up my good old C64 I decided to have a look for some Commodore 64 emulators. I found a couple, but I also found some SNES and Megadrive emulators - intrigued, I downloaded them. I realised I could play loads of old SNES games that I couldn't find in the shops anymore or used to own - Mario Kart, Street Fighter, Zombies Ate My Neighbours and so on. I could also download all the Magdrive games I used to play at my friend's houses. To me, that is what emulation is all about - not ripping off Nintendo by downloading truckloads of N64 ROMs, but playing all the great games that you remember playing when you where 5 years old. Not only that, you may also discover some great new ones. I don't consider the old SNES and Megadrive games to be warez - even though I don't own all of the ones I have downloaded. But the point is that when treated properly, emulation is a beatiful thing - I do think that a lot of the people who only emulate N64 and PSX games should get out and buy themselves a console and the games. It is slightly different with PSX, as you normally buy the games, so to a point I think emulation of that is fine. But with the N64, I agree it is going out, but when everyone was emulating it a couple of years ago, I really think they should have all bought an N64 - if the games can still be bought then they should be bought, not downloaded from the internet. I realise for some people, such as kids, it can be very difficult to persuade your parents to get you a brand new �300 console for your birthday along with a couple of �50 games, so I think that kids should be excused for emulating somethung like an N64. But if you're an adult, there is no excuse. You're earning a living by now, you can easily afford to buy a cheap games console - if you only download new games and refuse to buy them, you're just being cheap. But if the console has gone out and games aren't being made for it anymore, then I don't see why we shouldn't download the games for it.

[Sephires]

Well this is turning into a hefty story.




I origanaly started into emulation when a friend of mine showed me that he could play the old megaman games on his computer. I was like, wow!!!!!!!!! I started asking him all kinds of questions like how did you get them and were could I get them, so on and so forth. Ever sence then i've basicaly been collecting roms rather than play them. And yes of corse emulation has come to where people make emulators to cheat companies. Their is always some one to take advantage of a good thing and make it bad.

[Septic]

Personally I love the joy of being able to go back and play games that I missed out on before. Take Chrono Trigger for example. I never owned the actual game, and it's no longer sold in stores. Without emulation I would have never gotten the opportunity to play this great game! I have also gotten games for the NES that I used to own, but sold, and I still have lots of fun playing these games today! I remember getting the game Little Nemo for my birthday one year. When we sold it, I was so upset because it was my favorite game ever at the time. With emulation I was able to go back and play the game once again Without emulation, we wouldn't be able to "go back in history" so to speak and enjoy those wonderful games we grew up on all over again!

[MaKaVeLi]

wow u guys type allot i dont even have the patience to read it

[Septic]

I noticed that about this topic. And I read every single one

[D]

i couldnt be bothered

[MaKaVeLi]

wow how long did it take?

[Septic]

Not long. About 5 - 10 minutes

[MaKaVeLi]

wow

[D]

did u read mine?

[Septic]

I read all of them :wink: