Gray area rights to ROMs

[Tanooki]

Now that I was aware of, SNK still owns it despite thieves doing the hard work. I've seen accusations go around from rom hackers/translators before saying Nintendo did this or Square swiped that and I just get a laugh over it. It's basically unpaid free labor since they own the game and the original Japanese script they are translating so it's a free service which then in the case of these SNK games get handed down to me and anyone else who popped for that package. Everyone wins but the thief. I'm sure you're right in their arrogance to stick it to the man (SNK on this one) they were really doing them a favor and probably didn't think about that too hard (or did and don't care.) I'm sure it cost SNK nothing in losses considering when all those games were making them the most was in the arcade anyway.

[nightrnr]

See, this is why I can't really have issues with pirating and emulation: it is a form of product that doesn't really exist on the market.
You want an mp3 of something to play on all your devices, no problem, the market accommodates that. But you want a Neo Geo rom for the same purpose?, you are going to have to break the rules (or spend a lot for hardware and equipment) and yet no one really cares. And why should anyone, again, it's a product model that doesn't (or maybe can't) exist on the market.
And poo on Sony (or whoever) for not making the few Neo Geo titles on PSN cross buys between consoles, that's just greedy imo.

Apply this to any rom collection.

Not sure if any of that really made sense to anyone.
Wololo posted an interesting viewpoint around the time Megaupload went down (which obviously influenced my opinions):
http://wololo.net/2012/01/21/the-megaup ... op-piracy/
Sorry if I strayed off topic,
My point here is that the Humble Bundle in question is the closest thing to what agrees with me. I say it does give you a legitimate right to use the rom file as you need to (definitely more than most rom users). The law would probably say otherwise, but I doubt anyone cares much.

[samsonlonghair]

Waiting for prfsnl_gmr and Marlowe to step in...

C'mon Pheonix and Atticus, give us the info we need.

[ZBomber]

Nobody is going to sue you for using dumped roms, but if your ethics stop you, let's just say there are thousands of more important concerns.. As for publishers re-selling their old stuff for each generation (see: Nintendo), it's greedy.

I don't agree that just re-selling older games on newer systems is greedy, however I do agree that Nintendo's general selling policy on retro games is very greedy. $4-10 for a Gameboy game, $5 for an NES game, $8-10 for SNES, $10+ for N64/DS... and that is only one system, if you wish to play it on your Wii U and 3DS you have to buy it twice? Purchase it on the Wii back in 2006? Well, you're gonna have to pay a couple more dollars to be able to access it right from your Wii U menu.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Waiting for prfsnl_gmr and Marlowe to step in...

C'mon Pheonix and Atticus, give us the info we need.

Sorry...I'm not an IP attorney, and I really do not know the answers to these issues...

[MrPopo]

Waiting for prfsnl_gmr and Marlowe to step in...

C'mon Pheonix and Atticus, give us the info we need.

Sorry...I'm not an IP attorney, and I really do not know the answers to these issues...

I thought lawyers needed to know every nuance of law across very jurisdiction and every scenario.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Waiting for prfsnl_gmr and Marlowe to step in...

C'mon Pheonix and Atticus, give us the info we need.

Sorry...I'm not an IP attorney, and I really do not know the answers to these issues...

I thought lawyers needed to know every nuance of law across very jurisdiction and every scenario.

Only for two days. You forget most of it pretty quickly after that.

[Tanooki]

Sounds ideal if you're good at cramming. I think nightrnr there has a solid point how you have similar things going on, some people just don't care, others do, but for what reason when the format is dead? The MP3 isn't dead and it's passed around and easily so, but the stuff like SNK carts not easy to dump nor cheap, so you have that wall there so you need to rely on illegality to get something legally you have. Though that really isn't part of what I was asking it's an interesting thing to think about.

My take is I think the files I got off SNK+Humble Bundle are legal. They chose to set them up as such with the raw ROM dumps in zip files that aren't encrypted or even hard or blocked from being accessed in the least bit. They sit there, easily seen and moved around and manipulated. Though it does run against the non-cheap wall of needing the hardware to shove it back on a chip if you have a jacked up board you're repairing. I imagine given the consideration there and I never saw nor signed any EULA on that bundle saying I only can do this and this and not something else they're mine (unless I missed that.) In that case anyone who dipped into that 23 game bundle owns the data.

While not a bundle still, they do sell it for $40 which is a teeny fraction of the price of those carts. https://www.humblebundle.com/store/neog ... collection

[Haoie]

Without emulation, all these old games would be gone and forgotten. I see it as a good thing.