Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[ElkinFencer10]

No offense taken whatsoever, and I never thought you were blasting collectors. It's like you said - if you care about the playing and not the collecting, why spend so much space and money on it?

I don't know much about US copyright law, so I won't get into that; it's just always seemed unethical to me, personally, to emulate games that are still commercially available in some way, shape, or form. With that said, though, and to reference your mention of buying games digitally and then emulating on another platform or buying multiple copies, that seems alright to me. If I understand correctly (and please correct me if I'm wrong; as I said, my understanding is extremely limited), emulation and ROMs are legal if you own a legitimate copy of the game and is then considered "backing up" your game. That might be wrong since, as a collector, I've never bothered looking too deeply into it, but that's how it seems to me, at least.

It's definitely a complicated issue both from a legal and individual standpoint, and I only joking judge people for emulating, never seriously. The only times I actually get bent out of shape is when people pirate current releases (downloading illegal copies of Street Fighter V or XCOM 2, for example). Games that are out of production, though? Na, that's a complex issue, and each gamer has to decide how he or she feels about it personally.

[SonicTheHedgehog]

Yeah, I actually got to the point where I was avoiding games that had save batteries that I wanted to play because I got tired of dealing with that issue. That's just silly in the 21st century!

I even got to the point where I bulk-purchased CR2032 batteries on eBay with the intention of replacing them for all games in my library. My attempt at swapping the Lufia II battery was a nightmare -- way too much of a headache for what it was worth.


By the way, I wanted to touch upon a few more points you made in your excellent post:

1 - Technology: I love shaders as well! They especially NES/SNES/Genesis-era games look good on a big TV. Also, I played FF7 with a 'cartoon shader' a few years back and it looked wonderful. It gave me an excuse to play through it again. I love the game as-is, but that breathed new life into it. I also don't like gaming on handhelds, so I think being able to play GB/GBA on my TV is great (even if it looks a little awkward blown up that large).

3 - Time: agreed all-around here. Having a bunch of consoles hooked up in my living room is just not practical (would be more manageable in a dedicated game room, but I don't have room/desire for that). Emulators allow for my living room to remain clean and minimalist.

4 - Space: agreed again, and to piggyback off of what you said: moving also used to be a sore spot as well. My peak collecting days were in college, when I was nomadic and moved almost every year. Meticulously wrapping/packaging my games up so that they didn't get damaged during the move was always a long, arduous process that I did not look forward to.

[marlowe221]

I don't know much about US copyright law, so I won't get into that; it's just always seemed unethical to me, personally, to emulate games that are still commercially available in some way, shape, or form. With that said, though, and to reference your mention of buying games digitally and then emulating on another platform or buying multiple copies, that seems alright to me. If I understand correctly (and please correct me if I'm wrong; as I said, my understanding is extremely limited), emulation and ROMs are legal if you own a legitimate copy of the game and is then considered "backing up" your game. That might be wrong since, as a collector, I've never bothered looking too deeply into it, but that's how it seems to me, at least.

It's definitely a complicated issue both from a legal and individual standpoint, and I only joking judge people for emulating, never seriously. The only times I actually get bent out of shape is when people pirate current releases (downloading illegal copies of Street Fighter V or XCOM 2, for example). Games that are out of production, though? Na, that's a complex issue, and each gamer has to decide how he or she feels about it personally.

Copyright law is indeed complicated. It's also been revised over the years in such a way as to be a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose proposition for the consumer as well. You can't win, but you can't quit playing the game either.

The argument that one can emulate a game if it has been purchased "legitimately" (another can of worms...) is one that is often advanced in the gaming community but I am unaware of it having ever been tested in the court system. I am a lawyer by profession, but I am certainly not all-knowing. Until it is tested, however, it remains just that - an argument.

Totally agree with you about pirating currently-available, modern games though. That's not cool.

[ElkinFencer10]

The argument that one can emulate a game if it has been purchased "legitimately" (another can of worms...) is one that is often advanced in the gaming community but I am unaware of it having ever been tested in the court system. I am a lawyer by profession, but I am certainly not all-knowing. Until it is tested, however, it remains just that - an argument.

Ahh, I was unaware that it hadn't been tested in court. If you happen to hear anything about a court case that handled it, please post something; personal curiosity aside, that would probably help me hook some kids whenever I end up teaching a Civics and Economics class (state standards be damned, a basic knowledge of what is and isn't legal with downloading it something teenagers these days need to know).

[marlowe221]

Ahh, I was unaware that it hadn't been tested in court. If you happen to hear anything about a court case that handled it, please post something; personal curiosity aside, that would probably help me hook some kids whenever I end up teaching a Civics and Economics class (state standards be damned, a basic knowledge of what is and isn't legal with downloading it something teenagers these days need to know).

Will do. To my knowledge, limited though it is, I don't think a company/developer/publisher has ever sued an individual consumer for downloading and playing ROMs. Why do I mention that? Because the argument that you own the game "legitimately" and are, therefore, entitled to have a ROM is the kind of argument that you would use in defense of a civil action - so until someone gets sued... there's nothing to defend.

I even got to the point where I bulk-purchased CR2032 batteries on eBay with the intention of replacing them for all games in my library. My attempt at swapping the Lufia II battery was a nightmare -- way too much of a headache for what it was worth.


By the way, I wanted to touch upon a few more points you made in your excellent post:

1 - Technology: I love shaders as well! They especially NES/SNES/Genesis-era games look good on a big TV. Also, I played FF7 with a 'cartoon shader' a few years back and it looked wonderful. It gave me an excuse to play through it again. I love the game as-is, but that breathed new life into it. I also don't like gaming on handhelds, so I think being able to play GB/GBA on my TV is great (even if it looks a little awkward blown up that large).

3 - Time: agreed all-around here. Having a bunch of consoles hooked up in my living room is just not practical (would be more manageable in a dedicated game room, but I don't have room/desire for that). Emulators allow for my living room to remain clean and minimalist.

4 - Space: agreed again, and to piggyback off of what you said: moving also used to be a sore spot as well. My peak collecting days were in college, when I was nomadic and moved almost every year. Meticulously wrapping/packaging my games up so that they didn't get damaged during the move was always a long, arduous process that I did not look forward to.

I think it really comes down to what makes sense for each person. If it brings you joy to have a massive collection and it makes sense as part of your lifestyle, then go nuts buddy!

But a large accumulation of hardware and physical games really doesn't make sense in my life. My collection (such as it is) isn't large by any objective standard but it has certainly grown much larger than I need it to be or than I ever thought it would. It happened slowly and has a way of sneaking up on me.

That said, I plan to keep my Atari stuff and my Genesis for now and shed the rest of the retro stuff. I'll probably get rid of the Atari and Genesis eventually but... I'm not ready to go cold turkey! My Atari 2600 in particular has sentimental value since it was my first console of any kind - I will probably always keep it if only to display it somewhere. But I should narrow down my Atari cartridge collection at some point to those games that I really like to play on a regular basis (probably 10-15 games out of the 60+ that I own).

Edit: I also have to keep the Wii U and the Xbox One to avoid the wrath of the wife!!!

[Snatch1414]

With old games I don't see the problem. Whether I buy a dusty copy of Chessmaster from a reseller or emulate it on my PC, Nintendo sees exactly $0.00 from me. Now if it's a game that's on the eShop that muddies the waters quite a bit, but overall all it does it allow them a free opportunity to catch my interest for Nintendo products. Even if it's a minimal chance, it's still a free one.

This is why I don't understand certain copyright law though, namely YouTube's crackdown. If a YouTuber uses a song in their video I either take no action or I download the song on iTunes. If a YouTuber uses a three second movie clip I either take no action or consider looking into finding that movie somewhere to watch. They would rather eliminate what basically amounts to free advertising for the sake of depriving some random person on the internet a few pennies. Makes no sense to me.

[marlowe221]

This is why I don't understand certain copyright law though, namely YouTube's crackdown. If a YouTuber uses a song in their video I either take no action or I download the song on iTunes. If a YouTuber uses a three second movie clip I either take no action or consider looking into finding that movie somewhere to watch. They would rather eliminate what basically amounts to free advertising for the sake of depriving some random person on the internet a few pennies. Makes no sense to me.

In that instance, Youtube is not really acting to protect the copyright holder's interests (though that's what they say they are doing), they are acting to protect themselves from potential legal actions by the copyright holder.

Youtube has deep pockets and makes for an attractive target, legally speaking. They don't want the copyright holder of that song/movie to be able to make the claim that "those people violated my copyright and Youtube let them do it!"

[marlowe221]

It's time for my Semi-Daily Unpopular Video Game Opinion of the Day!

I really do not see what the big deal is about the Dark Souls games. I have played some of the first Dark Souls game and... I just don't get it. I couldn't be bothered to finish it and certainly have no desire to try the sequel.

Sure, the game is kind of hard; so what? There are a lot of hard games out there that don't get the internet lovin' that this series gets on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, the controls are pretty clunky. I get that combat is supposed to be a very deliberate affair rather than button mashing at random. I like the concept. But I don't find the execution of that concept to particularly compelling in this game. Combat can be deliberate without the controls also feeling awkward.

I do kind of like the art style and some of the music isn't bad.

[Snatch1414]

It's time for my Semi-Daily Unpopular Video Game Opinion of the Day!

I really do not see what the big deal is about the Dark Souls games. I have played some of the first Dark Souls game and... I just don't get it. I couldn't be bothered to finish it and certainly have no desire to try the sequel.

Sure, the game is kind of hard; so what? There are a lot of hard games out there that don't get the internet lovin' that this series gets on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, the controls are pretty clunky. I get that combat is supposed to be a very deliberate affair rather than button mashing at random. I like the concept. But I don't find the execution of that concept to particularly compelling in this game. Combat can be deliberate without the controls also feeling awkward.

I do kind of like the art style and some of the music isn't bad.

I played the first Dark Souls (not Demon) and I didn't mind the challenge but it didn't grab me for whatever reason. The world just kind of seemed like a generic medieval setting to me, just darker. Also I thought the controls were laborious as well. Maybe that had to do with the type of character I chose, but I think I was a pretty run of the mill knight-type guy and everything just felt too hefty to me.

[Gunstar Green]

It's time for my Semi-Daily Unpopular Video Game Opinion of the Day!

I really do not see what the big deal is about the Dark Souls games. I have played some of the first Dark Souls game and... I just don't get it. I couldn't be bothered to finish it and certainly have no desire to try the sequel.

Sure, the game is kind of hard; so what? There are a lot of hard games out there that don't get the internet lovin' that this series gets on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, the controls are pretty clunky. I get that combat is supposed to be a very deliberate affair rather than button mashing at random. I like the concept. But I don't find the execution of that concept to particularly compelling in this game. Combat can be deliberate without the controls also feeling awkward.

I do kind of like the art style and some of the music isn't bad.

I only just started playing the first Dark Souls a few days ago and I've been into it. I avoided it for years because I didn't want to deal with the frustration as brutal dungeon crawlers aren't usually my thing. It's the best translation of the Metroidvania concept to 3D I've seen. The level design and how it twists together is just brilliant.

I disagree on the controls. I'm usually really bad at 3D action games but this one feels so weighty and perfect to me. No fight is a guaranteed victory which is a pretty novel feeling and smashing through areas or bosses that initially seem impossible is really great.

The only control issue I have is the camera work which can go wonky and get you killed in boss fights or when you're trying to flee. It's the only part of the game I've found to be awkward and unfair.

My opinions might change as I get further but right now I'm really hooked.