Google should remove emulators

[kaneada]

sethnintendo said:

Kasz216 said:

sethnintendo said:

Okay so most are saying emulators are legal. I will look further into it but you gotta be fucking kidding yourself if you think people are downloading these emulators to play just custom made games. I beleive most people are downloading these to play the classics.

Actually, that's legal too.

Bleem! who won their case was specifically marketed as an emulator that allows you to play PS1 games on your dreamcast or computer.  They even used direct images from Sony created exclsuives like Metal Gear Solid and Tekken

 

The above was ruled totally legal. 

The only thing in emulation that's actually illegal is downloading a Rom from the internet.

Which over 90% of emulator users probably do.  Impossible to find actual numbers but I can safely assume this considering that is what most people use them for.  I suppose it is losing a fighting battle but I think it is pure bs.  I even have a few friends that pirated the fuck out of their Wiis.  I actually want to give companies I care for money.  I view emulator users as cheap ass bastards and this view will never change because I know most use illegal ROMs.

I would consider that most of that 90% have at some point in time, probably multiple times over a particular games lifespan, paid for that content. I have emulations of several NES games, the majority of which I own or have owned physical cartidiges for, and repurched the Virtual Console edition of said games when/if it became availble on the medium as well.

There is also the assumption that all roms are illegal which is not true. Capcom, for example, has put quite a few CPS1 - CPS2  games into the public domain. This lead to the advent of GGPO and subsequent releases of faithful ports of excellent fighting games with near flawless online play, of which I can state that I don't know how many times I purchased SFIII Third Strike, but also have a ROM/ISO image for.

This should say a few things:

1. The assumption that pirates don't also purchase content is absurd.

2. When companies make thier older titles available for free or cheap distribution and open, really cool things will happen.

3. If the market doesn't shift to accept electronic distribution, and also to allow people OWNERSHIP of the content they buy, then the industry may collapse.

4. To this day no one can clearly demonstrate that piracy has the same effects as theft on software sales.