firebush03 said:
Thank you for the note, Veknoid. However, hear me out: if these PS1 games were available on cartridge at no more than the original MSRP, then I would more than happy to take the safe and easy route of simply purchasing them. But these are discs (meaning that scratching and other wear makes purchasing more of a gamble) that would be purchased 2nd-hand (meaning it would make no difference to the OG dev teams) at potentially marked up prices running on a console produced two or three decades ago (meaning wear may make these devices unusable). IMO emulation in this context would not be an instance of unethical pirating, but a taking advantage of the preservationist aspect of gaming emulation. That said, however, you do also suggest searching after official emulators. This is an option I would prefer to take as it would be significantly less cumbersome for me to set up…the only downside? Where can I purchase these games in an uncompromised manner? Are the original Spyro and Crash trilogies (not the remakes but the OG releases) available on Steam, PS, or Nintendo? And as far as I’m aware, Insomniac Game and Naughty Dog developed these two trilogies, yet Microsoft would be the one receiving all the profits…what would be unethical about simply “pirating” these games when there is no way to support any of the original devs behind the projects? |
If you want to support these companies buy the official re-releases on your modern platform of choice. Maybe even play these games that way. I guess it's a fine way of experiencing them, though you'd get a lot more options if you just use unofficial emulators.
If there's no official re-release, then just pirate it. Buying a used copy will only give money to the seller, not the company.
