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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Is playing Zelda Breath of the Wild on PC legal?

Teeqoz on 20 October 2017
roadkillers said:
Teeqoz said:

If we're talking strictly legal, then it depends on the country obviously, but mostly, the laws pertain to HOW you aqcuire the copy. The legal issue with emulation is commonly not the actual act of emulating, but rather that many people download the game illegally to do so. It is in fact illegal to download a copy of something, even if you own a copy of it yourself (at least most places). So even if you owned a CD with your favourite music, you can't legally download those tracks from The Pirate Bay or whatever, because the act of downloading it is illegal in itself. Same goes for emulated games. However if you are able to rip the file from the disc and onto your HDD/SSD by yourself, instead of downloading it, you are free to do whatever you want.

Of course, that's just about what is legal. When it comes to ethics, I don't *really* see a problem with pirating something you already own, but if you want to be completely legal about it, you have to rip the game from the disc/cartridge itself.

I gotcha, so you have to do it yourself rather than downloading someone else's emulation (rip). Lame. I suppose that's like owning a Ford F150 and using someone elses... kind of except these are not tangible.

I'm not a lawyer, but I have read a bit about the subject, and to the best of my knowledge, that is how it works in most countries, yeah.



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Johnw1104 on 20 October 2017

If you make a copy of your Wii U BotW ROM (something that's possible but I've no idea how to do lol) it's legal to then use that with the latest Wii U Emulators. It would be illegal to use anyone else's ROM, though, and Switch games cannot yet be emulated (as far as I know).

So, even if you own the Switch version, that would be useless to you when attempting to play it on the PC. The only strictly legal means of playing BotW on the PC right now is via the use of your own personal Wii U version BotW ROM with an emulator.

The reason emulation is often said to be illegal is that the vast majority of people who emulate download ROMs from others and don't use a copy of their own, legally purchased software. If you do, though, using it with an emulator that is built from the ground up without source code from the original hardware is perfectly legal... that's just not something most who emulate actually do lol



roadkillers on 20 October 2017

That's upsetting. Alright guess I'll just play the outdated Legend of Zelda.

VGchartz where is my 11 year badge...



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kirby007 on 20 October 2017
roadkillers said:
That's upsetting. Alright guess I'll just play the outdated Legend of Zelda.

VGchartz where is my 11 year badge...

right next to all the other well implemented features



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Johnw1104 on 20 October 2017
roadkillers said:
That's upsetting. Alright guess I'll just play the outdated Legend of Zelda.

VGchartz where is my 11 year badge...

Well... I mean I doubt anyone would really notice, and you DID buy the Switch version so the ethics of it aren't quite so muddled...

I suddenly feel like Emperor Palpatine.



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Teeqoz on 20 October 2017
Johnw1104 said:
roadkillers said:
That's upsetting. Alright guess I'll just play the outdated Legend of Zelda.

VGchartz where is my 11 year badge...

Well... I mean I doubt anyone would really notice, and you DID buy the Switch version so the ethics of it aren't quite so muddled...

I suddenly feel like Emperor Palpatine.

Nah, more like Shia LaBeouf



Johnw1104 on 20 October 2017
Teeqoz said:
Johnw1104 said:

Well... I mean I doubt anyone would really notice, and you DID buy the Switch version so the ethics of it aren't quite so muddled...

I suddenly feel like Emperor Palpatine.

Nah, more like Shia LaBeouf

We'd have lost Luke to the dark side if Shia had been in Palpatine's shoes.



caffeinade on 20 October 2017

Who cares.
As long as Nintendo makes millions, the game sells well and people enjoy the game.
No one is harmed.

I say go for it.



Mnementh on 20 October 2017
roadkillers said:

What if I own a copy of the Switch game?

You should own the WiiU-copy (as this is emulated), but then basically yes. Depending on the jurisdiction it might be illegal to download a pirated copy, even if you own the original, so dumping the game-disc (or copying the download if digital) yourself, could be recommendable.



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StarOcean on 20 October 2017

I always hear people say, "As long as you own the original version, it's legal." But is that truly the case?