Old ROMs Legal Now...same for old games

Petros

Thief IV
Joined
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I missed this one (an I'm an emulation fanatic--I can't believe it!) last month, but the Librarian of Congress here in the US declared ROMs and old games which you can no longer obtain from the copyright holders fair game! I'm not breaking the law anymore (at least, when it comes to ROMs).

From the Librarian of Congress:
 
Cool, definitely clears up and issue that's been borderline and the subject of many arguments :)
 
Yep, but I read it when it first came out. Pretty cool I think.
 
So why is it still so hard to get hold of ROMs unless you get it from P2P sites or obscure Warez sites?
 
This was made legal a little less than a month ago, so we should see a lot more proliferation of roms soon. I recommend Yahoo groups atm to find the games you want. That's where I found a lot of mine besides Bittorrent and Kazaa, of course.
 
Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.

the problem is how obsolete is obsolete? i mean some may consider the NES to be obsolete while others will point out you can still pick one up easily enough @ most any used games store .... :confused:
 
Originally posted by Xie
the problem is how obsolete is obsolete? i mean some may consider the NES to be obsolete while others will point out you can still pick one up easily enough @ most any used games store .... :confused:

LOL. I thought speedy said ...

Cool, definitely clears up and issue that's been borderline and the subject of many arguments

The question is no longer ... is this legal ... but is now ... is this obsolete enough? LOL.
 
What would be considered an old rom ?
There were lots of games I would have loved to have played but the first console I ever touched was a playstation about 3 years ago and then purchased a gamecube about a year ago, sold it and purchased an xbox about 2 months ago.
 
"...video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access."

The copyright holder must be able to provide the software on the original medium to be able to declare a right to it. N64 games--cartridges can still be produced and sold as new, so they aren't legal yet. NES/SNES games--Nintendo hasn't made new cartridges and consoles for several years, thus they are legal.
 
Originally posted by HandyBuddy
"...video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access."

The copyright holder must be able to provide the software on the original medium to be able to declare a right to it. N64 games--cartridges can still be produced and sold as new, so they aren't legal yet. NES/SNES games--Nintendo hasn't made new cartridges and consoles for several years, thus they are legal.

I think an NES cart can be made just as easy as an N64 cart. And you can get NES carts just as easy as any N64 rom if not more so actually :p
 
They can make these carts, but let's say you ask Konami to make you a copy of Castlevania II because you don't want to pirate it. They'll probably just laugh at you. Also, Konami doesn't make any more or any less money when you buy a used cart.

The LoC's decision is based on their examination of the fact that a company isn't losing anything from copying roms because they won't make you a new one anyway.
 
In that case...anybody know where to find some good Final Fantasy roms?
 
Yahoo groups! There's one in my sig with a couple Final Fantasies for SNES.
 
The ones in my sig are just rarer ones translated from Japanese (or translated better than the original "Engrish" translation ;)). I think there is a 700-odd rom pack you can get from Bittorrent.
 
thanks handybuddy!

rooted around there a little...you have any personal favs?
 
As far as games? Personally, I love Tales of Phantasia, Terranigma, and Romancing SaGa 3! There are so many great games that never came to English-speakers. Check out http://www.dejap.com for some of their translations, but there are many people besides them who also translate SNES roms.
 
Originally posted by HandyBuddy
They can make these carts, but let's say you ask Konami to make you a copy of Castlevania II because you don't want to pirate it. They'll probably just laugh at you. Also, Konami doesn't make any more or any less money when you buy a used cart.

The LoC's decision is based on their examination of the fact that a company isn't losing anything from copying roms because they won't make you a new one anyway.



but companys that buy the used carts and try to sell them lose money...
 
keywork: try
when was the last time you bought one of those old carts?
 
Originally posted by dubstar
but companys that buy the used carts and try to sell them lose money...

But those companies aren't the copyright holders; they're merely resellers. The copyright holders don't make money either way.
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
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