Emulation (open discussion)

[Superstrider]

i started playin it recently, and i already notice the differences....

You know FF4 is available on Playstation... As part of Final Fantasy Chronicles. (The other game that comes with it is Chrono Trigger, by the way.)

[ZTC]

Not that I know of, possibly there are japanese untranslated ones.

er, how about for 32-bit systems?

[MottZilla]

Hundreds of japanese games never make it here, and I wouldn't doubt there are dating sim things for playstation.

[automatic]

Emulation is good. I'm of the opinion that information should be free. That includes my entertainment, and my entertainment includes ROMS, DVD rips and the music of popular artists in the form of copyrighted (and infringed-upon) mp3s. Most of my software requires a keygen or crack. The rest either came with my computer, or is freeware.

Screw Corporate America. Screw Corporate Japan, for that matter.

See, here's the thing... the people that made those games... the artists, the designers, the programmers... they've already been paid. They've been taken care of. They don't get my money when I buy a game... the corporation does. Well, they really don't need my money... not as much as I do, that's for damn sure. I 've got bills to pay. Giving your money away for something that is readily available for free is for chumps.

"But automatic, if you can't afford it, you don't deserve it..."

Um, no. This isn't a moral issue. I can do it, and I do do it. There is no should or should not.

Those that are deserving of my money are individuals, not corporations. I have art on my walls made by people I know that I paid for. I pay money to see local bands play live music. These are people trying to make a living, not corporations trying to make a profit. And yeah, that is an important distinction to me.

Well, that's my take on it. Enough of the tirade.

My Favs (The reason I have the emulators in the first place):
NES (FCE Ultra) - Bionic Commando, Solstice, Crystalis
SNES (ZSNES) - Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid
Genesis (Gens) - Sonic Spinball, Flashback
GBA (VBA) - Metroid Fusion, Metroid Zero Mission, LoZ - The Minish Cap
N64 (PJ64) - Goldeneye

[ZTC]

If the corporations don't make money, they can't pay the programmers and designers....

don't remember if I did a list (it's incomplete)--
GameBoy (smygb) MegaMan 3-5, Xtreme 1-2
NES (FCE Ultra, NESTEN, JNES) MegaMan 1-6, Metal Gear
SNES(SNES9X, ZSNES) MegaMan 7, X2, X3, MegaMan & Bass, Zelda 3, Final Fight Tough, Final Fight/FF Guy, Final Fight 2; Final Fantasy 2 (US), 3(US), 4J, 5J; Kirby SuperStar, SuperMario RPG
Genesis (Gens, Gens+) Battletoads and Double Dragon, Zero Tolerance, Zero Wing, Duke Nukem 3D
Arcade (none yet....)MegaMan- the Power Battle

[automatic]

If the corporations don't make money, they can't pay the programmers and designers....

That's true. But not everyone is pirating software or ripping dvds. Most people playing games and watching movies still actually buy them. Just not me.

And it's been said before, but the most traffic in illegal roms are for systems that no longer sell. Nintendo isn't going to lose any money on someone having a rom of Milon's Secret Castle.

[MottZilla]

automatic, just realize that while you may indeed be a part of a small group doing that, the group is ever increasing. And like Cyborg said, in the short term you are right. If you pirate the game, the people that worked on it are already getting paid. But in a not so short term, if the company isn't pulling in enough in sales, which is there ONLY source of income remember, they might have to lay off workers.

Ofcourse, if we are lucky, they will lay off over payed useless management jobs that mostly sit around with their thumbs in their asses.

[vegeta1215]

And it's been said before, but the most traffic in illegal roms are for systems that no longer sell.

You sure about that? I can't even begin to tell you how much activity the gamefaqs page for The Minish Cap was getting months before it came out - meaning people were playing it somehow, and my guess would be via a ROM. (it did come out in Europe before we got it over here, but not that long before). This is just one example, but I think there are a lot of people pirating new games.

[Kairyu]

Yeah, if Gamefaqs is any indication, the GBA is being heavily emulated. And like Mott said, It's not getting better or anything. And despite Mott's hopes, it's very unlikely that they'll get rid of the useless people- they'll just spend less on new, fun games that people will enjoy and just go for stuff people will buy.

[MottZilla]

Yes, GBA is pirated, people in european or asian factorys steal cartridges during early manufacturing runs which then are given/sold to a ROM release group and the ROM file hits the net before any units ever leave the factory. Sad isn't it? But realize this, Nintendo DS, currently, has no pirating. GameCube, after quite a few years, STILL has no fool proof way of pirating games. Only recently has the first "mod chip" been released, and it's plagued with errors, problems with reading DVD-R media, etc.

So just remember, with every new console there is a chance that such pirating could be put off. Also remember that companies at any time should they feel the need to, invest more into copy protection methods.