N64 Emulators

[Phortiphy]

I just downloaded an N64 Emulator, which I heard of from a friend. The legal deal, as I hear, is that if you own both the game and console, you can legally download the game. What's the real story? I know the laws vary from place to place, but I don't know which documents to look at.

[Volcanon]

u can dl roms if you own the cartridge or if you own a license and never transferred it.

[treellama]

Legally, you can't. Ethically, though, if you already own it, I don't see the harm.

[Pfhorever]

Treellama is right, it's completely illegal. There was a big group of people at my school who were playing on N64 Emulators, and they got caught. THe police were called in.

[JohnStrabler]

Yeah, emulation of the ROMs is illegal under any and all circumstances. A buddy of mine got boned on that once.

[Phortiphy]

Yeah, emulation of the ROMs is illegal under any and all circumstances. A buddy of mine got boned on that once.

Even by transfer, not DL?

[Zott]

I assume if you do it in your own home, nobody is the wiser and you will never get caught. However, if you distribute your drugs, I mean ROMs, you are more likely to get caught. As for downloading them, it is somewhat a gray area. You are allowed to make archival copies of software you own, and I'm not sure how ROMS neccisarly break this, except the fact you are downloading it from someone who is illegally distributing them.

[CryoS]

if you own the consol and the game why emulate it on the comp??

[interion]

if you own the consol and the game why emulate it on the comp??

You can run games at a higher resolution and download enhanced textures. You don't have to worry about the internal battery in cartridges dieing and taking your save files with it. You can throw your old systems in the closet and don't need to use an extra input on your TV.

But who am I kidding. I emulate because most of those old games are worth less than the shipping cost to get them off eBay.

[Bridget]

Meh, most of the N64 games that are actually worth playing aren't that expensive.

You don't have to worry about the internal battery in cartridges dieing and taking your save files with it.

Don't most N64 games save to memory cards?

[LegacyTyphoon]

I there there were a few that actually saved to the cartridge...Some of the earlier ones did.

[Kayito-san]

Totally illegal, but who cares? n64 = '96. There's no market to sell an n64 game for anything over two bucks. It SHOULD be free by now, all things concidered. (We're playing Marathon for free, aren't we? Bungie got it right!)

[/justmyopinion]

Yeah, I'm done.

Edit: I totally missed the boat there. Sorry!

[VirtualX1]

oh man, i agree with you so much kayito

[Mordekai]

But they aren't free, even if they should be. So if you're worried about following the law exactly, then you probably shouldn't use emulators at all.

[Packard20]

I would just use a real console. You can't emulate that thing and get the same feel out of it.

[treellama]

If you have the cartridge, you can legally transfer the ROM to your computer and use it in an emulator.

[Darkwrath]

I've been using an SNES emulator since I was 8, my friend has an SNES console and a billion games for it and he introduced the emulator to me so even though I could care less about this stupid law, to me its just like borrowing the game which is legal, and if you have the game you should be able to download the rom.

[Zott]

to me its just like borrowing the game which is legal,

The idea of borrowing the game is that by borrowing it, you are taking the game away from the person you borrowed it from. If you both downloaded the game, it is nothing like borrowing, because only one copy was paid for, and you would have two in that situation. IE, you can sell your games on Ebay, which is legal, but if you keep a copy on your computer to play, and make a copy for yourself, then sell the game that is not okay.

If you are borrowing one copy of the physical cart, then no problem. Just wanted to mention this technicality.

[Phortiphy]

If you have the cartridge, you can legally transfer the ROM to your computer and use it in an emulator.

Thank you. The one thing I needed.

[Blooregardo]

Treellama is right, it's completely illegal. There was a big group of people at my school who were playing on N64 Emulators, and they got caught. THe police were called in.

Since when does the local officer Bob care about a kid who violated a over-strict rule downloading a Goldeneye rom off the internet. Aren't they supposed to be solving real crimes?

[Jim]

Aren't they supposed to be solving real crimes?

yeah, but that would make sence. nobody wants that.

[Blooregardo]

yeah, but that would make sence. nobody wants that.

So it's better to bust the kid who downloads music from limewire and calls himself a 'pirate' than it is to bust a murderer?

Or was that sarcasm? Because I really can't tell today. My sarcasm detectors are broken.

[Jim]

So it's better to bust the kid who downloads music from limewire and calls himself a 'pirate' than it is to bust a murderer?

Or was that sarcasm? Because I really can't tell today. My sarcasm detectors are broken.

Why yes, that was sarcasm. Better get those detectors fixed.

[Blooregardo]

Why yes, that was sarcasm. Better get those detectors fixed.

Yeah, it's weird, the new one I bought just makes a crackling noise whenever I'm in the vicinity of radiation.