Are Emulators legal?

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Are Emulators legal?

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Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 14:27:11

Mystery_Person

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Like I found this site with emulators. It lets you play N64 games on your PC (and NES and PS1 and some other ones). Is that legal? Cause I tried playing a PS1 game once and it said I needed this thing and it told me to google it. They wouldn't tell me cause that was ilegal so I just deleted it, played a little more 64 games, and I ended up deleting everything. (I never played a PS1 game) I deleted my 64 stuff cause come on... I have a PS3. I just felt like I never really got to play zelda ocarina of time and I finally did!

And I passed it! The boss was too easy.

At least I spelled emulators right in the subject

< Message edited by Mystery_Person -- Apr.-13th-2008 22:58:21 >

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 14:35:33

harry190

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Emolators do not exist,emulators do.

I think it is,but i know that Abandonwares are not.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 14:38:27

n2oboost1

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They are legal, but only if the rights to the game are no longer used, If they are, then the copy of the game is illegal.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 14:48:01

LJWooly

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Yeah, they're legal, but you'l find that some of the roms are ESA protected, which means that the rights to that game are still used. For instance, I think the Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time is ESA protected, making it very hard to find the game in ROM form.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 16:01:23

DrPirate

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From: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Emulators are legal.

However:

BIOS/Firmware files are not and are proprietary data of the people that wrote them to be used for their respective machines.

ROM files are illegal, they breach copyright and digital trademark laws.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 16:56:40

heyheyhey

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emulators are legal

but the use of certain ROM's are illegal- so it will be very hard to find them (like Super Metroid for example)

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 18:47:45

DarkSniper

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Emulators are legal but the ownership or ROMS are not. If I'm not mistaken, I believe this kind of discussion is prohibited here on the forums. If I'm wrong I do apologize.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 20:07:58

B Man

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emulators are legal... they can't make it illegal to make a program. However, using a copyrighted product without the owner's permission *ROMS* is definately illegal. I don't think they'll hunt you down though for downloading a ROM, they have a lot more serious things to worry about.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 20:49:55

IntelligentAj

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Yeah i've got plenty of roms on my Laptop but I also have a lot of orignal cartriges so I think i'm covered in that area. If you have the actual game then I think it's legal. I have a Epsxe and use it to play my PS1 iso's(of which I have the original CD's).

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 22:10:01

TwissT

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I have tons of emulators and roms on my computer, so if they are illegal I AM SCREWED.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 22:19:43

Satanas

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Leo Laporte "illegally" downloaded ROMs on Call for Help (TechTV), and his opinion was the same as mine, "I really don't care."

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-13th-2008 23:01:33

Mystery_Person

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Don't worry I didn't play any PS1 games cause it asked for the bios thing. I only played the zelda rom thing, south park, banjo, star wars. Then I got bored and deleted it all. I only passed zelda everything else sucked.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-14th-2008 0:40:32

timmyp53

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quote:

ORIGINAL: DrPirate

Emulators are legal.

However:

BIOS/Firmware files are not and are proprietary data of the people that wrote them to be used for their respective machines.

ROM files are illegal, they breach copyright and digital trademark laws.

Those bios files for the PS2 are very hard to find even on google.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-14th-2008 7:11:18

Kuja_Xion

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quote:

ORIGINAL: n2oboost1

They are legal, but only if the rights to the game are no longer used, If they are, then the copy of the game is illegal.

He's right..they're legal..

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-15th-2008 17:13:22

Spazz

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If you legally bought the game then it is legal to have a digital copy of that same game.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-17th-2008 20:04:08

G4drake

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i guess its only legal if you have the original game and console.

like gameboy and genesis.......i guess

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - Apr.-17th-2008 22:26:02

Mystery_Person

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Why are people still answering? Like 12 people said the same thing.

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RE: Are Emulators legal? - May-2th-2008 18:59:12

HolyMolyPie

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Lol in which case I'll add something new:

Some companies have brought the rights to distribute emulators for specific consoles. I know you can get a CD of like 100 Amiga games and the emulator, completely legal, because Commodore sold the rights to them.

But bar that, I doubt Sony will start releasing PS2 games with emulators for the PC

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