Preserving old games is illegal because it's 'hacking', according to the ESA

[tbb043]

Oh and the ESA, yeah, they have too much power, and they can't enforce this on everyone, that, and people will just host more ROM/ISO sites outside US jurisdiction ESA can burn for all I care

ESA doesn't have any power beyond yakking at politicians. They're a lobbying group, basically. They can't actually enforce their nonsense, just bribe the people who can.

 

[osaka35]

I legally own my stuff, modifiying them isn't going to hurt anyone.

True, but there are many with loads of money that are trying to change that concept to more of a leasing of their content. The purchase of the hardware is just the medium for the lease. It's gross.

 

[Heran Bago]

The ESA doesn't have the authority to decide that. They are not a legislative or judicial body.

 

[TecXero]

That seems ignorant. I'm not big on piracy, I stick to dumping my own cartridges/discs, but some games truly do become all but lost to time. Things like Earthbound probably would have never gotten the traction it did without piracy in countries outside of Japan. It's not like it was that malicious, it was people that were curious about an old game that wasn't sold anymore and was very rare.

Yeah, Nintendo is providing a legal means to get a lot of older console games legally without having to buy old systems or look for an old copy. It's seriously overpriced, in my opinion, though. Also, Nintendo's eShop service is very restrictive, even more so than other console digital distribution services. If something happens to that console and you can't verify that it was damaged, you have to rebuy your games. If their service goes down in the future or just no longer supports that console, if anything happens to it, those games are gone. You can't even transfer them from a dying but working console to another without their service.

In the end, I don't care if archiving and distributing old games like that is illegal, it's the only reliable way to have old games without having to track down old licensed copies and probably paying far more than you should. The old developers have long since been paid for those games, and I doubt many of them would even see a penny of VC re-releases.

Now as for new games, I don't think they should be pirated, that simple. Once they're out of production, then I can understand.

 

[the_randomizer]

ESA doesn't have any power beyond yakking at politicians. They're a lobbying group, basically. They can't actually enforce their nonsense, just bribe the people who can.

Well, like the majority of lobbying groups, they often take the wrong and often convoluted approach, and this is no exception. Pinheads. Bleh. This is not the way to address an issue, at all. I'm writing my rep.

 

[ferofax]

Some people just want to watch the world burn. The guys who came up with this conclusion are one of them. They would rather see the old games lost into oblivion than "hacked" and "pirated" by retro game archivers and preservers.

 

[Deboog]

Oh no. Some lawyers said something that helps their clients. Whatever shall we do.

 

[Vipera]

Oh no. Some lawyers said something that helps their clients. Whatever shall we do.

But it's more fun to feed the trolls!

I wonder what would happen if people questioned every single thing someone says. Hell, I wonder what GBATemp said when one of the EU politicians wanted to ban porn in Europe not long ago.

 

[the_randomizer]

Some people just want to watch the world burn. The guys who came up with this conclusion are one of them. They would rather see the old games lost into oblivion than "hacked" and "pirated" by retro game archivers and preservers.

Never stopped anyone before, not gonna stop anyone now. Only thing I've seen them "do" is having certain ROMs removed from a few sites lol.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

ESA's a bunch of shills of the industry, just like the MPAA is in terms of movies. They don't want you to keep software safe, they want you to re-purchase it over and over.

Ah yes, because there's totally a market to re-buy my entire collection of SNES games in the same condition they were in for a decent price. Thanks ESA

But yeah, this is a bunch of bullhockey. I'm just hoping people can still play ROMhacks on YouTube. GBAtemp will be able to stick around because the servers aren't based in the US (as far as I know)

 

[the_randomizer]

Ah yes, because there's totally a market to re-buy my entire collection of SNES games in the same condition they were in for a decent price. Thanks ESA

But yeah, this is a bunch of bullhockey. I'm just hoping people can still play ROMhacks on YouTube. GBAtemp will be able to stick around because the servers aren't based in the US (as far as I know)

Let's Play videos aren't going anywhere, or at least, there's nothing they can do as they can't stop every single one of them. Lobbyist jackasses

 

[Vipera]

Why is this thread still open?

 

[the_randomizer]

Why is this thread still open?

Who knows, all I know is that this really won't change things in the long run. And besides, I thought the process of making back ups of ROMs in the US was illegal anyways; not the backup file itself, but the fact ROM backup devices circumvented copyright protection measures.