Marketing itself as an online video game rental store, Console Classix offers a paid subscription giving you access to thousands of games from a variety of platforms: ranging from the Atari 2600 to the Nintendo 64, our beloved GameBoy Advance, and many more.

​

Console Classix differs from a standard rental store in that you don't actually receive the physical game at home: you're actually playing ROMs using emulators. So how does that work? Why are they claiming this service as fully legal, and why has it been up and running for so many years? According to the owner, Aaron Ethridge, this is all due to a legal loophole of sorts:
1) For starters, Console Classix owns at least one physical copy of every game it distributes
2) When someone wishes to play a game, the game isn't actually stored on the gamer's computer, it is only available in RAM so there is no (easy) way for the player to retain the game. So this can be considered as lending rather than distributing.
3) Console Classix doesn't lend more ROMs simultaneously than it owns physical copies. If they only own 1x Super Mario Bros 3 (NES) cartridge, then there can only be one person playing that ROM at a given time through their emulation service.

Whether or not this is technically legal, Console Classix has yet to be taken to court. Back when they started their business, they received a cease and desist letter from Nintendo, but this never went any further, and so Mr. Ethridge went on with his business.

What do you think about such services? Have you ever used Console Classix?

Make sure to read Ars Technica's excellent article on the subject

 

[Rabbid4240]

This site has been getting you to pay for roms since 2001.
HoW? JuSt WaTcH tEh FrE ViDeO bElOw!

 

[Localhorst86]

This site has been getting you to pay for roms since 2001.
HoW? JuSt WaTcH tEh FrE ViDeO bElOw!

Doctors hate him for this trick.

Gesendet von meinem Mi A1 mit Tapatalk

 

[Metoroid0]

Is renting illegal in the eyes of the law? I did look earlier as part of this and struggle to point at any enforced laws (civil or criminal) in the US against it, and plenty of people seemingly doing such businesses and discussing how to do them in open sites. There were some technically similar cases (ones that I recalled were the DVD extra censoring people and some of the arguments world of warcraft made in their many many cases) but that is about it.

It is generally held as not piracy if you own a license/licence at the time you acquire a backup, which appears to be the case here (cart ownership implies licence ownership).

If I own an item I can sell it, lend it, rent it out, take it and use it to conduct my business. It can get slightly trickier in the case of intellectual property, especially in the US, but I am not seeing any real issues here.

Would I pay them? Largely irrelevant in this discussion but probably not as I have better means of doing things. You are not obliged to have a good business model though and can try whatever you like (as long as it is legal) and this appears to fall in line with that.

"why would i give money to some guy that rent me ROM i can download for free and to keep (or not)."
If renting is legal and simple downloading is not and such things bother you then that would appear to be a reason to do such a thing. It might be a trifling concern for you (and I dare say it would be for many on this site) but that matters little.

So I am at a loss for how you are getting to find this troubling, be it morally or legally and why you reckon money is an aggravating factor. If I believed all the crap that software companies try to pull I could well find myself "feeling" it should be against some kind of law but I try not to pay attention to what such people say beyond figuring out if they are telegraphing a future play.

"Now lending a physical copy is other story"
Why?
Spin it another way. I will keep sell you my copy of Minna no Soft Tetris but keep the physical thing locked in my bank vault, you own it and I will author a document saying as such as well as send you a copy of the ROM chip on it. You can ask for the physical copy if you want at some point in the future, or you can transfer ownership to someone else. Would you have a problem with that?
Replace Minna no Soft Tetris with gold and we have how most of the gold supply in the world works (many other things you mine out of the ground, and some amount of things that grow as well) and everybody seems happy enough with that.

because he is ripping games to sell them where you can download them free from internet. if im that guy i wouldnt have decency to sell something that anyone everywhere can get for free. phisical is different because you cant download plastic and phisicalcarteidge to play on original system, you must rent it by lending it phisically to someone and he can play it how much he wants for lets say month. and the game was not coppied, ripped and you can only get phisical copy is someone lend it to you or you buy it, but roms you can get them anywhere to play.
I just would not feel right asking money from someone for something people can just download, but phisical copy you cant just download or play on original system.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Seams like a good way around the whole piracy thing however there are still hundreds of sites with roms still available. Less than 2 seconds on Google and you can have all the time you like.

exactly my point.

 

[Metoroid0]

I know every US copy of Nes and Snes has a message printed on the cartridges, say you can’t rent, share or lend the titles to other people. I guess they could argue they are a video game TOS, those have rarely been held up in court except in a handful of cases.

what cases??
Also...who came up with that stupid law that you cant share or lend a copy of a game to a friend?! thats so stupid i never heard anything more stupid in my life!!! its my game, i own it, i can give it to whomever the hell i want...
i get if nintendo dont agree with that because they want everione to have their own copy to buy, because of money...but for that to be a law breaking court thing its a stupid!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

That's genius. Wish I had come up with that.

To take money from people for things they can get for free...from "google"
I thought its about sharing, not making a profit. Isn't that what big greedy companies do?!

also..playing a game one at a time among 100000000 people online?? when will be my turn to play Super mario bros.?!?
Oh well, i guess i will download a rom from a random website and play it on emulator that works best on my PC...or wait..i can play it on vita or Wii...no...i think i will play it on sega dreamcast...no, i will play it on My Android..yeah!
...i hope my renal rom that i must pay for will be available soon *playing super mario bros on android emulator while waiting for rental rom to be free (if ever)*

 

[chartube12]

who came up with that stupid law that you cant share or lend a copy of a game to a friend?! thats so stupid i never heard anything more stupid in my life!!! its my game, i own it, i can give it to whomever the hell i want

I didn’t say it was a law. Just something along those lines were printed on the back of nes & snes carts. Been along time since I seen an old cart. I do however remember something about not lending or renting games without Nintendo’s consent!

 

[Metoroid0]

gotta admit. if you actually ever use this shit then you gotta be the huge fucking moron.

I cant really imagine ANYONE in their right mind using this.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

what cases??
Also...who came up with that stupid law that you cant share or lend a copy of a game to a friend?! thats so stupid i never heard anything more stupid in my life!!! its my game, i own it, i can give it to whomever the hell i want...
i get if nintendo dont agree with that because they want everione to have their own copy to buy, because of money...but for that to be a law breaking court thing its a stupid!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


To take money from people for things they can get for free...from "google"
I thought its about sharing, not making a profit. Isn't that what big greedy companies do?!

also..playing a game one at a time among 100000000 people online?? when will be my turn to play Super mario bros.?!?
Oh well, i guess i will download a rom from a random website and play it on emulator that works best on my PC...or wait..i can play it on vita or Wii...no...i think i will play it on sega dreamcast...no, i will play it on My Android..yeah!
...i hope my renal rom that i must pay for will be available soon *playing super mario bros on android emulator while waiting for rental rom to be free (if ever)*

Some people prefer to pay rather than pirate. Crazy, I know.
But you gotta hand it to the guy, that's a really clever way to make money. I personally wouldn't pay to rent a ROM unless I couldn't get the ROM by other means, but hey, nothing wrong with doing that. What you spend your money on is up to you.
If it was just renting individual games, then it wouldn't be worth it, but $6 a month for access to hundreds of games legally isn't bad. It's not much different from game streaming services like Playstation Now other than not having latency since everything is ran locally. And some of those games can be rather expensive if you were to buy them used, so for non-pirates this might be their only option.

 

[Metoroid0]

I didn’t say it was a law. Just something along those lines were printed on the back of nes & snes carts. Been along time since I seen an old cart. I do however remember something about not lending or renting games without Nintendo’s consent!

Yeah i can kinda understand nintendos stance on that one. I remember that also cause as little when i bought a lot of games, i liked to read manuals (it was like a meditation to me xD) so i read something along those lines.

 

[Song of storms]

Holy shit guys...

The "DO NOT RENT" messages are put there because you're purchasing a PRIVATE copy. A copy made for the end user. Blockbuster & Co. had different versions of games and movies that you could rent. You can still purchase movies that you can rent or broadcast (and they're more expensive, of course).

 

[Metoroid0]

Some people prefer to pay rather than pirate. Crazy, I know.
But you gotta hand it to the guy, that's a really clever way to make money. I personally wouldn't pay to rent a ROM unless I couldn't get the ROM by other means, but hey, nothing wrong with doing that. What you spend your money on is up to you.
If it was just renting individual games, then it wouldn't be worth it, but $6 a month for access to hundreds of games legally isn't bad. It's not much different from game streaming services like Playstation Now other than not having latency since everything is ran locally. And some of those games can be rather expensive if you were to buy them used, so for non-pirates this might be their only option.

i prefer to pay if i want to! but to nintendo, because its a real thing, not to some random guy who rips games, makes roms, store them on his pc and lend them to me to use them on a crappy emulator (i tried it) for money in a limited manner. it MIGHT work in a distant past, but i dont see it as morally ok or even sane thing to do in 2018.
i say morally because if im in his shoes i would feel like i rip people off!
it would be like selling you the air in the bottle for 6$ where you can breath it for free from the...air

And you say if i pay 6$ a month i can play games that other play? meaning not one game per person but one game per many people??

and yeah, it is smart. but its also kinda stinky to ask for money online for things that gamers share for free and DONT ask for money.

Also, its not crazy that people like to pay for everything, when people have lods of money they just search for stuff to spend them on, they don't know what to do with all that money they have,
but in some places pirating is the only way to get games to play because people cant really afford to spend anyting on luxury because they need to eat.

And internet is/should be for everione free and sharing place among people and comunities, the only place that is as i see it.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Holy shit guys...

The "DO NOT RENT" messages are put there because you're purchasing a PRIVATE copy. A copy made for the end user. Blockbuster & Co. had different versions of games and movies that you could rent. You can still purchase movies that you can rent or broadcast (and they're more expensive, of course).

How much more?
I didn't know that, that is interesting...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

So you choose not to pay for your games and pirate them instead? Fair enough.

I would pay them (if i want a game) to a damn nintendo, not a guy to play it on a crappy emulator.
The guy pirated them in the first place, and is renting them to me for money!
how do you think he put them on his PC, just showed a cartridge into floppy slot and said "pay me 6$ and play this from my pc"?

so he is not a pirate? interesting.


sorry for sarcasm...

 

[Subtle Demise]

i prefer to pay if i want to! but to nintendo, because its a real thing, not to some random guy who rips games, makes roms, store them on his pc and lend them to me to use them on a crappy emulator (i tried it) for money in a limited manner. it MIGHT work in a distant past, but i dont see it as morally ok or even sane thing to do in 2018.
i say morally because if im in his shoes i would feel like i rip people off!
it would be like selling you the air in the bottle for 6$ where you can breath it for free from the...air

And you say if i pay 6$ a month i can play games that other play? meaning not one game per person but one game per many people??

and yeah, it is smart. but its also kinda stinky to ask for money online for things that gamers share for free and DONT ask for money.

Also, its not crazy that people like to pay for everything, when people have lods of money they just search for stuff to spend them on, they don't know what to do with all that money they have,
but in some places pirating is the only way to get games to play because people cant really afford to spend anyting on luxury because they need to eat.

And internet is/should be for everione free and sharing place among people and comunities, the only place that is as i see it.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


How much more?
I didn't know that, that is interesting...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


The guy pirated them in the first place, and is renting them for money!
how do you think he put them on his PC, just showed a cartridge into floppy slot and said "pay me 6$ and play this from my pc"?
sorry for sarcasm...

How do you think roms end up online in the first place? Magic? Most are trivial to dump with a small amount of soldering.

 

[Metoroid0]

How do you think roms end up online in the first place? Magic? Most are trivial to dump with a small amount of soldering.

i know that... what is your point?

 

[Subtle Demise]

i know that... what is your point?

You said the guy pirated the roms, but I'm saying he actually probably dumped them.

 

[grossaffe]

You said the guy pirated the roms, but I'm saying he actually probably dumped them.

Dumped them... and proceeded to provide said dumps to other people while retaining the original. Sounds like a form of piracy.

 

[Metoroid0]

You said the guy pirated the roms, but I'm saying he actually probably dumped them.

Oh that..yeah that's what i meant, he made a copy himself and is asking a money for that copy.
My only "problem" with this is he asking money and he is not even a nintendo. He just wants to milk people for things they can get for free. He is maybe in a legal loophole, but its still not right imo.

if i'm in his shoes, i would feel like i rip people off for something they can play for free anyway (unless its nintendo themself). its free and you can find it anywhere on "google", its a fact and have better experience anyway.

I always saw internet as a free sharing comunity (excluding companies, but since its internet they can be there also) and he can also do this kind of stuff, but i dont see how anyone in right mind would support him or PAY for his dumps to play they when they are available to play...

Its just...i mean....it is....i wanna say that....... this is so fu**ed up i dont know how no one see it.... im done.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Dumped them... and proceeded to provide said dumps to other people while retaining the original. Sounds like a form of piracy.

so for a 1000 of people to play donkey kong at the same time, he needs to have 1000 copies of the game??

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

True. Im sure if Nintendo wanted to nail him they could. the question is, is it worth it to nintendo. Might cost Nintendo more in the long run. There is a good reason they are nailing these sites. They must have something big planned. they did not seem to care about the site during the virtual console phase.

I was ranting at first for nintendo nailing down rom websites, but when i cooled down, i actually support nintendo, even though it would be dificult for me or others to find roms, but technically those sites overexposed them self and became almost as a official website for nintendo roms!

I mean nintendo is protecting their IP which is a great thing! however, some of nintendo decisions and methids are really...stupid imo...but in its core, they are protecting them self, they want everione to know its their IP and they cant let people do what they want with it, there has to be a limit.
But all in all, underground rom providers will always exist, and that is a reality, and nintendo cant do anything about THAT, but they can say "you grew to high and are rude to think you can do whatever with our IP" but as i said, underground rom sites will always exist, and thats where illegal roms belong in the first place.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Dumped them... and proceeded to provide said dumps to other people while retaining the original. Sounds like a form of piracy.

That's why i said renting a physical copy is different among other things.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

i prefer to pay if i want to! but to nintendo, because its a real thing, not to some random guy who rips games, makes roms, store them on his pc and lend them to me to use them on a crappy emulator (i tried it) for money in a limited manner. it MIGHT work in a distant past, but i dont see it as morally ok or even sane thing to do in 2018.
i say morally because if im in his shoes i would feel like i rip people off!
it would be like selling you the air in the bottle for 6$ where you can breath it for free from the...air

And you say if i pay 6$ a month i can play games that other play? meaning not one game per person but one game per many people??

and yeah, it is smart. but its also kinda stinky to ask for money online for things that gamers share for free and DONT ask for money.

Also, its not crazy that people like to pay for everything, when people have lods of money they just search for stuff to spend them on, they don't know what to do with all that money they have,
but in some places pirating is the only way to get games to play because people cant really afford to spend anyting on luxury because they need to eat.

And internet is/should be for everione free and sharing place among people and comunities, the only place that is as i see it.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


How much more?
I didn't know that, that is interesting...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


I would pay them (if i want a game) to a damn nintendo, not a guy to play it on a crappy emulator.
The guy pirated them in the first place, and is renting them to me for money!
how do you think he put them on his PC, just showed a cartridge into floppy slot and said "pay me 6$ and play this from my pc"?

so he is not a pirate? interesting.


sorry for sarcasm...

People do sell air, in many forms.

I would imagine that you get relatively consistent access to the games for $6. He has multiple copies of some games, as you would expect. Something like Super Mario Bros or Zelda he's obviously going to need more than one copy of. But as mentioned in the source article, the service isn't very frequently used, so unless everyone wants to play the same game, it shouldn't be a problem.

I partly agree with you though. On one hand, it's game rental, it's been done for a long time and no one thinks that's morally wrong. On the other hand, it's emulation, it's hardly the authentic experience. But the people paying for this know that and it doesn't bother them.
Anyway, if people are willing to pay then I don't see a problem. These people know exactly what they're getting. He could have made everything free to play, sure, but who would make a service like this just to give away game rentals? That game collection wasn't free, and the servers running everything aren't free either.

Oh that..yeah that's what i meant, he made a copy himself and is asking a money for that copy.
My only "problem" with this is he asking money and he is not even a nintendo. He just wants to milk people for things they can get for free. He is maybe in a legal loophole, but its still not right imo.

if i'm in his shoes, i would feel like i rip people off for something they can play for free anyway (unless its nintendo themself). its free and you can find it anywhere on "google", its a fact and have better experience anyway.

I always saw internet as a free sharing comunity (excluding companies, but since its internet they can be there also) and he can also do this kind of stuff, but i dont see how anyone in right mind would support him or PAY for his dumps to play they when they are available to play...

Its just...i mean....it is....i wanna say that....... this is so fu**ed up i dont know how no one see it.... im done.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


so for a 1000 of people to play donkey kong at the same time, he needs to have 1000 copies of the game??

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


I was ranting at first for nintendo nailing down rom websites, but when i cooled down, i actually support nintendo, even though it would be dificult for me or others to find roms, but technically those sites overexposed them self and became almost as a official website for nintendo roms!

I mean nintendo is protecting their IP which is a great thing! however, some of nintendo decisions and methids are really...stupid imo...but in its core, they are protecting them self, they want everione to know its their IP and they cant let people do what they want with it, there has to be a limit.
But all in all, underground rom providers will always exist, and that is a reality, and nintendo cant do anything about THAT, but they can say "you grew to high and are rude to think you can do whatever with our IP" but as i said, underground rom sites will always exist, and thats where illegal roms belong in the first place.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


That's why i said renting a physical copy is different among other things.

Rental stores aren't Nintendo. Second hand sellers on eBay and Amazon aren't Nintendo. GameStop and other used game sellers aren't Nintendo. Nintendo doesn't get a single cent from those used sales/rentals. I fail to see how this is any different.

 

[FAST6191]

because he is ripping games to sell them where you can download them free from internet. if im that guy i wouldnt have decency to sell something that anyone everywhere can get for free. phisical is different because you cant download plastic and phisicalcarteidge to play on original system, you must rent it by lending it phisically to someone and he can play it how much he wants for lets say month. and the game was not coppied, ripped and you can only get phisical copy is someone lend it to you or you buy it, but roms you can get them anywhere to play.
I just would not feel right asking money from someone for something people can just download, but phisical copy you cant just download or play on original system.

He appears to be ripping games to rent them, not sell the copies. Big difference. Said copies are also not pirated that I can see, and they make a big deal of not having more copies out at a time than they have in their storage. I have played with any number of high end software installs that do something things (they usually call it chairs, as in you are licensed for 800 chairs to be using it at any one time,).
Likewise I am not sure why you are so hung up on the physical item.
There are many business models I would not feel right doing. It seems largely irrelevant to the discussion at hand though -- this guy seems OK with it and we seem unable to point at laws that would happily smack him down (I had a few cases that might throw a spanner in the works of a few defences they might try in court but that is just that), and indeed have the opposite of laws and setups that would seem to allow it..

i prefer to pay if i want to! but to nintendo, because its a real thing, not to some random guy who rips games, makes roms, store them on his pc and lend them to me to use them on a crappy emulator (i tried it) for money in a limited manner. it MIGHT work in a distant past, but i dont see it as morally ok or even sane thing to do in 2018.
i say morally because if im in his shoes i would feel like i rip people off!
it would be like selling you the air in the bottle for 6$ where you can breath it for free from the...air

And you say if i pay 6$ a month i can play games that other play? meaning not one game per person but one game per many people??

and yeah, it is smart. but its also kinda stinky to ask for money online for things that gamers share for free and DONT ask for money.

Also, its not crazy that people like to pay for everything, when people have lods of money they just search for stuff to spend them on, they don't know what to do with all that money they have,
but in some places pirating is the only way to get games to play because people cant really afford to spend anyting on luxury because they need to eat.

And internet is/should be for everione free and sharing place among people and comunities, the only place that is as i see it.

Nintendo does not appear to be offering a comparable service to what this guy is offering. If you don't think the quality of service offered or price charged for it is something you want to use then that is fine -- for little luxuries like this the customer can make the decision as to what they think is worth it. To call it morally questionable or a rip off is a bigger charge though.
Also why just Nintendo? I have a very fine drill from Makita. Do I owe them some money for the thing I built using it? Or indeed Iveco for the van used to deliver it? If it is just your personal preference then so be it, however the way you phrase it makes it sound like you think Nintendo (or whomever made the original games/holds the rights to those games now) would be the sole deserving candidate for the money earned and I struggle to see why that should be.

Sure gamers have been sharing copies of games for decades. That however was probably illegal in the vast majority of instances, this would seem to fall in line with laws. For some that is a fundamental difference. From a technical standpoint it is trivial to download ROMs but many things are technically trivial but otherwise against the law, if this represents a legal way to play these old games then some might want that.

Is this air in a bottle more pure or otherwise certified? Even without that and if you just screwed the top on an empty fizzy drink bottle you can still try to sell it to me (or anybody else) if you want, whether I/they think it a worthwhile deal is a different matter.

 

[tbb043]

This site has been getting you to pay for ROMs since 2001

No they haven't. I haven't paid for any ROMs save for ones i ripped myself from carts rented from Blockbuster/Hollywood/family Video/etc.

 

[Metoroid0]

He appears to be ripping games to rent them, not sell the copies. Big difference. Said copies are also not pirated that I can see, and they make a big deal of not having more copies out at a time than they have in their storage. I have played with any number of high end software installs that do something things (they usually call it chairs, as in you are licensed for 800 chairs to be using it at any one time,).
Likewise I am not sure why you are so hung up on the physical item.
There are many business models I would not feel right doing. It seems largely irrelevant to the discussion at hand though -- this guy seems OK with it and we seem unable to point at laws that would happily smack him down (I had a few cases that might throw a spanner in the works of a few defences they might try in court but that is just that), and indeed have the opposite of laws and setups that would seem to allow it..



Nintendo does not appear to be offering a comparable service to what this guy is offering. If you don't think the quality of service offered or price charged for it is something you want to use then that is fine -- for little luxuries like this the customer can make the decision as to what they think is worth it. To call it morally questionable or a rip off is a bigger charge though.
Also why just Nintendo? I have a very fine drill from Makita. Do I owe them some money for the thing I built using it? Or indeed Iveco for the van used to deliver it? If it is just your personal preference then so be it, however the way you phrase it makes it sound like you think Nintendo (or whomever made the original games/holds the rights to those games now) would be the sole deserving candidate for the money earned and I struggle to see why that should be.

Sure gamers have been sharing copies of games for decades. That however was probably illegal in the vast majority of instances, this would seem to fall in line with laws. For some that is a fundamental difference. From a technical standpoint it is trivial to download ROMs but many things are technically trivial but otherwise against the law, if this represents a legal way to play these old games then some might want that.

Is this air in a bottle more pure or otherwise certified? Even without that and if you just screwed the top on an empty fizzy drink bottle you can still try to sell it to me (or anybody else) if you want, whether I/they think it a worthwhile deal is a different matter.

It just feels stupid to me on so many levels to rent games for money on internet in 2019 no matter how many logical arguments you put in..And i must say you do put many, and know what are you talking about, seemingly.

But hey, if he is making money, than good for him and
people willing to give him their money.
I wish them and him a good fun and profit!

It doesn't make it less stupid to me though. Some aspects look interesting, but overall, in 2019 its so stupid and i cant imagine anyone doing that or paying for that.

P.S. i hope that's NOT where rom's and emulation is going to be in future.

Also if Nintendo does not aproves them as their official rental store or licenced, than..i dont see why would i download from them.

Basically i dont like the idea at all (idk why anyone would), but i bet he does, cause he gets the money... and i would never use it.
Id reather pay nintendo if they ever make something similar, but i dont like to rent games, just movies. i like to own games, and phisically if possible. id reather play them from "google" in retroarch on PC and many other systems whenever.

Also, since i don't have money to toss around i get smart with what game i really want to buy to have in my collection.

But to each his own. If people want to give him money than go for it! but i cant say i will support a guy that ripped his rom and now he rents it to me.

 

[Yepi69]

Well that's a big Nintendon't to Nintendo's empty threats.