emulator

[sk8rman]

ok, my friend says that emulators are illegal. another friend says that they arent illegal unless u own the game. am i going to be arrested if i download it?!

[Pedro Lion]

If you have the game, you're clean.If you don't have the game... is better hide.

[oooog]

well, to be fair, more than 90% of the people who get emulators and roms dont even own the game or system for that matter.  none have been arrested for this to my knowledge, and even so, youd probably just get fined or something.

[RPG LORD]

I have a GBA emulator with Golden Sun and Sonic Advance ROMS.
I own both the cartridges and the system, WHAHAHA!!!
So that doesn't sound too illegal

[Pedro Lion]

Originally posted by oooog
well, to be fair, more than 90% of the people who get emulators and roms dont even own the game or system for that matter.  none have been arrested for this to my knowledge, and even so, youd probably just get fined or something.

Yeah.I have SNES, NEO GEO, PLAYSTATION , GBA, GBC and NES emulators and have only PSX.

[Red Giant]

"Emulators" aren't illegal... I think. "Roms" are.

[FFL2and3rocks]

Didn't they change the laws a while ago so you can only have ROMs if you made the ROM yourself? I'm not sure, though...  

[Kijuki_Magazaki]

Laws? Hmmm...where you find ROM laws? lol....well emulators ARE NOT illegal. ROM depending on your situtation are.  If you have a ROM yet you have no game of that ROM (an actual console game) Then it might be illegal...It can also be NOT illegal, if the game does not sell anymore, or you can't get anywhere near you, as in 500 M SQ.(just to example with). Emulators, are freeware (some) making them fully legal. ROM are  shareware they are free trial things. Unless you have the game is illegal to have roms.....however in your computer *smiles evily* Note: When you always get a ROM they tell you to erase from your PC with in 24 hrs....I do that.

[WarxePB]

To sum up:

Emulators are legal. They are normal programs, so you can't get busted.

Roms are legal if you own the original, or if you made it. Otherwise, you'll need to get rid of it within 24 hours.

[Kijuki_Magazaki]

Of your PC. Every ROM hoster says that.

[Red Giant]

Hm... that seems like an odd perspective. What if you got rid of it in 24 hours and then downloaded it again?

EDIT: Hey, has anyone noticed that this is in the GAMES forum?

[oooog]

well it IS about games.

[Pedro Lion]

Yeah, ROMS are GAMES.

[sk8rman]

actually i wasnt thinking when i put it on the "games" section.

so EMULATORS are legal. ROMS are legal only if you have the game, correct?


P.S. how would they figure out if someone had a rom for more than 24 hours?

[WarxePB]

Easy! When you right-click a file and click Properties, it shows you when it was loaded onto the drive. Plus, you would have a guilty conscience, forcing you to delete it.