The warez party

[Stormwatch]

A new Swedish party has been founded by software pirates with the aim of abolishing copyrights, patens and trademarks. They founders want to be in the next election for the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) which is scheduled for September 24th and the party is a reaction to the stricter legislation against piracy introduced by the current Swedish government. Fittingly this new party has been christened "Piratpartiet" – the Pirate Party.

source

[system11]

In a word, 'dumbasses'.

[howmuchkeefe]

Why does this party exist? I suppose you'd get a different answer, depending on who you asked. "Well, there are a lot of freeloaders out there," is one you'd likely hear from supporters of the current state of IP law. Others might argue that this party exists because people are tired of the intrusive, expensive and life-ruining tactics of certain champions of IP law, such as the RIAA.

IP law in its current form is BS; a way for potentially immortal mega-citizens to extort rights from actual creators, and keep them for centuries. Few things will ever be public domain again unless something is done about the insanity.

Ever buy a video game that wouldn't run on your computer, due to copy protection technology? Ever have one of your newly-purchased CDs install a rootkit on your computer? Guess what- chances are that anyone who illegally obtained those same products did not suffer the inconveniences that you, the law-abiding citizen, did.

IMO, the current state of IP law represents a load of presumptive crap, one that can do little but damage society's respect for laws in general.

[benstylus]

Anyone can complain about how things are, but it's a lot harder to talk about how to fix them.

Looking at the other side of the fence, publishers see their works being illegally distributed all over the place.

With a little searching, you can find bootleg downloads of newly released movies, music, and games (for PC and console) without much trouble.

What are publishers supposed to do, just sit there and let people steal from them?

They're trying to enforce their rights as copyright holders.

In all likelihood they've spent hundreds of hours trying to figure out the best balance among the amount they're spending to stop piracy, the amount of piracy they're stopping, and the transparency to the average consumer.

Adding copy protection schemes is a relatively inexpensive way to go.

They've tried monitoring file sharing programs and prosecuting, but that small scale of it seemed to be more of a publicity stunt than anything else. They just don't have the resources to go after everyone.

Piracy is a huge issue. On almost every forum I visit, 90% of the people admit to regularly downloading things illegaly (mostly music or roms).

So what can they do? What should publishers do to stop piracy?

Do copyright laws need a serious overhaul? Probably. I think $150,000.00 is an insane fine for downloading a single movie. But that's a battle to take up with the legislature, not by breaking the laws.

If you ARE going to break the laws, hiding behind the relative anonymity of the internet does not make your case any better. "Civil disobedience" relies on making it quite clear and public exactly what and exactly why you are doing it. Prosecution is a risk you take in such circumstances. Hiding your crimes makes you look like a thief, not like a hero fighting against injustice.

[howmuchkeefe]

bandylus - In the case of certain forms of software, I think a lot of the piracy that's going on is due to the fact that the pirated products aren't really available for purchase. I would dearly love to be able to buy an emulator from Sega.com, then go about buying ISOs/ROMs from those who developed them/ended up with the rights.

I can't do this. If I want to play these games, my options are to A) Illegally download the games in a matter of hours, or B) To undertake a prohibitively expensive and time consuming process to legally acquire them. Option C), I suppose, is to delay gratification. If the industry is going to push option C), rather than make option B) a less painful experience, then I expect piracy to enjoy popularity for some time.

A common complaint of those who pirate things like operating systems, adobe products and the like, is that they are too expensive to legally buy. It seems to me that the industry's options here are to A) reduce the price of their products, B) utilize ever-more sophisticated anti-piracy processes in an effort to reduce piracy, or C) embark on a campaign of litigation and intimidation, a la the RIAA. A) might lead to the company losing money with every sale, B) could inconvenience legal users, and C) is just frightfully bad consumer relations, and could possibly cause lasting damage to the concept of individual privacy rights. I have no answer to this problem.

[magnum opus]

Anyone can complain about how things are, but it's a lot harder to talk about how to fix them.

Looking at the other side of the fence, publishers see their works being illegally distributed all over the place.

With a little searching, you can find bootleg downloads of newly released movies, music, and games (for PC and console) without much trouble.

What are publishers supposed to do, just sit there and let people steal from them?

They're trying to enforce their rights as copyright holders.

In all likelihood they've spent hundreds of hours trying to figure out the best balance among the amount they're spending to stop piracy, the amount of piracy they're stopping, and the transparency to the average consumer.

Adding copy protection schemes is a relatively inexpensive way to go.

They've tried monitoring file sharing programs and prosecuting, but that small scale of it seemed to be more of a publicity stunt than anything else. They just don't have the resources to go after everyone.

Piracy is a huge issue. On almost every forum I visit, 90% of the people admit to regularly downloading things illegaly (mostly music or roms).

So what can they do? What should publishers do to stop piracy?

and yet somehow miraculously the industries continue to grow

[Andi]

Publishers need to find a way to make their product an interesting object worth owning. This is harder with software, but it could start with great hard copy documentation, command lists, and reference sheets instead of shitty online documentation.

With albums, this is much easier, interesting album art and packaging with a fat cover book of photos and interesting information.

Certainly, this may not rope everyone in to not pirating, but it is a good place to start.

I personally believe that part of the reason piracy has become so popular is that most things are not worth what they are charging for it. So the two obvious solutions seem to be add value to the product, or cut the price of the product.

[BulletMagnet]

So the two obvious solutions seem to be add value to the product, or cut the price of the product.

But see, that means at least some short-term drop in profits (and, God forbid, increase in effort) for the higher-ups. And in the business world, the burden of sacrifice only exists for the working class, so if any actions like the above were made, the costs would fall on the backs of the workers, who would complain and demand that the old way of doing things be brought back. And the higher-ups would use that as a source of vindication for themselves.

Someone's gotta be exploited or ripped off somewhere down the line; it's just a question of who the fat cats decide to sic against who in order for them to keep their own ridiculous salaries out of the limelight.

[GaijinPunch]

In a word, 'dumbasses'.

Beat me to it.

[Neon]

In a word, 'dumbasses'.

Beat me to it.

It's really depressing to see so much support for piracy on this very forum. In an age where shmups ports are uncommon and even more uncommonly very well done, Arika ports ESPGaluda (an excellent game), does it well, and sells only 10k copies.

Good job sticking it to the man, you fucking assholes.

[howmuchkeefe]

It's really depressing to see so much support for piracy on this very forum. In an age where shmups ports are uncommon and even more uncommonly very well done, Arika ports ESPGaluda (an excellent game), does it well, and sells only 10k copies.

This seems to me to be a perfect example of my theory that lack of reasonable availability fuels piracy.

ESPGaluda isn't easily available where I live. You can only legally play it if you've bought an imported copy of the game, and imported another PS2 to play it on while you were at it- the PS2 that you, the American consumer, probably have already won't play the game unless you break the law.

There are no legal PS2 emulators. ESPGaluda isn't available for download from Cave's website.

You want the game, but unless you are willing to spend a lot of money in order to support what are very likely to appear to you to be anti-intuitive policies, you can't have it. You may even resent the insanity of it all.

You might think to yourself... "I don't want to cough up nearly $200 for another PS2; I'll just mod mine." -All well and good. You can still get a copy of ESPGaluda without depriving the game's developers.

However, you might latch onto the fact that you've broken the law in modifying your PS2, and spin from it a rationale that justifies illegally downloading an ISO- after all, you're already a criminal. What good did your efforts to legally purchase the game from amazon.com do you?

[Fighter17]

A new Swedish party has been founded by software pirates with the aim of abolishing copyrights, patens and trademarks. They founders want to be in the next election for the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) which is scheduled for September 24th and the party is a reaction to the stricter legislation against piracy introduced by the current Swedish government. Fittingly this new party has been christened "Piratpartiet" – the Pirate Party.

source

Holy.....

It's really depressing to see so much support for piracy on this very forum. In an age where shmups ports are uncommon and even more uncommonly very well done, Arika ports ESPGaluda (an excellent game), does it well, and sells only 10k copies.

This seems to me to be a perfect example of my theory that lack of reasonable availability fuels piracy.

ESPGaluda isn't easily available where I live. You can only legally play it if you've bought an imported copy of the game, and imported another PS2 to play it on while you were at it- the PS2 that you, the American consumer, probably have already won't play the game unless you break the law.

There are no legal PS2 emulators. ESPGaluda isn't available for download from Cave's website.

You want the game, but unless you are willing to spend a lot of money in order to support what are very likely to appear to you to be anti-intuitive policies, you can't have it. You may even resent the insanity of it all.

You might think to yourself... "I don't want to cough up nearly $200 for another PS2; I'll just mod mine." -All well and good. You can still get a copy of ESPGaluda without depriving the game's developers.

However, you might latch onto the fact that you've broken the law in modifying your PS2, and spin from it a rationale that justifies illegally downloading an ISO- after all, you're already a criminal. What good did your efforts to legally purchase the game from amazon.com do you?

I got my PS2 modded for burn games. I can't afford over $80 for a game, it's impossible since I don't have a job. I will buy any PS2 shmup that gets release here in the US, because I love the gene to death. I have enough money to buy Genesis/Megadrive shooters, which is cool because I love shmups.

By modding your PS2, you break the law, by downoading the ISO, you break the law, BUT I DON'T HAVE THE FUCKING MONEY! I want to try out the games that you guys are talking about right now, and also to see if they are worth it to me to buy those games in the future. I download ISOs for the Saturn just to see if these games are worth my money. For one, I don't want to get Radiant Silvergun because it was too long and the gameplay was just meh. By downloading the ISOs, I really want to buy all the Raizing shooters ever made for the Saturn, because THEY FUCKING RULE!

I have my reasons to bootleg, mostly because I'm 16 with no job, and I can't afford $80.

[Neon]

A new Swedish party has been founded by software pirates with the aim of abolishing copyrights, patens and trademarks. They founders want to be in the next election for the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) which is scheduled for September 24th and the party is a reaction to the stricter legislation against piracy introduced by the current Swedish government. Fittingly this new party has been christened "Piratpartiet" – the Pirate Party.

source

Holy.....

It's really depressing to see so much support for piracy on this very forum. In an age where shmups ports are uncommon and even more uncommonly very well done, Arika ports ESPGaluda (an excellent game), does it well, and sells only 10k copies.

This seems to me to be a perfect example of my theory that lack of reasonable availability fuels piracy.

ESPGaluda isn't easily available where I live. You can only legally play it if you've bought an imported copy of the game, and imported another PS2 to play it on while you were at it- the PS2 that you, the American consumer, probably have already won't play the game unless you break the law.

There are no legal PS2 emulators. ESPGaluda isn't available for download from Cave's website.

You want the game, but unless you are willing to spend a lot of money in order to support what are very likely to appear to you to be anti-intuitive policies, you can't have it. You may even resent the insanity of it all.

You might think to yourself... "I don't want to cough up nearly $200 for another PS2; I'll just mod mine." -All well and good. You can still get a copy of ESPGaluda without depriving the game's developers.

However, you might latch onto the fact that you've broken the law in modifying your PS2, and spin from it a rationale that justifies illegally downloading an ISO- after all, you're already a criminal. What good did your efforts to legally purchase the game from amazon.com do you?

I got my PS2 modded for burn games. I can't afford over $80 for a game, it's impossible since I don't have a job. I will buy any PS2 shmup that gets release here in the US, because I love the gene to death. I have enough money to buy Genesis/Megadrive shooters, which is cool because I love shmups.

By modding your PS2, you break the law, by downoading the ISO, you break the law, BUT I DON'T HAVE THE FUCKING MONEY! I want to try out the games that you guys are talking about right now, and also to see if they are worth it to me to buy those games in the future. I download ISOs for the Saturn just to see if these games are worth my money. For one, I don't want to get Radiant Silvergun because it was too long and the gameplay was just meh. By downloading the ISOs, I really want to buy all the Raizing shooters ever made for the Saturn, because THEY FUCKING RULE!

I have my reasons to bootleg, mostly because I'm 16 with no job, and I can't afford $80.

I guess I'm not one to talk, since I pirated way more than you do at 16.

But seriously, you can afford several hundred dollars for a modded ps2 but not an $80 game and swap magics? Bullshit.

The advantage of shmups is that they aren't like mainstream games...most good ones won't lose their value. Buy one. If you like it, it should last you a few hundred hours of gameplay. If you hate it, sell it for a small loss.

Shit, the USA releases of virtua fighter 4 evo and psx G darius should cost you eight bucks each tops, and give you hundreds of hours of fun gameplay apiece.

Food for thought.

[GaijinPunch]

I hate to be the complete dick, but I mean... if one doesn't have a job, should he be spending such time on games?

I don't want to sound all holier than thou, as I've played downloaded roms quite a bit, and even a few DC games (usually just the shitty ones) but I've never tried to make it sound okay b/c I couldn't afford it. It's not - and never will be. I guess I slightly justified what little piracy I've been apart of by the shitloads of game-related crap I buy, but even that doesn't justify it. Nothing will. It's stealing - period.

[Dylan1CC]

That is hilarious. I wonder what the campaign for the Swedish pirate party looks like.......

.......



Napoleon grabs a vote for ____ button from one of the Swedish parliament members, throws it and then runs

[CMoon]

A very similar issue recently came up on this music forum I'm on (regarding soul seek). I found myself (surprisingly) saying this isn't about piracy at all; what it is about is a mindset! Suppose someone is out supporting the games he likes but ocassionally pirates a game, probably no loss. What about the dude who never has enough money for any games, but plays a bunch of romz; again, since he wasn't in the market anyway, he doesn't hurt the market by playing roms he never would have bought in the first place.

Neither of these demographics are the issue. The issue are those folks who really see the pirated copies as being the same as owning, and feel self-righteous in ripping off the creators of said software.

So here's what I'm trying to get at: We live in a capitalistic society, which really boils down to you supporting what you like with your money. The makers of these games aren't hurt by you playing roms, they are hurt by you chosing NOT to support their hard work with your money.

I don't care how easy it will be to download Under Defeat, or how many months before the game it comes out. I will buy the game because I feel the need to support what G-Rev is going, and subsequently am also supporting the import companies that are doing what I want them to do.

Basically, if you have the means, and you appreciate a certain medium/artform/whatever, you should try to support it--in fact, you owe it to the creators to support their work.

The idea of a Pirate Party (arrggg!) implies that the creator of any particular work doesn't not deserve to get paid for their work...
...
...
FUCK THAT!

[Specineff]

I think the best deterrent to piracy would be not charging and arm and a leg for crappy music. Giving you DRM-ed downloads but with full quality or lossless. (Come on, nowadays everyone is getting broadband, so filesize is no longer an issue), and stop being general jerks with their publishing policies. (Gameplay is irrelevant, anyone?) And no regions, goshdangit. (Wonder why Sony and other companies don't mind their DVD players set for multi-region in Mexico and south america? Otherwise those region 4 DVD players would be sitting there forever.)

For the record, I have found myself converting to lossless non-drm the music I have bought online. Because I normally can't back it up, and if I lose it, pretty much no one is going to let me download it again. Non-drm music doesn't worry me that much.

DRM is more of a temptation to break the scheme, rather than a deterrent, sometimes.

[Stormwatch]

But seriously, you can afford several hundred dollars for a modded ps2 but not an $80 game and swap magics? Bullshit.

Think about it like this: when you're a child or teenager, no job, you can only get stuff by asking your parents. And if your parents are poor, or simply cheap, maybe you can convince them to buy you a console, since that's an one time expense; but you simply can't convince them to buy you games at $80.

[Fighter17]

I guess I'm not one to talk, since I pirated way more than you do at 16.

But seriously, you can afford several hundred dollars for a modded ps2 but not an $80 game and swap magics? Bullshit.

The advantage of shmups is that they aren't like mainstream games...most good ones won't lose their value. Buy one. If you like it, it should last you a few hundred hours of gameplay. If you hate it, sell it for a small loss.

Shit, the USA releases of virtua fighter 4 evo and psx G darius should cost you eight bucks each tops, and give you hundreds of hours of fun gameplay apiece.

Food for thought.

When I purchase the PS2 back in 2001, my father paid 50% of it, and me and my brother paid the other 50%. My brother did the mod-chip installation and the swap magic trick, and I have to get the burn games.

Last week I gave my brother the PS2 because I didn't played it for the last two months and I was playing more of the Genesis lately. All the money I get from my parents and my copied Anime shows (I sell them to kids for cheap, I know just kill me) are going for my Genesis collection. It sucks when the town you live in doesn't have public transportation and all the areas of work is just too far away. What makes things ever worst that they're not a lot of places of work for 16 years olds (in my area that is). Also I was raised by education comes first and jobs come second. I get a lot of school work time to time so it's impossible for me to work.

My reasons.

[Ganelon]

Games are a luxury, you know, not necessities for living. The "can't afford it" excuse is really tiring. At least don't bother trying to excuse your actions if you download stuff; no need to justify to everybody what you're doing is fair in some way or another. At 16, I was already working full time during summer and winter school breaks and could already afford many games a week (not that I spent much of my money on games).

And as stated, many shooter purchases can be seen as longtime rentals. Get DAI-OU-JOU used, have fun with it for a few months, and then sell it back for pretty much the same price, meaning you only lose on a $5 shipping/rental fee. Of course, if we're just going by the "is it hurting the publishers" question here as opposed to the legality issue, then no, either way you're not helping profit the companies making the games.

And modding your system isn't breaking the law any more than modding your PC is breaking the law; how anybody came to that conclusion is beyond me. The only thing it does is break your warranty. That's about as illegal as transporting a game from one region to another for personal use. Many companies frown on it and put scary notices but they can't do anything about it because it's entirely legal. Same thing with international versions of drugs and books. By downloading an ISO without owning the game, you're absolutely breaking the law by stealing intellectual property without owning the right to use it.

Just like GP, I hope I didn't sound "holier than thou" on you. What I'm getting at basically is: do what you want but please, no more claiming that there's justification for piracy. That reeks of the desire to try and excuse oneself from fully acknowledging one's actions.

[benstylus]

And modding your system isn't breaking the law any more than modding your PC is breaking the law; how anybody came to that conclusion is beyond me.

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (which you can thank Bill Clinton for signing into law here in America) has specific provisions against it.

"No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title."

"No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, that—
(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title;
(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title;
or
(C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person’s knowledge for use in circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title."

On the other hand, there are arguments that region coding itself is illegal as it can constitute price fixing, among other things. There is no reason DVDs and Games in the UK should cost 30% to 40% more (or even higher) than they do in the US.

[Specineff]

The problem with the DMCA is that wasn't suggested or supported by John Q. Consumer to protect his interests. In the name of copyright companies are trying to implement measures to keep you from watching (yes, even watching. HDMI implements this, but thank God it hasn't taken effect yet) a program you are not supposed to.

Good thing about that crap is that people end up abandoning such restricting products. Case in point: Net-MiniDisc and Hi-Minidisc in favor of the I(diot)-Pod.

[BulletMagnet]

That's about as illegal as transporting a game from one region to another for personal use. Many companies frown on it and put scary notices but they can't do anything about it because it's entirely legal.

Or, in Cave's case, because they misspelled it so badly.

The problem with the DMCA is that wasn't suggested or supported by John Q. Consumer to protect his interests.

Since when has any such law been in the interests of the consumer? Come on, the government lets oil execs in on energy policy meetings, of course the legislation it passes is going to be in the interests of businesses and not consumers. Not to mention that accountability to voters is barely an issue, since people will let the government rob them blind as long as they're suitably distracted by other "issues", or are somehow fooled into thinking that their being ripped off is actually in their best interests. But honestly, when it comes to stuff like this, those with the money and influence hold all the cards; the rest of us exist only to further enrich them.

[elvis]

The problem with the DMCA is that wasn't suggested or supported by John Q. Consumer to protect his interests. In the name of copyright companies are trying to implement measures to keep you from watching (yes, even watching. HDMI implements this, but thank God it hasn't taken effect yet) a program you are not supposed to.

More furstratingly it was also designed to prevent media transferrence of legally licensed material.

In a great deal of countries it is perfectly legal to take a copyright piece of work that you have paid for legally, and transfer it to another medium, supposing that you stay within the copyright guidelines and do no do so for profit, nor to use two copies of said work simultaneously.

In some countries (like Australia, where I am) it is actually illegal to do this (for instance, I may not rip a CD to MP3 even for personal use, which is utterly retarded). As of yet we do not have rediculous DMCA style laws in this country, but if the rampant US butkissing of our Prime Minister over the last few years is anything to judge by, it may be imposed on us as part of our currently ludicroous "Fair Trade Agreement" (fair to whom?) that is currently in place.

Modding consoles is currently legal in Australia, but only for import play. I'm purchasing a PS2 shortly, and will be modding it. I should note however that I will only be using the modded console to play legally-purchased import games that are not available in my region. Of course, if a PAL copy of Mushihime Sama appears on shelves in my local K-Mart, I'll hold back from the console modding. But quite frankly, that will never happen

It's really depressing to see so much support for piracy on this very forum. In an age where shmups ports are uncommon and even more uncommonly very well done, Arika ports ESPGaluda (an excellent game), does it well, and sells only 10k copies.

I in no way condone software theft ("piracy" is a stupid word, by the way) but again, I don't see ESPGaluda on shelves in my local stores. Fortunately I am willing to spend the extra money to purchase it from overseas, however I know plenty of people who will not buy it because it isn't available in their area.

I have the same issue with MAME. People label me a "dirty pirate" because I play MAME games. Yet last time I checked, I can't purchase a great deal of games available in MAME locally (nor internationally most times). And buying second-hand is no better, as the money doesn't ever land in the hands of the developers (despite the fact that I do collect second-hand arcade gear also, but I still feel bad that those dollars go to the leeches that run the second-hand gaming market, and not the game developers themselves).

In this day and age of iTunes and instant-downloads, why aren't we seeing "iROMs" where I can download the entire set of games from my favourite manufacturer? I'd be willing to fork out quite a bit of cash for some of these games - I see original SF2 boards go for $80 on eBay, and I'd be willing to pay the same for the ROM, especially if 100% of it went to Capcom (and not 30%, like it does when I buy a PS2 game) which means Capcom get the reward for their hard work, and in turn incentive to make more good quality software. Ditto for any other games company you could mention.

Yet I don't have the opportunity to buy a great deal of software I really want. Yes, I understand it is a "want" and not a "need", but at the same time I am more than willing to pay for these wants.

And still, despite all this, the DMCA is in place to stop me doing "illegal" things. So I'm left waving a bunch of money in my fist and having none of the games I want to pay for and play in my area. Sounds to me like someone high up missed the point of commercial enterprise.

[FRO]

In this day and age of iTunes and instant-downloads, why aren't we seeing "iROMs" where I can download the entire set of games from my favourite manufacturer? I'd be willing to fork out quite a bit of cash for some of these games - I see original SF2 boards go for $80 on eBay, and I'd be willing to pay the same for the ROM, especially if 100% of it went to Capcom (and not 30%, like it does when I buy a PS2 game) which means Capcom get the reward for their hard work, and in turn incentive to make more good quality software. Ditto for any other games company you could mention.

Yet I don't have the opportunity to buy a great deal of software I really want. Yes, I understand it is a "want" and not a "need", but at the same time I am more than willing to pay for these wants.

And still, despite all this, the DMCA is in place to stop me doing "illegal" things. So I'm left waving a bunch of money in my fist and having none of the games I want to pay for and play in my area. Sounds to me like someone high up missed the point of commercial enterprise.

You raise an interesting question. My theory on this is that emulators would begin to become commercial entities. If ROM dumps are free & readily available (legality notwithstanding), emulators will be free. If ROM sets begin to become marketable by the original manufacturer (or the current Trademark/Copyright holder), many emulators will begin to take the same turn. How many people are going to want to pay $80 for Street Fighter 2 when it's an old game & they could have purchased the SF2 Anniversary pack for PS2 or any # of SF2 derivatives released for various consoles over the years? I realize that's just an example, & games that have seen no console release would fare better, but still. As much as I'd like to see a home port of Viper Phase 1, I would never pay $80 for it. $50 or $60 maybe, but that's pushing it. The point is, commercial emulators are not well-known for much success. Look at iNes - just about every good freeware emu has passed it up in terms of quality & compatibility. And even those that have little competition are widely distributed over the Internet for free (Magic Engine anyone?). I'm just not sure that game manufacturers want to open that can of worms.

Now with DRM (which I don't care for), game makers could release ROM sets of arcade games that would either have to work with a specific platform (MAME only, or some commercial emu as an example), or they could mark each ROM set w/ a codekey so you would have to enter your codekey from the manufacturer prior to playing the ROM (every time). Sorta like a product key for other software installation. Again, that won't stop some widespread distribution, what with keygens & warez IRC/FTP downloads. At least it would be a step in the right direction, from the perspective of the Copyright/Trademark holders. They would have the ability to earn some kind of profit from the product itself.

[Marc]

have the same issue with MAME. People label me a "dirty pirate" because I play MAME games. Yet last time I checked, I can't purchase a great deal of games available in MAME locally (nor internationally most times). And buying second-hand is no better, as the money doesn't ever land in the hands of the developers (despite the fact that I do collect second-hand arcade gear also, but I still feel bad that those dollars go to the leeches that run the second-hand gaming market, and not the game developers themselves).

In this day and age of iTunes and instant-downloads, why aren't we seeing "iROMs" where I can download the entire set of games from my favourite manufacturer? I'd be willing to fork out quite a bit of cash for some of these games - I see original SF2 boards go for $80 on eBay, and I'd be willing to pay the same for the ROM, especially if 100% of it went to Capcom (and not 30%, like it does when I buy a PS2 game) which means Capcom get the reward for their hard work, and in turn incentive to make more good quality software. Ditto for any other games company you could mention.

Your pricing is a little skewed, but I agree with the sentiment. I bought Taito Legends, despite having every one of the games on MameOX already. I bought the SFII packs. I will buy Capcom Classics and Taito Legends 2. I would love to download the Raiden Fighters games for a decent fee, amongst all the other coin-ops that never got decent home ports. Developers are whining, but doing nothing to cut out the middle man. Why is it the I can see the much-maligned Microsoft doing more for retro/classic gming with 360 Live Arcade than everyone else put together?

[zaphod]

Count me in te "buys commercial emulator packs" camp. i've doe it fo rpc and I've done it for ps2. I will continue to support quality software at a reasonable price. I also have not modded my ps2. I've fond out a way to play imports that doesn't void my warranty or use a slide card. (it's called hdloader, people.)

I will still probably download ISOs of products that no one is willing to sell me.

I make a point of not buying stuff used unless it's no longer avaialble on the first hand market. If you buy used games when new ones are available you are hurting the publishers just as much as you are if you pirated that title instead. But if the game is out of print, then you aren't hurting them any.

[benstylus]

I have the same issue with MAME. People label me a "dirty pirate" because I play MAME games. Yet last time I checked, I can't purchase a great deal of games available in MAME locally (nor internationally most times).

I think you may be missing one key point: It's not your call.

Just because you want something at a particular point in time (an older arcade game, for example) doesn't mean the copyright holder has make it available to you, even if you were willing to pay them for it.

It's their decision not to make it available to you, not your decision whether it should be available to you.

Those games that you're stealing now may one day end up in a future Taito Legends or Capcom Classics pack. Just because they're not catering to your particular gaming whim at this particular moment doesn't mean you should simply be able to take the rom.

One of the perks of having a copyright is that you can choose to make it more or less available. Look at what Disney does - they 'retire' their older films. Does that mean that you have a right to download a film if you missed the boat and it's no longer available? Of course not.

With the world literally at your fingertips on the internet, it's as easy to rationalize to yourself why you're stealing as it is to actually steal. A simple internet search using the right words could probably lead me to any rom I could want. And there's thousands of people doing the same thing - the chances of getting caught are pretty much zero.

But just because it's easy doesn't mean it's all right.

Now, if we were talking about something essential to life, that would be a different story. But we're talking about free time entertainment here. I do not think anyone here would suffer any negative physical or emotional repercussions from not playing a particular video game. The same cannot be said for things like food.

Would it be cool to see more compilations or retro releases? Absolutely. I'm all for just about anything that makes it easier for more people to legally play the classics. But it's up to the copyright holders how, and more importantly if and when, they want to make them available.

It's not up to you to decide that it should be available NOW so you're going to steal it until it is made available.

[iatneH]

This seems to be a popular choice among the fraternities in universities here..

http://www.marijuanaparty.com/index.en.php3

I haven't read through their site but I can't help but wonder what their policies are on more critical matters, like... international trade...

[BenT]

I'm pleasantly surprised to see the amount of anti-piracy sentiment here. I sometimes get the impression that the Shmups crowd is a bit warezy (in general). As someone who's paid for every one of his games that can rankle me.