Can someone please tell me about emulation?

[DeadManReedeemed]

I've been thinking about it a couple times lately. I'm not sure if it's the same as hacking, and I kinda have mixed feelings about, but can someone give me accuate information on emulating? I'm thinking about downloading an emulator for my Macbook, and I've looked up all the information I possibly could about it (I even looked at Nintendo' viewpoint on their site).


SOMEONE TELL ME!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Deepfreeze32]

Well...what do you want to know? Legality, the computer programming behind it, the different kinds of emulators? Each one is kind of a big topic. XD

Certain people and groups *Ahem* will tell you that emulation is illegal. They aren't really correct. Emulation in and of itself is perfectly legal. If it weren't, then the people behind DOSBox would've been sued ages ago. Also, Sony and Nintendo would be hypocrites.

The real legal issue with emulation is the software running on the emulated platform. For most, this means: Games. There's two schools of thought on this (We'll not count the pirates).

The first is that it's just all around illegal because "The law says so". They're referring to the DMCA, the No Electronic Theft Act, and a few others. Most people who subscribe to this view are wary of the legal implications for a lot of things, not just games.

The second is that it's legal under certain constraints. For example, these people tend to fall into a few different categories: The "As long as I own the game, it's fine" crowd, the "The software is abandonware" crowd, and the "As long as I did it myself" crowd.

The "As long as I own the game, it's fine" crowd uses Fair Use as it's defense. The idea is that since legally, one is allowed to keep archive copies of their software for personal use only, the same concept applies to emulators. This crowd, as far as I know, hasn't had much court exposure.

The "The software is abandonware" crowd tends to argue that if a publisher has rights to a certain piece of software and hasn't been released or available for purchase in stores for a long period of time, then downloading it is OK because the publisher hasn't expressed any intention to re-release the software any time soon. A good example of this is Dune 2, a game by Westwood (Also one of the first and most important RTS games). The game originally came out in 1992, and as far as I know, hasn't been for sale since 1995. Westwood was absorbed by EA in 1998 and closed in 2003. The justification for downloading Dune 2 is that EA has a poor track record of re-releasing old games, and the fact that the original copyright holder no longer exists. This has been successfully challenged in court, I believe. I'm not 100% certain, though.

The "As long as I did it myself" crowd has the strongest argument of them all. The best way to explain this one is to use the best PS2 emulator around, PCSX2. The software requires a dumped copy of the BIOS from a PS2. This can obviously be found on the internet, but such methods are strongly (And I mean strongly) frowned upon by the PCSX2 community. There are legal methods to obtain the BIOS, however. This method involves using some relatively rare software and an ethernet cable. Essentially, you rip a copy of the BIOS over ethernet. This leads to the next problem: Games. One can very easily (And legally) rip a PS2 game to their computer. Other systems such as Wii/Gamecube, Xbox, and cartridges require more specialized methods. Some of these are pretty expensive and elaborate. However, since I don't believe this has been pursued in court, I can't say for certain what the legal status is. It's my thought that this group stands the strongest chance of winning any sort of copyright litigation, simply because they can prove that they followed the law.


I know that doesn't clear things up much, and I'm sorry I can't offhand remember what the exact legal status of certain scenarios are.

[ccgr]

what do you want to emulate?

[DeadManReedeemed]

Let's see........


Some PSP games, PS2 games from Japan, some PS2 games available here, Dreamcast games.......

I think that's it. And I want it all on my Macbook computer. Would need a Logitech controller, though.

[DeadManReedeemed]

Thanks for the info. Anything else I should know about guys? Like having a hacked PS2 or something?

[Nate DaZombie]

I'm not terribly familiar with the subject, but let me put it like this: you want to support the developers. If there is absolutely no way of obtaining the game legally (with the publisher/developer still getting money), go ahead and download it, but buy one of their games that has been released over here (make sure they get the money too, no buying used). The "it's a horrible game, they don't deserve my money" excuse doesn't work here.

NOW, if you just want to be able to play games on your PC/PSP/Vita, then:

1. look into the possible problems of hacking the device and downloading the software
2. Either do the above, or own the games on another system (legally)
3. Listen to someone other than me.

[ArchAngel]

My personal rule of thumb (Because I completely agree with Nate on supporting developers; I also try to avoid buying used, but I'm not so strict with that) is that if you're emulating to avoid buying a game, no. If you're emulating because you can't get it, or want to play it on a different platform, like on a PC or DS, it's cool.

Of course, I'm not the law, but nobody's really hunting down emulater peeps.

[Chozon1]

As far as getting in trouble though, I believe they're after the distributors, not the consumers.

For my part, it's a pile of confusion; as the producers, they'll say illegal no matter what and give you a bunch of legal terms you can't understand as to why. Ask the people who actually do it, and you'll get a probable yes followed by double-talk and shifty eyed explanations.

But to my understanding, it's as Deep said: Emulation is usually OK (except if you get ahold of the firmware required in an illegal fashion (which, unless you're very tech savvy and have some nifty tools, you probably did)), it's getting the software itself that's usually illegal, since it's usually not a copy of your own stuff, but a download off the web.

Even then, there's a lot of crossfire over the concept of "Fair-use" and what, exactly, an "archive-copy" is.

[DeadManReedeemed]

So this is what ArchAngel said:

If you're emulating because you can't get it, or want to play it on a different platform, like on a PC or DS, it's cool.

Does that count for Japanese games that are not released here?

[Nate DaZombie]

Nearly all of emulation is a gray area, but if there's absolutely NO way to legally buy the game where you are, and it's not going to be localized, I'd say go for it. Just be careful about what you download, not every site is legit.

[DeadManReedeemed]

Can you list some legitimate sites for me?

[Nate DaZombie]

I've never had a reason to use emulation; you'll have to ask someone else.

[DeadManReedeemed]

Does anybody know any legitimate emulation download sites?

[ccgr]

We rip our own games, just google the rom you're looking for, as long as you own the game it doesn't matter how you get the ISO

[DeadManReedeemed]

But aren't there illegal game emulation sites?