Even though sometimes it shouldn't be, it is illeg
Posted by: Graham Lee
on June 01, 2004 08:55 PM
I participate in today's Spectrum-using (TS2068, Americans!) community so speak with a little background knowledge. Unless explicit permission has been given for a computer game to be distributed, it's illegal to do so. This is a shame because some games houses deny distribution for games that they have no intention ever of resurrecting - do Codemasters really expect to do another Dizzy game? Or do they think that if people could download Dizzy for the Spectrum, then they'd lose out on new sales? Then there are other situations; you mentioned Donkey Kong. The original DK game is (of course) no longer on sale, but Nintendo still use the Mario and DK marks so it's illegal to distribute DK as you're "passing off" as Nintendo. What's ironic is that at the time many games companies (e.g. Microdeal) came out with unlicensed versions of the games, and were not taken to task.
I suppose people around here know that the RIAA say that if you own a copy of, say, Deep Purple's Stormbringer on vinyl then you don't automatically have a licence to listen to it on CD - the same thing happens in games. If you own Altered Beast on the Genesis then see an arcade machine ROM for it, doesn't mean you can legally use that ROM in MAME. In principle if you want to use a MAME ROM legally then you need to own the arcade cabinet version of the game. Sucks, but that is how it is. At least in the U.K.
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Even though sometimes it shouldn't be, it is illeg
Posted by: Graham Lee on June 01, 2004 08:55 PMI suppose people around here know that the RIAA say that if you own a copy of, say, Deep Purple's Stormbringer on vinyl then you don't automatically have a licence to listen to it on CD - the same thing happens in games. If you own Altered Beast on the Genesis then see an arcade machine ROM for it, doesn't mean you can legally use that ROM in MAME. In principle if you want to use a MAME ROM legally then you need to own the arcade cabinet version of the game. Sucks, but that is how it is. At least in the U.K.
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