I'm a pretty big fan of the Final Fantasy series. I recognize it's not the best franchise, but I still enjoy playing them. One of my favorite games in the series, for completely arbitrary reasons, is Final Fantasy VIII. It was the first one I ever played, and despite owning a copy of the game for a little over a decade, I have yet to beat it, only getting as far as the third disc before abandoning it for some reason or another.
The reason I'm bringing this up is because of an assignment in this class that requires we play a story-heavy game for 20+ hours. An additional assignment asks that we finish the game, though this isn't required, and some writing might be involved (I don't have my syllabus handy as I'm typing this). Regardless, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to try to beat FFVIII.
The only problem was, I didn't have the discs handy, nor did I feel like monopolizing the TV in my suite's common room. Of course, me being computer savvy, I already had the perfect solution: run isos of the discs in a PlayStation emulator on my computer.
For those who don't know what emulators are, they are applications that simulate a video game console (or old-school computer systems) on your personal computer. You play games by downloading a "rom", which is the game's data ripped from it's medium (cartridge or disc) stored a file on a computer, and then loading the rom into the emulator application. After that, it's like playing any other computer game, with a keyboard (or other input devices) acting as a surrogate for the original system's controllers.
The legality of emulators and roms are debated around the world. Many nations have recognized that emulators in and of themselves are not illegal, and don't infringe upon any patents or copyrights. The problem is with the roms, which are almost universally illegal, unless you own an actual copy of the game, and you have the rom for backup purposes.
Personally, I find the illegality of roms to be ridiculous. By the time an emulator can properly simulate a console on an average consumer-model PC, most of the games associated with that console are nearly five years old, and are bought almost exclusively used; the publishers and developers are no longer receiving payment from the sale of these games. Silly IP laws drafted by out-of-touch congressmen aside, describing such a scenario as piracy seems absolutely foolish.
Furthermore, in classes such as this, where students are encouraged to investigate and play various games, many of which might be from previous generations, emulators and roms provide a convenient, space-saving, and low-cost solution. For those who didn't grow up with video games, it may also be the only way for them to experience the games associated with an older era, as few businesses today buy and sell outdated games and consoles anymore, with the exception of small-scale specialty stores and online marketplaces.
The only problem with my argument is the sudden reintroduction of previous generation games into the current generation, via proprietary emulators available through app stores on modern consoles. While this does validate game publishers' claims that emulation is piracy, it's a very cheap and selfish claim; they're making you pay for a game that has not undergone any updates, which has been floating around the market for years, and from which otherwise they would not see a dime. On the surface they're offering you a chance to play your old games on a new system, legally, but underneath they're eschewing innovation and hiding behind a wall of convoluted and obsolete laws all in the name of making a quick buck.
In the end, the use of emulators comes down to a philosophical decision: "support" the developers and publishers by purchasing a digital copy of a game they made years ago, or just download it for free off of seedy websites. Me? I prefer the latter. And if any publishers want to take me to court, I'll just promise to buy their next game, provided it's not a port or a remake.
I love emulators, they make playing pokemon so much easier :) But I do think that companies that complain about them are just out to get more money. Like you said, the games availible on them are often quite old (in the gaming world) so why shouldn't they be remotely free when they are no different? After all of the money that I have invested in my gaming life and my boyfriends, having a few free games here and there is a nice break on my credit card.
ReplyDeleteLOl you won't be buying any new games for a while. Everything seems to be a port, remake, reboot, or a sequel which today is nothing but a shinny port/remake (Note 13-2,10 remake on vita, damn SE can't make a good game to save their company like Square did with the original FF. Though oddly enough kids all buy their sorry excuses for new final fantasy anyway!)
ReplyDeleteUgh, SE used to be my absolute favorite developer, back when they were just Squaresoft. FF up through X were great, if a little repetitive, and they even experimented with titles back then like with Brave Fencer Musashi, Chrono Trigger, and even the hilariously bad The Bouncer (which my younger brother adores for reasons I will never fathom).
DeleteThese days, almost everything they produce is a port. Not even a remake, or a graphical update, just a god damned port. "Hey, want FFX for your Vita? Here you go! It looks and sounds exactly like it did on the PS2, despite the fact that we've probably picked up a few tricks since then!" Even when it's not a port, it's just another half-hearted addition to the FF series, or some Kingdom Hearts tie-in. How many consoles do you need to get the whole KH story? Five? Whatever. I don't have that kind of money or patience.
Honestly, I've been contemplating remaking one of the PSX FF games on my own, and then releasing it for free, just because I'd like to see a remake done right. And if SE demands that I take it down, or pay damages, I'd probably just hand them the source code and say "put it on PSN and I'll consider us even."
I was just checking through blogs and I just figured blogger would tell me if someone responded to my response, but I guess not. But yea I do absolutely agree with Squaresoft being the best (well for JRPG back when there were no Western RPGs)though I do have to say that the Bouncer was great just b/c it was just so full of itself that it didn't care wtf it was.
DeleteAnd KH just need to make KH3 and be done with it! I seriously don't care about the tie ins anymore. I'm just done! And if you do any FF it should deff be 6, greatest one yet(and prob ever if they keep making more FF13's) (I swear they have a plot to make 13 FF13 games!)
Concerning the legality of Roms,I'm not sure if those sites where you can purchase them for about five bucks each are affiliated with the companies of those games or not - I sort of doubt it.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, back when I wanted Chrono Trigger or Earthbound (and before they had the app stores to buy a rehashed version of the game to play on a separate console, or atleast I was unaware of you could) I played them on an emulator with free ROMs. Don't worry, I intended to buy the game in its original state, but cult classics often go in the hundreds as these did and a teenager certainly isn't going to shell out that find of cash..
If a site is selling ROMs, and not the physical games, they're blatantly illegal, unless the site is owned by the publisher that owns the rights to that game. As far as I know, no such site exists.
DeleteAs for Chrono Trigger or Earthbound, considering both are well over a decade old each, and that all the parent companies have been doing to them is straight porting them to new consoles without adding anything new, I don't see anything wrong with downloading them. Even if you bought the cartridges, chances are SE and Nintendo wouldn't see a cent.
The way I see it, if they want me to repurchase an old game, they better be prepared to remake the whole damn thing from the ground up, like SE did with FFIV for the DS.