REAL massive pwnage.

[Zeep]

Many of you may have already read in the Star Fox Command thread in the DS section about how a ROM of the game was leaked even before it's Japanese release date. This has sparked a big controversy on the GameFAQs boards, not so much about the legality of ROMs, but the morality of it. Here are a few select quotes taken from the argument. All quotes are completely unedited.

I have yet to pirate a single game that I did niether of these:

1. Deleted after I decided I didn't like it.
2. Bought the game once it was released in the US.

Whether you like to believe it or not, there ARE moral pirates out there.

Your #1 is still bad for the industry, though, which in turns leads through the path of consequences I listed. I've bought games I didn't like and had to live with it. I've bought games that I've enjoyed for two weeks then got sick of them and never played them again.

#2 is justified enough... but I would very much doubt that's the norm for pirates, at all.

If a game company can't create games good enough to warrant a purchase, then they deserve to go out of business.

And if a game company has to "trick" you into buying it, and then you find out it's a bad game, they should DEFINITELY go out of business.

I don't know how you can defend companies for making bad games.

ahh.. I see if one bad company makes a bad game and you.. well bye it. you have the right to, pairt ("still") a defrent game from a defrent company.. ( s..upid-cough.. ) oh ya have heard of renting a game before you bye it.

First: learn to speak English. I'm just going to ignore the parts that I can't understand, so that leaves me with... the last sentence.

Yes, I have heard of renting a game before I buy it. It costs a lot of money, and all of that money goes to the rental store, none to the game company. I'd rather give the money to the company that made my flashcart.

1: I do know how to speak "English".

2: I just messed typed.

3: I fixed it.

& 4: ahh.. you pour baby renting games cost to much, so you have to steal them.. I fill so sorry for you.. not!

hey we all have too pay for are games, what makes you so special that you get them for free.. opps.. I mean steal.

1. If you know how to speak English, try doing that. Buy =/= bye. Different =/= deferent. Feel =/= fill. To =/= to. Our =/= are. I don't waste my time arguing with idiots.

2. We're talking about game company profit here, right? So it doesn't matter how much it costs to rent a game, the point is that none of the money, whether it costs $1 or $100, goes to the developer/publisher.

3. Let me go back to your original post (I fixed it for you this time):

Ahh.. I see, if one bad company makes a bad game and you buy it, you have the right to pirate ("steal") a different game from a different company.

Where did you come up with the idea of any "different game" being involved? I like to try all games before buying them, especially ones that I suspect may not be very good games. That way, I don't waste my money buying a game that's no good.

Let's look at a similar situation. A game comes out that you are considering buying. Your friend already has the game. You borrow it from him, and decide you don't like it, so you don't buy it. Are you stealing from the game company because you didn't buy a bad game?

Whether you will admit it or not, the person who pirates a game and decides he doesn't like it isn't doing any more harm to anyone than the person who borrows a game and decides he doesn't like it, or the person who plays a public demo and decides he doesn't like it.

Also, you want to know what makes me so special that I get to try games for free?

I have a flashcart, and you don't.

Don't like it? Buy one. Too expensive? Oh, I feel soo sorry for you.

[SuperLuigiBros]

Meh. I can handle using Roms and stuff. I see pirating games as someone downloading and then selling it - i.e. making money from other peoples work. Thats not cool. However, if its to see whether or not a game is worth getting, then I think its justified.

That guys english was freakin horrid btw. It certainly didnt help his case, although I can see his point. I agree more with you though.

[Unspoken]

:O MASSIVE PWN!

Yeah, I agree with thecube. I can see his point, but I think you had a better means of displaying yours. Great job, man!

[Lucent Beam]

I understand where he's coming from, but I'd be 100% surprised if he had never downloaded a song or anything like that.
I've used ROMs and emulators, and OMFG I don't delete them from my computer and sometimes I haven't bought them either if I didn't like the game. Either way, if the game turns out to be good, I'll buy it. If not, I won't and I'm not cheating the company out of my purchase since I didn't want to anyway. I completely agree with you, Zeep, that a company shouldn't have to trick me into buying a bad games. Also, the point of the rental store is a great point: the game company only makes money once and the rest goes to the rental store so after a certain point it's not like renting a game benefits the game companies any more than downloading a game to test it out will.

You win.

[Phoenix]

I've been looking for an English FE6 ROM to get, but in the end I decided it's not worth the effort since I can only play it on my computer and it'd take a ton of work. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with stuff like that because I already bought the game. The only thing pirating does is take money away from the companies that deserve it. But if they're not losing money (I'm not going to decide to import 2 copies because I don't speak Japanese, that makes no sense), you're not hurting anyone. It's the same thing as what you do.

[Unspoken]

Hey, since we're talking about "breaking the law" here, I would like to know what you guys think is the best SNES emulator. I used to have SNES9x, but it's not compatible with my game controller. Also, I'm looking for a good Sega Genesis one to replace my broken system.

While we're at it, are there any other good controllers for, oh say, an N64 emulator? I need reccomendations!

[Phoenix]

Wii.

[Unspoken]

@ Phire: I don't have wired or wireless high speed at my house, let alone in my area. That's why I'm looking for alternatives. Unless I can go to my cousin's house on a regular basis to download a new game, then I need ROMs and Emulators.

[Broly]

I'm only going to bother with one aspect of that argument, you seem to have made and defended your points well.

"Pirates" are just normal people. They don't stand out from the crowd. There are a select few who won't spend a cent on games, music, or movies they like. But the majority will, as you said, try it out and then make a decision on whether or not they want to purchase it.

Also, corrections to Eggshnyne's last post:

1. messed typed =/= misspelled
2. pour =/= poor
3. fill =/= feel
4. too =/= to
5. opps =/= oops

[Teh Roxor!]

Wii.

Realistically, almost definitely not.

ZSNES does more with SNES ROMs than the Wii will probably do... I'd be surprised to see save states on the Virtual Console, and netplay on ZSNES is pretty good. Oh yeah, and selection is bound to be better on ZSNES. And moral or not, ZSNES is free. You can't beat free and better.

And dammit, there is nothing immoral about me downloading Final Fantasy 6 after buying it and having my copy stop working. Squaresoft would not get any money if I tried to buy another copy, just some jerk on ebay.

...of course, there always the improvements they may make to SNES games. I'll have to see those. And don't get me wrong; I intend to use the Virtual Console quite a bit.

While we're at it, are there any other good controllers for, oh say, an N64 emulator? I need reccomendations!

I use a SmartJoy PS2 adapter... I originally bought it to play Stepmania with my DDR pads, but with a bit of configuration you can make PS2 controllers work pretty well with most N64 games. I'm sure there's a better solution, though.

[Lucent Beam]

I have to agree with Teh Roxor..

ZSNES > Virtual Console, unless Nintendo has some serious tricks up its sleeves.

[Unspoken]

I use a SmartJoy PS2 adapter... I originally bought it to play Stepmania with my DDR pads, but with a bit of configuration you can make PS2 controllers work pretty well with most N64 games. I'm sure there's a better solution, though.

Do you think that they have a GCN adapter? I'd rather use the GCN controller than my crappy PS2 controllers (they're close to breaking). Plus, I like the feel of the GCN controller!

[Lucent Beam]

My boyfriend has an adapter to use his GCN controller through the USB port. Not sure what the brand is, though.

[Shade Valkyrie]

The feature on ZSNES that I have really missed when playing on other emulators and systems is the frame skip feature, it such a joy to just fast forward through slow and tedious stuff...

So yeah, Twilight_Prince, the best choice for any SNES emulating is ZSNES, it's few system emulators that have so many features and such quality as it, if any.

[Unspoken]

So yeah, Twilight_Prince, the best choice for any SNES emulating is ZSNES, it's few system emulators that have so many features and such quality as it, if any.

Yeah, I downloaded it. It's pretty good. But I need a really good controller, because I don't like using the keyboard for games like Star Ocean and Super Metroid (especially Super Metroid)!

@ Lucent: I tried Google, and all I got was a huge adapter that costs about $18, without shipping. Is that what your boyfriend has? Because I think that's too expensive for an adapter. I could just buy a new controller with that money!

[Snarkey]

For emulated SNES games I bought a Gravis Gamepad Pro for something like 8 bucks on Amazon. Of course, it's nowhere near top of the line, it feels slightly cheap, and it looks kaddy... I <3 it and it does exactly what I need it to.

[Twilight Prince]

first of all im not the same person as twilight_prince

second you are all dirty, dirty peasants.

here's how it should be done.... i pimped out a 7 drawer dresser with the following features:
*pull the top drawer and find a NES
*pull the 2d drawer and find a SNES
*pull the 4th drawer and find a sega genesis
*pull the 5th drawer and find a sega dreamcast
*pull the 6th drawer and find a nintendo gamecube
*pull the 7th drawer and find a playstation 2

i have a 8 channel switch for the RF and SCART. When Wii and ps3 arrives i will probably get rid of the GCN and ps2 to make space for them (but i'll NEVER throw out the NES or snes!).

So i don't have every single game ever made to all of those consoles... but i think i have a little more fun playing the games with the real controllers. what do you think?