EmuParadise has removed its entire library of retro game ROMs and ISOs

[Gamemoose]

"Shoplifting is a victimless crime! It's like punching somebody in the dark!"

Ugh...that didn't take long.

 

I'm not going to play the rationale game or the "theft vs. piracy" game. It's already been done ad nauseum. At the end of the day, if you wanna download ROMs while snorting Sweet Tarts in preparation for a rousing game of "shove a cactus up the cat's butt strap a Wiimote to them for some real Wii Sports fun", that's your deal. I could care less. My main thing was some folks seem to think they are entitled to it and that entitlement is to be expectedly upheld or there'd be hell to pay. Or at least a lot of Internet moaning and virtual threatened boycotts.

[AMenard]

That's far more than what most are willing to do. They MIGHT ask someone technical to do it for them. They're more likely to assume all that stuff is lost forever until Nintendo swoops in.

 

I work with schools. I talk to too many parents of students every day who are unable to install a simple iPhone app for themselves. They have non-technical jobs and no interest in learning, but they sure as heck remember growing up playing Punch-Out or whatever.

 

I mean, it's fine, you can disagree. Whatever. But i deal with too much of the general public to know they're just not capable of or interested in setting up any sort of emulator for themselves. it's silly to think we're the norm.

 

The fact that there have to be tutorials - that it's not self-explanatory - should be proof enough that it's complex.

 

Come on... Get real. Stop judging people tech affinity at large by your limited personal experiences. People who want to use emulators will find a way to use them. They're not as complicated to use as they were years ago. Yes we're nerds, but we're not that special.

 

Some emulators are damn easy to setup and use, especially for the older system.

[derFunkenstein]

Thanks for coming back with a very convincing post. I totally see it your way now.

[Gamemoose]

Come on... Get real. Stop judging people tech affinity at large by your limited personal experiences. People who want to use emulators will find a way to use them. They're not as complicated to use as they were years ago. Yes we're nerds, but we're not that special.

 

Some emulators are damn easy to setup and use, especially for the older system.

How many people would it take before one's experiences are no longer "limited"? Compared to my "limited personal experience" working both in private and government sector, it's pretty similar. We just read from those who have some skillz, yo. We don't hear from Jon Q Public.

[zzip]

I work with schools. I talk to too many parents of students every day who are unable to install a simple iPhone app for themselves. They have non-technical jobs and no interest in learning, but they sure as heck remember growing up playing Punch-Out or whatever.

 

I mean, it's fine, you can disagree. Whatever. But i deal with too much of the general public to know they're just not capable of or interested in setting up any sort of emulator for themselves. it's silly to think we're the norm.

That's true for many people, but my follow up question is how many of the people you are talking about into retro-gaming? I suspect not very many

 

For years, retrogamers had little choice but to set up emulators if they wanted to play their favorite games, and the old emulators were far less intuitive than modern ones. It's only fairly recently that the retrogame market became somewhat robust with a large number of prepackaged products. For this reason, I would expect the skills needed to work an emulator would be much higher among retrogamers than it is among the general population.

[AMenard]

And it's also a bit ironic of seeing people getting frustrated by people downloading and using roms on a site where many advertise and use product that helps emulation or the use of roms like the everdrives, the finalgrom, the sio2pc and other gadget that let people use dowloaded roms with retro hardware. Hell, some here outright advocate for the use of emulators only instead of relying on old hardware that could fail... Maybe some of the complainers here even...

 

And the hypocrisy is even worst for those who used 8 and 16 bits computers. Those platformed lived and died with piracy. You bought the one you had access to the most free stuff around you. Stones, glass houses...

[AMenard]

How many people would it take before one's experiences are no longer "limited"? Compared to my "limited personal experience" working both in private and government sector, it's pretty similar. We just read from those who have some skillz, yo. We don't hear from Jon Q Public.

I've been working in tech support for the last 20 years. I've seen my shares of dumb people, but I've also seen just as many who could perform complex task after some simple explications... The difference is that in those 20 years I've learned to not sell people short, unlike some here do.

[Flojomojo]

I think using emulators is trivially easy, many others do too. I have seen plenty of people on this very board who seem to have trouble with it. Many of us have careers in tech because of perfectly smart people who don't want to deal with geeky things.

 

This guy, who finds hours to gab about video games at YouTube, "doesn't have time" to set up a RetroPie. Judging from the comments, he's not the only one. It's difficult for me to understand that perspective, but that doesn't make it any less valid.

 

 

Check out his like/dislike ratio on this video. The fact that it's split right in half is significant.

[zzip]

And it's also a bit ironic of seeing people getting frustrated by people downloading and using roms on a site where many advertise and use product that helps emulation or the use of roms like the everdrives, the finalgrom, the sio2pc and other gadget that let people use dowloaded roms with retro hardware. Hell, some here outright advocate for the use of emulators only instead of relying on old hardware that could fail... Maybe some of the complainers here even...

 

And the hypocrisy is even worst for those who used 8 and 16 bits computers. Those platformed lived and died with piracy. You bought the one you had access to the most free stuff around you. Stones, glass houses...

And if it wasn't for those pirates/crackers, many of us wouldn't be enjoying those games today, the media the games sit on degrade too. Half of my 8-bit disks are unreadable now. I can only play the cracked dumps

Edited August 10, 2018 by zzip

[Tempest]

Come on everyone, calm down.

[PikoInteractive]

I never saw anything wrong with rom sites, heck I love Doperoms.com.

 

I do have a problem with websites like Archive.org that let you play the game in the browser. That is a problem. But archiving old game files that people need to download and use with other software etc that is fine.

 

Nintendo is going crazy with their new switch online service. They sent out a newsletter saying that emulated nes or snes games on switch are banned now, (they werent) now you can only release emulated games for non-nintendo console.

 

Ive been investing since I launched piko in buying rights of games and archiving.

 

I probably will launch our own website that will allow members to have access to the roms we have rights to. All funds earned will be used to buy the rights of other games to keep archiving etc.

 

Buying physical copies of games we own, to dump and scan packaging in high resolution has been proven to be super expensive but I think it is worth it.

 

I cant even start to think what would happen if arcade machines roms are removed from the web, some machines just dont exist anymore!

Edited August 10, 2018 by PikoInteractive

[F34R]

I never saw anything wrong with rom sites, heck I love Doperoms.com.

 

I do have a problem with websites like Archive.org that let you play the game in the browser. That is a problem. But archiving old game files that people need to download and use with other software etc that is fine.

 

Nintendo is going crazy with their new switch online service. They sent out a newsletter saying that emulated nes or snes games on switch are banned now, (they werent) now you can only release emulated games for non-nintendo console.

 

Ive been investing since I launched piko in buying rights of games and archiving.

 

I probably will launch our own website that will allow members to have access to the roms we have rights to. All funds earned will be used to buy the rights of other games to keep archiving etc.

 

Buying physical copies of games we own, to dump and scan packaging in high resolution has been proven to be super expensive but I think it is worth it.

 

I cant even start to think what would happen if arcade machines roms are removed from the web, some machines just dont exist anymore!

I doubt you're going to get distribution rights to commercial games from Nintendo or any other companies like Capcom, Namco, etc. I'd love to stand corrected.

[John Stamos Mullet]

"Shoplifting is a victimless crime! It's like punching somebody in the dark!"

yay SAT analogies time!

 

Downloading roms : is to : shoplifting :as: keeping your rental car an extra day : is to : stealing someones car.

[John Stamos Mullet]

I've been working in tech support for the last 20 years. I've seen my shares of dumb people, but I've also seen just as many who could perform complex task after some simple explications... The difference is that in those 20 years I've learned to not sell people short, unlike some here do.

simplecalafragalistications?

[Flojomojo]

It's a joke from The Simpsons

https://www.simpsonsarchive.com/episodes/3F07.html

[John Stamos Mullet]

Here are some thoughts:

 

I have also been in tech support, for closer to 30 years. In extremely technical engineering firms. That said : most people are dumb as fuck. Straight up tartar sauce on the brain. Jofa Hockey helmet wearing crash test dummies.

 

Even the ones who are smart, the ones who could easily figure out roms and emulation - the vast majority of them do not care. Us retro game nuts - we are the 1% of the 1%. Were hardcore gaming nerds. We are such an infinitesimally small segment of the population, you tell most people what were into, and they yell Pac-Man! At you like Cameron Diaz brother in Theres Something about Mary. Franks and beans Franks-and beans!

 

Most people do not care. At all. About any of this stuff.

 

As for the whole justification of piracy saying that were preserving this stuff for future generations... bullshit. Guys, these are toys. Meaningless, unimportant toys. Nobody cares but us. Nobody is out there making homebrew injection molds to make their own retro GI joe dolls or Transformers, or Cabbage Patch kids. You know why? Nobody cares. We pirate these things because we want to play them without paying for them. Period.

 

I love retro video games. Most people laugh at us. Such is life.

 

/rant

[Osgeld]

for instance, I do not give one single shit about my parents generation's howdy doody garbage (or their bell air) , eventually people won't care about old games, but they don't magically stop existing, and we have plenty of armchair archeologists "preserving" games in convenient to download 100 gig collections .... to archive ... right

Edited August 11, 2018 by Osgeld

[AMenard]

Here are some thoughts:

I have also been in tech support, for closer to 30 years. In extremely technical engineering firms. That said : most people are dumb as fuck. Straight up tartar sauce on the brain. Jofa Hockey helmet wearing crash test dummies.

Even the ones who are smart, the ones who could easily figure out roms and emulation - the vast majority of them do not care. Us retro game nuts - we are the 1% of the 1%. Were hardcore gaming nerds. We are such an infinitesimally small segment of the population, you tell most people what were into, and they yell Pac-Man! At you like Cameron Diaz brother in Theres Something about Mary. Franks and beans Franks-and beans!

Most people do not care. At all. About any of this stuff.

As for the whole justification of piracy saying that were preserving this stuff for future generations... bullshit. Guys, these are toys. Meaningless, unimportant toys. Nobody cares but us. Nobody is out there making homebrew injection molds to make their own retro GI joe dolls or Transformers, or Cabbage Patch kids. You know why? Nobody cares. We pirate these things because we want to play them without paying for them. Period.

I love retro video games. Most people laugh at us. Such is life.

/rant

Most people don't even notice you are there or they're to busy doing things they enjoy to laugh at you. You see yourself as a 1% of 1% because you feel the need to belong to a group, to give a meaning to your gaming hobby. This is silly. You're an individual, not a part of something. You've full control on what you do with your free time and money.

 

People collect many things, stamps, money, cars... It's nobodies business but for the one doing it.

 

Damn this site can be a downer sometime. People come here to discuss our hobby of retro gaming while some seems to be here only to bitch about it and say it's stupid. Maybe it's not the hobby that's stupid but you that's ready to move on to something else. If that's the case then the honorable thing to do is to leave it behind and not dump on those enjoying themselves.

[derFunkenstein]

Nobody here thinks the hobby is stupid. Reading comprehension is fundamental.

[Flojomojo]

Wow.

 

He never said he didn't enjoy it. Just as I never said I had a beef with people who want to start "protesting Nintendo." I don't think many people play old video games to feel cool or to be part of a group.

 

He's just saying that there aren't that many people doing the things we are talking about.

 

There really isn't sufficient cause to feel butthurt about this issue, this thread, this site or the people having a respectful discussion.

 

Remember a few posts back when Tempest the moderator was asking folks to simmer down?

[derFunkenstein]

BTW if you've ever used the Pleasuredome tracker, all their non-MAME torrents have been changed so that they count against your ratio now. There's an announcement in their forums that says basically "we will not be your candy store, so go leech elsewhere" since EmuParadise took down their stuff.

[pacman000]

I may not care about Howdy Doody, but I do care about Felix the Cat, Crusader Rabbit, & Speed Racer, even if they were before my time.

[PikoInteractive]

I doubt you're going to get distribution rights to commercial games from Nintendo or any other companies like Capcom, Namco, etc. I'd love to stand corrected.

I don't care about those, I care about the games I can save. like the other 132 IPs I've purchased out of pocket.

[John Stamos Mullet]

If anyone misunderstood - I am not insulting or degrading anyone who loves retro gaming. I myself genuinely love this stuff.

 

My point was - its easy to spend a lot of time on sites like this and get wrapped up in it all and think it is a huge part of pop culture. But really - it isnt. Its a tiny niche market tailored just for us.

 

So when I see people who threaten to boycott Nintendo over roms its being taken done - I cant help but chuckle. We wont make any kind of dent they would ever even notice. We are an incredibly tiny minority. If you want to boycott - go ahead. It wont make any difference.

Edited August 11, 2018 by John Stamos Mullet

[F34R]

I don't care about those, I care about the games I can save. like the other 132 IPs I've purchased out of pocket.

What are you talking about? You're talking about having distribution rights to games you've bought. Have you come to some agreements with any of those 132 IP's you've purchased out of pocket to freely given them away? Do you compensate the IP creators for every rom download?

 

Can you give more details on your project?