nesdev.org

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/faqs/legal.html

To report ROM sites, emulators, Game Copiers, Counterfeit manufacturing, or other illegal activities, please call us at 1-800-255-3700 or e-mail us at piracyscene@noa.nintendo.com

I bet the joke of reporting their emulators (GBA Classic NES series, Animal Crossing, Virtual Console) to them has been done before millions of times
I wonder how they'd react if I reported my own NES emulator, is it too dangerous to give it a try?

I wonder how they'd react if I reported my own NES emulator, is it too dangerous to give it a try?

Yes. You won't be laughing anymore when they'll shut your project down, and maybe found link to shut everyone else's projects down.

and maybe found link to shut everyone else's projects down

Exactly what I think could happen. They'd see how easy it was to take down this emulator, and might get over-confident, and go after the mainstream emulators afterwards.

Don't worry, I won't do this, just an interesting thought.

The police don't give a care. This past week, I noticed a representative of shopimpulse.com in the vending room of the local VA Medical Center selling Famiclones including pirate multicarts. I reported the infringing activity to the building's security ("VA Police"), but the sale continued.

The patents are expired so the famiclones aren't illegal any longer, and the game copied are illegal but the police don't care because they probably have better buisness to do.

From the site:

Are Game Copying Devices Illegal?

Yes. Game copiers enable users to illegally copy video game software onto floppy disks, writeable compact disks or the hard drive of a personal computer. They enable the user to make, play and distribute illegal copies of video game software which violates Nintendo's copyrights and trademarks. These devices also allow for the uploading and downloading of ROMs to and from the Internet. Based upon the functions of these devices, they are illegal.

I thought it wasn't illegal to make a copy of your own game ?

It's not illegal to make a copy for backup purposes, but since pretty much nobody ever makes a backup of a cartridge, Nintendo in its infinite wisdom has decided that it's okay to tell people that backup devices are illegal across the board.

How Does Nintendo Feel About the Emergence of Video Game Emulators?

The introduction of video game emulators represents the greatest threat to date to the intellectual property rights of video game developers. As is the case with any business or industry, when its products become available for free, the revenue stream supporting that industry is threatened. Such emulators have the potential to significantly damage a worldwide entertainment software industry which generates over $15 billion annually, and tens of thousands of jobs.

Because, after all, the ability to, with a little work, make copies of PC games, which don't even require a backup device or emulator, has so clearly killed the PC gaming market.

What Does Nintendo Think of the Argument that Emulators are Actually Good for Nintendo Because it Promotes the Nintendo Brand to PC Users and Leads to More Sales?

Distribution of a Nintendo emulator trades off of Nintendo's goodwill and the millions of dollars invested in research & development and marketing by Nintendo and its licensees. Substantial damages are caused to Nintendo and its licensees. It is irrelevant whether or not someone profits from the distribution of an emulator. The emulator promotes the play of illegal ROMs , NOT authentic games. Thus, not only does it not lead to more sales, it has the opposite effect and purpose.

That's right, since emulators are most often used for illegal purposes, emulators as a whole are not okay. It's like saying that since kitchen knives can be used to stab somebody they should be banned.

I'd be more inclined to feel sympathy for them if they didn't treat every early Nintendo game franchise other than Mario, Metroid, and Zelda like red-headed stepchildren. Legal issues aside, are they really being hurt if I download a copy of Magical Doropie? No.

(Now there's a game that could use a sequel.)

commodorejohn wrote:Because, after all, the ability to, with a little work, make copies of PC games, which don't even require a backup device or emulator, has so clearly killed the PC gaming market.

Some analysts claim that for studios of a specific size range, rampant copyright infringement helps to make the PC game market less profitable than the console game market. Slashdot has carried a few stories about this; want me to dig them up?

The emulator promotes the play of illegal ROMs , NOT authentic games. Thus, not only does it not lead to more sales, it has the opposite effect and purpose.

That's right, since emulators are most often used for illegal purposes, emulators as a whole are not okay. It's like saying that since kitchen knives can be used to stab somebody they should be banned.

Conspicuous by its absence from Nintendo's arguments is the use of emulators with homebrew and with "liberated" ex-commercial games such as Elite (NES and other platforms).

I'd be more inclined to feel sympathy for them if they didn't treat every early Nintendo game franchise other than Mario, Metroid, and Zelda like red-headed stepchildren.

Popo and Nana from Ice Climber is in Melee, and Pit from Kid Icarus is in Brawl. But given the limited palette of the NES, might they have actually been red-headed stepchildren?

Legal issues aside, are they really being hurt if I download a copy of Magical Doropie?

No, but Vic Tokai is, in theory. (Why does a Google search for this title turn up a ROM site before a review?) And if The Tetris Company's anti-clone arguments are anything to go by, Capcom is being hurt because you're downloading Magical Doropie instead of buying Capcom's latest Mega Man game for PSP.

I discovered the wonderfull series of Fire Emblem trough emulation, and this lead me to buy the two GBA Fire Emblem games released outisde of japan. I also discovered the great Mega Man series trough emulation, and this leads me to buy two Mega Man battle Network games for the GBA (and I'm planning to buy the other as well), wich I wouldn't know if a fried wouldn't have told me about Mega Man on the NES first. Not to mention I bought Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2 right on it's release date because I loved those on the NES, and I also bought Breath of Fire Draogn Quarted and I would never buy that game if I hadn'nt played and loved Breath of Fire trough emulation.

Both Nintendo and Sony sold me games they would probably not have sold to me without me playing earlier installements of the same series in an emulator.

On another hand, I don't buy some remake like Mega Man & Bass GBA, or Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls, or Breath of Fire GBA, because I have played the roms of their games in their original form, and they were better on the (S)NES than they were remake.

In other words, for my particular case, I noted that emulation promoted me to buy brand new games of old franchises featuring trademarks and characters of games I could play emulated. However, this seriously retain me to buy port of older games I can get emulated.

If the same applies to the gaming communauty in general, this promote the video game industry to create brand new games, and hurts the remakes of old games. So this *should* force gaming companies to INNOVATE and not release stupid ports again and again. It looks like Nintendo did NOT understand this, tough. What if Capcom would release a brand new "Breath of Fire Advance" for the GBA instead of just porting the two first SNES games with worse music and everyting else unchanged, including the terrible translation ? Come on I'd rush on buying it, instead of being disgusted by those bland remakes. And if Square would have released a SINGLE new Final Fantasy game for the GBA instead of 3 ports, I'd sure buy it right away, and I'm not even sure it'd be more work for them, just more sales. This would promote the video games as an art form, instead of as just a buisness.

Overall, for me, emulating a commecrial game is like photocopying a commercial book. It's illegal in theory, but everyone does this. And the book industry hasn't been down the day the photocopiers have been available.

Why does a Google search for this title turn up a ROM site before a review?

Lol, got the same results, that's a fun fact.

And if The Tetris Company's anti-clone arguments are anything to go by, Capcom is being hurt because you're downloading Magical Doropie instead of buying Capcom's latest Mega Man game for PSP.

Magical Droopie's graphics are SO obviously copied from Mega Man !! And, there is only 3 Mega Man for the PSP out, and they are respecively a remake of the original NES Mega Man, a remake of the original SNES Mega Man X and a remake of the PS1 Mega Man Legends. Yes, that makes 3 remakes. Capcom could release brand new games worth buying.

tepples wrote:

Legal issues aside, are they really being hurt if I download a copy of Magical Doropie?

No, but Vic Tokai is, in theory. (Why does a Google search for this title turn up a ROM site before a review?) And if The Tetris Company's anti-clone arguments are anything to go by, Capcom is being hurt because you're downloading Magical Doropie instead of buying Capcom's latest Mega Man game for PSP.

I'm a little confused here - how, in theory, is Vic Tokai harmed if, instead of buying a used copy of a game they don't sell anymore, I download a ROM? They've already sold all the copies of the cartridge ever made, turning a profit on each one, and have decided not to manufacture any more. There is no way to for Vic Tokai to get more money out of the deal unless they either manufacture more Magical Doropie cartridges, issue a port/remake, or reobtain the original cartridges at low cost and resell them at retail prices. Therefore, I am theoretically not harming Vic Tokai by downloading a ROM of Magical Doropie. Am I missing something here?

Also, the similarities are obvious, but the day I actually mistake Magical Doropie for Mega Man is the day I go blind and deaf.

Distribution of a Nintendo emulator trades off of Nintendo's goodwill and the millions of dollars invested in research & development and marketing by Nintendo and its licensees.

Yes... but it was a very nice idea of making more and more money with those "5-years-long" videogames, and now your Wii means emulation of each system you did it. So, it's the REVERSE thing.

As far as I know, MegaMan Legends PSP wasn't released on USA.

Fx3 wrote:As far as I know, MegaMan Legends PSP wasn't released on USA.

PSP games have no territorial lockout. The ban on parallel imports of copies of copyrighted works (17 USC 602) has an exception that allows importing one copy of the UK version of a game per person.