kohlrak: still waiting for evidence that this is Nintendo's doing
Darvond: Well, tell me. How many times have you seen Sony, Sega, Microsoft, or other companies try/attempt this? No point in looking for zebras outside of Africa if you hear a hoofbeat.
Yeah, but Nintendo isn't the only one to do this. Microsoft does actually do this, just not for games, believe it or not. Not sure on Sega's front, but we do know they love their DRM, but that's not really proof either. A small fry could easily be going after them, especially as Nintendo has known about these guys for a very, very long time (they've been around for over a decade, and are basically the go-to place, so i find it hard to believe Nintendo just found out about them); it's not like it really requires much to go after them. I'd, honestly, be a bit more concerned about why this is happening right now of all times. Did Montenegro just go through some significant changes? Were there any significant changes to the admin's home country? Why right now? I think that's a more important question than "who," or simply pointing the finger at nintendo. Let's be honest, here, these guys have been openly operating for a very, very long time and alot of pubs would want to take them down, so why now?
babark: I don't think the argument against ROMS is that they've been made available to download because the companies that own the games aren't selling them anymore. Nintendo DOES provide (usually very poorly emulated) versions of their older games to play.
The argument I've most often heard being made is that it is meant as a backup to users actual cartridges/disks. Obviously, those who want to pirate will still pirate, but most such ROM archive sites add a little (probably meaningless) note to "Please only download if you own the actual game".
Nintendo's boggle seems to be with the idea of emulation itself. They want to very strongly push the idea that emulation in and of itself is piracy, something which is totally and patently false (and also very hypocritical, because it turned out that Nintendo had been using available emulation programs to sell their older games).
So why only the roms, then? Why are the emulators still cool?
To be fair, i can see why: there was an issue with sony PS1 bios as well. "Clean room reverse engineering" helps alot, but we have to basically break copy-protections and stuff or buy a dev-kit (which would come with an EULA) to even begin writing an emulator for certain systems with custom chipsets and/or bios functions. That said, emulators don't seem to be targeted.
kohlrak: Don't we owe them for their service of transforming the industry?
LootHunter: No we don't. No one asked us if we want industry transofrmed. And in fact many of us don't like how industry was transformed.
If it was done in a way we don't like, we don't need to be grabbing it, do we? The point is, if we need it for historical value to be archived, then we owe them for making the thing that was significant enough for archival.
Linko90: I think people need to take into account how differen't Japan is in their business culture and outlook on media. It's always been a bit crazy compared to the West. Heck, renting video games is banned in Japan, the small things huh.
Wolfy777: Interesting.
I'd like to look into this further.
Would you happen to have any reference links or some advice to point me in the right direction?
Googled renting, found plenty of search results. Long story short, though, from what i've seen, they're kinda doing the same thing with micro-transactions and always-online games, but the overton window was pushed further, faster, which makes sense. Japan tends to be more company friendly and brand worshipping than western cultures: just look at AKB48's popularity, and i'm sure you'll find it strange even if you ignore the obvious moral controversy such a thing would have here in the west. This allows the fringes of what's acceptable to be pushed at a much, much faster rate.
