
You might recall an ongoing legal battle between Nintendo and the website RomUniverse. Although the Japanese video game giant won, it more recently voiced concerns about its possible return after the founder, Matthew Storman, refused to rule out a comeback.
While California's federal court previously decided against giving Storman a permanent injunction, it's now changed its position on the matter. After taking a second look, Judge Marshall last week issued an injunction - with fears a relaunch of the site could still cause "irreparable harm" to Nintendo.
“Plaintiff’s evidence demonstrates a threat of continued infringement based on Defendant’s representations that he may relaunch his website which previously contained Plaintiff’s copyrighted games. Accordingly, Plaintiff demonstrates irreparable harm warranting an injunction for Plaintiff’s copyright infringement claim.”
The injunction prohibits Storman from copying, distributing, selling and playing unauthorised copies of Nintendo's games. The Japanese company's name, trademarks and logos are not allowed to be used in a "confusing" way, either.
Judge Marshall has also ordered the website's creator to "destroy" all of his unauthorised Nintendo games by next week, and the 2.1 million judgement still stands. Ouch!
“Defendant shall permanently destroy all unauthorized Nintendo games or other unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s intellectual property including movies, books, and music no later than August 17, 2021."
It seems Nintendo might have finally put a stop to RomUniverse. As always though, if we hear any updates, we'll be sure to let you know. You can get a full recap of the events so far in our previous story.
[source torrentfreak.com]
Comments 244
Damn! If he deletes that 200MB NES romset, it will be gone from the internet forever!!!
Imagine having to pay 2.1 million, and still trying to act like a bada** and say you're going to still upload pirated games.
What an idiot.
This is not something to be celebrated. Preserving history is infinitely more important than either, legality or more bucks for a multi-billion dollar corporation - especially when that multi-billion dollar corporation is why people are resorting to this "crime" in the first place.
Lol my brother has every collection of roms available.
Amazing to play some games in Fightcade playing them online.
I like the bit about "Destroy all his unauthorized Nintendo games", absolute proof that that judge hasn't got a single clue how computer files and the internet work...
If only Nintendo preserved their games better...
@MysticX I know lol this part got me the most
with fears a relaunch of the site could still cause "irreparable harm" to Nintendo.
Yeah sure a multi million corp with loads of assets are going to come to "harm" over this offensive site
Really sounds so stupid 🙄🙄
@Razputinman they don't care about preservation which is what the majority of the gaming industry is like too, communities have to do that instead, hence the wack a mole approach that nintendo agressivly presents which fails each time lol
@The-Chosen-one same, I too have archived all my Gameboy games that I own to play when I want 😃
@Pokester99,
Seriously, even bringing Joy con drift into totally unrelated articles.
@huyi An offensive site, several more of which are out there, it's legal whack-a-mole by now, about as futile as their "Stability patch"-race with console firmware...
“Defendant shall permanently destroy all unauthorized Nintendo games or other unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s intellectual property including movies, books, and music no later than August 17, 2021."
How exactly would this be enforced? He probably has a bunch of extra hard drives with backups of those old Nintendo games, lol.
Here's betting those files are anonymously dumped on torrent sites soon, if they haven't been already.
Hail Hydra..
cut off 1 head and 2 more will take its place
@Noid but what about the indie devs and their family. mii yamotos kids are going to starve!
@MysticX yes about homebrew, their energy wasted over such things like this lol
@kepsux omg! How are they gonna buy Thier second yact and summer house! Oh the horror! All sites must be stopped! Suspenseful music plays
@Pokester99 and what about pre-Switch?
Thank goodness
Removed - inappropriate; user is banned
@Noid Stopping one rom sharing website doesn't really do anything for preservation one way or another. You can find complete romsets for basically every system up on the internet archive, and there are thousands of people keeping them on hard drives. And whether they admit it or not, I'm sure those video game preservation places have the romsets stored as well.
Also this guy was a tool.
It's not like Nintendo wanted to do what AtGames does, and make MORE plug-n-plays with different sets of roms, and support for mappers that the NES Classic Edition, or any other System has. The Atari Flashback series lets you add Atari 2600 Roms with a thumb drive, and yet I don't even have the Flashback X.
court : we order you to DESTROY your unauthorized data!
people sharing roms online : lol
@Anti-Matter Or you can pay around $800 to buy a legit copy of fire emblem path of radiance. Screw that, pirate the game.
@Anti-Matter Defending a billion dollar company won't make it your friend.
@Anti-Matter I don’t mind your stance that’s fine but the last line of your comment is pathetic.
Some like myself consider games art, to just let that disappear forever would be a tragedy. Some good does come of game preservation it’s not all just saving money.
@CharlieGirl exactly! Why do people want to defend mega rich corporations? Let’s start worshipping Bobby Kotick while we’re at it.
The preservation of free games under threat. Quick! To the internet, everyone! Nintendo are so rich, they should be just giving us their games for free. I have bought loads of Nintendo games over the years, so they owe me something at least. Games are art, which means they should be freely available for everyone to own. I have 12 Mona Lisas myself. At the end of the day, none of us here are responsible for technology advancing over the decades. I blame Nintendo. RAAGH!
Insert comment about more systems on Nintendo Online...
(Wouldn't mind Little Samson either)
@ATaco
Not every original games i want to buy.
When the game prices went crazy like TTYD, i decided to forget them and find other games with cheaper prices.
@CharlieGirl
I didn't defend anything.
I just did what is right thing to do.
@quinnyboy58
About my last line, i knew we cannot keep the games forever. When my games dying someday, i will let them go as I become older, I will unable to bring my games to afterlife world. Just let them go, I'm ready to lose all my games when i already in afterlife world.
Sounds like the judge doesn't entirely understand the technology in play here.
I think people are looking at the $2 million the wrong way. I'm sure Nintendo isn't doing this to collect $2 million — which it likely never will from this guy — but to keep control of its IP and send a message to other ROM sites. Nintendo probably loses more money pursuing these lawsuits than it ever recovers.
"... with fears a relaunch of the site could still cause "irreparable harm" to Nintendo."
Oh no, whatever will Nintendo do. This will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. What a world, what a world.
@Anti-Matter If someday i cannot play certain games anymore, i just let them go, disappear like dust in the wind.
You are a good consumer and I am sure that Nintendo appreciates you for it. They can take away your digital games and resell them to you later on another console.
@Burning_Spear Nintendo probably loses more money pursuing these lawsuits than it ever recovers.
...and they piss off consumers, sounds like a solid business plan!
If Nintendo just bundles all their old ROMs together and sold them on a per-console basis for £30 a pack and the money went to some sort of gaming charity they would raise a small fortune.
@Crono1973
I don't play digital games.
All my games are physical.
I think the situation would be a lot better with a similar model to itunes were people can download a official Nintendo emulator for their games via a store. ~They could then have access to all the games and pay a small fee for each one, to own, not a subscription. The point being, it would be so easy for people to do, that they wouldn't bother trying to find pirate roms on the internet. Of course you will always get those that will, but it would solve the piracy issue for most cases.
who would even pat nintendo on the back for this kinda stuff? like yay? we cant play these older titles without buying used systems and physical copies at inflated prices, cant wait to be at the mercy of nintendo reselling it at their own inflated prices too
@Razputinman "If only Nintendo preserved their games better..."
I find it ironic that while pirates are justifiably vilified, they are the only reason so many things have been preserved in the electronic age. For example, the only reason the vast majority of the Commodore 64 library of software still exists today is because it was preserved by "warez" groups. Many original album mixes that were ruined years after release through remasters and remixes can only be found today by delving into music sharing groups. Movies like Disney's forever banned The Song of the South and the classic television mini-series Game, Set, and Match starring Ian Holm, and which the author of the books the series is based on has never given his consent to release, are unavailable except through "unofficial" channels.
@Anti-Matter You have no digital games on any console?
Friendly reminder that nes and snes online are still doodoo caca and that you’re better off with emulators like OpenEmu or Delta or any other emulator that can play Nintendo games
@Noid I too, share your sentiments. The idea that these works are to be destroyed is extremely sad, yet...it is just one head off the thousand headed hydra.
@Funneefox I've heard that the Xbox Series S can play more Nintendo games than the Switch. If you want to play SNES games on the go, people were doing that long ago on the PSP and no doubt it can be done on a Vita or even a cell phone.
Nintendo's offerings are just sad.
@teamdoa Exactly, then the developers hard work can still earn them small royalties for their games. I wish they would make that happen, everyone would win.
@Crono1973
Um... Actually only a few (less than 5 titles) on 3DS, Wii U and Switch but...
I never touch them after one play.
I regret to purchase digital games for curiosity.
@Anti-Matter So you buy all your games physically, do you atleast demo an older game on an emulator before you buy it?
@Anti-Matter We're not going to win this one. Come on over later and play some NES carts at my place. I can break out the Atari carts too.
As an avid ROM user for most of my life, I know that's basically stealing, and for those of you saying "it belongs in a digital museum", ROMS are still widely available, as well as physical media. Stop whining and continue with your unnafected lifes.
Another win for justice!
@Crono1973
YouTube is my friend to check the gameplay of certain games whenever I have never played before.
Used to be I have ever played pirated NDS games on my PC with emulator on year 2012, but not anymore after I purchased my first original 3DS XL machine in November 2013, I completely stopped playing with pirated games and jail broken machines.
And yup... My purchased games are ALL physical.
This war on piracy just needs to stop all together. For every head chopped off 2 more grow in it's place.
For those interested check out a guy named "Frank Cifaldi" and his excellent speech on emulation and preservation of old games.
People wouldn't pirate if they'd sell their games on their platforms. Well, I'm sure some people still would. But a lot less.
@Burning_Spear
Eh... I'm already moved out from 8 / 16 bit old games like NES / Atari / SNES.
My minimum standard currently are the games that released after year 2000 with decent 3D models. Only a few games from PS1 era I still looking for.
There will always be another ROM site. I never loved this site anyway. Nintendo should offer a way to play these games on switch because I'd bet a lot of the people pirating would be fine forking over the nso membership but there is like next to no games on it considering how vast the NES and snes library is and that's not even considering other consoles. I used vc and then it wasn't a thing anymore I pirated stuff because it wasn't available. It's just dumb. If what they were taking down was able to be purchased easily today than I wouldn't care as much.
Software piracy is illegal in this country and always will be. Make too much money doing it and you'll pay the price, $2 million in this case.
Nowadays many companies, including Nintendo, Square Enix, Namco, Konami, and Capcom, re-issue many of their popular old games. But the makers of video games are under no obligation, either ethical or legal, to re-issue their old games according to anyone else's time-line or wishes. The video game industry has always been for profit. Indeed, those old game cartridges are still widely available on the secondary market, and in most cases for less than they originally cost. I went to a local retro video game store that sells them. It's a fun hobby and I'd strongly recommend it over downloading ROMs from pirates.
"Unauthorized Nintendo games"
THEY'RE ROMS, THEY DON'T REQUIRE AUTHORIZATION TO BE UPLOADED TO THE INTERNET LMFAO
Nintendo should just offer the roms themselves, or, you know, reprint some of the more expensive titles.
Preservation is a criminal defence now then!
I guess he wants to put the roms back online cause he needs to recoup the 2 million he had to pay. The money which probably came from illegally selling them online previously.
But please don’t reply I get your side and thoughts but I just don’t agree with them.
@Clarice Every ROM I have has a corresponding physical cartridge, and those things are NOT cheap! I paid a pretty penny for Ninja Gaiden 3 on the NES!
“Indeed, those old game cartridges are still widely available on the secondary market, and in most cases for less than they originally cost.”
@Chrysologus I’m pretty sure the retro games being sold on eBay for 899.99 usd ain’t cheaper than what they would be in the 90’s
@Crono1973 No, he researches on the forums and asks users if they have played games he is interested in, and seeks out videos and reviews of the older games. I’ve spoken to him personally so quit pushing him around.
@MysticX Just imagine the Zoolander scene where Hansel goes "The files are IN the computer... it's so simple!" and then literally chucks the computer over a ledge a few scenes later and asks "Where are all the files?"
@Burning_Spear Yeah according to a previous news article he out has to pay $50 a month...and supposedly he hasn't even done that.
Pretty shameless.
I wonder if "permanently destroy all unauthorized Nintendo games or other unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s intellectual property" would be satisfied by a mere hard drive wipe or a dramatic smashing of said hard drives.
@Chrysologus Roms are easier faster and free. Plus some games you can't find anymore and many of the rare ones cost insane prices
Let me give just one example. There is a gams series for the GBA called Boktai. The game is unique in that it had a solar sensor attached to it. This has made the game unportable, which means the only options I have is to buy it at an auction for 100 dollars or more vs just playing it using an emulator for free.
The game had three entries with the third being Japan exclusive which is even higher at retail.
LOL good joke nintendo.
@Vexx234
Here is the thing.
I can move on from games like that and find other games with cheaper price and worthier contents.
I have learnt to move on from certain games that I have ever played them (with pirated copies) in the past.
@Noid This could be solved by reforming copyright laws.
Allowing libraries and NGOs to make their own backup copies of media and software for preservation purposes, allowing more media to lose their copyright if it's not being rereleased on anything and people who want to play/watch this media but can't buy a legit copy can get for free, allowing more fair use, especially for lost or abandoned media, and most important, reducing copyright duration from 95 years back to around 50 years so culture of the past can be used for free.
@Noid I agree with the principal of preservation. This guy however was selling roms and generally trying to earn profit on the emulation scene. He has constantly shown an attitude that is counter too the general mentality of the game preservation community.
Another thing, videogame companies need to change how videogame licensing works.
Many classic games of the past cannot be sold again even when the company is alive and has the original files, because legal reasons, the game is based on a movie/show/comic/sports league/celebrity or has licensed music, and you can't bring the game back without paying for the license again, but if companies asked for a lifelong license where you can still sell those games after the license expired, you just can't make another game with that license, this wouldn't be a problem, and it persists in the 2020s.
This isn't even a copyright laws problem, it's just a problem of videogame companies not thinking ahead and treating their videogames like licensed merchandising like T-shirts and coffee mugs.
While I agree that preservation is important, I want to add that preservation and distribution aren't the same thing.
If the real intention was to preserve those games, you wouldn't go around giving them to everybody.
@Dr_Lugae Update: He has to be Miyamoto's butler for life.
Stupid Nintendo and its stupid lawyers which do not understand anything! Hell, id rather support those websites than Nintendo's awfully boring Nintendo Switch Online which support and games feel like a cheap app that even Nintendo itself does not care about at all....
@HammerGalladeBro whats wrong about it? its not like you can buy them from the Nintendo store
And yes, a wise fat man said that piracy is not a problem of price, it's problem of service.
Nintendo is not in a position to complain about people downloading their classic games for free, when the alternative they give is not only expensive, but lackluster, there are 1757 SNES/SFC games in total, and only 56 in Nintendo Switch Online.
@teamdoa peopleve been asking for this for like ages! We got the awful NSO....
@victordamazio The Holy Gabe?
If only Nintendo spent the time and money they wasted on this lawsuit and used those resources to add Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, N64, and maybe GameCube games to the Switch online, maybe fans would be less upset with them and less inclined to go download roms off the internet.
Nintendo is their own worst enemy when it comes to putting out their old games on modern hardware.
@GrailUK you alright, hun?
@BlackenedHalo I'm pretty sure you can get Super Mario Bros on Switch, 3DS and WiiU.
What's the excuse for games like it being on ROMsites?
Nintendo Vs game preservation
Good. Not only is piracy wrong, but ROM sites like this in general also have a nasty habit of sneaking viruses into your computer. Glad Nintendo won this one!
Well the alternative to my rom copy of the og AC game is buying a used GameCube and used version of the game (both of which cost a fair amount)...so Nintendo doesn't see money either way so I'll stick with the rom.
@Kid_Sickarus i'm trying to be angry! Shhh, I'll lose concentration!
The moralizing and grandstanding against emulation here is cringe. Copyright law ain't gonna sleep with you.
This is so good news. I do hope Nintendo goes after all the other pirates next.
@tameshiyaku Piracy != game preservation.
Lots of people are confusing game preservation with piracy. Game preservation should be a thing, HOWEVER, making money off of it shouldn't. That makes whoever "preserves" it no better than the corporation. If it were free downloads, then sure, more power to you.
Neither the judge nor Nintendo understand how the internet works, clearly.
@Anti-Matter Instead of abandoning games maybe we can urge Nintendo to maintain their storefronts better? On PC I can go on steam and grab a game that released decades ago, usually for like $10. It shouldn't be so difficult for Nintendo to preserve their games in the same way.
Gosh. Nearly a hundred comments here and most are defending the ROM site. Even comments on Kotaku for the same story had more people against this type of for-profit piracy. Couple of crucial facts that were missing from this article since almost everyone thinks it's some small fry getting blasted by a big bag corporation for hosting old games:
1. The ROMs distributed also included Switch ROMs. There's zero intent (or need) to preserve them. Arguing for preservation of those ROMs for a fee is quite delusional when other sites do it for free
2. The guy was selling premium access for quicker downloads. An open and shut case of directly profiting from someone else's property - it's like downloading a recent movie or book from somewhere and then selling premium access to it
@ATaco
I really wish paper Mario TTYD got ported to Nintendo Switch in physical release since the price of TTYD on Ebay was really expensive.
But i know it will never happened so I choose to move on from TTYD and play other games instead. I can always abandon certain games if the situation was not possible to get them legally. Nothing wrong to move on from certain games, right ?
rshmglsky - Nintendo should just offer the roms themselves, or, you know, reprint some of the more expensive titles.
@rshmglsky They already do in the eShop for the Switch ROMs that were available on the rom site. You just had to, y'know, pay money for them to Nintendo instead of paying money to the guy who just downloaded them from somewhere else.
Yeah this guy was always going to lose over selling access to roms. But if he weren’t such a big idiot maybe he could have gotten a good lawyer to lead the court to a limited judgement that older games not being resold don’t cause actual harm to a company when pirated. Even though he’d lose, a judgement like that would be the precedent the emulation community needs to have legal footing to preserve and play old games, and might prove greater incentive for companies to provide official re releases.
@HammerGalladeBro "If the real intention was to preserve those games, you wouldn't go around giving them to everybody."
Thing is, he wasn't even really giving them away. You paid money for premium access for ROMs including Switch ROMs
Removed - harassment
I really wanted to play the SNES version of Secret of Mana a while back and thought of emulating it but then it got released in Collection of Mana for Switch, so I thought, hey I'll get that. Then I dithered and thought why pay $50 for something I can pirate for free, but then again why pirate something I can pay for legally? I couldn't decide the best course of action.
This kind of conundrum is why they shouldn't re-release old games and just let the pirates handle retro-gaming.
The thing is that what most people forget that people have been doing this for YEARS, so of course, the people that make copies of ROMs are doing a far more better job preserving the games better than the big companies do. So they're not going away anytime soon, especially since they can be easily backed up into hard drives or anywhere that offers large storage.
@Purgatorium Uncensored versions of certain games are a big preservation concern. Sometimes, the re-released version isn't the same, even if you're legally supporting the dev/publisher.
Ocarina of Time had minor graphical & audio changes in its v1.1, and there is no way to experience the original N64 version on Virtual Console - you must go through the emulation route...
@MissAshheart the fact that something isn't going away is no reason to tolerate and accept illegality.
@Purgatorium $50??? Collection of Mana is now pretty regularly on sale on the eShop. I only paid circa £15
@WaywardScythe What's going to be his argument for selling premium access to Switch, Wii U and Wii games? Wii U and Wii games are now mostly very cheap in many places.
@MissAshheart And not only that, but emulators often run games better than rereleases do. They can also improve on the originals but I guess that really comes down to preference.
@MissAshheart This site has bugger all to do with game preservation.
@jsty3105 $50 CAD is the regular price. Don't know what that would translate into other currencies but yeah it does regularly go on sale.
This simply creates a power vacuum to fill up, and unless it was Nintendo themselves, this battle will keep on going.
@rushiosan Exactly. They love going all George Lucas when re-releasing their back catalogues. Looking at you Square Enix.
@Purgatorium You can very easily buy from other regions so you don't have to pay the CAD price (Then again, you're already in the cheap NA region where you can pay US prices)
@ModdedInkling Not really. I've seen others mention that there are several other ROM sites giving away Switch ROMs (I'd be shocked if there wasn't actually). This was either the only one or one of the few that charged for premium access.
@jsty3105 I don't know if it costs more or if it's just the exchange rate. Either way, thanks for the tip!
@victordamazio coughs in every Marvel game released before 2018
You can definitely tell the judge marshal is a boomer with the statement “destroy all your stolen digital copyrighted assets” 🙄
For people talking about game preservation there are organization doing that just hand those ROM over to them and that will stop this. But if they don't that means they are in for the money.
@jsty3105 I don't defend this guy or anyone else who sales Nintendo roms.
But I also won't feel guilty or demonized because I download a game like the NES Ninja Turtle games that I can't play on modern hardware.
I have no issue with roms being offered for old games that have long been out of production as long as it's free.
@Caryslan cries in Gundam Battle Assault 2.
If he needs another copy after he destroys the files I got him.
Irreparable harm? Can't be harmed if you're not selling the older games to begin with...
@Purgatorium I'm in the UK and regularly use sites like DekuDeals to work out which region to buy games from. The USA, South Africa, and Norway tend to end up being the cheapest that you can reasonably pay for. There's also Argentina and Mexico but it's apparently bugger hard to buy from those eShops without living in those respective countries
@UnseatingKDawg What if you were selling Switch games?
@Caryslan I told people multiple times, adding Game Boy, Game Boy Advance or Nintendo 64 to Nintendo Switch Online, will not solve the actual problem, the games are coming too slow, and they aren't picking the games we want.
At fist, we would get games we want, like Super Mario Land 2, Metroid Fusion and Ocarina of Time, but then, we would get a bunch of games no one cared to play even back then, games that weren't even bad games that sold well, games that weren't even cult classics that failed, but got a fanbase.
@Caryslan The key issue here is that he wasn't doing it for free and it wasn't just older games. Hopefully you show the same amount of outrage if Sony/MS shut down game ROM sites that distribute Xbox One/Series and PS4/5 games.
I have no problem with older ROMs too. I enjoyed the heck out of FF5 in English back in 2000
@HammerGalladeBro "While I agree that preservation is important, I want to add that preservation and distribution aren't the same thing.
If the real intention was to preserve those games, you wouldn't go around giving them to everybody"
This is the best point that too many are overlooking. That site has nothing to do with art preservation. It's facilitating piracy. Nothing more. Nintendo is right.
Damn... Another one of the true OG ROM repositories bites the dust...
Say what you will about game piracy, but these OG sites were absolutely INSTRUMENTAL in making practical game preservation a reality for basically ALL of the major commercially released titles of the modern era (mid 70's onwards) & boatloads upon BOATLOADS of more niche tiles & software that likely would have been completely lost to history otherwise.
We saw the same thing happen with anime when they shut down the OG KissAnime. A metric CRAP-TON of "uploaded literally NOWHERE ELSE on the internet obscure & non-mainstream anime & fan-subs" instantly disappeared from the world that day, because the "pirates" were LITERALLY the ONLY people that cared enough about the medium to actually archive & maintain all that stuff for modern use!
Same thing happens when the super old/big ROM repositories go down. There's still a bunch of unique stuff that was once on say EmuParadise that to this day basically doesn't exist on the internet at all anymore.... Why? Because Nintendo doesn't care... Sony DEFINITELY doesn't care... the big game publishers sure don't care... Valve obviously doesn't care... And Microsoft? Thankfully they actually DO mostly care, but still more on PC/Windows than on Xbox.
@Cooe because the guy handling the site was dumb enough to charge money for premium access and to host Switch ROMs as well as ROMs from other recent Nintendo consoles. It's like hosting PS4 or PS5 games and selling premium access to them.
@BloodNinja No, he researches on the forums and asks users if they have played games he is interested in, and seeks out videos and reviews of the older games. I’ve spoken to him personally so quit pushing him around.
Asking questions isn't pushing him around. Besides, the best research is to play a game and see if you like it.
@jsty3105 For sure. He made absolutely some freaking STUPID & indefensible decisions in the site's later days. The second he put up a paywall, he was doomed. And only an IDIOT would have not seen that one coming. But it's still sad regardless to see one another of the old guys go down to the Nintendo banhammer shrug.
@Dr_Lugae no excuse
@Crono1973 You were clearly pestering him, time to let the questioning go, inspector! And no, if you are a more scrupulous fellow like @anti-matter then the best research is to ask others and watch video, and if it seems like a good fit he can buy the game without the need to emulate it.
@jsty3105: Switch games aren't "the older games", now are they? Obviously I know that would be piracy.
That being said, I hadn't realized right away that this guy put the ROMs behind a paywall and was selling Switch ROMs. My mistake on that one. It's just that every time I see an article about Nintendo shutting down/suing a rom site I usually think it's them yet again throwing a fit about people hosting their older content that they could be providing to their userbase, be it paid or otherwise. Again, my bad.
About as productive of an exercise as trying to get a genie back in its bottle.
@UnseatingKDawg Don't worry - It's annoying for me to see sometimes but nearly every other person commenting here also didn't know that. Most of the sites reporting on this issue, including NintendoLife, have completely omitted those two key details in their stories.
Also, readers are commenting and reacting to the article headline without reading the comments or further into the article (the latter isn't surprising though!)
"About as productive of an exercise as trying to get a genie back in its bottle."
@Atariboy Read the comment just above yours.
Preservation starts on day one, my dudes. We know Nintendo ain't gonna preserve Switch games. Best lock 'em in the vault now before it's too late.
The games that ROM sites tend to distribute are from a very different era; the entire medium was physical, there was no internet for distribution, and if people wanted to try before buying, they went to a Blockbuster Video or other movie rental store and brought a given title home for a day or two. There were no Amazon or other online Big Box retailers, just your local department stores, the aforementioned video stores, and maybe a Software Etc. in your local mall. Gamers got their industry news in monthly doses from EGM, GamePro, Die Hard GameFan, and other magazines, and the humongous summer CES issues were the equivalent of Christmas catalogs.
But perhaps the best and most underrated thing: the hobby was still considered "niche" and genuinely felt like it belonged to gamers; the sky seemed the limit and we hadn't seen how all the technological advances that were coming would also bring a lot of less pleasant realities, especially with regard to how online functionality would be used to simultaneously gate and control user experiences while constantly shaking us down for more money. And we had no idea yet of how a shift toward digital distribution would begin to strangle the life out of those brick-and-mortar stores we frequented or how many games would be gone forever once their servers shut down.
Yeah, a LOT has changed since then, and not all for the better. With regard to ROM sites, they cater mostly to folks from my generation who remember (and likely legally purchased their own copies of) games back in the day. Most of those games haven't been manufactured or supported in decades, and the ones that have been (typically first-party titles through digital download like Virtual Console or various compilations) have been re-released ad nauseam while forcing users to re-purchase the same product (EULAs are a LIE; they are PRODUCTS, NOT "SERVICES") over and over again whenever they'd upgrade to a new console, and in Nintendo's case, even when they'd purchase a different Wii or Wii U thanks to digital purchases being tied to one system.
Now with Switch users don't even have that much; only the crappy, trickle-paced selection of NES and SNES games that they can access only as long as they keep paying for a Switch Online account. The truth is that ROM sites have provided users...for FREE...what companies like Nintendo steadfastly refuse to even though gamers would...and HAVE paid for ( in many cases, repeatedly)...to simply be able to own and access permanently, any time they choose.
Legalities aside, I can't feel any sympathy whatsoever for Nintendo on this subject. Their approach to online functionality has always been a dinosaur, but it's the lengths they go to to control access to their legacy games that clearly demonstrates they could easily field a competent online service and make all them available for purchase if they wanted to. It shows that their entire approach to online is really about CONTROL; in their own way they may be just as bad as the likes of EA and Activision.
Piracy is a service problem. Nintendo is the ONLY company that has to do this whack-a-mole type stuff with people pirating their games, because they are the ONLY ones that don't give people easy access to them. No matter how many times people scream and tell them exactly what they want, for some reason Nintendo doesn't listen. It thinks everyone having access to their games all the time would devalue them or something, which is an incredibly stupid angle to take, given how every other media company is doing better than ever giving people constant access.
@Tupin I'm 100% certain that this site continuing to give easy but PAID access to Nintendo Switch ROMs isn't in response to a service problem because every single Switch game is easily available on the eShop.
@Tupin yes exactly, big example is the recent Mario collection, it's not hard to emulate all those games in the compilation on any device that you own, but Nintendo keeps on demanding a £50 price tag for this abomination and it really hurts that Nintendo feels that they can exploit people because they are loyal to the cause and want to be devoted by them, even when nintendo lays eggs in a nest and don't care in the process about anyone's loyalty, all they care about is convenience, they don't care about the long term and their legacy! and nothing else!
What would you do if I told you your physical games are just digital games downloaded to a cartridge or CD that can't be redownloaded again. That all video games on modern consoles are in fact, digital.
Nintendo could reduce this by offering many many more of their retro games. If an online community can do it with no money but pure dedication I’m certain Nintendo could do it as well. Why they don’t is another question. Please note I’m too scared to use Roms or download Roms so I own games physically at a painfully expensive cost. I wish I could play road rash, Mickey Mouse (genesis) on the go. Still no way for me to do that. I understand why people go the route they do.
Ha ha ha. Like that'll do anything. Delete them in one spot and they'll just pop up elsewhere. Not a chance that Nintendo will ever get rid of people trying to preserve their games.
@Kilamanjaro False (on the can't be redownloaded again). I've uninstalled Switch games and redownloaded them.
Oh the “preserve history” crowd is in full effect. Roll my eyes all the way out of my head
@Elock Glad it's not just me.
@Kavenoff This guy has about interest in preserving gaming history as a goldfish does about the same thing
@huyi available for £38.99 in Argos https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7918755
@JGruns Nintendo couldn't do much more to prevent Switch ROMs from getting distributed from this site for profit
If Nintendo feels there’s an issue with piracy regarding their old games then that’s a problem they have caused themselves. Make it easy, convenient and affordable for people to buy these games today and they’ll pay for them. A company of Nintendo’s size should have no problem getting their entire back catalogue (sans games with licensing issues) available for purchase online. If they don’t want to give people that option then what do they want them to do? How does it make a difference to Nintendo if someone buys a second hand copy of a game they’re not selling digitally and plays it legally that way or if they play it illegally via an emulator/downloaded ROM? They’re not making any money off it either way!
@jsty3105
Never said there weren't other ROM sites in existence, just saying that one of the many existing ones would likely try to pull the same thing and become Nintendo's next target.
@Funneefox While I personally think Nintendo should chill out already with the lawyer stuff when video game archiving is enough of an hurdle as it is, I'd argue that ebay is probably the worst place to hunt for game.
I had much more luck finding older games, specifically legit ones(I checked) too and at affordable prices as a bonus, on a local craigslist equivalent in Quebec/Canada("Kijiji") ads of people just trying to get rid of old stuff they don't need anymore
than I ever did finding anything below absurd prices on ebay.
I'm not sure why it was, but I think the thing is that with ebay the expectation from these people is specifically to make money and a ton of it to the point a lot of them are doing it almost professionally whereas simple traditional "want to sell" ads places like re: kijiji/craiglist(maybe Facebook Marketplace? I haven't tried yet) is people less concerned with making money and often just trying to sell an old game they don't need/etc and figuring it might as well go to people who might enjoy it/etc I.e.: sellers who're more concerned about it not cluttering their house/shelves/etc anymore than they are about the money they'd make and thus less likely to be familiar with what they "could" get from the likes of ebay/etc... or even care.
Basically think less "the places where specifically hope for an auction to rise to good amount so they can make good buck" and more the kind of places that might as well be better thought of as "digital flea's market" or the like.
Wait until Nintendo learns about Bittorrent.
@ModdedInkling Tbh the fact this guy seemed to go beyond "distributing ROM online" to "actually monetizing his website doing that" seem to have been the biggest sticking point there I believe. Like... it's kind of a Do Not Do That when the thing is (from a legal point of view) already sketchy as it is and which can really go against the whole "archiving" argument.
Especially considering bittorrent/etc existed since forever and still continue to exists.
Though honestly I kind of wishes the gaming industry could be coerced into at least partly contributing or allowing the creation of something like an "Archive of Video games".
Like... "If it's no longer being printed/digitally distributed and was to be played on a console that is no longer being produced or supported... then it's addition to archival collection should be allowed so that modern players could have a mean to experience the work of programmers and composers and know it Existed... at least until the owning company actually decide to make a modern port/etc of the game in which case it MAY be allowed to asks for the delisting"
In short: don't support the game, then don't complain. Support the game with modern ports, then yes you can complain about "illegal" distribution.
I know it's unlikely to happen anytime soon however.
@Anti-Matter I can understand that but I think the community is split on that. There are some that like to watch a movie once and that's good enough, there are others that might want to watch it many times. The same applies to video games, I'd say. Some are fine playing through a game once but other enjoy revisiting them. It would be nice to at least be given the option.
@jsty3105 did you read my post? Selling any access to any of the Roms isn’t defensible in court. Especially not for games currently being sold. That was the thrust of my argument if you cared to read it, that games that aren’t being sold by primary retailers the publishers or the developers don’t cause lost revenue when they are pirated.
@jsty3105 You're right, of course. If it's modern day content, Nintendo has little recourse but to pursue action.
Like many here, I picture them going after sites with NES romsets and such. Something many of us right here in the comments have on our PC's, loaded up in our Powerpaks and Everdrives, etc.
That classic era content is so widely available that there's no going back. Nintendo could empty their coffers of every cent going after uploaders and it would still be out there among the masses in large numbers.
@The-Chosen-one Folks I know, certainly not me, had archived these things so many times they've lost track of where they all are.
@jsty3105 i honestly hate sites like that, if they want to charge you might as well buy the disc or game legit, why would i waste my time with a site who is gonna exploit me for money?
I can not believe how People can try to run a Website as this one as a "buisness", with your full Name.
@jsty3105 what? no! i would still not pay that when i can play these games on high end hardware and get a far better experience rofl
'If they were available I would buy them.' Classic.
Piracy is objectively the best crime, you get free video games and teach companies a lesson.
@jsty3105 I'm glad you posted that so I didn't have to. I think Nintendo Life reported those facts earlier, but it's been a while and they're important enough to be worth reminding people of.
I'll add that part of the reason Nintendo won this injunction is that the site owner was foolish enough to start talking about reviving his site after it was ordered to be taken down, so...kind of hard to sympathize with him there, either.
Typical corporate dirtbags. Nintendo didn't like that they weren't making money off these games? or perhaps they were jealous that some of these ROMs were better than alot of there more recent games?
Less taking a second look at a case more taking a second look at a check that magically slid under the judge’s door.
Removed - inappropriate language
Pirate Mario will never not be a funny thumbnail for these stories.
@Noid Plenty of other people have already preserved these games' ROMs (without illegally distributing them), not to mention all the people who previously downloaded them. Preservation is not an issue here.
@huyi Any amount of lost profits due to others' illegal activities counts as "irreparable harm." Just because the company is rich enough to absorb those losses doesn't make it any less harmful.
@ATaco If that's what some people are willing to pay, then yes you should fork over $800 if you want "Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance" that badly and don't already have it. It's basic supply and demand, and you aren't entitled to free entertainment just because something is expensive.
In any case, those kinds of rare, expensive games that don't have some kind of re-release or remaster/remake are very rare and keep getting rarer. In this case, though, I think Nintendo really needs to make a remastered Radian(ce/t) duology.
I'm sick of living like this. Nintendo has all the power and money yet they continue to use it to stomp out their most devoted fans.
A boycott would do nothing as they have the kind of market where they could always be successful since there's always new kids to market to. We've begged them to let us do things legitimately via a robust virtual console library but they for some baffling reason don't do it even though they'd make so much more money than they already are.
I feel like there's nothing we can do. Sometimes I feel like the Nintendo IPs we know and love are like our kids that we adore and Nintendo has full custody of them like a spouse in a divorce where thanks to their incredible lawyers and mountains of money decide all of the visitation rights we have to these characters and games.
If we're not allowed to even make our own games that harm no one and frankly only give Nintendo good advertisement. Then I guess freedom of expression is beholden by a company on the other side of the world who doesn't even acknowledge or respect our basic rights.
anyone supporting piracy never creating anything worth protecting
Nintendo:This one website is calling us "irreparable harm"
Meanwhile: You can buy devices preloaded with thousands of Nintendo roms for peanuts
I enjoy roms and emulation, but I also enjoy stories of people getting smacked down when they think themselves invincible playing in the shadow of a notoriously litigious company. The overall net is that I enjoyed this story. Roms aren't going anywhere and so long as you don't get greedy like this guy you aren't going to get burned.
All the best romsites are still running strong, so who cares? Emulation is cool until people start pirating or copying games that are easily purchased at any big brand store and even some smaller ones so Nintendo has every right to do this.
But games like Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets, AM2R, Pokemon Prism and Super Smash Remix are still easy to find and download. As long as Nintendo stays away from the homebrew scene and lets us download their NES, SNES GB/GBC/GBA, N64 and GC roms then let them waste their money suing trolls in a sea of them 😄
@huyi Almost as if the judge was lured by money...
Ha! Hilarious.
Footage of him destroying his rom collection
At least they will be back with non-Nintendo games...
@SalvorHardin
Lol indeed, Aliexpress for €10 😂😂 devices thst look like a gameboy, switch, nes snes.
And even use mario to sell their stuff.
It's no use. People always find the roms from some other site.
@Halfblind
Why not make you own games then, instead of stealing other's IP? Wouldn't it be more interesting to create something unique, especially when the fan games of Nintendo games tend to be a lot worse than the original ones?
@BulbasaurusRex The one fatal flaw with your argument is that there IS a free way to get it. Trust me, I WANT to pay Nintendo to let me buy a game I've played in the past. I will gladly give them my money again. The problem is they don't want to sell it to me and if they don't want to do that then I'll get it by any means necessary. No skin of Nintendo's nose, it's not like if I buy it off some dude for $800 then Nintendo's going to get a cut. Wether I buy it off e Bay or I pirate it Nintendo gets none of that money...so why do they care?
Now if it's a widely available game like Mario Bros or something Nintendo ports to every single console they release then yes, that's obviously terrible. They WILL lose money there but if it's a more niche game then it doesn't really matter. They sure as heck aren't going to give me some way to buy Skies of Arcadia ($290) or Custom Robo ($120). I'm not entitled to it for free...but I can get it that way if I want. Preferably I want to give my money to Nintendo but if they don't give me the option then they're twisting my arm and telling me "You want to give us money? No way, run along and eat dirt."
If Nintendo was the BBC, they’d have intentionally lost all those Doctor Who episodes from the sixties.
The judge is a moron. The guy can still have backups and pass it on to someone else. Judge and Nintendo stopped nothing! LOL
@CharlieGirl defending communism won't make you friends
@glaemay my life's track record says otherwise ✌🏽
A staunch defense here but you have two kinds of rom site. Those who do it for profit and those who do it to archive. Do the right thing and go to someone doing this for the love of the games. Not someone trying to line their pockets. Vimm's Lair is my pick.
@ModdedInkling " just saying that one of the many existing ones would likely try to pull the same thing and become Nintendo's next target."
Both of the most recent targets blatantly profited from Nintendo IP. This was worse than Game Jolt though as it benefited a single person.
@Devilsblight86 he'd likely be jailed in that scenario
@Halfblind "I'm sick of living like this. Nintendo has all the power and money yet they continue to use it to stomp out their most devoted fans"
This guy definitely wasn't a devoted fan. He just saw a way to make money from other ppl.
@Kavenoff if you didn't back it up and lost the cartridge, then it can't be redownloaded again. So we are both right! I was thinking of another scenario and you were thinking of another scenario. So bam. False and right at the same time
I don't understand all the fuss, isn't this the guy that tried to make money off of Nintendo's roms?
Phew, not a site I use 😅
Nintendo? More like Nintenoooo... I'll see myself out
@Dr_Corndog Glad someone else gets it. Over 150 comments don't.
@Pac-Manny The others defending him don't know that or are ignoring it. They also think it's just about Nintendo stopping old games when this site was selling premium access to Switch ROMs for profit.
@Nameless_Shame This has bugger all to do with game preservation. If it does, I invite you to explain why any Switch / Wii U / Wii ROM on the site needs to be 'preserved' and redistributed for profit. Wii U and Wii games are also still available cheaply (Heck, Mario Kart 8 is just £8 in Cex now)
@WaywardScythe Yup, I did read your comment through prior to replying.
"But if he weren’t such a big idiot maybe he could have gotten a good lawyer to lead the court to a limited judgement that older games not being resold don’t cause actual harm to a company when pirated."
The key issue which brought down this site was:
Newer games (Post-GC) were being resold for pure profit (it cost him nothing to obtain the games in the first place).
A good lawyer might be able to reduce the level of harm caused by the older games but I imagine it'll be hard to argue in court that redistributing games that are A) currently being sold on the eShop B) Widely available on the eShop - don't cause harm to Nintendo.
Watch out people,Tthe Cyber Police are coming to destroy your files!
And this is why we need to preserve these classic games and unofficial roms, because Nintendo doesn't care about the classics unless it gets them a few million bucks of instant nostalgia for that month. How are small indie rom sites hurting you, Nintendo? Because you don't get money from people who want to play the classics you forgot about? Tough s**t! Start preserving more of your history.
@jsty3105 Yeah I think the biggest hole in the argument is the fact ROMsites are offering games that ARE being sold.
Sites with download numbers demonstrate that the most downloaded games are the most popular and by extension easily available ones. And those are what are driving the traffic.
Arguments to defend guys like this man being sued via "preservation" are such bald faced lies. Pretending he's doing some sort of moral service when really he's just trying to get some easy money off the back of other people's work.
@Anti-Matter You do you, but don't pretend you're some paragon of morality. Just because you have some absolutely bizarre outlook on things doesn't make you "right". In fact, I'd argue you are completely wrong, factually and morally. Some gamers actually care about their hobby and the preservation of it. Once again, you do you, just know you aren't doing what's "right" at all.
@Dr_Lugae Yeah, if anyone is making money off of ROMs they should be sued and shut down, but you pretending that ROMS aren't preservation by people who don't make money off of it is willful ignorance.
Also, an argument can be a "lie". False, yes, a lie? No.
@Kugetsu It's a lie because people are misrepresenting what he was doing. He was running a piracy service not preservation and which games were available had nothing to do with their availability.
Show me a site that ONLY contains games that aren't currently available and then I'd call it preservation.
@Kugetsu
I played my games just the way it is.
Purchased legally with real money.
No pirated games, no jailbreak, no illegal modding, no CFW.
Played the games in legit disc or cartridge.
I did right way to play video games and not thinking about preservation.
The wrong is your comment toward me.
Ok here is the issue, it's not about stealing or re-selling. There is no current method to digitally track every game you have purchased, how much and what version.
Therefore there is no way to enforce the difference between people who are stealing and legitimately purchased the game in the past. Someone please creat a website database that works in hand with retailers and game companies to preserve at least the data that a purchase was in fact made.
@docdemort I understand it as not buying the data. You are buying the ability to play something on a certain system. I think that is the main point folk are arguing about. I bought F-Zero on SNES. Not played it in years on my SNES. But I didn't think at the time of buying an N64 or Gamecube that I had some right to still play it on my PC. I get Microsoft are kinda artificially, psuedo enabling backwards compatability, but to expect it with so many form factors is a tad unreasonable I think. Best thing Mr Iwata said was they are starting fromscratch with Switch and will make sure it's not an issue going forward.
@Noid Okay but the site literally had you pay money for you to get better download speeds and sometimes outright limiting how many games you could download, when it shouldn't have been restricted. That's not "preservation"
@FckN1qq3rz Nice to know you don't support actual preservation and your opinion here doesn't matter.
Stop making us preservationists look bad
If you are someone making money off someone’s IP without their consent then you are in the wrong period. I don’t care if that IP is owned by a giant like Microsoft or a small indie company they get that same right to defend their IPs. I don’t care if some people here “root for the little man” by default regardless of legality/ethical viewpoint.
Dude was being a leach off other people’s hard work and got snagged for it. He wasn’t even doing it Non-profit lol. Nothing to be ashamed of to defend your IP in this scenario so good on Nintendo.
"Nintendo if you dont want us playing it illegally make it available."
@Dafirelive The Switch games that were on the site (and which formed the crux of the case ) are definitely available - and easily to from any eShop
@Dafirelive This lawsuit is almost entirely about the Switch ROMs that were front and centre on the website. Got bugger all to do about the games before the Wii. The lawsuit only covered 49 games in total. I've also had a look at download stats on the site and pre-Wii era consoles had a very low amount of downloads compared to the Wii and post-Wii era.
I found: The DS had the largest number of downloads (4989978 plus many more across different download categories). and the Switch had 185492 for Nintendo Switch Roms plus 129353 for Nintendo Switch Roms Trimmed (XCI) (Whatever that means) The SNES had 23354 the NES had 16129. This data is based on a web archive capture on 18 March 2019.
@Noid and the worst part is that then they benefit from all of the hard work that the pirates did, and they do not give them credit at the very least
@QueenKittenWrite you think so? Would you be OK if any of your virtual console games or classic console online apps disappeare and all those games went forgotten d? That is the work those "idiots" are trying to preserve, and Nintendo itself has distributed pirated games in their VC, if they want those sites to go away they should open their own site with their games and VC costs
@Anti-Matter YOU, of all people, have downloaded and played pirated video games!? Oh the irony 😂
@Markiemania95
Well, that was used to be long time ago but i didn't do that anymore once i purchased my first Original 3DS XL machine with legit copies of 3DS starter games.
If Nintendo was Amazon Prime, they’d have relocated from New Zealand to the U.K. before season one of Lord of the Rings even began.
@Anti-Matter Is it not a bit unfair then to hold people to standards that you yourself were once guilty of not meeting? Why was it OK for you to do that in the past, but not for others, now after you’ve stopped? Many people on here are younger than you, and for all you know, could be going through the same phase that you did in 2012. Personally, I’m actually the same as you, in that I prefer physical over digital, and do not pirate games. However, even as someone that obtains their software in the same way that you do, people on here should not be shamed every single time their chosen method of playing video games is brought up.
Earlier, for example, when someone mentioned game preservation, you talked about how YOU were happy to let them go when they/you die. That’s all well and good, but game preservation is largely about making software accessible to everybody, even decades into the future. If games are not preserved somehow, there are many titles (even some you enjoy) that may not be available to younger generations.
The main point is, I don’t feel like anybody is attempting to change your mind or stance, at all (again, mine is generally the same as yours) - but it comes across as insulting when people are criticised for the ways in which they access their video games.
@Noid The site charged people for premium access and also had Switch game ROMS available for download. Only a fricken moron would be that stupid. Make him pay the $2.1 million then lock him up, he deserves it. Only entitled morons would try to justify his actions.
@Markiemania95 Did he then try to make money from those ROMS?
@Amsterdamsters Who, Anti-Matter? If that is who you’re referring to, then no, I would assume not, but my comment is more to do with his general view on other users’ usage of ROMs and emulators overall, which is evident from many of his comments on other articles and threads, rather than as a direct response to this specific story in particular.
Nintendo is butthurt that a home PC is already the best way to preserve and play all their re-re releases. There's a way for Nintendo to emulate (no pun intended) this gamer community that shows they aware the toothpaste can't be put back in the tube. I don't blame someone trying to make a dollar even if that someone is a mega Corp like Nintendo, but how they're handling this specific issue shows they're after maximum dollar and don't give a rats azz about a community that means much more than just profit.
@Markiemania95
I used to be playing with pirated games in the past because i have no idea about gaming piracy issues when i still very young as in my country Indonesia, the games piracy was everywhere. I didn't realized if the games i played when i was young was pirated games and modded machines. When i grew up and have a job, i started to get interested by original games for the first time after i bought LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER 3DS and 3DS XL machine for the first time, it changed my mind forever.
I wasn't thinking about preservation for my games as i knew they are not eternal. If someday my games collection dying by aging, i will not try to extract the games ROM to keep them alive. I will let them go, died by aging as i'm getting older, i will not bring all my games to afterlife world. Why did you think i was insulting someone ?
I just said about my idea how did i treat my games after they got dying or i have passed away someday.
I feel like swich games and emulators do need roms- but not mass shared, around 100,000 or so people should have access to it, so that 10 years down the line everything is fine for games. But selling stuff with rom sites is a no no, as that is just bad
@Pokester99 Maybe you should stop trying to discourage Switch owners from enjoying their Switch. Especially if it’s something not affecting most Switch owners.
Wait isn't this that site that tried to get away with charging people for roms? Like real money?
Why people are more distraught about this I'll never know
@EricW ppl think it's just because of NES and SNES ROMs. This article never mentioned that:
1) The site charged for premium access
2) The site prominently featured Switch ROMs
3) The guy made his living (A not insignificant $30+k a year) off this site
4) The case primarily centred on the distribution and possession of Switch ROMs
5) Downloads of NES and SNES ROMs represented a small fraction of the actual downloads
@FixLagBrosLag he was selling access to current releases. People downloading weren't interested in older games
@Ghostchip "Nintendo should offer a way to play these games on switch because I'd bet a lot of the people pirating would be fine forking over the nso membership but there is like next to no games on it considering how vast the NES and snes library is and that's not even considering other consoles"
That's sound reasoning but the download data from Romuniverse proves something else.
Downloads of NES and SNES ROMs represented a small fraction of the actual downloads. Switch ROM downloads were one of the most popular (not surprising considering they're current and also featured prominently on the homepage).
So, a lot of people pirating don't actually care about NES and SNES games.
You can't even buy classic games from Nintendo! You have to buy them from a third party and it always cost way to much. That's the crime here not someone getting classic games out for everyone to enjoy.
I had most romsets saved on external drives so no big deal for me if all ***** breaks loose some day with them being able to take real legal action against individuals. Thankfully I am protected from that in my country currently.
@jsty3105 I get that, which is why I’ve said three times now that I’m only talking about games not being sold. Being sold on the eShop is still being sold. I’m not sure that you understand what I said.
What I said is that his behavior with selling access means he will lose the court case no matter what. However a good lawyer might maybe be able to get the judge to also rule that Games that weren’t being sold by developers, producers, brands, or license holders, cannot cause economic harm to the license holder when pirated. A limited judgement like that inside his larger guilty verdict would still help emulation immensely because in US law you can quote parts of other cases to help build your case.
@Bman2425 The crime here is someone making a stupidly easy $30+k annually from downloading and distributing Switch ROMs.
@WaywardScythe AH! Gotcha now - an interesting thought even though it might not have helped in this particular case because the initial legal document specifically calls out Romsuniverse for hosting Switch and 3DS ROMs so none or next to none were not being sold. I don't have a chance to dig deeper than that.
Your idea might work better for other cases though.
@sergioad Not really sure what how that goes along with my comment; if people want to upload games to the internet, then have at it, it's your wallet not mine.
I called him an idiot because he already has to pay 2.1 million, which will likely stay with him the rest of his life. Yet he continues to act like he's above the law(No matter how BS you may think said law is) and is risking getting even more fines put on top of him(Which would roll over to his next closet relative if he dies before it's paid off)
I have nothing against emulation; I myself emulate games if I own them already(My PC runs them better than my switch) but thats the thing...I only emulate games I own, while people like him were uploading games(This includes the Switch) for anybody to download, weather they own the game or not.
Here is the thing with emulating, I never had any nintendo consoles but played a few here and there at classmates' house and such, demo booths in toy stores etc.
If it wasn't for emulating the games on my pc I would never discovered my love for certain series or games or even genres.
Later in life I bought original copies of the games I enjoyed most and sometimes even bought the virtual console roms.
I understand that making profit of off roms is a highly scummy practice but these games should not be lost to the whims of greed.
@jsty3105 Yeah I don't get those people who pirate switch games tbh
@khululy Switch ROMs were one of the most highly downloaded ROMs. There's zero chance of them being lost.
@Ghostchip too bad almost everyone commenting thinks it's just about Nintendo stopping retro ROMs when ppl downloading were far more interested in current Switch ROMs
I feel like a judge should be sure they absolutely understand the subject matter before they pass a verdict. In this case, would they feel the same if they knew just how little this actually affects Nintendo's profits? And that you can't really 'destroy' ROMs, nor can you ascertain that they haven't already been backed up or emailed to a hundred other people?
Just feels like this is propelled by a lot of ignorance.
Removed - flaming/arguing
@jsty3105 No need to be so rude. It's natural that not everybody in this sort of topic would agree.
@Maximumbeans sorry for my curt response. I disagree that this is a debatable topic though because most people commenting are only reacting to the headline instead of knowing the facts of the case or reading a couple of the latest comments before putting in their own.
In essence, I, erm, got annoyed when you didn't read my comment above yours before posting 🤷
Also, ppl think it's just because of NES and SNES ROMs. This article never mentioned that:
1) The site charged for premium access
2) The site prominently featured Switch ROMs
3) The guy made his living (A not insignificant $30+k a year) off this site
4) The case primarily centred on the distribution and possession of Switch ROMs
5) Downloads of NES and SNES ROMs represented a small fraction of the actual downloads
@jsty3105 No harm done. I agree that Switch ROMs are absolutely not concerned with 'preservation', same with 3DS - the games are hard to get and expensive in the latter but they're still 'out there'.
RE reading your comment, that's what I get for scrolling right down to the comment box without catching up first I guess. I think your bullet points will help clear a few things up for any readers who arrive hereafter.
@jsty3105 Bro I like your profile pic lol
@Ghostchip I THINK I got it here https://www.wattpad.com/720353445-splatoon-memes-meme-3
@jsty3105 it would have been a big stretch, but Nintendo rarely if ever prosecutes the free share out of print rom cases, so this might have been the best chance to get actual formal legal protection for pirating out of print games. Personally I do try to keep up to date on which roms of mine have a re release and purchase those, even if I keep playing the rom version.
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