Why I hate Warez!

[Cmtz]

Yesterday I bought myself a Max Media Dock to run some emulators on my NDS. However, I soon found out that not only can you run emulator but also regular DS games. Soon I found websites with all 1167 NDS roms. I began to download the games non-stop. The new Zelda, Brothers in Arms and Dinner Dash were just some of the games I was playing by the end of the day. I placed close to 200 roms on the Max Media Dock and had enough gaming to last a couple of years. I should have been happy right?

Wrong! Nothing could be furter from the truth.

I looked at my collection of DS games and could not understand why I would rather play the ones that cost me $30 dollars instead of the ones I acquired for free. Would I want to buy another game now that I knew I could get them for free? Why would anyone in their right mind want to spend money instead of getting something for free? Why do I enjoy playing my Virtual Console games more than something of an emulator? I don't know. All I know is that I don't want to play my games off a hacked card! I wanna play my games the way they were meant to be played! But now I don't want to buy any more DS games. I know that any game can be played of that stupid card.

I just don't feel like playing the DS anymore. The same thing happened with the Dreamcast. Warez, Never again!

P.S. I deleted all the DS roms off my computer and cards.

[Richter Belmount]

Well if you got it for free they are worthless to you. People dont appreciate what they get for free as much as something they worked and paid for.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Warez! UH! Good God! What's it good for?


No, no, wait. That's war. Um...never mind.

[Kid Ice]

1. CMTZ IMO this is the best thread you ever made.

2. It should probably be in Modern Gaming.

3. 100% agreed. Nothing ruins a system faster than getting everything overnight for next to nothing. I've actually paid for a few NDS/GBA games that I used to have on my flash card (and worked fine).

[cyberfluxor]

Well if you got it for free they are worthless to you. People dont appreciate what they get for free as much as something they worked and paid for.

This sums it up quite well; was actually what I was going to say...

[jcalder8]

The same thing happened with the Dreamcast. Warez, Never again!
This is exactly the same thing that happened to me with the Dreamcast. I still love the system but the thought of playing any of the games I have for it just doesn't interest me.

[Jorpho]

Well if you got it for free they are worthless to you. People dont appreciate what they get for free as much as something they worked and paid for.

Indeed, to some extent the same thing happened with all of the excellent PC games I purchased entirely legally but for bargain-basement prices.

[NE146]

Why would anyone in their right mind want to spend money instead of getting something for free?

Ummm.. because we're collectors?

I have zero problems playing stuff on a DS flashcart. That being said, I wouldn't be happy not having the actual case and cart for Zelda Phantom Hourglass when it comes out, or Picross DS, amongst many others.

Let's just say that 20 years down the road, that entire package with artwork, etc. are what I want. Not some ancient generic flashcart.

[Damaramu]

Yuppers. I've got drawers full of NES and SNES carts, with minty working NES and SNES consoles.....yet I have no qualms with firing them up on emulators via my X-Box or PC.

I guess I'm just too lazy to go through and dig for carts (not to mention digging out the systems and hooking them up!)

[suppafly]

Viva La Warez!

[Daria]

I don't have a problem with emulators. Although I personally will not pirate new games. It's just an ethically thing for me. I will whip through a bunch of roms quickly though just to try them out and see what the games are like, but I can still sit down and play a single game at great length regardless if it's on my Laptop or the Tv set. Although a USB controller does add a good amount of validity to the setup. Nothing says emulation like a keyboard. :P

So no, I guess I don't have that problem.

Although, I find buying PC games to be worthless because of how easy they are to download. I won't bother collecting them.But now that in recent years theres virtually no PC exclusives I want to play that's not much of an issue either. I just buy the XboX versions.

[norkusa]

The same thing basically happened to me. I bought a DS flash card and a few weeks later, I ended up selling my collection of 20 DS games on Ebay. I didn't play my DS that much to begin with, but now I can't even remember the last time I touched it. And for some reason, I still download every new rom pack that comes out. Weird.

[carlcarlson]

I've done that before as well. when you have a 1000 games you don't have any desire to play them, but when you have 2 it's a real joy. on a side note, are you saying that the new zelda has been leaked and is fully playable? how is it?

[badinsults]

I know how you feel. Although I have every snes rom, the only games I have ever put much time into on an emulator are basically translated Japanese games that never had an American release. There is something about playing the actual physical cart that makes it special.

[skaar]

I've always been a collector of both - I buy the games I really want to have, and download and burn the "throwaway" titles. I can count dozens of games where I've downloaded, played for awhile and decided to go buy a copy. In fact just to be a little weird I've taken to just leaving the copy I buy sealed half the time.

I think ROMs/burns have their place in collecting and potentially a very useful one. But they can very quickly wear out a system's desirability - that I agree with. I still want to own the games I love - and some I just want to own.

PEPSIMAAAAN!

[Trebuken]

Emulators are good for hacks and super rare games, also translations. I have out-grown most of my ROM collecting though I think it is still relavant as far as retro-computer games and Arcade games. MAME is a must have IMO. I like using emulators on my PS but I stick to games I own...

[Putney]

Chalk me up to what pretty much what everyone else said. I will admit to tracking down some ISO's for the PS2 (as best as I can recall, all Japanese only releases that aren't available here), and honestly, if the opportunity comes about to buy them legally, I do. Granted, sometimes I wait for a good price if it's a game I'm not enamored with, but I still go for the legal purchase.

I do the same thing with music/mp3's as well...often I'll download a full album and check it out, and if I really like it, I buy the legitimate release. In both cases I really just have a better appreciation for the full, legal product.

Though I do have a large collection of MAME roms and no arcade units at all ;) (But hey, in my defense I usually pick up the compilation discs for consoles if the games on it are ones I enjoy!)

[ubikuberalles]

2. It should probably be in Modern Gaming.


I think you're right...>>shuffle<<

[DefaultGen]

.....

[PallarAndersVisa]

this happened to me with the PSX. As soon as Igot my first CD burner, me and my neighbor were off to the races renting and buying and returning games every day. We would get new games every day and we never felt like playing any of them after dicking around with them for a few minutes. The games held very little value to us and we never cared to play them.

I imagine if I had a DS I would probaly download games because I'm an in debt college student (even though I already own a few DS games without owning a DS-collectors reasons), but I cant imagine myself spending much time on a handheld anyway.

[Anthony1]

One thing I've noticed in regards to modded consoles or flash carts, is that I end up having hundreds of games for a particular system, and the big problem with that for me, is that there is just TOO MUCH SELECTION. Too many options. Take the Saturn for example. I probably have like 200 or so Saturn games. Every time I go over to the shelf where they are, I normally decide to try a game I haven't really played with, just because it's there. Instead of getting deeper into one that I know I love. I call it the "Dip your toe in the Water Phenomenom". When you have hundreds of games for a particular system, often times, you end up dipping your toe into tons of different waters. Yet, you never get deep into the water on anything. Too much variety, and too many options can be a bad thing.

This is also true with actual legal, physical copies of games. Sure, I have some CD-R's, but I've also got tons of legit games as well. Tons of various systems, and tons of games. When you have too many damn options, then it's hard to really focus in on any one thing. I could never add another single game to my collection, and I would have enough games to keep me busy for 30 years, if not more.


Of course, on the flip side of the coin, I've also been in situations in which I only had a handful of games, and although I would get deeper into those games, sometimes it would get to the point where I just didn't feel like playing those damn games, but they were all I had. Almost like I would look at the games sitting there and get pissed off at them. Like... "I don't want to play you again, bitch!". So, it's kinda a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario.

[Bloodreign]

Emulation is good to see something you might buy, it might help influence you to buy a game that otherwise you might never have.

Emulation has helped me decide quite a few purchases.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

I feel the same way. Although I do (As many of us do) own various ROM's, I will always revert to playing games I own over those I have downloaded. Ie, I have all the Mega Drive titles that I have in cart form also as ROM's, but I never play those ROM's, and always wire up my Mega Drive to play them.

Likewise, I have a copy of Symphony Of The Night on my computer which I started to play via ePSXe, but after about fifteen minutes I decided to dig out the actual PlayStation game and boot up the PlayStation instead, and thus played it right through until the end!

There's also something about having a game's box and manual, and being able to play it with the original controller that makes it feel all that more real. I don't understand people who pay to download games for Virtual Console or XBLA, when this is exactly the same as downloading a ROM, except for the fact that the VC and XBLA are actually legal to do. In either case, you are still minus the box and manual, so it's no different.


Some games are actually improved with playing them as ROM's though. The added extra features that emulator's allow make games a little more bearable, with save states and double speed modes etc. Some games i've played recently I have had to rely on these features. Plus, they can save time in the long run as many games have tedious sections which would be time consuming on the original console. Eg, Golden Sun The Lost Age: Travelling around the globe is boring, and the speed up mode makesit a little less tedious. Castlevania Circle Of The Moon has some damn hard sections too, and save states have saved a lot of needless resetting and running from point to point and back again

[jajaja]

Well.. if you dont enjoy playing ROMS, just delete them (i see you did) and keep buying the games, problem solved :) If you test a ROM and find a game you really like, just buy the game and play the original if thats the only way you can enjoy it. But if you test a ROM and find the game damn boring, would you still buy it? It would still be added to your collection tho, but playwise.

[exit]

I resulted to downloading roms when I was younger, mainly because I did not have a job, thus not having the enough money to spend on my gaming. Now I buy the originals when I get the chance, but still use emulation since it's easier than tracking some games down. You also can't forget about prototypes and fan translations, they're the most important reason for emulation.

[Cryomancer]

I pirate tons of stuff and also buy games with (quite often literally) my last dollar. I prefer the originals, sure, but sometimes emulation has it's benefits (speeding up long games via cheating, playing hacks, MAME, using alternate controllers, being able to get at graphics you like, "safer" saving, the list goes on).

Personally I don't think the merit of a game is based entirely on playing an original copy, however there are many that a real copy will enhance the experience. And I too have bought things and played burns instead, for the sake of keeping stuff sealed / pristine. You will also find out about tons of new games you would not have otherwise heard of via downloading things, especially imports.

[Oobgarm]

I've always been a collector of both - I buy the games I really want to have, and download and burn the "throwaway" titles. I can count dozens of games where I've downloaded, played for awhile and decided to go buy a copy. In fact just to be a little weird I've taken to just leaving the copy I buy sealed half the time.

I think ROMs/burns have their place in collecting and potentially a very useful one. But they can very quickly wear out a system's desirability - that I agree with. I still want to own the games I love - and some I just want to own.

An excellent assessment. Agreed 110%.

[kedawa]

I understand where the OP is coming from, but for me, whether I pay for something or get it for free doesn't make much of a difference anymore. Half of my retail games are still in the shrinkwrap while I play the shit out of old ROMs on my computer. I still buy just as many games, but I play just as much pirated stuff as I do legit stuff.

The real problem for me is choosing something to play. I have so much stuff, both legit and pirated, that I just can't decide. I have so many games I'm only half-interested in that it's hard to get into anything. When I was a kid with no money and no access to free games, I played what I had and enjoyed it. Now I just get overwhelmed by the options and wind up playing the same dozen or so of my favorite games.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I bought a Max Media Dock recently as well. I'm rather amazed that I haven't had the urge to dl commercial roms so far. I've spend most of my time searching for the best possible emu's (nesDS, SNEmulDS and DSMasterPlus are what I'm running now) and sampling some homebrew games and apps. Well, the homebrew stuff isn't going very well because 95% of what I've come across doesn't work on a MMD/CF. :( Back on topic here...

I use emus/roms quite frequently and it all comes down to these basic aspects. First, archiving what I've played, liked and plan to purchase. I toss out alot of the roms I get in GoodSets or rom packs. For example, the only thing of less value than the retail release of That's So Raven 2 is the rom... even though it's not by much. ;) Second is the convienance issues. Sometimes firing up an emu is quicker, easier and less irritating. No dealing with hardware, wires, passthrough devices, region switches/devices... I could go on but, you get the idea. Then there is the aspect that devices like the MMD bring. I have a GG with a MasterGear Converter and a Nomad for playing my Sega 8/16bit console games "In the Field" but, there is no real solution such as this for NES/SNES games. That is the void that the MMD has filed in my game collection. Not to mention the added benefit of double duty GG and SMS gaming with the DS. Now I don't have to lug all that shit with me to play Wonderboy 3. :D When a decent Gen/MD emu, and Tg16/PCe emu becomes available it will take care of all my portable console gaming needs. That's valuable to me, at least. The last aspect is the games I want to play that are too rare for me to find, were not released in the US and/or too expensive for me to buy. While games like these take time, money and patience to track down and nab, they are readily available for emulation and flashcarts. At least I get to see what all the fuss is about. LOL So it is possible to dodge the pitfalls of piracy while embracing it's greater benefits. For me, roms and the like are placeholders for where I want my collection to go down the road and for playing the games I already own in a different way.

I also agree, wholeheartedly, with a previous poster. MAME is up there on my needs list... along with love & affection, shelter, air, water and food. :D This whole topic depends on your own personal view and ethics/morality though. If your conscience nags at you it's more than likely better to just delete the stuff. Nice topic, Cmtz. Kudos. :)

[zektor]

I am (was) probably the biggest "roms'er" in NJ, but there is always something lacking from not having the physical game. Not having the nice box art, the manual, or the value of a collection is one thing. Plus, the good feeling that you are supporting the developers of games that you enjoy is good too.

I initially played everything on emulators/pirate devices, but eventually ended up just "using" these devices as a tool to decide which games I would be purchasing.

Warezing is neat-o, but nothing beats owning the original title.