Which games/consoles can I use for a commercial arcade machine?

[Arcadio]

I know I cannot just use any game on an arcade machine which will be used for commercial purposes. Are there any good games or consoles which can be used for this purpose without any paperwork involved?

 

[TheKub]

Well anyone could be used without doing any paperwork. The question is is it legal or not. I haven't sat down and read any EULAs recently but I'm assuming they all have some clause against using them for commercial purposes and if you want to use them as such you will have to pay for a different license.

 

[MarcVenice]

Unless you're going to build 10 arcade machines, and will have 100's of people play on them, and charge them big money for it, I doubt it matters. So the question is, what exactly do you mean with commerical purposes?

 

[Arcadio]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Unless you're going to build 10 arcade machines, and will have 100's of people play on them, and charge them big money for it, I doubt it matters. So the question is, what exactly do you mean with commerical purposes?

One machine. In a "cyber-cafe". In a small Queens neighborhood. Accepting quarters. I was planning to use an emulator with downloaded ROMS, but I am considering the legality of the whole thing.

 

[Magusigne]

Originally posted by: Arcadio

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Unless you're going to build 10 arcade machines, and will have 100's of people play on them, and charge them big money for it, I doubt it matters. So the question is, what exactly do you mean with commerical purposes?

One machine. In a "cyber-cafe". In a small Queens neighborhood. Accepting quarters. I was planning to use an emulator with downloaded ROMS, but I am considering the legality of the whole thing.

Honestly,

Doubt its legal. Or even really worth trying.

Best bet would to look into getting a real machine or an old "Gauntlets" legend machine from craigslist or from another store's going out of buisiness and ask them about legality issues.

I would think it would be "More Legal" to have a prebuilt arcade game taking money versus your "Homebrew" game machine.

 

[Adam8281]

An emulator with ROMS won't be liegal, period, since ROMS are essentially pirated, by definition (assuming you don't own the original cartridges). It's a more interesting question if we're talking about an arcade machine housing a console (like an Xbox 360, e.g.), kind of like what they'll have at Best Buy or Gamestop. With a console, most likely you'd be using legally purchased games, so the only question is whether there is a licensing agreement attached to the game that prevents you using it in a commercial setting, and that would require reading the fine print. My hunch is that it is outlawed in the EULA (as most things are), but that it's no big deal to do it. I mean, some bars will have "Halo 3 Night," or something like that, where they'll set up a console and projector and host a tournament. Having a for-pay arcade machine in a small establishment, containing a console playing legally purchased games, is a much smaller deal than that, and doesn't seem like it would pose a problem.

 

[CrackRabbit]

There are the old NEO-GEO MVS machines.
I believe that there were NES, and Sega Genesis cartridge based Arcades as well, though those would be much more rare than the NEO-GEO ones.

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

I found this site with a quick google search. http://www.arcadeathome.com/email.phtml

All ROMs or XOR tables provided on this site are either freeware, public domain, shareware, or otherwise freely distributeable. Under no circumstances will you find ROMs or images here that are not freely distributeable.

 

[coloumb]

Originally posted by: GundamSonicZeroX
I found this site with a quick google search. http://www.arcadeathome.com/email.phtml

All ROMs or XOR tables provided on this site are either freeware, public domain, shareware, or otherwise freely distributeable. Under no circumstances will you find ROMs or images here that are not freely distributeable.

Looks like it only applies to the Emulators - not the actual arcade roms [those are linked to external sites].

The great wikipedia details legality of using roms:

ROMs

 

[Arcadio]

Originally posted by: coloumb

Originally posted by: GundamSonicZeroX
I found this site with a quick google search. http://www.arcadeathome.com/email.phtml

All ROMs or XOR tables provided on this site are either freeware, public domain, shareware, or otherwise freely distributeable. Under no circumstances will you find ROMs or images here that are not freely distributeable.

Looks like it only applies to the Emulators - not the actual arcade roms [those are linked to external sites].

The great wikipedia details legality of using roms:

ROMs

Excellent. Good info there.

Oh, and your sig is the best I've seen. Reps.

 

[slugg]

Get an old PC... put Stepmania on it and buy a couple Cobalt Flux dance pads. There are readily available kits to make "pay-to-play" machines for this setup

 

[BladeVenom]

If it's for a business, I'd just buy an arcade machine so it's all nice and legal. Pick up a used one for retro appeal.