Why are companies so protective of ROMS?

[LiekOMG]

First I just want to say that I'm no fan of piracy. Going around and making copies of a game that just hit the shelves for 100 of your friends and neighbors is just wrong. But why are game companies so anal about the distribution of game ROMS? I mean, some of these games might be 10-20 years old! They are no longer being manufactured, are for systems that are no longer being made, and the company is no longer making money off of the game. Even if I could say walk into a funcoland and pick up some 15 year old game for the NES, its not like the original manufactuer is making any money off of the sale. I don't understand why people aren't allowed to distrubute/download some of these old classics. Don't get me wrong, the SALE of these old ROMS is a bad thing to do. But free distribution? whats wrong with that?

 

[Lvis]

You can play a bunch of Midway games here

Really old stuff though....I had a full head of hair when some of these came out 😉

 

[GermyBoy]

Because they want you to have purchased them back then when they were $50 a pop. I however am not old enough to have purchased all of these games back in the day, therefore I have ROMS. I also have ROMS for my games that I bought and broke (like Megaman 2 broke three times, I bought 3 copeis).

They are just little weenies.

 

[wnied]

The reason these companies keep a hold on these games is, they can use them to package up as an "Arcade Classic" CD or Cartridge, everytime another new gaming console comes out i.e: Midway classics CD for the PSX. Repackage and resale.

"Mo Money Mo Money Mo Money!"...Thats the true name of the game.
~wnied~

 

[Cyberian]

But why are game companies so anal about the distribution of game ROMS? I mean, some of these games might be 10-20 years old! They are no longer being manufactured,

Where do you draw the line, and who gets to draw it?

 

[piku]

Where do you draw the line, and who gets to draw it?

As far as I'm concerned, 10 years after a company stops producing (and therefore profiting from) a game its fair game. Sure I have plenty of exceptions on my hard drive right now, but thatâ??s how I generally feel.

Besides, playing the real thing is about 500x better than playing it emulated on a computer anyway, which is motivation enough for me to pick up the originals.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: Cyberian

But why are game companies so anal about the distribution of game ROMS? I mean, some of these games might be 10-20 years old! They are no longer being manufactured,

Where do you draw the line, and who gets to draw it?

Exactly...