Returning to Amigas - new to emulation

[antonvaltaz]

Hello all,

Just thought I'd say hello. I'm a 28-year old ex-Amigan from about 1993 to 1998 - started out with an A500+ and ended up with an A1200 with an 68030 50MHz CPU, 10MB RAM, CD-ROM etc, hard drive etc.

Anyways, after excavating it from my parents' loft I recently sold it (to someone I've just noticed was posting on here about a month ago after purchasing it all from me!) but I decided to keep all the games and invest in some decent emulation so I bought Amiga Forever and an 80s retro USB joystick - the setup seems to be much more powerful than my old machine, even on a very cheap Vista laptop from 2007.

Have downloaded all my old games plus loads of other legal ones from Back to the Roots, Dream 17, Gremlin Graphics world etc and can see retro emulation becoming a big hobby for me (I've done much the same with my ZX Spectrum).

Not too sure yet about the ethics of downloading old games where the copyright holder has denied permission (e.g. LucasArts, Code Masters etc), even though they're not selling them anywhere? curious as to anyone else's views on this...

[TCD]

Hi antonvaltaz and welcome to EAB

Originally Posted by antonvaltaz

curious as to anyone else's views on this...

Well if a game isn't sold anymore, it's considered 'okay' here to use it. That doesn't mean it's legal I think you get the idea...

[antonvaltaz]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Well if a game isn't sold anymore, it's considered 'okay' here to use it. That doesn't mean it's legal I think you get the idea...

Thanks for the welcome!

Just to be a devil's advocate (and I really am personally undecided right now, so am not being awkward!) what about the arguments of publishers that they might want to repackage and sell the games in future (eg on a PC compilation, or XBox Live or Wii Virtual Console) and the existence of emulated games harms their profitability? (e.g. I just noticed that Indy and the Fate of Atlantis, which I was considering downloading, is now going to be a 'bonus game' on the new Wii Indy game).

[DDNI]

Originally Posted by antonvaltaz

Thanks for the welcome!

what about the arguments of publishers that they might want to repackage and sell the games in future (eg on a PC compilation, or XBox Live or Wii Virtual Console) and the existence of emulated games harms their profitability?

Hmmm a valid point, however if I left my Wife outside and ignored her, would she still be there for me in 15 years?

[TCD]

My two cents about the 'hurting a publisher' thing : If they would make the Amiga version available for paid download this would be a different story, but since they don't seem to care about it anymore (we rarely see one of them here ), I can't see how I should get the game if not buying it on eBay (or on a car boot sale etc.) and transferring it with an Amiga to my PC. Can't see why I should get a Wii to play Indy 4...

[Rabbit80]

We quite often see some of the old programmers join this board - and they quite often release previously unseen material for the community - and genuinely appreciate that the Amiga community hasn't abandond them and that their work lives on!. I think that if any games were released on other platforms, they would not lose money due to the pirate Amiga copys - in some ways the Amiga community would be most likely to buy them!

[antonvaltaz]

Oh, okay then, you've all convinced me!

[TCD]

Glad we could convince you
Well if you have any questions about emulation, games or all the rest feel free to ask. That's what this board is about

[killergorilla]

Originally Posted by DDNI

Hmmm a valid point, however if I left my Wife outside and ignored her, would she still be there for me in 15 years?

Bwahahahahah

Well done. You get a star!

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by DDNI

Hmmm a valid point, however if I left my Wife outside and ignored her, would she still be there for me in 15 years?

PMSL!

And a fine summary of my feelings on the subject FWIW.