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Preserve Your Games with the Open Source Cartridge Reader (www.retronews.com)

submitted 1 month ago by Kain1 to c/retrogaming

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The Open Source Cartridge Reader (OSCR) is a versatile tool designed to help preserve video game cartridges and save data. Developed by Sanni and the community, this device allows users to back up ROM files and save games from a wide range of vintage consoles.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Probably not, but it does add a touch of legitimacy to the claim that emulators are for playing your own backed up games.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Nintendo doesn't even care about that so tbh fuck em.

[–] Couldbealeotard 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Did that claim have any actual grounding in reality? Or is it just an urban legend that keeps persisting?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It did, yes. Emulators as a piece of software that does not do anything illegal are not themselves illegal. But piracy is illegal, and downloading roms of games you haven't purchased constitutes piracy. But if you purchased a game and used an emulator to play it that's a perfectly valid use case that falls within the law.

Nintendo has been trying to push the envelope on that for years though. And it seems like they might recently be succeeding in some fashion.

[–] Couldbealeotard 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do you have anything to back that up? Or is it just "trust me bro" that kind of proves my point?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

America v. Bleem, March 1999

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleem!

See the "Sony lawsuit" section. It isn't cut and dry case law unfortunately, it is very much a grey area. But Sony lost every one of these lawsuits and the only reason we don't still see Bleem around is because they went broke defending all of them. Sony couldn't beat them in court so they just bled them out of money

Two days after Bleem! started taking preorders for their emulator, Sony filed suit over violations of copyright. Sony had accused Bleem! of engaging in unfair competition by allowing PlayStation BIOSs to be used on a personal computer as this would ultimately damage Sony's sales of the PlayStation. The Judge had rejected the notion, and issued a protective order to "protect David from Goliath".

[...]

In spite of the loss, the release of the Bleemcast! caused Sony to file another lawsuit accusing them of unfair competition and patent infringement regarding the use of PlayStation BIOSs on the Sega Dreamcast. This approach had become problematic for Bleem!, despite no actual court ruling against them. The main issue regarded the financial problems Bleem! had faced as they had to deal with defense costs of $1 million per patent. This had caused Bleem!'s work to decline, so that they had only managed to release three games: Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo 2, and Tekken 3, for the Bleemcast!.[6] At this point, Sony had obstructed Bleem! from developing further video games for the Bleemcast! and had even threatened retailers selling these products.

[–] Couldbealeotard 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I'm asking about whether the concept of "you are allowed to play pirated games if you own a physical copy of it" is based on any legal truth.

I'm aware that the emulators are largely completely legal as long as they don't package console bios' with it. That's why you have to go find a pirate bios to make your emulator run

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well, not quite. If you dump the ROM of a game cartridge you have purchased and use that dumped rom to play your game that's legal. If you pirate the ROM, that's still illegal regardless whether you own the original game, however the end result is identical and there's really not many ways to prove you didn't dump your own roms.

Unless, of course, you don't own a rom dumper and have an internet history of visiting rom sites. Even then it's technically circumstantial evidence.

[–] Couldbealeotard 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What is this based on? It sounds like something that would be against even the most basic licence terms.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't remember agreeing to any terms of service when I bought pokemon yellow, so as far as I'm concerned there are none.

[–] Couldbealeotard 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You agree to the licence terms when you purchase the software. If you disagree, don't buy it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Well informed consent is a thing, they didn't tell me, I'm not informed. Shoulda made me click a box.