Shop selling retropie

mediamogul

"What people do is their prerogative"

You misquoted him there. If you'll look back, he actually said:

What users do with their software in their countries is their own prerogative.

The possibility exists to obtain these ROMs legally depending on where in the world you live. RetroPie isn't enabling piracy just because there are people in the world looking to skirt copyright law and it is perfectly reasonable for them to protect their own intellectual property as they see fit. Anyone can choose go out and buy a CD album, or they can choose to illegally download and burn a copy of that album to a CD. Is SONY or Panasonic encouraging piracy by facilitating the latter option and are they wrong in patenting, copyrighting and protecting the devices the produce?

Danorak1981

@herb_fargus said in Shop selling retropie:

I also have to appreciate Sega's approach to ROMs (where they are selling ROMs through steam for use on emulators)

The issue here really isn't the so called piracy, it's the companies not providing a platform for accessing games. I have no doubt the majority of people would pay for ROMs if they could

I think thats a real valid point. I know many who cannot compete with he likes of eBay etc for genuine hardware. I'm lucky enough to own a boxed SNES with several boxed games, but some of the more popular titles in similar condition are hitting 3 figures plus: I can't afford that. However, if a company was to sell the ROM's that were specific to the likes Retropie (I know its not just that simple, but you know what I mean), you have an opportunity to increase the audience and hook peoples interest in a series (Zelda or even Mario), potentially wanting more (no different to binge watching a TV series).

You'd also reduce the amount of game 'over saturation' within emulation. It's not unusual to see people with game libraries running in to 1000's: no issue with that at all, but you end up getting indecisive and fed up easier, in my opinion. I have 4 systems installed on my Pi, under 30 games. Some of those are ones that I loved playing as a youngster, but some are also ones that I used to pick up and read the boxes of in the shops over and over because I couldn't afford them when I was younger. However, as gaming/tech evolved, often you'd miss out on some masterpieces because the industry picked up pace real quick and your console was superseded. My top two emulators are the Amiga and SNES: i have a mixture of 'had' and 'wanted' games on there, and am really enjoying playing them as if they were new once more. It really adds to the experience in my opinion. If I could buy a ROM that came with a digital manual (manuals are a lost art these days) and restored but original artwork (which I'm trying to do myself), I'd happily part with my hard earned. I don't want mass, I'd rather pay for quality over quantity, and it's that change in mindset that I feel, would make Emulation a more widely accepted port, potentially opening the doors for new customers.

You'll never stop piracy, but if RP was a recognised platform for playing approved purchased ROM's I think that would be a massive step forward and a step in the right direction for the industry.

retropi19

@danorak1981 what about this nice shop here

Lister of Smeg

@retropi19 claims to ship from Russia - I wouldn't hold my breath on anything being done
uk sellers can be reported to Trading Standards and will be shut down
I've been tempted to report others directly to Nintendo or Sony's legal teams