I'm still pretty new to this forum, and I've only recently noticed the anti-rom/emulator sentiment within this community.
Before I even start, let me say that I own my own MVS, and I've owned both an AES and a NeoGeo CD. I've bought all my own software for each of these systems. . . all of them legit. That being said, here I go.
I don't quite understand the rationale that some of the forum members use to come to the conclusion that ROMS and emulation are bad for the NeoGeo community. If the NeoGeo was a living system (nevermind the one or two games coming out this year, I'll get to that later) I could understand why hardcore fans would be anti-ROM. I mean, the only way for a company to continue to exist and produce new games is to sell games it's already produced. But now that SNK has died, and most of these games aren't being produced anymore, what harm could come from playing some of these games in emulation form? Is playing a non-current game in ROM form taking money away from SNK anymore? Absolutely not. And unless Playmore (or whoever) starts reproducing these games, they won't lose any money either.
The only POSSIBLE businesses that could lose money are arcades (or route operators.) But, realistically, a signficant number of people are NOT gonna run out to the arcade every day to play Metal Slug. If they pass by a Metal Slug game at an arcade, and they're an MS fan, they'll plop down a quarter whether they have the ROM or not. And just because they play a game at home doesn't mean they're willing to play it an arcade either. Additionally, playing a fighting game at home just doesn't compare to playing it at an aracde. What's mising? The competition! So I can see people practicing ROMs at home and then going to the arcade to play real people. I really think that arcade revenue lost, at this point in time, due to ROMs is quite small and largely insignificant.
As you all are quite aware, some NeoGeo games are incredibly rare and subsequently expensive. Only diehard collectors (or rich ones) can afford to own these games in their true form. But really, what harm can be done by letting others less fortunate than themselves play the same games emulated? Is the game going to devalue? No. There are still only X number of real copies of the game available, and a true colletor will only want the original game. And this isn't the stock market. You aren't a TRUE colletor if you only bought the game because you think its value will increase anyway.
So what about these NEW games? MS4, KOF2k1, KOF2k2, etc.? My thoughts on these games is that they're in limited production and not available as playable ROMs anyway (at least not that I know of.) But even if working ROMs exist, with the number of dedicated fans out there, and knowing full well that the hardware is just about dead, I'm sure there will be limited runs and all produced copies of new games will be sold regardless of emulation.
In all honesty, I think emulation brings in NEW fans at this point. People playing ROMs on their computer and loving it will just make them yearn to play the games on a REAL system. I've already seen a couple of posts where younger fans are already planning to spend their hard-earned cash on hardware and games. Do you think they play the ROMs? I'm sure most of them do. And the more they play, the more they'll want a system.
I will admit to trying out ROMs before buying the cart. I see no harm in this whatsoever. And if it's a crappy game, I'm not even going to play the ROM anymore. Why would I? The game sucks.
To conclude, let me just say that I think ROMs are a good thing at this point and that my thoughts on NeoGeo ROMs are solely based on the NeoGeos current state. If this were 1993, it would be a different story. Whether ROMs killed the NeoGeo in the first place (I don't think they did) is irrelevant as it's dead/dying now as a viable hardware platform and nobody can change that now. And that fact cannot be challenged.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that all new fans and even the old fans will only be buying USED hardware and software anyway (again not counting the 1 or 2 new games coming out.) And if ROMs discourage the re-selling of used hardware/softare, then no real harm is done to the companies that originally made the hardware/software. In fact, if you really think about it, it could be said that people making money off of USED hardware/software sales are the ones really hurting the original game producers as reduced priced used products compete for customers of the new from-the-factory products.
[ May 24, 2002: Message edited by: Katsu ]</p>
Before I even start, let me say that I own my own MVS, and I've owned both an AES and a NeoGeo CD. I've bought all my own software for each of these systems. . . all of them legit. That being said, here I go.
I don't quite understand the rationale that some of the forum members use to come to the conclusion that ROMS and emulation are bad for the NeoGeo community. If the NeoGeo was a living system (nevermind the one or two games coming out this year, I'll get to that later) I could understand why hardcore fans would be anti-ROM. I mean, the only way for a company to continue to exist and produce new games is to sell games it's already produced. But now that SNK has died, and most of these games aren't being produced anymore, what harm could come from playing some of these games in emulation form? Is playing a non-current game in ROM form taking money away from SNK anymore? Absolutely not. And unless Playmore (or whoever) starts reproducing these games, they won't lose any money either.
The only POSSIBLE businesses that could lose money are arcades (or route operators.) But, realistically, a signficant number of people are NOT gonna run out to the arcade every day to play Metal Slug. If they pass by a Metal Slug game at an arcade, and they're an MS fan, they'll plop down a quarter whether they have the ROM or not. And just because they play a game at home doesn't mean they're willing to play it an arcade either. Additionally, playing a fighting game at home just doesn't compare to playing it at an aracde. What's mising? The competition! So I can see people practicing ROMs at home and then going to the arcade to play real people. I really think that arcade revenue lost, at this point in time, due to ROMs is quite small and largely insignificant.
As you all are quite aware, some NeoGeo games are incredibly rare and subsequently expensive. Only diehard collectors (or rich ones) can afford to own these games in their true form. But really, what harm can be done by letting others less fortunate than themselves play the same games emulated? Is the game going to devalue? No. There are still only X number of real copies of the game available, and a true colletor will only want the original game. And this isn't the stock market. You aren't a TRUE colletor if you only bought the game because you think its value will increase anyway.
So what about these NEW games? MS4, KOF2k1, KOF2k2, etc.? My thoughts on these games is that they're in limited production and not available as playable ROMs anyway (at least not that I know of.) But even if working ROMs exist, with the number of dedicated fans out there, and knowing full well that the hardware is just about dead, I'm sure there will be limited runs and all produced copies of new games will be sold regardless of emulation.
In all honesty, I think emulation brings in NEW fans at this point. People playing ROMs on their computer and loving it will just make them yearn to play the games on a REAL system. I've already seen a couple of posts where younger fans are already planning to spend their hard-earned cash on hardware and games. Do you think they play the ROMs? I'm sure most of them do. And the more they play, the more they'll want a system.
I will admit to trying out ROMs before buying the cart. I see no harm in this whatsoever. And if it's a crappy game, I'm not even going to play the ROM anymore. Why would I? The game sucks.
To conclude, let me just say that I think ROMs are a good thing at this point and that my thoughts on NeoGeo ROMs are solely based on the NeoGeos current state. If this were 1993, it would be a different story. Whether ROMs killed the NeoGeo in the first place (I don't think they did) is irrelevant as it's dead/dying now as a viable hardware platform and nobody can change that now. And that fact cannot be challenged.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that all new fans and even the old fans will only be buying USED hardware and software anyway (again not counting the 1 or 2 new games coming out.) And if ROMs discourage the re-selling of used hardware/softare, then no real harm is done to the companies that originally made the hardware/software. In fact, if you really think about it, it could be said that people making money off of USED hardware/software sales are the ones really hurting the original game producers as reduced priced used products compete for customers of the new from-the-factory products.
[ May 24, 2002: Message edited by: Katsu ]</p>
