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I found this interesting especially with heated topic of emulators that goes on this board form time to time. I tried load up a Korean Pc Version of Symphony of the Night my buddy brought home from Korea and noticed it loaded the PSXBIOS. In fact when it was loading it even loaded what it called a PSXEMULATOR. I'm sure Konami had some legal way of doing it but still it sorta makes me laugh. Just thought someone here besides me might find that interesting.
If it was really a legit game, there's two possible ways.
1. Reverse Engineering
2. Licensing (Least Likely)
Yes it is very legit.It even has very fancy Working Designs style embossed text on it. I just wish I could look at the files it with my dumb computer trying to boot it. grrr . Perhaps the laws are much weaker on matters like that there?
Well both my points I stated above are legit possibilities.
What makes a BIOS illegal anyway?
If your using windows, and when your double clicking on the CD from Mycomputer it auto starts, instead of doing that right click on the icon and select Explore. That will display all the files contained on the CD.Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Lizard
Since it allows more accurate PSX emulation, and is copyrighted, that's what does.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Smith
A console's Basic Input Output System (hee hee) contains code that, basically, tells the console how to work. It's copyrighted material, so you can't download, upload, reload, lock-and-load or otherwise redistribute it willy-nilly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Smith
Using it as part of an emulator (like a dumped Mega-CD BIOS) means you can use the machine's original code, and thus get more accurate emulation - plus, as you have to supply your own Mega-CD bios file to get the emulator to run, the emulator creator won't get in legal bother for redistributing copyrighted material. Instead, the end-user (i.e. you) need to supply your own, legally-dumped Mega-CD BIOS from your own Mega-CD hardware.
Steve Snake got around this issue with the 32X by creating his own BIOS with identical functions to the original, and integrating it into the Fusion emulator.
Because Steve Snake = amazing.
I knew that emulators are legal and the legal of status of ROMs (especially here in Europe) can be quite ambiguous, but wondered what was special about BIOSs that made them illegal. Thanks for clearing that up for me chaps :)
Also, I know Steve Snake is unlikely to read this, but well played to him.
Thnaks. I just tired it and sure enough in the bios file there was the scph7502 file. Oddly enough my computer thinks its some sort of media file. Scanned the game for all to see since I can't find anything on this. Maybe its a just a really pretty pirate. Maybe Kylera would know.Quote:
Originally Posted by playgen
http://www.imagehosting.com/show.php...astle.jpg.html
http://www.imagehosting.com/show.php...stle2.jpg.html
I read somewhere, that Sony would let you use the BIOS IF you have a PS with that BIOS (in my case PAL model SCPH7502)... like owning a ROM is not illegal if you have the cart...
Almost. The BIOS that comes with the game can only be used to run the game it's bundled with. You can't then turn around and say "now that I own a disc with the BIOS on it, I can now use that BIOS file as I like, oh hey look an emulator, it needs a couple of files to run, woohoo now I can play Bubsy3D.iso on my PC!".Quote:
Originally Posted by TmEE
To put it another way, owning a game doesn't automatically entitle you to a free copy of the soundtrack CD.
That owning the ROM if you have the cart is a load of shit, atleast by US laws.
Check the real law, you can only have the ROM, if it came FROM your cart, not if you HAVE the cart.
So in other words, you have to dump it yourself, if not, you have an illegal ROM, even if the MD5 is the same.
EDIT: And yes, it's just a very pretty pirate. There was no release PC version at all.
As far as I'm aware, under European copyright law you can legally own the ROM if you possess the original game. The same applies for downloaded mp3's if you own the original CD's. American law is much more strict on such matters and you have to dump it yourself.
Check the law. I had to check it myself at the library to find the real law.
Well, I'm European... US laws are sometimes stupid and strict...
Where are you from though?Quote:
Originally Posted by evildragon
I am very confident that there is no precident in English law in regards to copyright violation in terms of ROMs. The copyright laws here are extremely outdated and technically the game makers sell on the copyright to retailers. It would probably be very arguable (in English courts at any rate) that providing you own the game you have the right to the ROM.
The problem with copyright law is that it's a pet subject for Internet Wizards to get angry about. So a lot of information on the subject is likely skewed towards an American audience (there's certainly a few articles about lawsuits on Sega-16), and those basically pissed off that they can't get more stuff for free from their favourite torrent tracker on the Internet because gigantic faceless corporations hate freedom or something.
I'll definitely try to find out more about this issue, it's interesting.
I think that you don't get to 'own a ROM' just because you own a cartridge: I'm not going to ring Nintendo and demand a free copy of Sonic 1 for the Virtual Console just because I own the original cartridge, for example. A cartridge and a ROM from your favourite rom 'n' warez emporium might be the same data, but they're entirely separate things. It makes sense, though, that a ROM you create yourself becomes your property, as long as you don't redistribute it. (and thus i become an internet wizard myself)
I'm surprised someone remembered me.
Ego aside, there are numerous "ports" of PS1 games sold here and that's just one of them. They cost roughly US$8~10 and you can usually pick up a bunch at stores ranging from supermarket chains (a la Tesco, Carrefour, etc) to local neighborhood toy shops. They've been sold for as long as I can remember, too. Personally, since I have these games on the PS1, I never bothered to pick one up and try it...though, if there are enough requests, I might try one just for the hell of it.
EDIT: I looked at the scan of the rear, and there are two boxes at the bottom right corner. I'll translate what it says there, readers come to their own conclusions.
Left box:
System Requirements:
PII 200Mhz+, RAM 32MB+, Win 95/98/ME/XP/2000, DirectX-compliant video card with 16MB VRAM, Windows-compatible sound card, 8X+ CD ROM
Right box:
Product name: Devil Castle Dracula X
Original product: Devil Castle Dracula X
Product ID: 2001-FOR0470
Date of production: December 2002
Producer: Konami
Original nation: Japan
My conclusion: it's legit, at least in Korea.
Awesome. Thanks Kylera. I have never been able to find anything about that game. Its interesting to hear about the video industry in Korea.
I live in America, land of the sorta-free.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Smith
The Korean videogame industry has always focused on the PC since the heydays. There are numerous small companies that often "port" PS1 games over to the PC with varying results. Now it's more cellphones as well, but still.
Yeah my buddy who living over there was saying that. It was like console systems never real do all that well.
The problem with copyright law is that is varies from country to country and nobody has the common sense to notice that when they go into huge rants about the truths of copyright violation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Elusive
I know quite a lot about English copyright law and there certainly is no specific law or legal precedent that forbids the owning of ROMs if you have the originals. Certainly distribution would class as a breech of copyright, however, simply owning them should never be a problem. Technically recording TV programmes/films and storing them is a breech of copyright, but everybody does it and nobody gets sued. The fact there is virtually no profit to be made in these games anymore makes a prosecution highly unlikely.
European law is in general much more liberal than in the US.
For a country that's smaller than any of the major home video game markets, Korea has had and still has an extremely vibrant (wrong word, but you get the image) underground video/PC game pirate system (it also applies to regular PC applications, but that's for a different topic). To those who have lived in Southeast Asia, you'll know what I'm talking about. In Seoul, if you pay a visit to Yongsan (Seoul's, most likely Korea's, biggest compound of electronic superstores), there are burns laid out in full view for passer-bys to pick up. They cash in the fact that home-burning your own games can be cumbersome and annoying, and 99% of the time, they hit gold. Police patrols are regular and frequent, but it's like the Hydra -- one goes down, two comes up. This is one reason why consoles, despite efforts, never did and aren't doing well here, regardless of our "high-techness".Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Lizard