It's ok to do all that stuff with video games.

yes it is wrong but i dont care i dont always do what is right an it can be fun ect. emulatoers:let u play ur old favs an can help u play that games that u loved when u was a lil kid an modding has more thatn one side to it well u can mod samll things like roms to make em look funny or make cheats or even edit it completely an make a game of ur own an they can also be used to let u play copys of games with out playing alot of money an they can alos let u just have fun

It really depends on the situation: if it is still being sold by the original makers/publishers somewhere, then if you don't own it and you do download it, you should delete it within 24 hours like all the disclaimers say. That's totally legal and okay, it's like a free trial version. Even though you won't get caught and punished, you should still do it. But, if the original makers/publishers aren't selling it any more, or if you already own the game, or if it never came stateside (or hit wherever you live) and never will... then there's nothing wrong with it, go for it (that's what I do). I also think it's okay if you download it for, say, patching the ROM. If you don't have a copy of the original game, and all that you are left with is the hacked copy (like someone's hacked Pokemon game you got off of PokeCommunity), then there's nothing wrong because you technically don't have a copy of the game anymore.

And yes, I'm giving this thread a four month bump.

well I made a thread kinda like this but it got closed for being like this one, sorry i didn't see this one. anyways i agree with it in some ways. If the game system is no longer supported the the company its fair game in my book. i also agree with downloading things you own. I also agree with downloading foreign only games or downloading foreign games to view the difference in them (I.E. Final Fantasy 6 was censored a lot in america). I'm not going to say i never slip from these rules and download a new game but i dont do it that often. i have a ds flashcart and a soft modded ps2 and i personaly think its wrong that mdding a console is illegal. they should say modding a console and stealing games from the internet is illegal not just that mods in general are illegal. but due to the DMCA saying that anything that is copywritten is illegal to copy even for a backup and yes the MPAA is supporting this now saying that you don't have the right to backup a movie you legally own and that if you want a backup copy to buy another one. well i very much dislike people like that its like in the instruction manuals of gba and ds games it says its illegal to copy any nintendo game for any system and that a backuparchival copy is not permitted or NECESSARY to protect your software. Last time i checked this is america and I should have the right to decide what is necessary to protect my software as long as i am not distributing them or something. P.S. I also dump my own DS roms from games i own

There are more then a few reasons why I say there's nothing wrong with roms:
If i own a game I think I'm legally entitled to have a backup, and would rather use the backup then damage a 10-20 year old game cart.
It's not my fault that the only way to have a backup of a Nes game is a rom file.
Old games are hard to find, doublely so here in Australia then in America, mostly because we either only got a very limited release of the game or it didnt come out here at all (we didn't get any copies of Chrono Trigger till the DS release ).
If a system is unsupported the company makes no money at all from any sales of those old games, so if I buy a SMB3 Nes cart Nintendo doesn't get anything, so why should I have to support someone who's just selling his old games?
As far as the current consoles virtual consoles are concerned, they didn't make a way for me to play those old games in all this time, so why should I pay them money for roms that don't work as well as they do on the PC?
I absolutely hate paying for data only (paying for the internet is pretty much the only exception as I'm paying for a service as well) so why would I pay for roms.
And as I said before, companies like Nintendo are making nothing but pure profit on VC games, and until the stop making gimmicky consoles and start making proper games again I won't support them.
It's not like I havn't spent more then my own fair share on games for most of the consoles out there (I'll post up a picture one day to show you guys, there are more impressive collections but I still have a fair bit).

The game companies make money lots of money and with them making money we lose it but when a system dies it means there not making money off of it but the roms games blah blah blah are online you can buy the copys pay to download so and so unfortunately 4/5 of the paying downloads for roms don't go to the companies they go to the person and when that person gets caught you get caught but if it's free there not selling it it's legal to download it or as legal as it can get and if you get caught giving away for free than it's not as bad as selling it so it would only make sense if everyone who targets people that download free roms turn to roms sold by someone other than the original company.

Originally posted by travis2dream

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I think its wrong but i still do it is the best answer for me, its like downloading music... everyone does it even tho it is considered wrong.

i think downloading roms and emulators is a good way to relive the childhood games you love and cant find available is stores anymore.

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that magikarp picture u have is hilarious and i dont think its that wrong i dont think theyre still recording the sales of most of the games on this site which by the way totally rules

It is wrong, but I do it anyway. I hate when I actually buy something and it turns out horrid when i could have gotten it for free and found out the same thing.

I only use emulators for nearly impossible obtainable or expensive games. Games like Earthbound which I can't find for less then $100, or games released in Japan and not released in USA.