There is an interesting side benefit to piracy that's often overlooked. Much software, especially console games, would generally be lost over time, both due to degradation of the original storage media and the eventual lack of compatible interfaces. Because pirates have transferred so many of these to easily replicated storage, and have solved the interface problem with software, those programs, especially rarer ones, can now be preserved indefinitely.
This is exactly my view. In a sense, piracy and emulators are preserving tons of media from being lost forever by transferring things that otherwise cannot be found in their original physical state (or anywhere else (on the web even), obscure or not). The original media still has value (provided if found in an auction house or a junk store), and people will still be willing to pay a pretty penny to play on the original consoles/VHS/Betamax. Sorry Lucas, but we've all watched the Star Wars Christmas Special, and riffed it to hell.
I mean, yes, it is a bit silly to have each and every game for the NES on your computer, but it's not the same as experiencing the fight against the BSOD 50-million times just to get Duck Hunt/Super Mario to play (or Mario/Excite Bike or whatever combo), and having the fun experience of the genuine yellowed controller from the classic era. Hell, there are many light-gun games that I wish I could play with the original light guns themselves, primarily because the mouse makes some of those games too easy (or in rare cases, too hard). So yeah, there will always be investors for the original consoles and cartridges, but emulation will preserve even the crappiest of games from being forgotten. The modding scene even brings back replayability to games that tend to have a 1-pass playthrough (RPGs usually), and they tend to get just as much flak. Modders have also fixed some of these crappy games into something relatively playable, and even better than the originals themselves (An excellent challenge for modders with Superman64). Correcting history, so to speak (Star Wars: Revisited, being an awesome example). I guess there's also a lost magic about playing these things on an LCD screen instead of the classic UV screens of olde. I love that ZSNES has a rendering feature/filter that simulates the experience at least. Made some games more enjoyable aesthetically again. I have to admit, I miss the old crappified low-res graphics.
I appreciate much of this effort of preservation, primarily because I have found certain shows and games and etc. I never thought I would ever see again (The Wonder Years being a good example; never made into DVD, and should've been. It's a miracle I even found a complete set. Same with Space Ghost and Cartoon Planet. There are numerous other examples, but that would fill this up too much.). I think the worst offenders market-wise, and with a bit of understanding to the producers, are immediate free releases of games that have JUST come out. Yes, I understand the prices are ridiculous, but at the same time, it does hurt sales on their end. Some are semi-honest try-b4-buy types, but there are others that claim to be such or claim to have "backups", and don't go through with it either, or never had an original in the first place.
In a sense, a good way to redeem oneself of the stigma of piracy is using services like Steam, where you can purchase many games and install them immediately (or just copy over your data from your pirated copy into it, and purchase the rights). At least, I felt better after buying a good portion of games after having downloaded a good share of games myself illegitimately. But then again, a good majority of my downloads were games and shows that otherwise couldn't be found or obtained legitimately anymore; IE- doomed to obscurity.
ADDENDUM:
I think much of the defense can also go to virtual machines (OS emulation) and being able to play these things in environments that otherwise have screwed out older software from being able to operate. DOSBox is a crowning example of this, seeing as later versions of windows past XP have completely ruined it for classic Dos gaming without DOSBox at your disposal. I've also recalled older versions of Windows to use absolute classics of silliness (Like the Spider-Man Comic Book Creator or animation studio, or whatever). I remember that program so well, but the only OS I remember that played it no problem was either Windows 95 or 98. So many memories, so many bizarre stories, some absolutely hilarious voice acting. There were other games too that were absolutely hostile to the newer OSs, but work like a dream for the earlier ones (Jane's Combat Flight Simulator).
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Topic: Let's Discuss Piracy (Read 5208 times)