StarROMs Co-Founder Talks Legal ROMs

CaptMondo writes "If you love the old quarter-sucking arcade games of the past and want to be able to download and play the ROMs for them legally, StarROMs (as mentioned previously here on /.), has stepped in and made this possible. PerformancePCCanada has an interview with StarROMs co-founder Frank Leibly, discussing how they convinced Atari to make purchasing ROMs legal for their long-time game fans, but still making it worth StarROMs' while." The interview also notes StarROMs will be "...increasing our offering of classic arcade games, and... expanding into console titles, starting out with the classic Atari console games."

step 3... profit?

[BTWR]

If you buy a starrom, or 10, can you then legally set up a mame machine that plays 10 classic games and charge a dime per play?

Re:step 3... profit?

[hambonewilkins]

As I read elsewhere, no you can't. You need JAMMA, as MAME states in the EULA that you can't use it for profit. Starroms no doubt also have the same provision, as they'd surely want a cut.

Re:step 3... profit?

[American AC in Paris]

As I read elsewhere, no you can't. You need JAMMA, as MAME states in the EULA that you can't use it for profit. Starroms no doubt also have the same provision, as they'd surely want a cut.

<marley>...so I hope you like JAMMA, too...</marley>

*ducks*

Re:step 3... profit?

[papadiablo]

If you buy a starrom, or 10, can you then legally set up a mame machine that plays 10 classic games and charge a dime per play?

That's an interesting question. If it were possible to do that, wouldn't it also be possible to setup an xbox, gamecube, or playstation and charge people to play it? I don't see why this would be illegal, but IANAL. It seems like the equivalent of renting the game for the length of your play.

Re:step 3... profit?

[MindStalker]

There are places that do this, generally along side computer game rentals. Most pay an extra fee to the game maker for permission to rent the use of their games. Many just say, hey we are renting out the computers, which happen to have games already installed on them. This second process while technically illigal is generally accepted and software makers ignore them, except the few that actually have a procedure in place for someone to pay for the right to rent, then they encourage the rental place to pay the fee.

it's a damn shame

[ministerofsickeningr]

that some of these titles would be allowed to die off. i'm glad someone has made the coin-op people see the light. too bad there isn't a copyright sunset thats more realistic for software.

Re:it's a damn shame

[gabec]

Yeah, realistic. That way 10+ year old software could enter the public domain ASAP, like, for example, Asteroids, MS office, Centipede ... err wait, what was that?

Re:it's a damn shame

[John Harrison]

You wouldn't want MS Office from 10 years ago. That would be the Windows 3.1 version. Of course Asteroids and Centipede are closer to 20 years old. It seems to me that it would be good policy to have software copyright holders reapply (for a fee) after 20 years or allow the software to enter the public domain. Of course that will never happen, but it would do more good than harm.

What?

[Anonymous Coward]

No ET?

Re:StarRoms? MameBurners :)

[MindStalker]

Because its not legal, and atari or other game maker doesn't get any cut for their initial work.

Re:StarRoms? MameBurners :)

[bluGill]

If you do get caught with illegal roms your case is much better if you can say "Look, I tried to buy these, but they wouldn't let me. See, I bought all the star roms titles." You are still in legal trouble, but the judge and jury will look on you more favorably. In fact they might even dismiss the case because if the company was really interesting in their property they would still be selling it. Okay, that last is a big stretch. You are still better off being legal as much as you can though.

On violations...

[Thedalek]

If you really want to be technical, the letter of the law (here in the US) states that copyright violation must be demonstrated as being A) Commercially damaging to the fair market value of the property in question AND B) Not for archival, research, or educational purposes.

This basically means that regardless of what a company claims, if the game has no fair market value (IE, is not reasonably available on the commercial market), or if you are archiving, researching, or educating with video games, you're in the clear.

All about the Selection

[superpulpsicle]

I'd been looking for 1 rom which NOBODY EVER has, ever heard of "laser ghost". You have a laser gun, it's a shoot-em-up like "operation wolf" or "terminator".

If this site can gather up some extremely rare roms, I'd be more than happy to shell out $$$. Until then, it's just selling old pacman and galaga.

Re:All about the Selection

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean this [klov.com]? The rom is out there, though it's not fully emulated yet. That would account for so few places having it.

Re:All about the Selection

[Anonymous Coward]

Laser Ghost [arcadeflyers.com] seems to be encrypted, so it will be added to mame and other emulators at some point, just not quite yet.

Since Sega doesn't offer the less popular titles in its catalog, maybe you could find another way to pay the company - say, purchase a retro title you wouldn't have otherwise.

Re:All about the Selection

[Thedalek]

You know, I've played Laser Ghost. The only real draw was the gimmick on the laser: You looked through a crosshair which was angled at 45 to the top of the gun. On the top of the gun was a small LED display. Everytime you shot, the LEDs flashed in a sequence that made it look like (in the reflection on the crosshair) that lasers were going from the barrel of the gun to the screen.

A neat, unemulatable gimmick. An otherwise unremarkable game.

If they only had TRON

[stuffduff]

I want my TRON!

Give Me LightCycles! Give me Bugs! Give me the MCP!
Give Me Tanks! I'll give Thanks! I'll Play on my PC!

sorry George...

Re:If they only had TRON

[vanillacoke]

They already do! [tron20.net]