iRoms?

[Inky]

I am surprised this hasn't been discussed, I can find next to no info on it but apparantly david foley (the dude that tried to copyright MAME) is going to launch a service much like itunes in that you would pay a fee to download licenced roms. here's the main bit of info I've found: both quotes from retroblast

"iROMs"?

The MAME trademark fiasco has taken a few interesting twists in the last day. For one thing, David Foley of Ultracade has posted THIS MESSAGE to the MAME community. In addition to announcing that the MAME development team will get their trademark back, one of the more unexpected tibits in the message is the mention of an upcoming "iROMs" service from his company.

 

This is a good idea, and I only wish it was coming from a different company. If retrogaming is to grow as a hobby, it needs a legal source of ROMs. I look forward to seeing how the service is operated, and also await an apology from David Foley for his actions against the MAME community and legitimate MAME businesses.

and this:

In my emails with Mr. Foley, I mentioned that I would not be reviewing his upcoming iROMs service because I felt I couldn't recommend a product from a company that would behave as unethically has Ultracade has. His response?

 

"In the end, you will review our iROMs service, and talk all about it. You won't have a choice as it will have a huge impact on the community and you wont' want to be left out. I don't care if you don't review it, or even mention it, your participation will have no impact on it's success."

 

With regards to Mr. Foley's attempted theft of the MAME logo (as a writer I am particularly concerned over copyright violations), Mr. Foley had this to say:

 

"I didn't steal anything; I simply put in motion the protection and ultimate registration of the MAME logo to Nicola, and enforced the MAME non-commercial statement. You may not agree with our methods, but we have accomplished what we set out to do."

 

I cannot believe that he is so blind as to not see that what he did was both ethically and legally wrong, but he's right about one thing: I definitely do not agree with his methods.

 

now is this good or bad? would it be good or bad if it was someone else launching the serice? I think Mr. Foley has shot himself in the foot already and the emulation community will have nothing to do with it. but there are always newcomers who don't know what has been happening so I can see the iROMS service working if handled right.

[solidius23]

this is sucky all older roms and such should be totally free since game companies really dont make money off of them any more.

[Gryph]

I don't think I'd ever use this service because I don't have a need to play these games that badly. I'd like to see it come out and see what happens. I don't know if this will a postive or negative impact on the community.

 

So everyone, better get your ROMs before this comes out!

[L.S.D]

I won't pay to play a 10 year old games that I can get for free!

[Inky]

thats the thing I get the feeling Foley want's to be the "bill gates" of emulation, I read another quote of his that he would tirelessly shut down all rom and emu sites. he wan't to ge the only game in town. when you think of it that way it makes sense he would try to get the copyright on mame. then his company (ultracade) would be the only game in town and he could shut down countless emu sites and emulator developers

 

edit in -> found this quote:

With the news of his upcoming iROMs service, David Foley is planning an all-out assault on pirate ROM sites. As he puts it:

 

"We'll have the only legal means to get hundreds of games, AND, we will shut down every pirate site in the coming year. If people want them legally, they'll get them from us."

Edited March 3, 2005 by garageink

[Daeval]

The question then becomes, does he actually have the exclusive legal access that he claims? Seems to me that anyone could be his competition, providing they got the right licenses.

 

Furthermore, his attitude is going to push away existing retrogamers, which means he's going to have to re-forge the "market" for "his product." I can't imagine the target audience will be all that huge if you exclude so many existing retrogamers.

[Wizard]

I wonder when Apple will go after him for using the letter "i".

[Gryph]

iEmulation. That will my emulation site. flock 2Emulation.

[kaioshade]

Oh, so no roms from websites? oh well...

 

:goes back to alt.abiaries.emulators.*:

[LoRd_SnOw]

heh to me the whole idea sounds stupid thats like say when sega bought giri giri many people had to pay. then shortly the project was eventually shut down.

 

iEmulation eh would be cool if it was a emu site. but a rom site to pay that sucks, only suckers would pay to do somthing such as that. and about shutting down there other rom sites out there. i think thats somthing that i would like to call "Monopoly" and "billgates" statis. seems to me that there desperate. and in my opinion isn't this like encouraging others to form a rom site then throw sum "paypal script and put some typo saying snes roms $9.00 Paypal. this is rediculous

[Aoshi]

and so it would be like US $1.00 for a rom of ikari warriors

 

i really think that is a bad idea, sounds like another napster or that 10c russian mp3 site, someone is going to get shut down and he's going to bring down with him the mame name with him

 

I tell you this whole thing is a bigger scheme we dont even know and havn't even scratch the surface of.