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MagnusVonMagnum

macrumors 603
Jun 18, 2007
5,193
1,442
Is there an alternative to iExplorer? I don't really want to pay $35+ (and that's ONE license for only ONE of your computers; I have 4 machines running OSX and one dedicated Windows machine) just to copy a flipping file. I don't need to play Galaga on my iPod that badly. I have no need for its other functions. $5 would be more than reasonable for just a file copy utility. I could get an iPod Shuffle for the retail price of this program.
 

Arcady

macrumors 6502
May 24, 2002
402
24
Lexington, KY
I can verify that it works with iCade and iCade jr.

...back to playing Galaga now...


As for alternatives to iExplorer, use Google to look it up, there's a lot of free software that does the same thing.
 

ZZ Bottom

macrumors 6502a
Apr 14, 2010
829
258
At any rate, I'd like to remind everyone that by using emulators like this to play ROMs that aren't explicitly free, you're committing an act of piracy. Just because a game is older doesn't mean it's not still copyrighted. If that's what you want to do, fine, but at least be consistent and don't look down on those who jailbreak their devices to pirate iOS software at the same time - stealing ROMs is no less a crime.

No you're right... pirating games which cannot be purchased due to the fact that there doesn't exist a modern port is the exact same as pirating iOS apps that are currently available for purchase...

By the way, I happily bought the X-Men arcade game off the App store when it appeared despite already having a rom version in the iMame app. Atari offers a nice set of arcade games in their apps, but there are too many gems still unobtainable outside of piracy or buying a vintage arcade machine.

----------

Is there an alternative to iExplorer? I don't really want to pay $35+ (and that's ONE license for only ONE of your computers; I have 4 machines running OSX and one dedicated Windows machine) just to copy a flipping file. I don't need to play Galaga on my iPod that badly. I have no need for its other functions. $5 would be more than reasonable for just a file copy utility. I could get an iPod Shuffle for the retail price of this program.

Yes, it's called iFunBox. It's free and does everything you'd need.

http://www.i-funbox.com
 

E.Lizardo

macrumors 68000
May 28, 2008
1,776
305
See, I don't buy that.

It's getting slower, but it's not dead. There will be new crops of jailbreakers as well. It's no different than when we used to hack game consoles to run linux or backup our games to a hard drive to get really fast load speeds. I had an original XBOX with a 120GB Hard Drive with all of my games on it, and some homebrew games! A new firmware update would come out and take forever to softmod, or sometimes there would only be hardmods available, it goes back and forth.

Jailbreaking is getting slower, but it's far from dead.

How long does the ATV3 have to be unjailbroken before you give up?

----------

On an aside, how do you pronounce MAME? Like "maim" or like "mah-meh"?

should rhyme with "same"
 

Kaibelf

Suspended
Apr 29, 2009
2,445
7,444
Silicon Valley, CA
Apple doesn't want you to have fun, so they'll pull this one very soon. Back to Angry Birds... What a waste.

Poor baby. Apple has nothing to do with it. If the game developers choose to release on iOS then there you go, and if they don't, deal with it. Otherwise, you're just stealing, so spare us the lame "I'm just having fun" garbage. Pay for others' work.
 

Rajani Isa

macrumors 65816
Jun 8, 2010
1,161
72
Rogue Valley, Oregon
Poor baby. Apple has nothing to do with it. If the game developers choose to release on iOS then there you go, and if they don't, deal with it. Otherwise, you're just stealing, so spare us the lame "I'm just having fun" garbage. Pay for others' work.

So Apple has nothing to do with this app staying on Apple's Appstore?
 

tillsbury

macrumors 68000
Dec 24, 2007
1,513
454
It had better have been put there as a MAME placeholder, as the game itself is dire! Not even worth the price...
 

Mackan

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2007
1,421
91
Poor baby. Apple has nothing to do with it. If the game developers choose to release on iOS then there you go, and if they don't, deal with it. Otherwise, you're just stealing, so spare us the lame "I'm just having fun" garbage. Pay for others' work.

Apple has everything to do with it. Developers were releasing emulators for iOS, but rejected by Apple. And FYI, even Microsoft has approved a SNES emulator recently, on their app store.

And what do you mean by stealing here? You just spew out a lot of BS out of your ass.
 

Albright

macrumors regular
Aug 23, 2011
130
299
No you're right... pirating games which cannot be purchased due to the fact that there doesn't exist a modern port is the exact same as pirating iOS apps that are currently available for purchase...

By the way, I happily bought the X-Men arcade game off the App store when it appeared despite already having a rom version in the iMame app. Atari offers a nice set of arcade games in their apps, but there are too many gems still unobtainable outside of piracy or buying a vintage arcade machine.

"I can't/wasn't going to buy it anyway" and "But I don't pirate everything" are classic pirate justifications.

Let's address the first one. Let's say that you have an Xbox 360, but Nintendo has just released a cool Wii game that you really want to play, even though you don't have a Wii. Now let's say that a clever hacker has found a way to make that game playable on your Xbox 360. Does that put you morally in the clear to steal that Wii game?

No? Okay, what if it were a GameCube game? Or an N64 game? Or a SNES game? At what point does the the theft of an old game become justifiable?

You can live without pirating old arcade games on your iPhone. As the now semi-classic Ihnatko essay points out, you aren't entitled to anything, no matter how much you may want it.
 

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,056
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
ROMs used to be a bigger issue 10 years ago than they are now. They aren't abandonware, but then they're not being printed anymore either. They wouldn't go after you for downloading those games now anyway.

Better to have 10 different Angry Birds than 20 NES emulators which basically all do the same thing. Even right now on Google Play, there are a bunch of "developers" taking the same NDS source code and compiling it, then putting it up for free, or for $0.99-3.
 

ctdonath

macrumors 68000
Mar 11, 2009
1,592
629
At what point does the the theft of an old game become justifiable?

If it's justified, it isn't theft. If it's theft, it isn't justified. The two terms must complement each other to make sense.
That said, the original purpose of copyright was to protect ownership for a few years - less time than it takes most "abandonware" to warrant the label.
That copyright period now is on the order of a century is indicative that the applicable laws are broken/abused. Of course, that the law is broken doesn't justify an action ... but that the law is broken doesn't justify the law either.
The correct answer is to return the law to its original intent and form, modified if appropriate for any narrow special cases instead of perpetuating copyright on something which no appropriate "owner" cares about or can be found.
 
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ZZ Bottom

macrumors 6502a
Apr 14, 2010
829
258
"I can't/wasn't going to buy it anyway" and "But I don't pirate everything" are classic pirate justifications.

Let's address the first one. Let's say that you have an Xbox 360, but Nintendo has just released a cool Wii game that you really want to play, even though you don't have a Wii. Now let's say that a clever hacker has found a way to make that game playable on your Xbox 360. Does that put you morally in the clear to steal that Wii game?

No? Okay, what if it were a GameCube game? Or an N64 game? Or a SNES game? At what point does the the theft of an old game become justifiable?

You can live without pirating old arcade games on your iPhone. As the now semi-classic Ihnatko essay points out, you aren't entitled to anything, no matter how much you may want it.

None of your examples pertain to games that existed only as full size arcade machines... and yes I don't feel remorse for "pirating" games that are long out of production or distribution. I'm not entitled to them and my life will be of no difference without, but I'm not going to ignore the access to them.
 

TrentS

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2011
491
238
Overland Park, Kansas
StarGate!!??

Dang! I see Stargate is on the list of games! I need to get home soon and download this! I would LOVE to be able to play Stargate on my iPad!! Crossing my fingers!!

:) :) :) :)
 

msandersen

macrumors regular
Jan 7, 2003
217
31
Sydney, Australia
"I can't/wasn't going to buy it anyway" and "But I don't pirate everything" are classic pirate justifications.

Let's address the first one. Let's say that you have an Xbox 360, but Nintendo has just released a cool Wii game that you really want to play, even though you don't have a Wii. Now let's say that a clever hacker has found a way to make that game playable on your Xbox 360. Does that put you morally in the clear to steal that Wii game?

No? Okay, what if it were a GameCube game? Or an N64 game? Or a SNES game? At what point does the the theft of an old game become justifiable?

You can live without pirating old arcade games on your iPhone. As the now semi-classic Ihnatko essay points out, you aren't entitled to anything, no matter how much you may want it.
Since you quote Ihnatko, who admits elsewhere he torrents movies sometimes with the intent of buying them when they become available, from the linked "classic" article:
"So long as you buy it as soon as it’s possible to do so, I can confidently reach for my "No Harm Done" rubber stamp. Some content is commercially unavailable because the publisher or distributor has no desire to ever release it. I’ll even go so far as to say that downloading it illegally is a positive thing; you’re helping to keep this creative work alive."
So in this context of old arcade "abandonware", where the publishers for a myriad of reasons don't make them available in any form, including many cases of them having gone out of business and the rights being unclear or copyright has passed to some company who isn't interested in publishing it, what IS the harm? Where is the crime? Who's being disadvantaged? Has anyone missed out on sales as a result? Clearly the answer is a resounding "no" where the game is no longer around. Is that an excuse? Possibly. A justification certainly. Can we live without those games? Of course we can. But given no-one is being deprived of anything, to quote Ihnatko, "No harm done".
And then there is the simple fact that there are a small selection of legal Roms available, like Gridlee. That alone justifies Mame's existence, irrespective of what use most people put it to. It helps to keep old classic games alive. That is the purpose of Mame: To preserve old arcade games for a time when the machines have all died as they will. Legally, if you own the cabinet, you are entitled to a backup, but realistically original cabinets are rare and expensive and generally not readily available to play anywhere, with a few exceptions. Pragmatically, people will get Roms any way they can to play as there are no other readily available way to play old arcade games. No reasonable person would argue that is immoral.
To play the Devil's Advocate, for any newer games being emulated and possibly still widely available, and I don't know if there are any, you could have a case the arcade is being disadvantaged. I do occasionally see pubs who has what appears to be Mame cabinets running a small selection of classic games. If they were in any way legit and available near you, then you could have a case for those games. But this is really stretching the argument.
As for the rest of your strained analogy with the Wii and Xbox: If you pay for the Wii game, and you could somehow plug it into a conversion unit which allows you to play it on the XBox, that is entirely justifiable, irrespective of what the actual terms say. If it involves ripping the game onto a hard drive and running an emulator on the XBox, that is not legal, but arguably justifiable if you actually paid for the game. If you then extend that to old N64 and SNES games, whose consoles are not available anymore, provided you own the games themselves, then that is certainly justifiable as it meet the no-disadvantage test. If you now assume people instead download games for old defunct consoles no longer sold new anywhere, but might be available 2nd-hand and whose cartridges or CDs might be found secondhand on ebay or elsewhere, you can argue moral ambiguity, as the game company, in this case Nintendo, is very much around and might possibly make the games available and sometimes do as a port to something like their handheld devices.
Whereas classic game enthusiasts certainly aren't entitled to any of this unless they physically own the game, in most cases it is justifiable irrespective of the label you choose to put on it, like Theft or Copying, since they are no longer available and most will never be. Moreover, there is a big difference between Legal and Moral. Whether it is legal to download a copyrighted work and whether it is moral are two separate questions. Let's not get into a debate about the efficacy of the Copyright Act, but in its present form with the Disney extensions it is not well respected and it is entirely possible for people to breach it wantonly and repeatedly without any moral scruples whatsoever and indeed be justified in doing so.
 

el-John-o

macrumors 68000
Nov 29, 2010
1,588
766
Missouri
How long does the ATV3 have to be unjailbroken before you give up?



So? One device is not jailbroken out of over 20 Apple devices?

Also, MuscleNerd announced today that they think they have a way to jailbreak the ATV3. They also said that iOS6.1B5 was untethered Jailbroken and were just waiting for it to be a public release (they predicted this would be it btw, without a Golden Master, because of the way it signs). So, today is public release of iOS 6.1, which means, according to them, we'll have an untethered Jailbreak available for all iPhone, iPod, and iPad devices that run iOS 6/6.1 here in the next couple of days.

They are working on the ATV3, but even if they never do, it's hard to call it DEAD based on that! For crying out loud, that's like saying Apple, the second most valuable company on the planet, is dead because they haven't updated the iPod Classic or Mac Pro in a while..
 

damir00

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2011
744
7
"I can't/wasn't going to buy it anyway" and "But I don't pirate everything" are classic pirate justifications.

Have Android, will Emu - I feel no need whatsoever to "justify" - if you're not comfortable doing it, then you shouldn't, if you want to consider me an amoral or immoral <insert label>, go for it.

Obladi oblada.

Frankly, the bigger issue for the industry should be why these old, slow, comparatively low-tech games still find such a compelling audience.
 

Pakaku

macrumors 68040
Aug 29, 2009
3,134
4,440
It's not Apple's fault that you can't. It's Nintendo's. They don't want to release that game for a platform they're not selling hardware for.

Technically, Pokemon is a Game Freak IP. It doesn't belong to Nintendo. Pokemon Rumble and an official (in Japan) Pokedex have both appeared on the iOS App Store, both made by Game Freak.

I don't expect any of Nintendo's own IPs (Mario, Zelda, etc) to come out on the App Store anytime soon, though.
 
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