Arcade Cabinets & Sonic Megamix

People seem to be ignoring the fact that I was responding to a hypothetical situation posed by Tongara/Sonic Kid/Peter O'Hanlon/whatever he happens to be calling himself when you read this. He wanted to know why it was an issue, and related it to the issue of copyright, so I explained it

The situation I described in my post (in brief- he's charging money) seems to make more immediate sense to me when I attempt to apply logic (given in my post- mostly that he maintains multiple machines, that there is a significant level of "popularity" involved [implying public access, and the possibility of rented space], and overall that that implies the spending of a significant amount of money). Obviously one thing or another is going to spring to mind when an issue presents itself without the full truth (which could still be supplied by ISF- I think it's interesting that he's been at the board several times since then but hasn't provided comment)

I don't see how anything can render you completely unable to hold copyright to your own work, but it's possible you may be made to argue it, which may require arguing "fair use". Getting into a debate about what it's actually possible and/or practical is sort of irrelevant, though. It shouldn't actually take legal threats to make people adhere to morality (which has already been directly brought into the question by the possibility having been characterized as "greedy"). I'm not stupid enough to think that that's not the case most times, though

My information on "MAME cabinets" is old, I only recall the prospect being brought up years ago. That really only adds to the difference between the rights of the owner and the end-users of a particular property, though (the author is the only one with right to determine if and how usage is charged for, or to transfer those rights fully or in-part)

 

So I reread his post and missed the part where he said "one of my arcade cabnets"

Amazing how one little letter can change the context.

So I'm pulling out this topic

In essence: DISREGARD THAT, I SUCK WANGII.

 

Why are we getting all worked up about whether or not ISF can have Megamix in an arcade cabinet? If he is running it for-profit, it's very unlikely some Sega lawyer is going to notice. And besides, they'd have too much fun =P And if it's a violation of Team Megamix's rights, which I will NOT call into question, well Team Megamix partly runs this board! =P

Honestly I think it's a nice idea that someone is showing support for a really good hack this way and bringing the public into this in a different way. Maybe you should think about that.

 

Just clearing up a few areas... and I'm no legal expert, but their "rights" are heavily limited due to the fact that it's illegal to reverse-engineer code that doesn't belong to you. They essentially have no rights here.

Regarding Sega lawyers... they could do something, but is it cost effective? Chances are, it isn't. They'd most likely take action if more money was involved.

 

(yes I am necro quoting) I know that every time I'm playing a video game I worry about how much money I am losing by not charging. Game playing is a business after all and every dreamcast game I buy for myself is a liability.

There are a lot of legally justifiable loopholes you could have used. It's a hobby, you are charging people to press buttons and not for the results thereof, etc. But intellectual copyright or fair use was an odd one to go after. There is nothing that specific in civil code about it, but based on legal precedent your technically true arguments would not hold up in court.


So to the cabinet owner, I assume you have a business license to charge people for it? This is the exact opposite situation where you are breaking the law if you don't have one and no one is going to care or enforce it. If you do have one then I'd like to know what state you're in, as it's another bag of tricks in California.

Citations to wikipedia are fun but I'm guessing no one in ROM hacking has studdied civil law.


All logic and kidding aside I do support what you're doing. Building arcade cabinets is a fun hobby and why not play games and make money at the same time?

You could make your own for-profit fork of MAME. The kicker is you need to get express permission from the distributor (NOT developer) of the arcade game's creator and a license.

Me too. And they went out of business because they ran out of money and could not pay rent or continue to run the shop. There are many reasons why game shops that are not EBgames/Gamestop can go out of business. A business is allowed to charge customers for use of something that they legally own if both parties are willing.


edit: ISF never even said he was charging money wow you guys know how to make mountains out of mole hills.

 

Welcome.

 

^^ "This software is distributed with NO LICENSE" ^^

*looks at Stealth's posts*

*looks at own post*

This makes Insane Sonikku Fan look like Sane Sonikku fan.

 

Damn you Flash, I was going to say that!

 

And...this is probably the wittiest thing you've ever said, right here.

 

Am I missing something here? I load the ISO and it loads the BIOS screen. No Sega logo, nothing. Just the planet and a nice copyright date.

 

I can totally see ISF laughing his ass off at all the nonsense you guys are spewing. Also I am surprised to see he is still around.

@ISF: Welcome.

 

Especially since this the thread for Sonic Megamix ffs.

 

So I just strolled in here to see some of the latest news of S1MM and I am confronted by everyone shitting bricks just because someone put the game on their arcade cabinet.

First thing. Why would anybody care if Megamix is on an arcade cabinet?

Second thing. Why would anybody put Megamix on an arcade cabinet?

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN

 

Was I supposed to laugh?

 

If you felt strongly about it.

 

Yeah, I'm just gonna lock this thread now. Once we split off the crap at a later point in time, I'll consider unlocking it.

 

Well, that's been cleared up. Can we talk about how awesome MegaMix is now?

I'm pretty sure its awesome.

 

You sure can! Just make sure it's in the relevant topic. ;P

Thanks for clearing this up, by the way.