Yeah, instead of pissing us off by giving us the error, why don't they just, I dunno, just not post the link up?
I know some NES games like Mario and Zelda are on that list, and it's hard to find those on ROM sites. So why don't they just add like, more/all the games to it?
My guess is that putting a game on the ESA list must be done by the developer or at least publisher of the game, and since most of those are either gone or don't care much, it's not getting done. Nintendo, on the other hand, is still around and even resells its games, not to mention that they watch for their copyrights closely, so it makes sense that they'd be the biggest perpetrators of those ESA things around.
Bit late reply, but when you make a business you need to learn how to copyright your stuff, or else other people or companies can take advantage of you and steal the licenses or characters or works of your productions. Though I think some of their fines to the common consumer are a bit outrageous. Also SEGA is fairly open with their fanbase. I think they are aware the Sonic rom hack community and fan game community, sprite comics, video production, and all the other forms of Sonic fan made media is acknowledged by SEGA, and kinda' like how manga companies in Japan are to doujinshi works (doujinshi are fan made manga that can even be sold). Manga makers know it's being made, but it's a trust between the consumers and the developers. Most people who buy doujinshi also buy their mangas, and it's sorta' "See no evil, Hear No Evil" or "Don't ask, don't tell" type relationship. SEGA knows how much fan made material there is of Sonic, but Sonic still sells and most of the people who make or get fan made material still buy the games, thus it's a trusting bond of sorts, though if your going to flaunt you have Sonic Unleashed and are handing it out to all the fanbase for free in front of SEGA, I'm sure they would take action.
I dare say that doujinshi and other fanworks do more to promote sales of the original materials than harm them. Don't know whether the same could be said for the hacking scene though, when so many hacks out there don't even change a lot of the original content (this is partially the reason I'm a whore for new layouts, music, graphics etc).
But they don't have to post it in link format, just have basic text instead! On the other side of the coin: The Old Computer is ESA-free as far as I can tell. Overall, I accept ESA, and respect copyrights to a degree. Anything older than 5 years is fair game according to my moral code.
