Xpadder

[Snuggletummy]

Ok, no, this isn't a game, but it relates to games, and everything else for that matter. Anyway, down to it. Have you ever had a controller for your PC and wanted to play a game, only to have the game not support it? I sure have. So, though Luminaflare's help, I have been using this beautiful program. Basically, it binds whatever you want, be it shift, A, N, even your mouse movements, to your controller. So, if you want an example of what you can use it for. I can use my Xbox 360 Controller to move my mouse and click on stuff, rather than using the mouse it'self.

Xpadder

[Luminaflare]

Yeah this program is awesome, it supports virtually any game controller and even has turbo, toggle and rumble (pad rumbles when you press a button) functions.

To the people who don't get why you'd use game controllers for a PC: For one emulators (Yes this is legal providing you actually own the game you're playing on it, otherwise delete them ROMs now.) work so much better with a controller. A lot of console to PC ports work better with controllers as well (A 360 controller is much cheaper than an Xbox 360).

[smartalco]

The best use of this that I might have to do:

GH controllers

[Atilla]

emulators (Yes this is legal providing you actually own the game you're playing on it, otherwise delete them ROMs now.)

No, it's not. Not in most places, anyway.

However, in the U.S. it has been illegal since 1983 for a user to create their own backups of video game ROMs onto other cartridges. This was decided in the court case of Atari v. JS&A. JS&A manufactured a "game backup" device that allowed users to dump their Atari ROMs onto a blank cartridge. JS&A argued that the archival rule allowed for this. The court disagreed, noting that ROM media was not subject to the same volatility as magnetic media (for which the law was created). Thus, not being so relatively vulnerable, ROMs were not applicable under section 17 USC 117(a)(2).

It's not legal to acquire or create ROM images in the US, and in many other places, unless you're given permission by the copyright holder (Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii, for instance).

For sake of avoiding legal issues, please do not discuss ROMs unless they are very definitely legal (such as those which can be purchased for Nintendo's Virtual Console).

[smartalco]

^but does that apply to disk media?

[Atilla]

I'm not sure. It might differ from case to case - many products come with a disclaimer saying that backup copies may not be made. Regardless, most disk media have some form of copy protection, unless they're really old, and bypassing copy protection is illegal. Therefore copying disk media or acquiring copies of disk media is also likely to be illegal. And I'm pretty sure that acquiring a copy of media for which you don't own a license is definitely illegal, and we don't really have the power to raid your house to confirm you do, in fact, own it.

Basically, the staff is not the High Court, nor are we lawyers. It's not really our job to spend hours researching the law to determine whether your use of a given ROM is legal or not, and in many cases it's simply not possible for us to do so. It's easier all around if you just don't talk about that stuff.

Also, the rules:

- No posting content of dubious legality. If the staff cannot determine whether the content is legal or not, then you may be warned and your content may be removed.

- No talking about or engaging in file-sharing, piracy, or other forms of intellectual property infringement. Do this on your own time if you must.

It's not that I want to be a killjoy, you understand, but we can't have illegal stuff here. I'm saying this now so I don't have to warn people later.

[Luminaflare]

Well there are ROMs that are made from scratch as freeware.

[Atilla]

Hence the phrase "unless they are very definitely legal". You can talk about legal freeware ROMs if you want. Or legal commercial ROMs, like that arcade pack thingy Atari released. What you can't talk about is pirating shit. Or stuff that looks suspiciously like pirating shit, except it isn't, honest yeronner, this bloke in the pub told me, it's legal as long as you spin thrice clockwise under the light of the full moon and wear a purple hat for two weeks after you download it.