Ok, then let me rephrase it. There is no legal way to aquire it directly from the publisher or developer.
If you need an example: There is no way to buy the original Ace Combat directly from Bandai Namco. I do actually have an original copy of this game that I got used, but when I did buy it, neither Bandai or the people that worked in making the game get any compensation from it. The guy who sold me, did.
But I did play the game before through emulation, and neither Bandai or the people that worked in making the game get any compensation from it.
I do agree that its bad that the games are no longer available and theres no way to obtain a new copy but since you are infringing on copyright by downloading (and potentially spreading) the ROMs. You are in fact obtaing content in a format that you shouldn't normally have.
Companies cannot allow this because it would be exploited to devalue their products and potential future impact to re-releases. Law makers cannot allow this either, because it creates a chink in the armor of copyright.
If copyright was drastically changed, emulation could be permitted if releases could be said to expire after a certain time of inactivity or unavailability on the market.
even if the law and technicalities do not allow for this type of preservation, it still cannot stop the enthustiasts from doing it either way. Console generations are in themselves a must in terms of progression as they fill a unique niche today.
To emulate the PS2 for example,you have to use the PS2 bios which is the entirelythe property of Sony even if you dump the one in your console, so as long as you launch a game it's piracy and it's illegal. That being said since no company make money with ps2 games anymore it's a bit of a grey area.
The way for everyone to win is it just release all of these games onto an emulator, and the games should be made available to purchase on modern hardware. If a licence holder wants to restrict access tell them to stfu and take their paycheque.
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