Net rife with GBA emulation?
No surprises here
Computer and Videogames has uncovered disturbing news regarding GameBoy Advance emulation. According to the web-based news report, illegal GBA emulation of software and hardware is already widespread in some areas of the Internet. Quick to rub noses with Nintendo on the issue, CVG say that the company was "shocked" and intends to issue a full statement shortly. If they're looking for a culprit however, perhaps they should be checking a little closer to home. Although CVG are quite right, it is shocking to discover so many emulators and ROMs already available, your humble correspondent has been offered ROMs from a very different source; a publisher. [Editor's note: ROMs are disk images of software interpreted by emulation programs, i.e. games] Thanks to the shortages of GameBoy Advance hardware and software cartridges, some publishers are resorting to ROM extraction and distribution in order to provide games to reviewers in time for the console's launch. In some cases there simply aren't enough physical games available and they have to be supplied on a Round Robin basis. Reviewing games based on a ROM is the easiest method for both publisher and reviewer, but of course, it's incredibly insecure. We spoke to one of the publishers (whom we shan't name since we didn't make them aware that we might quote them), and they told us that "it's just not feasible" to provide physical software to every journalist who wants it, so the ROM method is the best. Asked whether or not this is a new initiative, our contact responded; "nah, we've been doing this since monochrome GameBoy releases - how do you think most of these mags get their screenshots?" But how would a publisher - or a dodgy warez dealer - convert their cartridge from a piece of plastic into a distributable ROM? Unfortunately for Nintendo, and presumably unbeknownst to CVG, such devices are available from reputable importers and peripheral specialists such as Lik-Sang.com and Madeiragames.com, and have been for several weeks. Of course the ROM is only one half of the equation. In order to actually play the game you also need an emulator, which is far more difficult to come by. We don't know exactly where the emulators CVG uncovered originate from, but our publishing contact told us that all we would need to play the GBA ROMs he had for us would be a GameBoy Color emulator. We'd love to know if that's a fact - can anyone enlighten us? We're not sure what Nintendo's official statement (apparently due within 24 hours of yesterday's CVG report) will be, but if they aren't already aware of the "ROM for review" practice, I'm a monkey's uncle.