The selling of ROMs...
 

What happens when you are browsing ebay for rare games and come across something that you didn't know existed?

http://cgi.ebay.com/EARTHBOUND-NES-U...QQcmdZViewItem

The neat thing about Earthbound is the fact that it wasn't even released stateside for the NES.

I e-mailed the guy and told him that it was an emulated copy, and that he's selling something that is both fraudulent and illegal. He sent me back this....

Personally, I don't like being called uneducated on collecting (I own all the Panzer Dragoons, all Castlevanias, almost every squenix game out there, etc.), but the guy sounds nice enough.

So, what to do. Should I contact Nintendo on him? Ebay? The Feds? Or should I forget I saw this, and go on my way. There is something that bothers me about the fact that he's making so much money on this. I dunno.

Opinions?

Honestly just leave him be if fate meant for him to git caught he'll get caught plus if they've discontinued the game then Nintendo's not making any profit off of it either way... but I don't know you'll look like an idiot if it is legal and if you let it slide by you come out relatively unscathed just a scratch on your honor/concsious.

Edit: Well you know he's at least telling something like the truth about the custom cover because if it wasn't then it would say mother in Japanese more than likely and I'm thinking the background pics are of the SNES version but not 100% sure

well... if you want to talk about fate... his fate lea him to find this guy and his product... so maybe it is his fate to take him down in flames =P

what i learne that even for a fake product there are always people whiling to pay the price...

From a 20 bucks fake Obi-wan doll, to a thousand dollars XBOX console...

Its not your money, its not your crime, its not your stupidity. So you can act pretty much anyway you see fit and you woudl still probably be right on at least some ways

I would just carry on with my life and pretend I saw nothing...but if it makes you feel better, destroy his life.

Damn and I thought I was being fairly harsh :sweatdrop

Well, he has a email proof that the guy really is piraticing(sp?). If he didn't, ok, but the guy is almost begging to be sued.

Who knows if the cart even works on a regular NES. I always imagined creating a working cart would be a little more complicated than just dumping the ROM onto it - a patched ROM no less -, but I don't know for sure.

Okay, looking at the scenario, I fail to see what he's doing wrong, even by legal standards.

The only thing wrong with it, perhaps, is the fact that he's trying to make money off of it. Since he's working to put a prequel that was never released in the US, with translations, I'd say he's not doing it for money-

Oh. Wait. 200$. Yes he is.

It's illegal to sell a data copy of something you didn't make without also selling the original...

Well. The price is steep, but something is to be said about having the physical cart. Even with a controller, booting a cart on your original NES is much different from playing it on an emulator.

So...in one way it does merit a higher price (not everyone has the equipment to make roms into carts), but it's not exactly a collectors item.

Bottom line: buy flash carts and pirate GBA games!

...wait, what?