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You must agree to these terms before downloading any files from this website.
- We will not take responsibility for any damage to hardware, software, profits nor anything else that may be damaged when you download anything from this website, including but not limited to: images, HTML files, Compressed ZIP, RAR or 7Z files.
- Rom Bomb and its web-hosts/owner/staff/sponsors will not be liable for your actions or actions taken towards you. Any and all damages done to your computer are entirely your responsibility, we cannot be held liable for it.
- We reserve the right to change this policy any time, without prior notice. Any changes to this policy will become effective immediatly.
- Rom Bomb does not condone the use or download of any copyrighted material without the copyright holders' permission. Copyright infringement is illegal and there are many companies actively prosecuting those who download and share digital files that are infringe copyright laws.
- As far as we know, all files hosted on this site are either freeware, shareware, abandonware, or have not been sold in retail stores for profit for at least six years. However, if you represent any firms or persons holding the copyright of a particular file, and you are wanting the infringing material removed from our site, please email us immediately.
- We would like you to know that we have scanned all files on this website for viruses, and take great care and pride in the quality of the files we host.
But is it unethical to download ROMS?
Note - Before you read below
Most of the files on our site DO infringe copyrights. We have had no legal problems because the RIAA and large gaming corporations ALLOW us to exist. We rationalise our actions to make them right/moral/whatever - afterall, the companies whose games we pirate are the same people who run sweatshops, whos factories pollute the world, who take advantage of mindless zombie consumers and who even themselves pirate the software of other companies.
Copyright Infringement, Legality and Our Take On Things... A look inside the mind of a nostalgic.
Many of you may be asking "Isn't Downloading Games Illegal", "Will I get in trouble" and "Where's the toilet?". All of these questions will be answered here.
To get things straight from the start.. Many of the games available for download on this site are copyrighted in many countries. That means, by downloading them, you are doing the same as copying a music cd off a friend. Will you get in trouble for downloading or playing roms on your home computer? No. Will you get in trouble for giving these games to a friend? Probably not.
Many of the games on this site are no longer distributed, and are incredibly hard to find in the real world (at last check, only a handful of games could be purchased for the GBA). As the numbers of physical consoles and cartridges in the world steadily decrease, they become harder and more expensive to buy. In the future, many great classic games would otherwise cease to exist. Rom Bomb, and many other sites on the internet exist to allow as many electronic copies of these games as possible to be made, thus preserving them for generations to come.
Educational Considerations
Copyright laws were designed to protect the public, as all laws are. They were created "in the public interest". In the case of copyright laws it was deemed that the arts could benefit by giving financial protection to those people who create works of art and so encourage others to do the same. Copyright laws have since been extended to cover many other fields of human endeavour and creativity. However, the basic principle behind it remains the same.
Within the copyright laws there are certain "permitted acts" whereby infringements can justifiably be made despite the wishes of the author or creator. One of these is in the field of education. Suppose a great playwright were to write a play that resulted in the turning point in the history of the arts in that country, and that the playwright for some reason refused all and sundry to publish their work. Would the copyright laws act to ensure that the wishes of the playwright were respected so that their work could never be studied and appreciated? No it would not! This is not in the spirit of the copyright laws. Places of education would be free to study their work. Copyright laws are there to help make these works available to the public and for the benefit of the public, not to suppress them.
How do these educational considerations effect emulation?
Some of the titles we host changed the face of gaming forever - Nintendo's D-pad, Mario's Sidescrolling (Super Mario Brothers - Nintendo NES), Mario's 3D adventure (Super Mario 64 - Nintendo 64), pong, PacMan and his bride, Final Fantasy. These games spawned the genres of games that are being made today. They played an incredibly important role in the development of video games. It could be argued that these games should be exempt from copyright infringements, where they are used for educational or study purposes.
Arrr ye a software pirate?
So are we! According the the ESA (entertainment software alliance), everyone who "illegally" downloads or distributes rom files is a pirate. This is mainly to help them lobby the various governments - by calling us all pirates, they are able to evoke and condition the negative connotations of murderous, pillaging pirates, and achieve the emotional response that they desire. However, Hollywood has blurred history and romanticized the idea of being a pirate. We invite all ye scurvy landlubbers back on the 19th of September each year for Talk Like A Pirate Day, where irony and misunderstandings run wild.
Copyleft
Some think that our "copyleft" statement at the bottom of each page is a pun, or some sort of inside joke. However, you're all wrong. Copyleft is a concept that basically means anyone and everyone has the right to use, modify and redistribute anything under a copyleft licence, as they wish. In staying with our ethics, and the spirit of the internet, we have declared everything on our site public domain (unless otherwise stated) - as we have taken most of it from other sites on the internet ourselves.
Well that's it from me for now.. i really thought this article would be longer. The toilet is at the back to your left. Don't forget to flush.
