ROMs

I play ALOT of ROMS. I don't really see anything wrong with it unless it's a current gen game, and even then it's nice to test them out before forking out $49.99 on Kabuki Warriors, though the legit way to go about trying the game would be renting the game, but some of this crap these companys put out, isn't even worth the $4.00 renting fee.

I especially think MAME is awsome, because arcade cabs are getting harder, and harder to come by. If it wasn't for MAME most of the old arcade games would NEVER be played by anyone again, unless they happened to stumble upon a cabinet at some pool hall in Hickville, TN, or if an arcade compilation disc is released, and even then the only companys that are still around, and will actually put out a compilation disc, are Capcom, Midway, Konami, Tecmo, Namco and Atari. The chances of you playing arcade games by any other companys are slim to none, unless you use an Emulator. Besides, there are alot of games that will NEVER be released even on a compilation disc due to licensing issues, like Capcom's Alien Vs. Predator, and Konami's The Simpsons. Even when Konami made the original TMNT arcade available on TMNT 2 Battle Nexus, they couldn't get alot of the music for the game, and had to replace the opening theme, and some of the music for the stages.

I also use it for the fact that I don't have $150 - $200 to fork out on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the 2600, and most likely never would, but atleast I can check it out, and see what I'm missing. I don't really think a collector who bought Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the 2600 should look down on me, simply because I've played the Rom. He is a collector, and didn't really buy the game for playing it, he bought it mostly because it looks good with the rest of his collection, and owning it makes his peepee that much bigger... I'd do the same thing if I found the game complete for under $50.

It's also very awesome playing games that never got released like The California Raisens on the NES, and games that never made it across seas, finally being translated and in playable form, like Shieken Densetsu 3 on the SNES, and Earth Bound on the NES.

The way I see it, I've dumped thousands and thousands of dollars into the video game industry, and continue to do so, so me d/ling and playing a few Roms doesn't make me feel too guilty in the slightest.... especially if it's a Rom for a Sega Game.