video game emulator apps on the marketplace....?

[TuBitMittens]

I recently downloaded the free version of the gba, gbc, snes, and sega genesis apps on the marketplace, you know the ones with ''oid' at the end of the titles(the ones developed by yongz or whatever he/its called) they work fine and all, I checked the option in the phone settings which allows you to install "unknown sources" in the market place.
Anyways my points I'm trying to make, and they might be incredibly dumb questions is how is it possible that apps like these are available on the marketplace? Does google and/or verizon really approve of them??? I've read that its legal to download roms as long as you actually own the game so you wouldn't get in trouble, right? I mean who would really know?(if this case is true then maybe they trust the user to be responsible? idk..)
I'd like to purchase the full version of one or two of the emulators where they allow you to save the games but I feel a bit weird about it. Like.. who is the money really going too??(probably the developers) Would it be separate from your verizon bill or whatever... Honestly if I had my own credit card I might go right ahead but I don't and I'd have to ask my father(even if I pay using my own money) I know a bunch of people have bought these apps.. it just seems a bit unsettling of a thought and concept.
sorry if I really shouldn't be discussing these matters in this section.

 

[TuBitMittens]

does anybody have an answer to this....

 

[mjs31]

My take on it...They are not supplying you the actual roms so what is illegal about it? I mean emulators for computers can be legally had all over the internet with full websites. Now...getting the Roms to use is a little different.

 

[aaf709]

I'd like to purchase the full version of one or two of the emulators where they allow you to save the games but I feel a bit weird about it. Like.. who is the money really going too??(probably the developers) Would it be separate from your verizon bill or whatever... Honestly if I had my own credit card I might go right ahead but I don't and I'd have to ask my father(even if I pay using my own money) I know a bunch of people have bought these apps.. it just seems a bit unsettling of a thought and concept.
sorry if I really shouldn't be discussing these matters in this section.

All of the apps I've bought are transacted via the Google market and not Verizon. It appears on my credit card as separate purchases.

 

[TuBitMittens]

My take on it...They are not supplying you the actual roms so what is illegal about it? I mean emulators for computers can be legally had all over the internet with full websites. Now...getting the Roms to use is a little different.

have you download payed versions of these yourself? It just seems weird to me that there so easy to access without hacking. I mean I just downloaded the astro app to open zipped files and I was like HOLY CRAP IM PLAYING POKEMON ON MY PHONE!!!! the free version of course...
in all seriousness though, I just feel weird about convincing my father to let me buy these apps(with my money) but on his credit card...pathetic I know. If you were to purchase these things they appear on the verizon bill right? Or is it completely separate with the third party developer? I'm really confused and concerned. I've been told that downloading roms of games you own is supposedly legal..idk. Is verizon on to this whole thing?? can somebody explain how this all works..
It's amazing to think that on an iphone you'd actually have to perform a jailbreak hack, but here I have playing nintendo games on my phone without hacking...DOES VERIZON CARE/KNOW??

 

[TuBitMittens]

I'd like to purchase the full version of one or two of the emulators where they allow you to save the games but I feel a bit weird about it. Like.. who is the money really going too??(probably the developers) Would it be separate from your verizon bill or whatever... Honestly if I had my own credit card I might go right ahead but I don't and I'd have to ask my father(even if I pay using my own money) I know a bunch of people have bought these apps.. it just seems a bit unsettling of a thought and concept.
sorry if I really shouldn't be discussing these matters in this section.

All of the apps I've bought are transacted via the Google market and not Verizon. It appears on my credit card as separate purchases.

hmmm I guess..who can give me feed back(somebody who bought some of the emulators I'm referring to) what you think of this and if GOOGLE DOESNT CARE??? is it safe...etc. idk if this is a safe analogy, but if it is indeed true that as long as you own a game and download a rom, WHO WOULD KNOW THE DIFFERENCE OTHERWISE???
Im not all that bright but something in my tiny brain tells me its a lot safer doing all of this from my phone using a 3g network rather than my pc, but I guess this is probably false..right? I can most likely still get tracked, not sure if an ip is linked to my phone. I'm relatively tech illiterate as you may of guessed.. 0.o

 

[ViciousCircle]

Like was stated above, making the emulator is not breaking any rules or anything... However, you'll notice that the roms you play on the emulators are not on the marketplace... there is a reason for that.

 

[Aluminum21]

how well do the nes and snes roms control on the phone? do you use the keyboard?

 

[640k]

to answer the OP's question, emulation of hardware is "free" because you're not re-engineering the hardware itself, only emulating how it might have worked in a different environment.

when ROMs first started to become available, they were deemed illegal and only legally owned if you owned the actual game (and still had it in your posession). i think things have changed since then/i'm not sure that's an issue anymore but there was a point in time when Nintendo went and demanded the removal of every Nintendo licensed ROM on the internet.

so, it's legal to have the emulator, but ILLEGAL for us to tell you where to find the ROMs.