The site EmuParadise, the most famous of the sites offering files of old video games for download, announced on Wednesday 8 August that it would cease now host files. Launched in 2000, EmuParadise was quickly became the most important site of ROM (Read-Only Memory), the name given to files of games for consoles. It was proposed that free download almost all of the games released on the Super Nintendo, Mega Drive, NES, but also of very many titles for consoles less common, such as the PC Engine or Neo Geo, as well as the programs, called ” emulators “, allowing to rotate these files on a PC.
The practice was variously tolerated by the publishers and manufacturers of consoles ; some have long closed the eye, others have multiplied, from the launch of the site, the warnings and the threats. EmuParadise, like its competitors, affirmed on his side that he made that offer files, and that the legal responsibility was on the side of the users — technically, and depending on the country, it may be legal to download a ROM if you also has a copy of the game legally purchased. The site, like others, also relied on the fact that very many of the games offered for download were no longer marketed, and that some titles were no longer eligible following the closure of the studio who had created them.
Letters of threat and closure of servers
