How is Gametap legal?

[Sain Cai]

How is it that you have to pay to play most games from gametap, yet it is illegal to download a rom from an old console, such as Nintendo? Can someone clue me into how this is legal? I would think that playing an out of date rom would be more acceptable then having to pay for games that are more recent.

[themoose]

Not sure what Gametap is, but if it's legal I expect they have a deal going down with Nintendo or whoever.

[Ben]

You don't play Gametap, Gametap plays YOU!

Thats how it's legal.

[edit]
In all seriousness, I have no idea. The commercials piss me off, though.

[Sain Cai]

I guess they actually work with the people who hold the rights to the games they distribute, so the holders get paid as well.

[sellwhm]

Game Tap is owned by Time Warner.

[Robert]

GameTap pays for the licenses of the games they offer.

[iBrightDev]

it is just like netflicks or going to the local video store and renting games or movies there.

[stuffradio]

They just pay for the licenses with money they get from you guys(the subscription holders). They probably get some cheap deal from nintendo, etc.

[Matt8]

I was going to answer this post, but I see it has already been done more than once in different words. So...see above.

[DavidsAwesome]

Just a tip... companies that have been advertising their services on national TV probably aren't operating illegally :) I'm sure several lawyers have already looked into it.

[Meksilon]

How is it that you have to pay to play most games from gametap, yet it is illegal to download a rom from an old console, such as Nintendo? Can someone clue me into how this is legal? I would think that playing an out of date rom would be more acceptable then having to pay for games that are more recent.
I can explain this, it's rather simple. They have a bunch of old games, and created back-ups for every game they own legally under USA law. They offer the games for "rent" on the internet, so when you're using a game no one else can use it (but they could use another copy of the same game if they have multiple copies). The game is never saved in a permanent state on the client's machine, and as soon as they quit the game, or disconnect from the internet the game is deleted from their PC's memory. Gametap believes this is legal because the back-ups are legal, and it is legal to rent a game.

Unlike what's been claimed above, they have no arrangement with Nintendo or anyone else, nor do they pay any "licensing fees". Nintendo once threatened them with legal action but then backed off.