Question about legality of stuff

[Blyss Sarania]

Okay so here is the deal. I have two questions to ask, I think I'm all good but I was just curious.

I dumped the bios from my PS2 a few years ago. The PS2 is now dead, but I still own the dead hardware. So it's still legal to own the bios that I dumped from it right?

I also have a couple of games that the discs are completely cracked into pieces(happened while moving). Now my favorite games I always had backups of that I made legitimately. So it's still legal to own the backups as long as I have the original in ANY condition, right?

[NarooN]

I dumped the bios from my PS2 a few years ago. The PS2 is now dead, but I still own the dead hardware. So it's still legal to own the bios that I dumped from it right?

Yep.

I also have a couple of games that the discs are completely cracked into pieces(happened while moving). Now my favorite games I always had backups of that I made legitimately. So it's still legal to own the backups as long as I have the original in ANY condition, right?

Yep.

[jesalvein]

Okay so here is the deal. I have two questions to ask, I think I'm all good but I was just curious.

I dumped the bios from my PS2 a few years ago. The PS2 is now dead, but I still own the dead hardware. So it's still legal to own the bios that I dumped from it right?

I also have a couple of games that the discs are completely cracked into pieces(happened while moving). Now my favorite games I always had backups of that I made legitimately. So it's still legal to own the backups as long as I have the original in ANY condition, right?

yes and yes.
It's a licence matter.
As long as you still own the licence of the software you're using, you can do whatever you want with it.
if you sell or give it, it's over.

[Blyss Sarania]

Cool, I thought so. Thanks guys. I think it would be pretty cheap to get going even if you didn't have a console or games. I know you can get PS2s that have dead optical drives at the local thrift store for like two bucks(seriously). As long as you can get your hands on a freemcboot card you can get the bios from it. And then used ps2 games are pretty cheap. I worked at a pawn shop for a while and we sold most of them from $2-$5. I got the biggest chunk of mine when a local video rental store place stopped carrying PS2 games and sold them off. I had a membership there which meant I got 50% off of all rentals and purchases, so I got many many games... omg you don't even know. Probably about 40 games for 75$ or so lol. I was lucky.

But back on topic, thanks for the info!

[Nobbs66]

Playing ps2 is so much cheaper than playing the newer consoles and the games are better imo.

[Blyss Sarania]

Here is a related question. Is it legal to emulate a console you don't own as long as it doesn't use firmware like bios etc?

For instance, I use PPSSPP to emulate PSP. It's HLE meaning it doesn't use the firmware or anything. I do own a PSP but let's say I didn't. Let's say I just owned games. Would that be legal?

Playing ps2 is so much cheaper than playing the newer consoles and the games are better imo.

For the most part I agree. I do own a PS3 but I rarely play it. There are some good games but IMO there are many more on the PS2. I originally bought my PS3 for Ar tonelico Qoga, the third and final Ar tonelico. Ar tonelico 1 on PS2 was good. Ar tonelico 2 on PS2 was stellar. Ar tonelico Qoga sucked. I did like the characters(my avatar is Saki) and the story, but the gameplay itself was horrible. Anyway, while my PS2 was still alive it got more use than my PS3, and now it's spirit( bios lol) lives on through PCSX2!

[jesalvein]

yes again.
you can't boot pcsx2 without using an original bios. Since the bios is copyrighted, you need to purchase the licence, hence you need to purchase a PS2.
an emulator is legagl as long as it doesn't use any piece of original copyrighted code.
That's why bleem has been taken down. It included an original PS1 bios.

[Blyss Sarania]

yes again.
you can't boot pcsx2 without using an original bios. Since the bios is copyrighted, you need to purchase the licence, hence you need to purchase a PS2.
an emulator is legagl as long as it doesn't use any piece of original copyrighted code.
That's why bleem has been taken down. It included an original PS1 bios.

Thanks again.

IIRC AdriPSX called itself an ILE(intermediate level emulator) as compared to low level emulator(LLE, like PCSX2) and high level emulator(HLE, like PPSSPP). It called itself that because it could run without a bios or with one. I think you got better results with one, though I'm not sure. I always have been a fan of ePSXe for PSX emulation. Oh I remember getting so frustrated trying to use the double swap method or whatever it was called to boot the bios dumping disc on an unmodified PSX. I eventually got it though!

[refraction]

it's a general rule that the lower level you go, the better the emulation. Of course the complexity of the system means that not all LLE emulators are brilliant, but if you have one of each for the same console, generally the LLE one will be more accurate, but at the cost of speed.

[KeepBotting]

What if I owned a PS2, but it broke, so I torrented some BIOS.

Let's say I owned a game but the disc got too scratched to dump. So I downloaded an ISO from the Internet.

Is that still legal?