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Virtual Nintendo for Symbian mobiles - also on PC - cheaper than the (legal) Wii thing!

A chance to play all those old 8-bit Nintendo games, but on the new Wii - without even buying a Wii? Yes, an emulator is available for your smartphone, and another for your desktop PC.

The PC version even runs (reports an Australian tester) under Windows Vista! - Java is the magic ingredient.

The Virtual Nintendo Entertainment System (vNES) was tested on a PC by Australian news site, IT Wire, and found to work. Alex Zaharov-Reutt reported: "I tried a few games out very quickly, and they all worked - the only requirement is that your computer has Java Version 1.5 or higher, as the games run directly from your web browser - no aditional software or anything else required."

Another VNES is available for Symbian smartphones, at Vampent - which offers emulators for several old 8-bit games consoles, and a free download or a $10 paid-for version of the Java emulator is available

The suggestion has been made that you may be breaking copyright by playing these games. It's also been suggested that Nintendo will sue.

That could raise an interesting argument, because although itwould be plain daft forNintendo to do so, its legal department may feel that it's necessary, since there are places in the world where "failing to defend" copyright is taken as allowing copyright infringement.

In the world of music, the tradition of allowing radio stations to play (free) samples of albums and free hit tracks is well established enough for it to be understood that special terms and conditions apply.

No such well-established tradition exists in game playing, but the precedent has been set with several retro games being playable on new hardware once the old games machine has become obsolete.

Examples would include old Sinclair Spectrum classics or Atari 400 and Atari 800 games players for an equally wide range of new hardware.

But the vNES site goes one stage further, and actually offers the original games for download, which Nintendo may regard as going one step too far.

See IT Wire's brief report. It recommends getting in quickly, before the lawsuit...