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Nintendo has been actively taking down YouTube videos that feature its games being emulated or modded, which has sparked significant discussion and concern within the gaming community.

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[-] CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

So the switch itself emulates older consoles... I could have swore I remember reading something like the anniversary bundle that they put out for a limited edition had a emulator that someone made.

[-] EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 4 hours ago

Be defiant. Emulate more games

[-] obinice@lemmy.world 22 points 6 hours ago

So you're saying I should never buy anything from Nintendo?

Cool cool cool, cool, cool.

[-] Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world 28 points 13 hours ago

I wouldn't be surprised if this backfires a bit. The reason most publishers/IP holders don't go after videos on youtube and twitch is because it's basically free advertisement for your game.

If this behavior leads to people holding back on making nintendo based content, it could fuck them over in the long run. If you were a streamer or youtuber, would you feel particularly comfortable making videos and streaming nintendo games?

I know I wouldn't. There is no guarantee that nintendo actually puts effort into determining whether you are using an emulator or not. And even for the people who do use emulators, they may not be looking to continue making nintendo content.

[-] tacosplease@lemmy.world 14 points 4 hours ago

Nintendo is going after a lot of their biggest fans. It's so obviously stupid, but they just keep doing it.

[-] SSJMarx@lemm.ee 14 points 8 hours ago

They've been doing this for a long time, and it definitely has a depressive effect. Even a big gaming youtubers like Videogamedunkey has commented on how every single time he does a video about a Nintendo game it gets demonetized, and while he can afford to take the financial hit every now and then there are plenty of mid-tier creators who can't.

[-] GeneralInterest@lemmy.world 21 points 17 hours ago

If someone has bought a Switch game legally, then it's legal to dump that game to a PC and play it on a Switch emulator, right?

Sure you could say that very few people dump their own games, but those that do are doing everything legally I think?

[-] dan@upvote.au 7 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

it's legal to dump that game to a PC and play it on a Switch emulator, right?

Depends on where you live. Copyright law varies significantly from country to country.

In the USA, section 117 of the copyright act lets you create a copy for archival/backup purposes only. What I'm unsure about (and don't know if there's any relevant caselaw) is whether bypassing copy protection to create the copy violates the DMCA.

The equivalent Australian copyright law explicitly states that you can use the backup copy instead of the original one. The US law doesn't (all it says is that you can make an archival copy, not how you can use the archival copy), so it's a grey area.

Both laws are for "computer software", but you could easily argue that a video game is computer software.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 3 points 7 hours ago

I don't see any way you could argue a video game isn't computer software. It literally just is.

[-] dan@upvote.au 0 points 5 hours ago

Nintendo could try make up something like "it's not computer software since the Switch is a console, not a computer" or something like that. Not a great argument, but they have good lawyers and could probably convince a court that it's true.

[-] phx@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 hours ago

But the game is running on a computer with the emulator which still strongly lends to it being software

[-] helpmyusernamewontfi@lemmy.today 2 points 4 hours ago

I think I somewhat recall during the peak Wii U disaster era, during shareholder meetings Nintendo would call the games for the system "Software". So, that'd definitely backfire on them I'm sure

[-] SSJMarx@lemm.ee 3 points 8 hours ago

IIRC this is what is currently protected in American law, but the problem is that in the time between now and the Sony/Bleem lawsuit Congress passed the DMCA, which has a provision making it illegal to bypass copyright protection. When emulating any modern console, you are naturally required to bypass the copyright protection on the game, which Nintendo would argue makes it illegal to do.

Maybe you could get around this with some kind of emulation scheme that requires the console to be plugged into your PC, like the emulator uses the console's official hardware for the copyright check and then just takes over rendering the game.

[-] LordGimp@lemm.ee 9 points 12 hours ago

Nah. From Nintendo's position, you don't "own" the game. They do. All you bought is a license to play the game on a Nintendo approved console. By ripping the game from the switch dump, you are violating the license you bought by copying their software without permission.

From a practical perspective, fuckem. Your paid money to play the game and if you decide to play it on something else you own, go nuts.

[-] gmtom@lemmy.world 23 points 20 hours ago

Nintendo is doing everything in it's power to screw over gamers, yet people will still consistently be like "omg pokemon, hiiiiii 🥺" and buy their slop even when the games get worse every time.

Like could you imagine if Microsoft did shit like this, the backlash would be huge.

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago

They're clearing out the scene before the switch 2 releases because they perceive the current emulators as a major threat somehow.

Which I assume means that the new switch is similar enough in architecture that it would be relatively trivial to ship a fully functional emulator on hardware release.

Pretty insane because at least in the USA, emulation is protected by law, except if someone can successfully argue that you are bypassing DRM which is illegal.

In a working system, this wouldn't be an issue but I imagine neither Yuzu nor Ryjunix would want to deal with Nintendo's insane law team that could wreck them financially in a matter of days before even entering a court room.

I hope someone either makes an anonymous dev team for a future project, or gets assistance from a consumer justice firm/group to properly argue in court to shut Nintendo down. They really should not be able to do this because it was already a thing 24 years ago:

Sony Computer Entertainment v. Connectix Corporation, 203 F.3d 596 (2000), commonly referred to as simply Sony v. Connectix, is a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which ruled that the copying of a copyrighted BIOS software during the development of an emulator software does not constitute copyright infringement, but is covered by fair use. The court also ruled that Sony's PlayStation trademark had not been tarnished by Connectix Corp.'s sale of its emulator software, the Virtual Game Station.

[-] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago

Wow! Way to tell the world to never buy your products because you're petty sniveling greedy and absolutely hate your fans.

[-] yamanii@lemmy.world 52 points 1 day ago

They just killed Ryujinx too, proving it wasn't the fact that Yuzu was making money.

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They've been on some kind of emulation crusade then, because it looks like they just killed Ryujinx:

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[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 282 points 1 day ago

"So, those guys generate positive advertisement for our games. How do we stop it, and make sure that public opinion shifts to «Nintendo is cringe and you're a loser if you play this shit»?"

Also, what the fuck is with Japanese law, criminalising modding?

[-] x4740N@lemm.ee 4 points 4 hours ago

You sure is Nintendo of Japan and not Nintendo of america that's doing it because the american office would use american jurisdiction

Also, what the fuck is with Japanese law, criminalising modding?

You state that this is Japanese law but what is clearly happeing here is nintendo abusing laws, please correct that statement of yours because your unfairly criticising the Japanese government for the actions of nintendo

[-] Kalysta@lemm.ee 3 points 12 hours ago

I would assume a company such as sony or nintendo lobbied for that law.

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[-] Hudomi@lemmy.world 111 points 1 day ago

With all these news recently, you could think Nintendo wants to be hated. It's truly shameful how the company has fallen since Iwata is gone.

[-] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 16 points 1 day ago

They still did this stuff under Iwata. It's actually more of a Japanese thing than a Nintendo thing. Although the quality of stuff was better under Iwata

[-] weker01@sh.itjust.works 62 points 1 day ago

Recently?! Nintendo famously hates their fans for years now.

[-] Microw@lemm.ee 29 points 1 day ago

Nintendo has gone after youtubers and content creators for 15+ years. They are infamous for it.

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[-] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 35 points 1 day ago

I love a link to the past randomizer which is obviously not stock Zelda. Fuck Nintendo.

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this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
744 points (99.5% liked)

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