https://www.engadget.com/nintendo-blitzes-github-with-over-8000-emulator-related-dmca-takedowns-200021877.html
Nintendo sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice for over 8,000 GitHub repositories hosting code from the Yuzu Switch emulator, which the Zelda maker previously described as enabling “piracy at a colossal scale.”
WTF - That's a lot of repos... -.-
Remember what happened when TPB was "taken down"...good luck Nintendo, until you end your shit practices pirates will exist.
Only problem here is that the repos in question are all hosted on a corporate service beholden to these ridiculous laws.
Like, I'm sure there are other places hosting emulators, but in this particular case.
Serious question, why pirate at all? If you (general you, not you specifically) don't like Nintendo's practices don't buy Nintendo games. Period. Just like if you don't like what Musk / Tesla is doing, you don't buy Tesla. (Yes, I went with a car example, and I know it's a very stupid comparison, but that's what popped in my head, maybe because of "You won't download a car" thing).
Nintendo isn't the only one making kid / family friend games. Indie devs are filled with those (i.e if you don't like what other big publishers are doing). Leave Nintendo, and buy those game, so that they can keep making more games. Boycott Nintendo / Pokémon. Why keep yourself attached to their IP?
I am not saying this as a mod here. Just curious about it. We all have limited time, so if we don't like a specific company, why waste time on their product (paid or pirated), when we can spend that on someone else's game that will benefit with more people playing there games. And indie / small devs are make so much good stuff right now.
P.S: This is specifically about pirating Nintendo games because of not liking their practices, cause people have been pirating all kind of games, even from small indie devs, from pretty much the beginning, so not discussing those right now.
P.P.S: Sorry, on rereading, it kind of feels like a rant, but I have already written it, so just going to post it :-)
Why pirate? Off the top of my head...
There are dozens of reasons, and saying anyone with a critique of Nintendo should be required to boycott them is extreme. You can be critical of a company and still enjoy their products. How else do we get better products in the future if we don't share feedback?
Thanks for answering!
I understand your points, I was asking specifically about:
good luck Nintendo, until you end your shit practices pirates will exist.
Cause if anyone is pirating for any of the reason you mentioned, they would still pirate the game if Nintendo doesn't sue anyone ever again. And allow everyone to make all the fangames / videos the want.
There are dozens of reasons, and saying anyone with a critique of Nintendo should be required to boycott them is extreme
That's a valid point. But if you don't buy, then that is pretty much a boycott anyway, and then whether you play or don't play, doesn't effect them much, right? Except maybe you spreading more word-of-mouth advertisement of their products, no?
You can be critical of a company and still enjoy their products.
Completely agree. My comment wasn't meant to imply otherwise. Maybe I didn't get the wording right, I'll see if I can edit it to make my intentions clear, without messing it up more. 😀
Because bits of culture like games can lack cultural equivalence even in the most similar example. And because Nintendo is so bad at being the stewards of this culture that the best way to experience it is only possible illegally.
And you can argue that it's not Nintendo's job to be a steward of cultural artifacts, but they are indeed cultural artifacts whether Nintendo treats them that way or not and good stewards will find their way to it.
Then, in my opinion, the moral choice for how to consume the content is via its best steward. If that choice results in less money being put back into the development of similar artifacts maybe the developer needs less power (money) with which to shape the cultural landscape.
Because Nintendo makes good games? Because they want to relive an experience they had when they were younger? Or simply to play something that they missed when they were younger? Nintendo makes great games that are almost all reviewed highly, it's just their legal side that is so shitty. When I'm playing a game it isn't charity to the dev who made it. It's because I want the experience that the game is offering. Nintendo has made (and still offers) some unique and high quality experiences through their games.
While I understand your point, my general point of view is, if you want something, for whatever reason, you pay for it, and if you don't want to pay for it, for whatever reason, you just leave it.
Maybe it's the difference between digital vs physical object. That argument won't be used for anything physical, as digital-piracy and physically stealing aren't exactly the same thing. But it feels to me that it's still about feeling entitled to something (which isn't basic life necessity) because we think a private company owe us something.
BTW just to clarify, I wasn't talking about playing indie games as charity, just that that there are some really good ones coming out. For instance, games like Cassette Beasts and Tem Tem, which uses Pokémon formula but do something new with it. So, if someone is craving Pokémon like game, but don't want to pay Nintendo (or GameFreak) they can try those.
if you want something you pay for it
OK, where can I buy all the NES and SNES games of my childhood?
The original question was specifically about pirating stuff because not liking Nintendo's practices. Specified that in "P.S" of the my first post. 😊
If you want to discuss specifically why someone might pirate a game for the explicit purpose of not liking Nintendo's practices then it sounds like you don't understand the concept of spite and/or don't understand how infrequently that is the primary reason one would pirate a game in comparison to the other myriad reasons.
Pirating a game comes with some inherit risk depending on precise circumstances so a potential pirate would be to weigh how much their desire to play a game compares to the time and effort it would take to get it working (download time, installing emulators, installing drivers, configuring, modifying the game, etc), the risk to the machine they'd be installing it on (the malware that may be installed alongside, the risk of physical damage to hardware modifications that might be required, the potential for your console or your IP being banned from servers, etc), and if it's worth any additional hardware they might require to install it (additional storage space, buying tools to modify hardware, buying hardware mods that could allow hacks, etc)
Not being physically, legally, or financially capable of buying games may make someone willing to risk some, many, or all of these factors. I can't imagine a significant percentage of people who'd pirate a game like Tears of the Kingdom were financially well off enough to easily afford it, but chose to do it with the explicit purpose of saying "Screw Nintendo, they don't deserve the money I easily could give them for this game."
I can however reasonably believe that the majority of the pirates for a game like Tears of the Kingdom would do so because "I can't play the game without better accessibility options that Nintendo doesn't offer, so I need to play it on an emulator that can support what I need", "it's not available in my region other than from brick and mortar stores which are all out of stock or charge absurd prices I can't afford", or "I just want to add a few mods to make the game I love even more enjoyable without risking my console getting banned from online play".
But refusing to discuss other reasons except the most petty feels like you want to disregard other valid reasons in order misrepresent piracy as nothing but a petty practice. Of course I don't know your exact intentions, but that's the vibe I get from your response here.
Actually, I have seen many, many comments by people after the 'Yuzu' incident that because of this action, they will now pirate Nintendo games, instead of paying them. There's a comment in this thread saying they will not buy Switch 2 but emulate it, just to spite them.
Regularly seeing those comments so many times just made me inquire this. Though, now thinking about it, maybe there isn't any other answer other than "spite" itself. If not for pirating, then at least for the comments.
As for piracy for other reasons, it's a different discussion with many nuances, so don't think this is the right place for it. Also emulation and piracy aren't the same thing, even though Nintendo won't like to think so, emulating your legally owned game is completely legal. And I don't think there has been any judgement against dumping your own keys and using those. But again, different discussion.
While I can't really answer your question as I wonder that myself, I have noticed that there exists a surprisingly big amount of people that will just continue buying/pirating and playing games that they generally just hate and games in series that they have hated every game in for over a decade.
Sims and Pokemon have some of the biggest offenders in this from what I have seen. Like in the Sims 4 community you can see people complain and complain about how much they hate the latest expansion and how much the hate Sims 4 and how they are never playing Sims 4 again. And when the next expansion comes out they are there again same thing, just hate hate hate... but they keep playing.
Same in the Pokemon community some people haven't liked a singel game in the franchise sense the 90's but they keep playing and keep complaining over and over again with every new update.
This is such a wierd concept to me, why do you keep spending time and money on something that you dislike so much. Like I get buying a game and not like it and being disappointed it it, that'slife sometimes, but I really don't get buying/playing every game in a franchise or every expansion when you haven't liked it for years.
I bought a Switch near launch, but I think I'll opt to instead wait to emulate the Switch 2 to spite them.
That is what I am doing. Getting a pc, emulating the switch and getting all my roms online.
I have had every home console and bought games new almost exclusively, I hate Nintendo so much. Not just for this but the bullshit with the Mario games limited re release, nintendo online, inability to compete in hardware and so many other shitty practices. I will never give them money again.
When you remove one emulator that makes money, it’s because of money. Yuzu code will not be lost, but keeping a healthy community after DMCA will be hard.
But when you close 8,000 repositories, it’s a kick in the hardware preservation community. The simple fact it’s possible to do this is frightening.
Emulators in themselves are legal. The people who develop the emulators aren't responsible for how a person obtains the ROMs. It makes more sense to punish the repositories storing pirated games, not the emulator developers.
