Emulator videos will be flagged

[tepples]

Nintendo seems to think that videos of emulators running games published by Nintendo infringe Nintendo's copyright. Might this echo Tetrisgate?

[Bregalad]

I'm pretty sure all video game magazines and sites uses emulator to take screenshots all the time, else they would have a hard time with special video equipment.
And Nintendo isn't one people so it can't think.

[tepples]

I'm pretty sure all video game magazines and sites uses emulator to take screenshots all the time, else they would have a hard time with special video equipment.

I seem to remember EGM running a special about the different video capture mechanisms they used to review 8- and 16-bit games before the emulation boom started in 1997. For NES and Super NES games, there was a special console with an RGB PPU and an RGB capture card. For Game Boy, there were Wide Boy and later Super Game Boy connected to the above. Besides, PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360 aren't emulated yet; how do you think Game Informer reviews games on those platforms?

And Nintendo isn't one people so it can't think.

I thought it would have been obvious that by Nintendo I meant its legal personnel.

[tokumaru]

Nintendo seems to think that videos of emulators running games published by Nintendo infringe Nintendo's copyright.

Isn't the point that Nokia is using Nintendo games as a selling point for their product? It doesn't seem to me like Nintendo is pissed about a video of their games running on a emulator, but about another company encouraging people to pirate Nintendo games for use with said company's product.

[koitsu]

And Nintendo isn't one people so it can't think.

This is one difference between Switzerland and the United States -- corporations are considered a person in the legal sense (read: corporations have rights to the same degree citizens do, and in some cases, are considered a person/citizen). It's a very hot topic, and there's a large amount of support/opposition for/against it.

Modus operandi of our country in recent years: "he" who has the most money and time will almost certainly win.

[Nessie]

Aargh... the copyright jihad has become such a joke as of late. It's difficult to find a way forward since modern technology has changed the circumstances drastically. Large corporations who have made huge profits off of copyright only wish to go back to the way things were 20 years ago.

I sometimes feel we've ended up with two extreme camps - one wants to watch all movies and TV series without paying a dime and the other thinks you should be sued for whistling "Surfin' USA" without explicit permission. As usual, the way forward probably lies somewhere in between.

Open source often works fine for software - companies can make money from support, training or customization. I'm not sure how that would work in Nintendo's case though... perhaps they should do what Blizzard did with WoW and charge customers for server access in multiplayer games?

In this particular case I just think Nintendo's bothered by Nokia's use of pirated software when advertising their phone, not so much emulation itself.

[Bregalad]

Well I think companies are considered like a person here too judidically (I'm not saying this is good or bad because I don't care) - but they're still not one person in reality. Well there is 1-guys companies arround (mostly farms), but definitely not Nintendo.

[tokumaru]

Bregalad, of course a company doesn't think, but the individuals that run it have to make decisions, and regardless of how those decisions are made and who has any saying in the process, the final result is considered the company's opinion. You're just being picky about how tepples worded it.

[MottZilla]

Nintendo seems to think that videos of emulators running games published by Nintendo infringe Nintendo's copyright.

Isn't the point that Nokia is using Nintendo games as a selling point for their product? It doesn't seem to me like Nintendo is pissed about a video of their games running on a emulator, but about another company encouraging people to pirate Nintendo games for use with said company's product.

Tokumaru is right. I think this is the reason Nintendo is looking at legal action. I do believe it is within their rights or it should be if you are advertising your device and showing off games you can pirate with it. While I don't think they have any right to complain about the emulators existing or even advertising that they exist I do think they should remain in control of their actual games. You shouldn't be showing off for example Super Mario Kart being emulated on your phone in a commercial or other public display unless you actually licensed it from Nintendo. I think that is the issue here.

By the way, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDJQP1xg5EY
Pretty cool. I enjoyed it.

[CKY-2K/Clay Man]

And the bullshit continues!

[MottZilla]

How is it bullshit? I do think it's within Nintendo's rights if they are investigating the use of copyrighted Nintendo games to promote someone else's product. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me at all. Just think if Sony decided to put out their own NES, SNES, Genesis emulators for PSP and advertised them in commercials by showing the PSP playing Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario Kart, Zelda etc.

[tepples]

perhaps [publishers of non-free video games] should do what Blizzard did with WoW and charge customers for server access in multiplayer games?

That won't work for everybody. Imagine an attempt to make a massively multiplayer online game for a handheld such as the Nintendo DSi or the rumored Nintendo TS. Not everybody wants to pay $75 per month ($30/mo data plan, $30/mo extra for either a mandatory voice plan for phone handsets or a tethering plan for laptop use, $15/mo for one account on one game) just to play video games.

MottZilla: Are you suggesting Nokia can work around this by showing Mega Man instead of Mario? Do you know of any publishers with a fairly relaxed attitude toward noncommercial emulation of their out-of-print games?

[MottZilla]

I'm suggesting that Nokia should not show footage of a game running on their product without the copyright holder licensing it to them. Basically they have no permission to use Nintendo's games to promote their product. They don't have Capcom's or anyone elses I assume. And I can see a company like Nintendo looking to defend their rights and I believe it is within their rights to tell a company using images of their copyrighted game to promote their product that they can't be doing that. Really emulation itself isn't so much the problem directly. It's just the plain old use of someone else's property to promote your product.