The Switch exclusive Metroid Dread is very much the game of the moment, but it appears some people aren't even playing this new release on Nintendo's hardware. As highlighted by the folks over at PC Gamer, certain individuals are already running this title on open-source Switch emulators - increasing the resolution to 4K and unlocking the framerate.
A YouTube channel has uploaded a 10-minute "emulator performance test" video (which we won't be sharing here) - showcasing Dread running on a PC powered by a 6GB GTX 1060, an Intel Core i5-8400 processor, and 16GB of DDR4 RAM.
As stunning as this admittedly looks on the PC, it will probably raise some eyebrows over at Nintendo's headquarters. Of course, if you want to show your support for Samus' new game, the best way to do it is to play Metroid Dread on Switch.
[source pcgamer.com]
Comments 276
It is already working on CFW too, what do you expected? Emulators will not stop working just because a new release came.
It kind of amazes me that PC Gamer is promoting this, since at the current moment the only way to do this is pirating the game. You'd think they'd not cover it.
I know that realistically speaking this will barely affect sales, but considering how important it is that this game does well, it's still kind of infuriating.
Nintendo not bringing 4K DLSS so the PC community did.
@VoidofLight My thoughts exactly.
People love to bitch about nintendo but can't stop wanting to play their games... even those filthy pirates.
I think the game looks stunning on my switch in handheld or docked. It’s the first game I’m so tied to I’m adjusting how I play (handheld/docked) as needed.
Wife wants to watch Doom Patrol on the TV?
No problem, I’m going handheld.
Wife goes to bed at totally normal and reasonable time so that my greedy inner child can play on the TV and stay up way too late before work the next day? I’m going docked.
It’s truly a great time to be a gamer. ❤️
Why do you mention the name of the video, but not linking it? If you are serious with anti-piracy, than you would avoid mentioning the name. So your attitude looks inconsisent to me.
@Max_the_German if they didn’t mention the name, people would Google it. Damned if you do damned if you don’t. Blame PC GAMER for sharing the story in the first place.
@ChromaticDracula ah yes PC gamer
The SAME website that literally said it is stupid of Nintendo to not put games on PC. Screw PC gamer!!!
Now Nintendo, what will you do about this? Take this down like you do everything else although to be honest, I would actually not support pirates doing this because Dread is important if it is to continue the Metroid franchise. So Nintendo, I am perfectly happy if you want to take this down even though they probably won't.
I don't really care too much considering this won't do too much to sales anyway
Pirates gonna pirate.
Realistically, this won't do much to impact sales.
Wait....are you telling us that a Switch PC emulator is playing a new Switch game?! Shocking!!!!
What's next, letting us know a computer also plays a video file of a current Hollywood movie?!
@PickledKong you can already emulate those on PC. Why should Nintendo put it?
Also Nintendo putting games on PC could hurt them not benefit them like Microsoft and Sony.
Great, it's not like Metroid desperately needs sales. Who needs Metroid 6 anyways? Exactly, no one
@PickledKong Which, is nearly impossible to do unless you get ahold of the base switch.
What exactly is the news here?
"Switch emulator plays switch games" surely can't be news, even if its a new game...
Is it that they could rip the ROM?
Again, how's that news? If the community found a way to do it, it's nearly impossible to stop it from happening.
Ask Sony and their futile struggles to combat PSP CFW's.
Or is this yet another setup article with the inevitable followup "Nintendo took legal actions against XYZ"?
I don't get it...
The comments here are going to be extremely pointless in the next few hours.
Nice! I'm going to check the video out.
Nintendo should make official releases on PC to prevent this.
@VoidofLight you do know emulation isn’t piracy, right?
You’re literally taking the game file on the cartridge that you bought and dumping it on pc.
Now if it were a ROM, that’d be a whole new argument but automatically equating emulation to piracy is just willful ignorance and that’s exactly what publishers like Nintendo are counting on.
@PickledKong It's going to devolve into pointless arguing about the morality/legality regarding emulation, as it historically has been lately.
How is this news?
While everyone's still debating whether or not this is true piracy, I'm more disappointed that games people have complained about are not getting the same treatment as Metroid Dread. Age of Calamity is my prime example, no pun intended.
@PickledKong I'm aware it exists, but again, you can't really use CFW unless you have a launch edition switch.. which are rare to get your hands on.
@SeantheDon29 I mean, dumping is fine. But I know a few people who outright just pirate games when they release in order to play them on pc.
I have never played a 2D game like this, you know where the money went, I’ve been playing it since yesterday and I’m addicted and stunned by how it plays and looks
@VoidofLight and like I said, That’s a different argument and should indeed be condemned.
Just remember to differentiate the to.
Fair enough to me, as long as they buy a copy of the game. If they don’t, we’ll, not everyone can afford nice things.
Loving the salty comments, keep em coming!
@Trajan you do know that Nintendo putting games on PC would actually hurt them not benefit them unlike Microsoft and Sony right?
Not only that but I feel fans will be even more mad if Nintendo does such a thing. Just look what happened when PlayStation started releasing games on PC
@ModdedInkling No kidding, that was a high quality, yet subtle pun.
@Trajan I would be thrilled if Nintendo ever ported official releases to PC. It would be a WONDERFUL way to (basically) immortalize their library. 'Cause think about it. What could they possibly do to out-do the Switch, while still staying relevant and fresh? The success of the Switch made their next move a literal mountain, I'm curious to see what they choose to do in a few years time.
NINJA APPROVED
@anoyonmus It'd just be stupid for Nintendo to release their games on PC, since most people play their platforms for exclusives, and once those no longer are exclusives, then people won't have a reason to buy the consoles.
Removed - spam; user is banned
@VoidofLight also Nintendo does not sell their consoles at a loss. Nintendo themselves said they aren’t interested in PC gaming too
All games end up emulated on PC. I was playing Japanese GBA roms on VisualBoyAdvance before the GBA released in the US.
@VoidofLight Unless they pull out of console manufacture. I was thinking the other day how they could out-do the Switch, which was a massively critical success. It's insanely hard to repeat such a successful launch, so their next thing needs to be ridiculous.
Either that, or they pull out of console making and get their stuff on the equivalent of Steam, GOG, and such. I would totally get on board with a Nintendo-exclusive PC games store that lets me pay to download their library dating back to the beginning.
@BloodNinja that will literally hurt nintendo rather benefit them. Nintendo does not take loss when selling their consoles unlike Sony or Microsoft.
Also people are just gonna be angry if Nintendo starts doing that. PlayStation fanbase is already mad that PlayStation is releasing games on PC
@Onett I'm just surprised that an official publication is bringing awareness to this, kind of like an advertisement of sorts.
@BloodNinja They'll probably out-do the switch. People at the time of the Wii were trying to figure out how Nintendo could out-do that success, and here we are now.. even though the Switch hasn't sold as much as the Wii did.
It's like how people try to guess how a game dev is going to top a game they made, not knowing how until the dev reveals and releases the next game.
@anoyonmus What, like 3 guys are upset that old Sony exclusives are no longer exclusive? Please. These things are all dependent on timing. Saying that an action could hurt or improve a business is pointless without understanding the correct timing involved behind a decision. One reason for the success of the Switch is the timing that they chose to utilize. It was pure genius of them to pull out of the "console war" between Sony and MSoft. The Switch succeeded not only due to it's novelty, but due to it's timing. It seriously could have bombed if they released it at the same time as PS5.
@VoidofLight yeah. Nintendo will find a way to make another good console
@VoidofLight I guess that depends on the eye of the beholder. I never bought a Wii. It looked stupid and childish. But the Switch? For me that was a no-brainer purchase, at the time. It looked sleek and cool, and still plays fairly well after a couple years of wear. Not my favorite system, but I chose to come out of Nintendo hibernation for it so it must have had something special that the Wii didn't.
@PickledKong I never saw the show. Heard of it, so I don't get the reference.
@BloodNinja Nintendo has different practices compared to Sony and Microsoft. Putting games on PC would hurt Nintendo as Nintendo profits off their consoles. But Sony and Microsoft take losses from their consoles and profit off their 1st party games so it made sense that they port games to PC to get more money
Also Nintendo themselves aren’t into PC gaming so no point. It’s better if Nintendo could come up with another innovation idea which would be cool
@BloodNinja A number of fanboys had a serious meltdown on Twitter and reddit when Sony started porting more games to PC. You'd be surprised at how people can tie something like exclusivity to their livelihood.
Me, I've never understood the console war mentality. A game being available on multiple platform never stopped me from enjoying it. When games leap from Switch to PC or elsewhere I'm glad more people get to experience them. Likewise when PC games make it to consoles. Some people can only enjoy "exclusive" games, though.
@BloodNinja
Ahem...
I have Wii machine to play both Wii and Gamecube games. 🤔
And i have more than 50 Wii USA games + 10 Gamecube USA games currently.
Definetely one of my favorite Nintendo machine i have.
@tkdboy1889 I heard about the Reddit meltdown, so I believe what you say. There are many people out there that are hell-bent on exclusivity, which hurts the business as a whole. Wouldn't it be great to experience anything, anywhere, regardless of which "box" you own? But, people are tribal and territorial, so it's no wonder they act that way.
@anoyonmus Like I said, it would depend on timing. Stop looking at pure action, since that's not what runs businesses. Nintendo literally used to sell cards and have "love hotels." They can morph their business to whatever they like, so if they ever decide to pull out of console manufacturing and embrace the PC Master Race (JOKING) then they will find a successful way to do so.
@Anti-Matter I'm aware of your fondness for the system, I've heard you mention it quite a bit! For me though, it didn't hit the spot. I'm REALLY bad with motion controls. I need something very tactile to offer response when I play, so the Switch was the better choice for me, in that regard. Though, if you are into Gamecube games, I think the Wii is probably the best possible way to experience them, when talking about original hardware.
@BloodNinja and for timing, Nintendo does not need to. Perfect for them
I picked up a random Pcgamer mag at Walmart the other day and they were promoting Zelda and Mario emulation on the Steamdeck. They don’t have boundaries lol
@ChromaticDracula My argument is that they say they don‘t share the video here, but they name it and give the link to the site where it is linked. Why not presenting it the way PC Gamer is doing it? If they afraid to run into trouble with Nintendo, than they should not post an item on this. All or nothing.
Well thieves have to be themselves. Super irresponsible of PC Gamer and NL to promote this though.
does this not happen all the time? strange how dread is being highlighted specifically. emulation is its own story but id rather not pirate newer titles if theyre still available to buy, if i like a game enough id rather play it on official hardware
older games that nintendo refuses to port on the other hand tho
i expect lawsuits inbound on these idiots.
@RiasGremory @Ryu_Niiyama It’s not necessarily piracy though. I rip my games legitimately because physical media fails. Not Switch games though, not gonna install CFW on mine just to do that one thing.
@anoyonmus games on PC would hurt Nintendo less than Sony. Most of nintendos money if from their own games. Only a small hardcore minority buys third party games on switch.
Their profit is games, and they'd sell more on PC and their console than just their console.
Why is this news?
People had been playing high res 60 fps Switch games on PC for the last 2 years. I still play on my Switch, but only in portable mode - which to me is the ONLY selling point of Switch. I think Nintendo knew this too, that's why the latest Switch is made for portable players.
My switch is only used to rip my games. I then stream them thrue moonlight to my tv/phone. Since Nintendo wont release a switch pro so we can enjoy our games at a locked 30/60fps (Age of Calamity anyone?!?) this is a great solution. I dont play online games (couch co-op ftw) so i’m not missing that feature
@Trajan Nintendo is a console driven business. No reason for them to release on PC. But anyways, Nintendo themselves aren’t interested right now in PC
@RiasGremory why would there be lawsuits? Emulation is completely legal
@anoyonmus they're a profit driven business. If they haven't looked into it yet, I'm sure they will be after Capcoms statements.
@Trajan well first Capcom should probably not make PC ports inferior to console ports and also not botch PC ports.
I am talking about the DMC 5 issue, RE4 Ultimate HD issues, RE Village DRM issue.
Also Capcom won’t abandon console considering the newer consoles came out and Nintendo being one of Capcom’s partners, so for a while, we won’t be seeing this transition yet.
Also Nintendo does their own thing. I doubt they would release games on PC after what they had said about PC gaming. And there is also the fact they are anti piracy and don’t like fan projects and mods which is what PC gamers tend to do
@nessisonett except pcgamer is advertising it so technically that could get them in hot water with nintendo.
@RiasGremory maybe it will but not 100% sure though about it
Where is the Metroid Dread "Cloud edition", running at 4K? Nintendo can charge double for it
i mean what were you expecting
This such a dodgy subject emulation is fine but roms are a grey area, theres always the we don't promote piracy from the creators of these emulators when everyone knows most will pirate.
Backups are another cop out as backing something up incase something goes wrong thats fine, but using that so called backup to play on another none nintendo device is stretching it.
I maybe forgiving older games but brand new released games i think its a bit much. Gaming is a privilege not a right, Nintendo have a way for you to play there games so if your unwilling buy it then you don't have a right to it.
I can kinda understand the reasons for some of there older games they don't make available but brand new games there is no excuse you don't need to emulate the new ones as they give you a way to play, the argument for older games has always been if Nintendo themselves supplied the means to play them then people wouldn't pirate them.
That logic means there is no need for there to be Switch emulators in the first place. They supply the means to play the games yet people still use emulators and pirate its kinda hypocrisy at its finest.
I don't think the article writer understands what an emulator is. It's not a crazy hack that magically ports games over, it's basically the original hardware being, well, emulated on another device. Yes, when the emulator is in early development stages you can get incompatibility but typically games work on it like they do on the original hardware.
It was the same with the Wii, even more so since it was basically just a GameCube so Dolphin could emulate it too.
I have to admit I'd love to see it at hundreds of frames per second! But I don't like the jankiness of emulating, having a game crash, etc.
I bought the game but couldn't stand the low resolution on my TV so I'm emulating it and it looks fantastic. No crashes yet after beating it once, runs beautifully, doing hard mode now.
@anoyonmus im pretty sure nintendo is aware of this so im certain they ll decided to do something about it quite soon.
Emulators only exist because Nintendo refuses to get with the times and release their games on PC. They can't blame people for wanting to play a game on the computer they already own, rather than shelling out hundreds of dollars for a redundant piece of hardware.
I play roms only when the hardware and cartridges are just too damn hard to get a hold of at a reasonable price. That said, I bought my copy of Dread
@Einherjar I feel like Nintendo might be using emulator data- like what settings do pc players use on what hardware to play the way they want the game to be- Nintendo can use this info to optimize the next Switch and start signing contracts with appropriate hardware producers to work on the Super Switch based. So all this is outlining the future for Nintendo as well. I wish there was a time when you could say, oh man, pc won’t handle this game-it’s a Nintendo Game lol! Still to this day, Nintendo has the best exclusives and no one can touch their legacy of games. N is the gameplay master.
ALL switch games are being emulated, why are you calling this out! We need Metroid to sell!
@Onett
"No one is resting this and suddenly going "oh yes, time to buy an exorbitantly expensive PC just to emulate Method Dread"."
To be fair, the video linked has a 6 core i5 and a 1060. These were fairly mid-range components when the Switch launched, they're far from high end in 2021. But I do agree with the sentiment. This isn't really news to anyone
As someone who isn't interested in emulating Switch though it is still kinda interesting. So many pages on this site have talked about what comes after the Switch. I think this just highlights how scalable Switch games are. With a bit more horsepower higher resolutions aren't that out of the question at all
@Mauzuri
.......... because console exclusivity is such a great pro-consumer thing that must be defended. I get that there are licencing and commercial reasons and I'm far from condoning piracy due to exclusivity arrangements. But lets not pretend that console exclusives are a net-positive thing for consumers
As far as I'm concerned if you've brought the platform and brought the game? You should be able to do whatever you want with it. Legal grey area or not, I see no rational Ethical/Moral argument against that
Being a 2d game that cost 60$, having a 7 hour campaign… hmm, why would they emulate this, i wonder.
@Aerona We'll all have arthritis by the time Metroid 6* comes out anyway.
*Metroid 11 if you count the 4 Metroid Prime games and Other M. 12 if you count even Metroid Prime Pinball. 13 or 14 if you count Zero Mission and Samus Returns on top of those even though they're remakes of Metroid 1 and Return of Samus respectively.
Inevitable though?
If you're talking about costs, the expense of having a gaming PC is too high for me in itself. Especially since we play consoles already in our household.
@anoyonmus Yeah, now why would a site called "PC Gamer" want more games on PC? INSANITY!
@RiasGremory
Do something about what? The best they can do do is threaten to blacklist sites connected to their parent company anything else they’d try would end in failure in court.
I mean... those emulators are pretty advanced already, games usually work fine when they come out. They need improvements later down the road, but they tend to work quite nicely.
You know, right now I really wish I didn't have to live with a profanity filter, if only so that I could post the appropriate GTA meme for this article. But, alas, things just aren't meant to be.
How Metroid Dread is meant to be played. Not on a dead console on its last legs.
@ChromaticDracula
Same here mate ! Ave!
@VoidofLight "People at the time of the Wii were trying to figure out how Nintendo could out-do that success"
The next console was the Wii U.
I don't mind. As a Metroid fan, I'm more than happy to buy this game. We gotta show Nintendo the love this series deserves!
@Denoloco but PC community uses an illegal way
playing just-released games via emulator is a huge crime ...I play ancient games via emulators that cannot be bought or were never released in EU on PS1 (Final Fantasy Tactics, Chrono Cross, etc), but this what is happening to Metroid Dread is something completely different
@Trajan cmon they would find another excuse like - paying 60 bucks for a 2D game?! No way!
@Trajan They would loose alot of hardware sales if they released their games on PC.
Stop. Thieves! (To quote Red in the show Cow and Chicken)
hole Nintendo tells them to remove it
Filthy (Space) Pirates.
Metroid Dread were emulated 3-4 days Before it were released.
People didn't put up videos until after it were released for obvious reasons.
Removed - trolling/baiting; user is banned
@Nin_1151
Hahaha
Removed - trolling/baiting; user is banned
BotW was emulated and modded to hell and back and it kept YouTube videos pumping that game’s demand for years, and most people who decided to get into it based off of a YouTuber's enjoyment probably BOUGHT the game because most people don't have gaming PC's and most who do don't know how to set up an emulator and obtain the files. Studies have shown that emulation can often HELP sales, and in Metroid’s case we need that! Everyone being all snotty about this aren't thinking about that. If there was no emulation community then this game would have stopped being popular to talk about in a month and it would have sold like other Metroid games: poorly. 6 months from now you'll still be seeing modders posting videos about graphics hacks and speed runs and pretty 4K footage that will keep the kids focused on this way more than they would be otherwise.
I think this is all overblown. I thought PC Gamers think Nintendo are for babies. Can't imagine many wanting to play it. lol.
@GrailUK Well many PC gamers wanted to play Pokemon during pokemania so they used emulators then bought the real thing. Its not only bad
Uh-huh, and what kind of portable (let alone handheld micro) PC would I need to run this on a Switch emulator with any degree of access comparable to Switch? Is this some kind of first world joke I'm too poor to understand?😏
This article is just pointing out the obvious.. yuzu has been making steady progress
I'd be tempted to keep my copy of metroid dread sealed and play it on my pc but tbf I'd rather have the lower res and framerate of native hardware and know there's no emulation bugs.. least for my 1st plqythrough anyway
@nhSnork I don't want to say it out loud but it starts with a "Steam" and ends with a "Deck".
@dimi Well, the poor things. If they want to spend a thousand quid on some silicon so they can pretend to play games on a much cheaper console, they probably don't have much money left.
We get it. If you spend enough money, you can play anything 4K 60fps. Lol.
@SpaceboyScreams even that one is $400+ without import taxes and such. And will it run Yuzu? GPD Win 3 seems to (if for the price of more than two Switches, and with all the finr print emulation contains in general), but the thing about PCs is that one machine doing something doesn't guarantee another following suit, "recommended specs" be damned.
@Rika_Yoshitake because there's a difference between corporate Nintendo and developer Nintendo. not that hard to wrap your head around
@KiraMoonvalley such a shame those dirty PC thieves stole the Metroid Dread master, and now Nintendo can't print any more copies of it. now it's just for them to emulate on their filthy 'Personal Computers'
wait, that's not how it works at all. because piracy ≠ theft
If the emulators have existed before this release, then not really groundbreaking news. I'm sure this article will only help increase the amount of people emulating, not that it's really a problem as Nintendo is making absolute cash money & those that want to pay likely have
@VoidofLight
That's actually not entirely true, someone who owns an exploitable Switch system can use it to dump their own game data and use that for emulation.
But I won't deny that a lot of people will just download the game illegally to emulate it, or even play it on their exploited Switch.
Technically, people were emulating the game before the official release date too, thanks to those early leaks.
wow no respect, those filthy pirates are the worst and the lowest of all gamers, is appalling. 😠
@nhSnork you won't be emulating it in 4K or even 1080 on the Deck but you may hit the screen's native resolution at a stable 30fps based off of what we know about the specs.
Removed - current gen piracy/emulation
Aw man I should of played it on PC then... guess I can do hard mode on Yuzu/Ruijinx then.
@Mauzuri Console exclusivity is an incredibly anti-consumer practice, and wasteful to boot. Instead of letting people play games on hardware they already own, Nintendo tries to force them to buy another console they don't need, just for a handful of games.
Imagine if you wanted to watch the new Spider-man movie, but it could only be played on a Sony TV because Sony wanted to promote hardware sales.
Yeah pirates can go screw off. One of the reasons why PSP software sales plummeted. There is a difference between emulating Pokémon Yellow and a game that just came out.
@SpaceboyScreams I don't picture myself needing 4K on anything short of a rented cinema screen (jokes aside, some folks here actually offered something like that during the pandemic drought), but even within my quite unspoiled demands, "may" and "based off what we know" remain the key points here. Especially as Yuzu is not on Steam AFAIK and would be among the emulators to Win10 the thing for. Whereafter plenty of games might just not run because you misconfigured this or neglected to install or, on the contrary, disable that. I've been doing emulation for 15 years and ain't new to PC gaming either, so I'm still aware of the QoL gap between these domains and console stuff, imperfect as the latter may be in itself.
@pathtracer while not related to hardware promotion, movies are a rather awkward example to give here in the world of Netflix, Disney+ and many anime streaming apps that all come with different licenses.
And Nintendo doesn't try to force anyone - if someone feels "forced" to buy something just to play a game, they might be advised to invest in getting some professional help instead. Nintendo just makes consoles and tries to make games that might encourage people enough to buy these consoles. 99.9% of consumers in their shoes would do this "anticonsumer" stuff to others as well - but don't like to admit as much from their current soapbox.
Since buying this game on Friday, I've loved every moment of playing Metroid Dread.
I don't have any issues with anyone emulating consoles on PC, as piracy doesn't come into it. As long as you've purchased the game, and only make a copy on your own PC for personal use.
I've done so with Wii U games that i've bought.
I'd love to emulate Switch games, but unfortunately i can't do so with my console being patched!!.
I'm going to Laugh so hard when Nintendo Sues the a$$ off of the creator and shuts it down. Pirates are scumbags of the Earth and Not true Gamers! If you can't support the Game, then find another hobby!
@SnesSwitch I AGREE 100%
I think the point of the article that flew by everyone's head is that dread can run and look beautifully...if Nintendo cared enough. Instead, have a new screen!
Lol i am getting some popcorn and just keep reading the comment, its better than Netflix now 😂😂😂😂.
I already reading comments that people now order steam deck just for that 😱
Okay warming up another bag of popcorn lol.
And I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive from amazon. Thanks for spoiling the game day one, NL.
@Jam78 Well, emulation does have some usability advantages like savestates, screenshots (something Nintendo only properly supported on Switch, 3DS had but it was kind of pointless since they limited it to the OS menu only), record videos (again, more of a point to old consoles), and backup and restore save files (of course would only condone that offline game purposes).
@BlackenedHalo What's wrong with being 2D? The number of dimensions in a game doesn't instantly make the game better or worse.
Shaders loading, possible glitches and music desynchro
Thats what you get playing on emulators
@clianvXAi "Being a 2d game that cost 60$, having a 7 hour campaign" That's exactly what Metroid games are.
Historically they have been games designed with replays in mind (for secret and/or speedrun finishes).
@DrDaisy Funny enough the Fire Emblem fanbase seems to continue to count FE games by number, including remakes.
I'm guessing you can't talk to them unless you have the entire franchise release chronology memorized.
@BlackenedHalo
Not if you buy a copy and dump the files on the PC.
Also many EU states legalise pirated content as long as you consume it and you only. Learn the different laws across countries before you make that assessment.
@BrazillianCara it's already the biggest selling game in the franchise.
@abdias from the switch? I expect it to be emulated days in advance. lol
Look we knew this would be an issue the minute the Tegra was ferreted out as the heart and soul of the switch. This is just the natural consequence of a familiar hardware platform and a machine that is light years behind modern desktop hardware in performance. So I cannot say that I'm in the slightest surprised by this since the emulator has been working for years.
Thankfully the siwtch does offer things the PC doesn't and 4k 60 isn't an absolute must or else the switch would be in more trouble.
@The-Chosen-one It's bizarre if people prefer to emulate it on the Steam Deck (as opposed to pirating it there) because the Switch is objectively the better console to play it on thanks to HD rumble (and to some extent, detachable joy cons). After all, the resolution is the same and Dread already performs at 60fps on the Switch.
It is such a good game! That being said if you own the game play it whatever way you want.
Uhhh... the game was being emulated before it even released. All Switch games are. That's kinda how emulators work. How is this "news"? Is there gonna be an article for every Switch game moving forward? Hold the press- we've got breaking news! New Switch game runs on emulator that plays all Switch games! This is front page material here!
Not to mention, one Switch emulator can't do more than native res (so no advantage there) and the other stutters. What good is 1440p if your game stutters when playing? But they won't mention that. Because it's propaganda, and propaganda always leads you to believe only what they want you to know and think.
As for Steam Deck, A) most won't even have it in hand until the middle of next year, and B) it's a definitively inferior experience in every single respect. It can run 720p 60fps? Well, Switch already does that. And on a lighter, more portable, drastically superior OLED screen, with HD rumble and a bevy of play options including tabletop. And, without the small annoying bugs, glitches and performance niggles that inevitably come with emulating any Switch game. And without easily being able to dock to an OLED TV.
If you buy the game, hey, knock yourself out. As long as you own it you're free to do whatever you want. There's just... no advantage- it's all disadvantage. So Idk why anyone would.
@ATaco Switch 2 is going to be announced at E3 2022.
For the most part, emulators shouldn't really need any tweaking on a game by game basis. You emulate the console well, and then any game for that console should run on it. It's why it's annoying Nintendo can be so slow with Virtual Console type releases as we know once the emulator is set up, you don't have to do anything to the games themselves. Also why I find it so weird when sites (like this one) review VC games and refer to them as ports.
@MegaMari0 Anything 15+ years old is fair game, that is more than enough time to make money on your product. If not tough s.h.i.t.e you suck at advertising.
@Peach64
That's only true if the emulator is perfect, and no emulator is.
The 3DS emulator, for example, saw numerous forks attempting better compatibility with specific games. I had to get a special Canary release just to play Metroid Samus Returns. But it stuttered for every other game. Same was true for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.
So it's not accurate to say emulators don't have to be tweaked for every game. It just depends on the game. Because emulators, even those from Nintendo themselves, aren't perfect. In fact, I'd wager the open source ones are better, as they have the benefit of entire teams working on improving them over the span of decades. It takes a lot of work to dial in an emulator to perfection (or at least, as close to perfection as you can get).
As for whether VC gets called "ports"... who cares. Language is just a means to an end. A way to convey ideas. Port, emulated game, honestly who gaf. As long as you know what they're talking about. And if a game is running on a non-native system, it doesn't really matter how it was achieved. In fact, it's often preferred when a game is ported using an emulator. It guarantees 1:1 authenticity, and avoids situations like Monkey Ball where ppl complain the physics feel different.
I've been an avid emulator user since 2002, and all I can say now, is "why promote something like this?" And for the people that use Switch emulators: Don`t you have a job? It's nice to use emulators when you don't have much income, but you need a good piece of hardware to run the emulator well, and most of these guys that are showing videos emulating Switch come from first world countries. So, question again: Don't you have a job, to buy the console and play the games the way they're meant to be played?
Ya'll need to chill. It'll be fine.
I remember reading about a Japanese dev of erotic games for mobile I think, where a lot more people pirated the game than paid for it and they had to close, so to say that piracy isn't theft is ridiculous. I can understand being low income or from a country where you don't get much support for systems and games, but I doubt those people are in your face about how it's supposedly "morally right to pirate Nintendo games" or finding other excuses to justify pirating.
And to those people talking about fanboys and bootlickers, those same "fanboys" and "bootlickers" are the reason why you even get any games you can pirate.
@Edu23XWiiU If Nintendo wants to get money from PC gamers or for their old games, they need to make the games available on the platform people want to play them on. A giant corporation so focused on hardware exclusivity has absolutely no right to complain when people don't want to buy a console, but still find a way to play the games.
@nhSnork It's not force in sense of physical violence, but "Buy our console or you don't get to play this game even though your computer is perfectly capable of running it" CERTAINLY counts as coercion in my book.
Hardware manufacturers making content that's exclusive to their own hardware is a colossal conflict of interest, and a relic of the infancy of gaming that needs to die out.
I'm not going to pirate games. But you can bet that if Nintendo offered it, I would absolutely play their games on PC.
I would have been more surprised if it didn't work on emulators...
@NinjaWaddleDee Don't worry, Nintendo will never offer anything on PC...they only made some (pathetic) games for smartphones, but the truth is that they don't want to have anything to do with platforms other than their own...
Anybody willing to do this, or use these tools, has no respect for the value of somebody else's work. Have some respect for others!
If everyone did this, there would be no new Nintendo games!
I want to seriously see Nintendo make an encrypted system ID that validates whether the rom is being accessed on a legitimate console.
@jsty3105
Yeah i agree with you, switch games arent something i would play on pc. Just doesnt feel right.
My gaming pc is for AA pc games only.
Switch i use for First party titles i really like.
Steam deck will for me be used to play some AA pc games on the go and indie games that are also ln steam.
@pathtracer that doesn't make any sense. Content exclusivity will never go away. Likening it to coercion is just, well, incorrect
@JaxonH think NintendoLife covered it because PC Gamer published an article about it. Kotaku published a (arguably worse) piece too but that didn't have any sort of line saying that it should be played on the Switch
@pathtracer again, it can only coerce someone who either doesn't mind getting another hardware piece for a desired game or can't just shrug off a game they have to buy an explicitly unwanted hardware piece for. And the latter is a personal psychological problem that must be treated elsewhere than the consumer rights domain. The rest of the cases are "incentives", and nothing more. As for conflict of interest... one of the reasons I increasingly dislike the "anticonsumer" word is because it reeks of implying a belief that businesses emerge to be PRO-consumer by default. Whereas in reality they usually emerge to be profitable.
Personally, I have zero stakes in game exclusivity, too. I buy the consoles I can play - if a game is on something as QoL as Switch, I won't play it on anything less QoL anyway, and as long as I can play Zelda and Mario on something sufficiently accessible (read: play at all), they can also be on Stadia for all I care. But it's not my choice what platforms Nintendo's games come out on, it's Nintendo's. As a consumer, I can but represent a market for certain offers, but it's them to decide whether to pursue it, and ignoring a market in commercial Fiction and other entertainment spheres like that is nothing "anticonsumer" per se. Or can you be described as being against "anti") all the countless people you don't know nor care for?
LOL @ people saying this has to do good for the Metroid series to continue. Federation Force probably sold less than this just this weekend alone, but that didn't kill the series. Also, has everyone already forgot that Prime 4 is still being developed RN? Another Metroid is 100% guaranteed already. Nintendo does what Nintendo wants, nothing more, nothing less. And that's been the way since the beginning.
If that's news now here, they should run an article about every game looking better on PC going back all the way to the beginning of gaming. NES emulators will let you play games better than NES, ZSNES makes the SNES look pixelated in comparison, everything from the N64 to the Switch, and eventually the Switch 2 is going to be emulated on a PC with better specs. Same thing with all of the Playstations and Xboxes and Sega's, eventually the emulators get good enough that PC versions look better. Since PCs generally cost a lot more and therefore have better specs, this is to be expected.
So how in the world is this news, and are we going to get an article about how you can emulate every other game in the future and how it looks better? I saw this article on 2 different websites already, and I'm completely confused as to how this is suddenly news now. It's like it's 1997 and Nesticle just came out, but it's not 1997 anymore yet the article is here acting like this is somehow news.
@nhSnork "But it's not my choice what platforms Nintendo's games come out on, it's Nintendo's."
And if Nintendo chooses to overlook a massive market like PC, they have no right to act shocked when people in that market take things into their own hands and find a way to play the games anyway. After all, it's their own fault they chose not to release on PC.
Really enjoying Dread so far, but all the while i can't help but think, this could have been made on Gamecube (2 discs), wii, wii U and 3DS at literally any point on a technical level (albeit at 480 on everything except Wii U). Will definitely try the emulator when Steam deck arrives.
@pathtracer they never act shocked, they weren't born yesterday. They just sue related online stashes when they find lawyer time for that. But it's not our place to feign entitlement either - and I'm saying it as someone who has been emulating otherwise inaccessible/unobtainable games for over a decade. The key reason we do it is because we can get away with it, not because any of our rights (which we don't exactly have towards any particular fiction work and/or entertainment product to begin with) being infringed.
@FuzzBall do you think Switch games are not already super encrypted? Unfortunately for Nintendo hackers found some ways to "backup" the games anyway!
I 'was' gonna try to download it to see it side by side with the original real time in my setup, but it's gonna take 2 1/2 days to finish downloading. So, this must be a hugely popular download or the website is throttling the f@&k out of it
@ATaco You must think you're so funny.
@Rika_Yoshitake But that's the thing; when people complain about Nintendo it's never really about their games. It's about their systems and their business practices. When it comes to the quality of their software Nintendo always comes at the top.
@nhSnork All I'm saying is that if they intentionally abandon a market, and then people in that market find a way to play their games, they have no justification to be angry or take action. If they really wanted money from that market, there's an easily-accessible way to get it. Just release the games there themselves. The fact that they haven't done so means they don't care whether people on PC buy their games or not.
@ChromaticDracula Exactly! Especially for me during hockey season (which starts this week!). The 'switch' between docked and handheld or vice versa is amazing before or after game time!
@pathtracer stop with the BS-nonsense about exclusives being "anti-consumer".
It doesn't only happen is gaming either. It is also happening in movies/TV series with streaming services (Apple+, Disney+, Netflix, Hulu) getting-producing exclusive content for movies/TV series that you can only watch in their platform. So deal with it. Because this isn't changing no matter how much you whine. What you can hope, but not expect, is them thinking (distant future) in start putting a couple of their games (3-5 years old games) on PC (only), that's all.
All in all, asking corporations to hold hands an sing Kumbaya while releasing all their owned produced and funded projects/content into everything is just moronic (I hope Netflix releases The Queen's Gambit and Squid Game to HBO Max). Wake up! This is not LaLaLand...
@rpg2000 It's anti-consumer when streaming services do it too, but at least they aren't locking the content behind a $200+ HARDWARE purchase. I can just get Netflix for a month and watch what I want, then cancel it and sign up for Hulu and watch what I want from there, and so on.
HARDWARE companies also making content exclusive to said hardware is a massive conflict of interest, and honestly should have some kind of antitrust limitations placed upon it.
@pathtracer Looking back at your comments i think we have a PC fanboy bitter at consoles getting exclusive games. Dude consoles exclusives are very necessary, if Sony, MS and Nintendo all released each others games on everything then what's the point of an Xbox or Switch or Playstation? Exclusives sell consoles, Animal Crossing and Spider-Man are proof off that with both selling Switch's and PS4's all by themselves, a big reason the X1 bombed so hard was because MS gave zero reason for PC's players to own one. Sony may been dipping into PC but they are being very careful with it, notice how Spider-Man has yet to make it over?
End of the day exclusives have been here since consoles started competing. If you only want to PC game or can't afford more then one console then too bad that's your problem. Nintendo and Sony have shown why exclusives matter and they are never going away.
Look, argue if you will that Nintendo is ridiculous when it comes to piracy of old NES/SNES games that will never come to the Switch in either a compilation or online service. That I won't pushback on.
However, doing it in a brand new release of a console still very much alive, then I have a problem.
Kotaku, which already drives me crazy with their overly extreme left political views shoved into video game articles, should be ashamed of themselves that they published this piece of garbage. I hope Nintendo takes them to task for it.
I don't get why a Nintendo site would even cover this.
@SeantheDon29 From someone on Reddit: "The only way to legally emulate Switch titles it to install a custom firmware on a launch model Switch (precisely from March '17 to early summer '18) and use it to rip a cartridge on PC." Of course no one besides the first few emulators is actually going to go through the trouble of ripping a legally bought copy of Dread to play on PC. Everyone else is going to just download their files, which is piracy.
@amiiboacid Yep, that’s the distinction here. I emulate a lot but it’s consoles from the Wii and before, where it’s much much easier to rip games legally. Switch isn’t there yet and doing this with recent games stinks a bit.
All this faux outrage over a tiny and insignificant percentage of the consumer demographic. The average consumer doesn't even know what emulation is. Even if they were to learn, who's to say they'd be willing/capable?
Blatant piracy is much more common among tech-savvy kids than it is with hobbyists/collectors/purists/etc., and how often does that happen? The only people in my circles who emulate either dump their own games for the best possible experience or only emulate games that are no longer available (or cost 100s or 1000s of dollars).
It was emulated on PC before it came out...
@Whitestrider No, I don’t believe they are. If you are able to rip these files that easily, then you’re not doing a very good job.
@BrazillianCara not really. Instead of being offended, stop buying lazy products and maybe Nintendo will actually start putting effort on again. Successful Nintendo is never good for the consumer.
@ATaco You think Dread is lazy? Have you played it to come up with stupid opinion or you just trolling?
@FuzzBall the security system of the Switch was developed more than 5 years ago, at this point they can't do much about it if it was already defeated (well in some cases Sony was able to do something, but it was only a temporary solution).
@Whitestrider Sure they can, build a device fingerprint into the switch and they make future games so they won’t run if that authentication and signed fingerprint isn’t there.
The downside is you would have to keep the database online.
Or they could make an official switch emulator with a built in game store.
@FuzzBall what?
@Whitestrider You don’t know what device finger printing is? It’s basically making a hash based around the hardware that’s in the device. Of course it can be more complex than that and include multiple parts, but it is an actual identifier for the hardware.
Sure everybody would be pissed that the console needed to check in to play games, but the code in the game could refuse to run if it doesn’t get the right response from the server. Or you could make it so that only certain aspects of the game would fail to run.
Oh and they could create an activation file for the game the first time it is run on the switch.
Yes these all suck for the people not pulling this crap, but it largely works.
I am mostly a PC gamer but I actually hate the PC community itself ...so much hypocrisy and piracy
... I actually reported one site directly to Nintendo because of this
@KiraMoonvalley no argument, and a false assumption. I'll just assume you have no thoughts of substance to reply with
Removed - current gen piracy/emulation
@FuzzBall no thanks, I don't want any form of DRM added, especially not one that requires an online check. a solution that inconveniences people who're actually buying the games is a bad one
Considering what happened with the "news" of the leaked Pokemon game and another site, I'm wondering if NintendoLife will be silenced and quiet after they get their cease and desist for using Nintendo's name in the site's title?
Don't bite the hand that feeds you....I think is the phrase?
...does anyone really care?
Nintendo also puts fail safes in there games.look what happens when u get to the end of zelda oot..you can't finish the game and they let you get to the end lol
@ATaco lol dread ain't a lazy game and you seem upset Nintendo is giving the switch better games as a weaker system to ps5 and series x besides they have no good games yet till at least next year
@WallyWest No, I think The Switch OLED was a lazy upgrade but please, continue to fly off the handle without actually understanding what people are talking about.
@Darkyoshi98 another person that didn't understand what I was referring to. No wonder the point of the article flew by people's heads.
There’s a house rule on this site that commenters should not post about current gen emulators or piracy - maybe the main news articles shouldn’t comment on it either!
There will always be piracy in gaming (and come on - the majority of people using these emulators are not dumping their own files let’s be real) - don’t think it needs a light shone on it though
@ATaco Its an article about Metroid Dread and emulation so i guess that's what we're talking about?
@ElStormo That’s why I said they could put some code in the game that won’t run if it doesn’t find a valid switch hardware ID. That doesn’t necessarily have to be the online verification system.
Crud, remember when people couldn’t figure out the BD decryption keys and then they only found the, because somebody got careless. Same idea!
I emulate old games I don’t have access to because the hardware/carts are hard to find.
Emulating new games without purchasing the game is scummy.
@ATaco Everyone who has one says the screen is incredible and the stand is a game changer.
@pathtracer
It’s a Consumer product. If the cost of entry to that product is to buy hardware that facilitates it, tough luck. That’s what you have to do. You buying a different piece of hardware doesn’t entitle you to that product. Anything else is piracy and unjustifiable.
@LUIGITORNADO
Pretty much sums it up.
I can sort of understand it if it’s people from low income countries or young kids without disposable income. However a grown adult pirating new, easily available games needs to get a better job or accept they can’t afford certain things.
@NoTinderLife
If the only selling point of the Switch was portable mode they would have only made it portable, and it would have sold a lot less.
If they bought the game it's legal to run it on a pc at better frame rates and resolution
@KingMike I'm not even gonna try to sort the Fire Emblem series out right now. FE Warriors and a bit of FE Heroes are about as much attention as I giving the series. That might change if Camilla gets her own game, which is never gonna happen so I don't even know why I brought it up.
@sirmrguitardude I think that's still iffy at best even if they're somehow running the game off an actual cartridge, and that would probably violate the patent of the Switch itself.
Hopefully someone will mod in disability options, because it stands this game is unplayable.
Thank you for the reminder, NL. Just download the YUZU and tested it and it runs GREAT.
@FuzzBall I suppose it could be implemented without hassling your average Switch user, but I would hope it gets cracked either way. Emulation is important for plenty of reasons
@ElStormo Why? You can emulate the hardware all you want without stealing games. Crud, home brew is a real thing.
We're trying our best to support this game, give Nintendo the message that we want more Metroid, and pirates do this *****. Talk about being the scum of the Earth.
@WallyWest Read the article, not just the headline. It's about Metroid Dread being able to run at 4K with unlocked framerate. This means that it's possible for the game to look and run even BETTER than it does on the switch...but since Nintendo only wants to release systems that are always a gen behind technology-wise, we don't get this.
Nintendo was just lucky that the switch gimmick was received well unlike the failure that was the WiiU gimmick.
@FuzzBall Obviously, they bought it day one. You think anyone who ran out to buy it day one would have anything negative to say?
@Donkey-Kong-Fan People dumping ROMs is nothing new. The scene has been doing for every since game. I read even in the SNES era there were people uploading "0-day warez" (it's just that most people, who weren't computer nerds, didn't even own PCs, let alone have Internet access, then).
Don't have an issue with this. I bought and play Dread on my Switch. But Nintendo brought piracy on itself.
I can see the appeal of wanting to emulate it on PC. Higher resolution and faster loading times.
Any gamer who isn't a fanboy and glued to the hip with Nintendo, it's pretty obvious the loading times are definitely noticeable for a cartridge base game.
I get the whole piracy issue to some, but some people just want the best game experience possible, and that means emulating a game that is designed for mediocre hardware.
Is it possible with the switch emulator to just put a SD card with switch games i bought, to play with the emulator? Or not?
It runs amazingly. Maybe is proof Switch games can be upscaled when Switch 2 releases. Now to see how Link's Awakening runs.
I'm gonna thoroughly enjoy playing this on my steam deck the switch can kiss my ass.
@Surv Who cares why should I buy a crippled computer called a switch when I don't have to.
@FuzzBall though I'd expect they'd be a minority, there is people who legitimately dump their games. perhaps we wouldn't have mods like BotW: Second Wind if there was DRM obstacles in the way.
clearly piracy isn't a major problem impacting Switch game sales as is. so why spend time/effort/money defending against it?
Emulators emulate the Hardware.
If they work they'll play the dedicated Games.
Nice way to promote the game!
Unfortunate having a PC this would mean I would have to use Windows! 😂
I accept emulation for the sake of “game preservation” and the like, but this game’s readily available and not even a week old, f*** those guys and the sites that promote it.
how about stop promoting this stuff with articles like this???
afaik the only way to play the emulated game legally(!) right now is going through tons of hazzle.
@Austrian There's an Ukrainian girl who likes to pack Switch games and emulator into a standalone app - all you have to do is run it. She has been dumping her releases in the torrent for about a year.
the scapegoat mentality of "IF THE METROID SERIES NEVER GETS ANOTHER GAME, IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU PIRATES" really irks me--i'd assume piracy is already adjusted for in sales projections for one, and for two, games have sold well and still gotten jack in terms of sequels multiple times before. it feels like entirely a way to smokeshield nintendo for dropping a franchise
Removed - inappropriate language
@somebread
that really depends. I remember Xenoblade on Wii got only in the US 700k downloads (pirated)... this hurt the later release of the game 100%. But I know the case is more diffuclt than that... anyways there are laws and those laws are there for a reason. I can totally understand people downloading games that are not possible to buy anyways anymore but new games should be purchased or shouldn't be played
The best thing Nintendo can do to combat this is to start using more powerful hardware. The relatively low powered Switch is much easier to emulate than something like the Series X or PS5.
That said, even 360 and PS3 emulation is still pretty basic even now. I remember when UltraHLE came out and was running N64 games when that system was still current. There’s just something about Nintendo that seems to draw people to try and emulate their systems.
@BulkSlash The only reason why PS/XBOX emulation isn't big, is because most XBOX / PS games are already available on PC as well. Especially XBOX games. Furthermore, emulating XBOX or PS is a lot easier, since they already are x86 platforms.
Emulating the Switch is harder because it's ARM based, but more lucrative since no first party Switch exclusives are on PC.
Honestly I think Nintendo should release some of their biggest AAA titles on Steam, like Sony does with Death Stranding and Horizon Zero Dawn. Maybe release Breath of the Wild on PC while releasing 2 on the Switch.
What a joke.. This game needs to sell well and it bothers me that this is happening so quickly. Not to mention how arrogant some of the emulator users are despite doing what they are doing. I mean at least shut up.. People who actually pay for games are the reason that they are happening in the first place so if anything you should be thankful and not boast about being a leech. There is nothing to be proud of..
Some of the most boring people in the world are PC gamers who go on about how they built their own PC which can emulate anything. Beyond boring.
Infuriating. Not because I care about defending a multi million dollar company, but because this puts the future of the entire Metroid franchise in jeopardy. If this isn’t the best selling game in the series yet and if it doesn’t reach a decent sales milestone relative to other Switch games then bye bye Metroid forever. Honestly it’s kinda irresponsible for these media publications to advocate for piracy. They’re potentially going to be responsible for killing off Metroid forever. Not cool.
@EmmatheBest just about the best comment on this article, it's insane to me that NOBODY ELSE mentioned prime 4 here despite all the hand-wringing about "well we might not get another installment!"
federation force is a good point to bring up, too
@somebread Prime 4 is indeed too far into development for Nintendo to pull the plug now but what about after that? If Dread does not meet Nintendo’s sales expectations then that puts the post-Prime 4 future of the franchise in a very precarious position. I’m incredibly excited for Prime 4, but I don’t want it to be the swan song for the franchise! I want Metroid to appear on the Switch successor too, in both its 2D and 3D forms.
@BloodNinja I hope Nintendo NEVER does anything insane like that
I don't condone flat out piracy (which this is) though I do believe emulation is the only alternative to play many other games not released or available on current generation systems.
However, the issue that a lot of people make is that people who pirate would have bought a copy of the game. They really wouldn't have. Given the hoops to jump through, this is not going to be a mainstream option. It isn't like film streaming/piracy.
@pathtracer Nintendo games are made to be played on their consoles. That doesn't give right to spoiled brats to justify emulation when it's clear they can easily afford a Switch.
Gasp! You mean to tell me that a Switch emulator is able to run a Switch game?! Stop the presses! This is the news story of the century! The world needs to know!
Seriously, it's like the only purpose of this article is to remind people that emulation is an option. Why are you promoting emulation, @NintendoLife ? You're breaking your own community rules too.
Do not discuss current gen emulators/homebrew/piracy;
It is permitted to constructively discuss the use of flash carts, emulators and homebrew software when in the context of emulating previous generation(s) hardware. We ask that you do not link to any resources for illegal copyrighted content such as where to download ROMs and we reserve the right to lock, edit or delete any threads or comments we feel stray too far into an illegal or legal grey area, especially related to current gen products.
Last time I checked, Yuzu is an emulator for current gen hardware. How can you expect other people to follow rules that you break yourselves? Buncha hypocrites.
@Edu23XWiiU Nope, games should not be tied to physical hardware purchases. That's a toxic practice that needs to die out.
Nintendo has completely abandoned the massive PC market, so they can cry me a river if they want to complain about people in that market emulating their games. They have nobody to blame but themselves.
@electrolite77 If somebody purchases the game and then emulates it on their computer, that is absolutely NOT piracy. They bought the game, they can do what they want. Nintendo doesn't get to complain about people emulating games they bought on hardware they own, just because they don't own a Switch as well.
@Digimon24 With chip and material shortages, that may be where these companies will have to go. It’s not realistic to keep manufacturing millions of consoles, so having them consolidate to a different service just may be what will have to happen. Unless a new type of material is made, this stuff does have the potential to be scarce or run out.
@pathtracer Exactly right. There are no laws against ripping media for personal use, since that’s not really enforceable. Ripping and then distributing violates copyright, but you can obviously tell the difference
@pathtracer
Yeah I agree with that. It’s people downloading ROMs without purchase that are the issue.
@BloodNinja
Going onto PC would be an interesting option for Nintendo. Everyone is moving towards an ecosystem. They could have Switch successors as options like Xbox do, which would work well given they’re portable. They could open up their games up to a big enough audience to more than offset losses of hardware revenue.
They’d need to be confident in the security to stave off piracy, more willing to allow game sharing and ready to continue the cultural shift started with putting games on Mobile I.e. non-proprietary hardware.
lol im running it on a older pc, and getting over 30fps. So far that game isn't as trash as a though it would be, but that lack of music again by this garbage developer irks me greatly.
@BloodNinja dude didnt i talk to you before about this game being overpriced a while back?
@electrolite77 Honestly, I think these larger companies worrying about piracy is fairly moot for their bottom line. They still rake in millions yearly, people still buy their stuff. I know that for them it's not ideal, because their goal is to make AS MUCH money as possible, but still. Piracy for smaller/indie studios would be a much greater concern, imo.
That being said, I like your idea of having Switch successors. Maybe the idea could be an open version of the cloud save, so instead of "Switching" to a monitor, you can just put the handheld down and boot up the Nintendo PC launcher and continue playing on whatever PC you like. Streaming or digital downloads, it would be pretty cool.
@Gamepro500 Probably? Lots of people talk to me, lately! LOL What did you need to know/clarify?
I had to mute the discussions about this on Twitter. I'm not the emulation or pirate police. But I won't do it personally, no matter how much I want to play a game.
However, the mental gymnastics in trying to justify doing it was completely bonkers. Just not based in reality at all
@BloodNinja
I agree piracy at current numbers isn’t a big deal, but a lot of that is because of their caution. Think of what happened to the Amiga/Dreamcast/PSP, before widespread digital distribution (the first two anyway). If something as big as a hypothetical Nintendo ecosystem got opened up it would get absolutely ransacked. They’d either have to get their own security spot on or go in with a Valve or MS.
That idea of an open Cloud save is great. Keep the convenience of the current system, still have docked Switch systems for those who don’t want a PC, but with higher quality versions on the PC. They could even have a connection from PC to a Switch to use Cartridges as an unlocker.
I mean, I realise this idea is very un-Nintendo in many ways but it’s also very like Nintendo in that it could make them money.
@electrolite77 Indeed, and good point about the PSP, in particular. Nintendo has historically been pretty weak with security, so I’m sure if they ever did it their security would be over-the-top, like Denuvo or something.
I keep seeing a lot of people bringing up pirating the game.
There needs to be a distinction pointed out, emulating and pirating are 2 very different things.
Emulating is very much legal, if you own a copy of the original software.
Granted Emulation does open the doors for people to abuse and widely circulate the data to be pirated, but emulation, in and of itself is completely legal.
And there is a legitimate interest for gamers to emulate the game on more powerful PC hardware to get a better resolution and load times from the game.
PC emulation proofs Nintendo is being too lazy with the oled model.
Dread could have been the first official 4k Switch title if Nintendo wanted it.
Smh, can't people just be decent for a short while at least?
@anoyonmus Agreed. Nintendo, Take this ***** down. We should not be emulating this game ONE F***ING DAY after release! AND screw all the people who whine about the switch being underpowered and the games not being on pc
@InkIdols yes, my friend. Nintendo should probably do something about it.
However emulation is legal. Pirating it is not. And PC gamer is advertising so Nintendo should probably keep an eye on it
@anoyonmus Yeah. God, i'm so pissed now
I have mixed feelings with emulation. I really love it from a preservation standpoint. But then I see like 5 articles like this telling people they can just emulate a brand new game on PC and I get kind of mad. I participate in the emulation scene because it has some serious value to me but I also understand the importance of supporting the devs if we want them to keep making games. Basically, don't be a jerk. Don't emulate stuff like this unless you are actually dumping a cart you purchased.
One thing that all these news outlets forgot to mention, including PC gamer and Kotaku, is that you can run an emulator in a completely legit way, if you own both a switch and a copy of the game you want to run.
Yuzu emulator's own FAQ points out a detailed process about how to basically move your own content from your switch to the PC, just for emulation purposes.
I'm surprised that this was left out, as it makes the content posted by those magazines incredibly suspicious to me.
you gotta be a real tool not to support emulation
@pathtracer When did the y"abandoned" that market? When they stopped calling their consoles Family COMPUTER? Hahahaha, what else do you think is toxic, watching movies in a theater? Nintendo is still the only one of the console manufacturers who's still making consoles, the others only do poor imitations of PCs. And Nintendo is doing great. So, yeah.
@Edu23XWiiU Nintendo abandons the PC market every time they refuse to release a game on PC (which is every time). If they don't like emulation, they can release all their games on PC - but they haven't done that, so they have absolutely no right to complain about people finding a way to play their games on PC anyway.
Movie theaters are a bad comparison, this is like if Sony wouldn't let you watch any Spiderman movies unless you bought their new Sony TV and Sony bluray player. Imagine if everyone had to have 4 different physical TVs just so they could watch all the movies they were interested in! That's exactly the situation games are in right now, and it's just as bad.
@ggnorekthx Yeah older games make more sense to emulate because people are constantly modding to further improve the experience. Like Nerrels majora's mask Hd. Pirating is a bit of a different story, if its an older game like n64 than its not to big of a deal. but brand new games? Absolutely not
The more people that can play it the better.
I'm getting big time UltraHLE flashbacks with this.
I didn’t even know you could emulate Switch hardware already! I dropped out of the emulation scene after I failed to get a Saturn emulator to run over a decade ago.
I’m kind of grateful that in 5 years from now, when I get the itch to return to Dread (playing my second run on Hard Mode now <3) , I can spend some time figuring out how to set up an emulator rather than port beg a game I already own for Switch 2.
@pathtracer I don’t know.. I get what your saying, and I’m thankful for emulation to preserve games since so many generations of hardware have been abandoned, but I don’t get the “Nintendo abandons PC every time they don’t release a game on it” at all... I really don’t understand the justification for piracy here. Is piracy not justified when companies release games onto the PC platform? What about games like Nier Automata and Batman Arkham City that are broken PC ports?
@Spiders Just to be clear, I'm not necessarily saying it's good for people to pirate new games; emulation != piracy, and it's definitely better to buy the game if you're planning on playing it.
I'm mainly saying that emulating games, no matter how new, is completely fine. I don't think Nintendo has much grounds to complain about piracy if they don't release on PC, but they have absolutely NO wiggle room to complain about emulation.
@pathtracer I agree with you as far as emulation and piracy being different, but I still don’t see the fact that Nintendo doesn’t release on PC making a difference. Their right to “complain” is based on intellectual property rights, not some sort of consumer’s right to access.
@Spiders Nintendo has an IP-based right to complain about people uploading their games for free, but I'm pretty sure emulation is completely legal if you own the game. They can't do anything there.
"I still don’t see the fact that Nintendo doesn’t release on PC making a difference."
The way I see it, if they wanted to get money from the PC market, they would release their games on PC. The fact that they don't do so signals that they don't care what PC gamers do. As far as I'm concerned, that means they've lost their right to complain - like how you can lose a trademark if you don't use it for a few years.
@pathtracer Listen, I'm all about that hardware emulation... I'm looking forward to the possibility of playing Dread on PC in the future, and also considering looking into Wii emulation now for some of the games I have and can't be bothered to hook up and squint through 480p to play... it's not enough p's in 2021!!!
I'm looking at it more like the perspective of piracy in China. Nintendo could not combat piracy in China because, well, China, but also because they had difficulty actually getting into the market, i.e. partnering with a Chinese company. Eventually they did with iQue, and that's it's own story.
I guess it sounds to me like the way you're saying it is like PC gamers are like China, as if they are somehow really stranded from Nintendo's legal market, and from my perspective, that doesn't make sense because there's no really good reason they couldn't also buy a Switch to play Nintendo games... at least from Nintendo's POV, but I agree too. If we were talking about a country that had PC games and Nintendo was not in that market I could see the "Nintendo has no right to complain"... but here they do, and you only need to zoom out from the platform's digital marketplace to the hardware marketplace, or from the PC market to the broader gaming market, and you can literally put a Nintendo Switch in the same shopping cart as your graphics card so that can't be the rationale from a user perspective.
@Spiders I disagree with hardware-exclusive games on principle, though.
There's no reason someone should have to buy more than one game console/PC to play games that their machine has the horsepower to run. Nintendo/Sony/MS saying "Buy our console or you don't get to play our games" is a predatory business practice designed to funnel people into their walled gardens where they can make more money off them.
Right now if you want to play Forza, Metroid, and God of War, you have to buy three separate consoles with a total cost of $1,300+! You should be able to spend half that on a more powerful machine that can play any game. Forcing people to buy multiple systems to play all the games they want is incredibly wasteful.
@pathtracer I understand where you’re coming from, and probably agree with the same principle in different places if I think about it.
Where I’ll go to bat for Nintendo, and consoles in general, is in the idea that they are curating the entirety of the experience. You are — and not incorrectly — looking as a game at set of 1s and 0s that, with the proper interpretation and interface, can be played in any way on any device. That is true and makes complete sense.
I think it also makes sense to look at it from the POV as an experience and it’s a different philosophy. Nintendo places a value on curating the experience from start to finish, from the “meta” game space to the feel of your thumbs on the controller to the rewards programs for buying your games to the licensing of the characters for merchandise. To play Metroid Dread on an XBox 360 controller and be messing around with display drivers and settings is no longer the experience they created — wether it’s better or worse — and I on some deep level agree that they have a right to maintain the integrity of the experience they set out to create.
If you were the brand manager of, say, White Castle, and believed in the experience of getting a White Castle hamburger, you would have never allowed it to go into the supermarket freezer. Sure, it’s a “1s and 0s” recipe that could be made anywhere and could be sold anywhere and it’s, from a narrow perspective “better” for the consumer to have more options and opportunities to consume it, but — if you believed in the experience — that going to the drive-thru and having the bag stink up your car and eating some on the way home had a value, you would never let that brand go in the freezer because it has now devalued both channels.
I’m using White Castle a bit tongue in cheek (and for the nobody keeping track of my long and storied history of fast food analogies in posts), but also to illustrate that even a sub-standard experience can have a tangible value if you look at things differently.
Now I don’t know if I could make this case as well for Sony or Microsoft (or Apple or Google), especially as their hardware is becoming less and less distinguishable from a PC with a walled garden storefront— but with Nintendo it’s more clear they are looking at things from a larger perspective of which the literal software is a part, and I while I think your perspective is entirely coherent and makes sense from your personal POV and as a consumer and gamer advocate, I hope you can consider how it doesn’t make the same sense looking at it as Nintendo might, managing global brands and properties.
@Spiders I do understand that Nintendo wants to exercise that level of control, and how they might think it makes sense for them. When it comes to what's good for the consumer (us) though, that's not at all relevant. At the end of the day, games ARE a software and media product just as much as they are an experience - and the (in my opinion, very excessive) control Nintendo wants over that experience ends up backfiring to severely hurt the experience of using the software. Or more likely not using it, since it's only available on one console.
I'll counter your White Castle analogy with one I used earlier: Imagine if Sony, to present a tightly crafted experience, made it so you could only watch the new Spiderman movie on their Sony TV and Sony Bluray player. No watching it on a Samsung or LG TV, it has to be Sony. They're looking at things from a larger perspective in which the movie is only a part, you see, and they're trying to manage a global brand and property.
I hope we can agree that would be a patently absurd limitation on the consumer's ability to experience the media, a limitation that no benefit to Sony's brand could make up for. (I'd even go so far as to say a business practice like that should probably fall afoul of antitrust laws.)
So why should that exact same practice be allowed for video games?
@pathtracer I actually like that analogy... I’d point to Christopher Nolan who caught heat for not wanting his movie to premiere on HBO Max, as he intended it for theaters. It’s “anti-consumer”, but “pro-creator”. Even if it means that I lose a chance to watch it how I might want to, I think it was an awesome stance to take and I accept and support it. Again, we’re talking the 1s and 0s of distribution versus experience.
In a former life I was a music artist, and if I could have prevented people from listening to my music on smartphone speakers, I would have done it in a heartbeat.
Honestly, I think both positions have value and it should be examined on a case by case basis... and in that regard I will admit to having bias towards Nintendo as that kind of creator. If we we’re having this conversation about most Sony games, I’d likely agree with you completely.
EDIT: you might find this interesting: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/05/01/Nintendo-wins-antitrust-suit/4471704692800/
@HarvestGoddess What do you mean, like color blindness issues or the controls?
I’m actually really refreshed about the lack of options — I get OCD fiddling with stuff and prefer a crafted experience — but of course I get to overlook most accessibility issues.
@Spiders I think Nolan deserved the heat for trying to control the experience that much, to be honest. I love movie theaters, but movie consumption is slowly shifting away from the theater much like how improvement in PCs and home consoles moved people away from arcades. I really don't think creators exerting that level of control over the experience is a good thing, especially when it comes to video games. (And I say that as someone who creates art and is a hobbyist game developer.)
I do think your bias towards Nintendo might be clouding your view on this issue. My bias is that on principle I think more people should be able to play the games they want to play, and I don't think both positions have value or need to be evaluated case-by-case. Hardware exclusives are always bad - especially when they're not driven by the hardware (like VR is) but rather by licensing and corporate greed. (which both Sony and Nintendo are very guilty of. Microsoft too, but fortunately they've been moving away from pure console exclusives lately.)
RE that lawsuit: Atari probably should have won that case. Even if Nintendo doesn't really have monopoly power in the game industry as a whole anymore, they still abuse their IP by essentially forming a cartel between their software and hardware divisions. "You'd love to play our games, right? I guess you'd better buy our console. No, I don't care that you already have two machines that could run the game better." I think these practices SHOULD be illegal or at least heavily penalized, even if I recognize that they unfortunately are legal at the moment.
Removed - flaming/arguing
@Edu23XWiiU lmao. How about you try reading anything I've said or understanding any point I've made, instead of licking the corporate boot.
@pathtracer Fair enough, but my bias for Nintendo is based on the very "creator control" philosophy so I think I'm more of an apologist than a rationalizer.
I still disagree, but I like how we disagree, and I'm glad I can understand where and why we do:) Hope you feel the same.
@pathtracer why don't you go and get a life, instead of speaking crap all day?
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