Here's the law: It's perfectly legal to make and distribute emulators and the Nesbox name violates no Trademarks. A lawyer would have to go to court and prove otherwise for me to say otherwise, and I don't believe they'd succeed.
See the difference between your law, as looked at from the point of view of a corporation, and my law as looked at from the point of view of someone who doesn't think like and speak for the corporations?
@TG1 Pointing out the law from the perspective of the corporations.
The law from the perspective of the Nesbox developer is that his emulator's name does not infringe any Trademark and his emulator is completely legal.
So, I'll point out the law from the perspective of that side of the equation, thanks, because I come at things from the perspective of a consumer and not a corporation.
All these little details are actually important—ask any lawyer—and it's media sites getting even the basics wrong, inadvertently twisting the story just a little bit in one particular direction, that starts swinging the situation in the favour of the corporations. The poor corporation gets painted as the victim and the emulator creator as the bad guy more and more with each little innocent mistake like this—and then the sheep jump on board and throw in their ten cents worth too.
@TG1 Nintendo owns the Trademark for NES; it does not own the Trademark for Nesbox as one word, and I don't think these homebrew guys are even trying to claim any Nesbox Trademark anyway or even sell the product (Isn't it a free App?). I think it would be another abuse of the law if Nintendo claimed copyright on the name just because it starts with the same three letters as its own console, just like my main point in all my posts above, even as more obvious a nod as it is in this case.
To me it's just like when Bethesda tried to claim all ownership and use of the "scrolls" word in any game titles and basically lost.
Nintendo doesn't own every single use of "nes" in all games and entertainment products.
And, yeah, clearly it's a bit more of a clear case of using the name with Nesbox—although still not a home run—but you shouldn't be arguing in favour of these corporations regardless, unless you're some kind of corporate lackey. We really should only argue for them when it's a total black & white case and a clear and deliberate violation of the law that's actually intended to profit from abusing the original Trademark, not what Nintendo might like us all to believe is the law and what you think must be the law because that's what these corporations have now got everyone believing is the case and telling everyone else is the case too.
Seriously, did Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony go out and pay you all at some point to act as their corporate minions?
PS. From personal experience I can tell you that "settles" often just means these mega corporations basically lost but came to some "agreement" so as to save face, put up a strong front, and maybe get the other side to agree to at least some conditions that serve both parties, which only happens because the other side decides it's really not worth the hassle at that point and they just want these corporate worms to go away and stop wasting their time:
@TeslaChippie I'm sure some people would have stuff like this banned because teh corporations don't like people making such totally legal and legit hardware and software that competes with and compares extremely favourably to their own products. I'm not one of those people; I 100% support the creation of awesome hardware and software like this. The corporations don't control everything (yet) and we certainly shouldn't be aiding them in gaining that absolute control of absolutely everything, which they would and will given the chance, especially when it doesn't serve our best interests as consumers (or just people) in the slightest, in any way, shape, or form.
I honestly don't know when we all turned into corporate lackeys.
What most people really don't seem to grasp fully here is that this is precisely why certain laws protecting the creation of these consoles and the likes of emulators were created (or at least are still protected if they weren't created specifically for this purpose), to provide fair competition in the market, to offer the consumer options, and to prevent huge corporations dictating entire markets by abusing the likes of copyright law to the point where it becomes detrimental to everyone other than these mega corporations.
Seriously, we all really need to stop fighting for the corporations and start to "fight for the users*" again—trust me, it's actually better for us all this way.
@JaxonH Blah, blah, blah. You've done Microsoft proud today.
Someone submitted a totally legal App that initially passed certification for release on Xbox One even under Microsoft's own App submission term & conditions:
But because Microsoft arbitrarily decided it still didn't want this particular App on its store, even though it already passed all the requirements to be on there and is indeed entirely legal, it decided to just go in and lie about the App being something else (a game in this case) so it could apply a different set of rules entirely that would allow it to now discriminate* between/against and prevent the App from being released.
And you think the totally legal emulator is the problem here and the thing we should be concerned with/about.
PS. There's little more I can say on this point, I'm wasting precious air, so from my side this back and forth is now over.
Looks like a really solid piece of kit. My only gripe, and it's the same one I've had since the first time it was shown, is that I really don't think these kinds of fan consoles need to be so big in this day and age, but it still looks cool regardless. For fans of playing original NES games on proper hardware I imagine this would be an extremely attractive value proposition.
You're too blinded by the corporate Kool-Aid to see the difference between absolutely following the law, as the guys making the emulator have done, and insidiously bending both the law and even Microsoft's own Terms & Conditions as Microsoft has done here to basically not follow that law as it was designed and intended to protect such creations.
Again, the guys making the emulator aren't illegally copying games or whatever; they're just releasing a perfectly legal emulator. Microsoft, however, is sneakily and insidiously bending the law to stop something that should have every right to be on the store just like every single other App it has approved.
One is the kind of sneaky stuff lawyers pull off every day to manipulate the system and the people the system is supposed to serve, and the other is a group of people trying to create something cool and share it with others. Who the hell cares, as a consumer and not a corporation, if it means we can then get to play great Nintendo games for free IF we ourselves choose to abuse the law in order to do so. If you don't want to abuse the law, don't—the product itself won't break any laws or play any illegal games in the slightest if you don't choose to. But Microsoft is abusing the law, and in that none of us have any choice, power, control, or say whatsoever.
@JaxonH Well, that's like saying I shouldn't tell someone not to kill just because that's how I think. There's right and there's wrong Making an emulator is right, as dictated by our very laws. Bending.twisting the law and terms & conditions in a really sneaky and insidious way just to prevent the release of a perfectly legal and legit emulators is basically wrong—but Microsoft's just been sneaky about how it goes about things so people like you can't see it's wrong. So, yes, I absolutely will tell everyone they're wrong if they argue in Microsoft's favour in this case, because they are wrong from where I'm standing—unless of course they are a corporate lackey. Are you a corporate lackey? Do you work for Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo? It's not my job in life to pussyfoot around your misguided beliefs. In this particular case I'm not here to pander to your fragile ego; I'm here to stop the corporations taking away everything in the world that matters to both me and you, one little bit at a time, while you sit there and actually fight in their corner. But you probably still don't think some silly little emulator being stopped from release on Microsoft's console via sneaky and insidious bending of the law and even Microsoft's own terms & conditions really matters in the grander scheme of things—so I'm wasting my breath.
@JaxonH Denying this emulators approval, especially via the really sneaky and insidious way Microsoft has done it by labelling this blatant App as a "game" just so it doesn't have to approve it like any other App, is bending the law in favour of these corporations. Releasing a ROM is following the law to the letter and not abusing the system in any way, shape, or form. How people then use that emulator is not the emulator, and maybe that's what Microsoft should be possibly checking and managing, as in at least not letting anyone upload any official Nintendo ROMs onto its services and stuff like that. But that's about the extent to which Microsoft should be getting involved, because going further is basically abusing a law put in place to protect such creations, regardless of what anyone on planet Earth thinks of them.
@JaxonH I know why they don't support emulators. I'm telling you I don't support that reasoning as a consumer and from a consumer's point of view, and neither should anyone that isn't in bed with the corporations or some corporate lackey.
@JaxonH You don't have to entertain it; it's a fact. It's just sad you actively encourage and support such things that are really only in the interests of the corporations, even if you don't really mean to. You throw out what the corporations would have you believe and evangelise is going to happen if they put a totally legal emulator on their device, as opposed to what would actually happen. For example: Emulators haven't destroyed the PC gaming market in the slightest; they've simply given more people a chance to play these classic games—poor people who can't afford new consoles and the $5 it costs per VC title or whatever. And having emulators freely available for decades on PC hasn't killed off Nintendo, Sony, or even Microsoft or stopped them making consoles. These corporations don't like them, because they'd sell the same ancient game to you an infinite amount of times if they could get away with it, but these emulators really only ever done the consumers a service—and you're a consumer, not a corporation.
And your ASSumption about what I care about is exactly that. If you've ever read any of my comments in here, which you have, you should know better. And I don't have Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages like this for nothing:
@JaxonH The eternal flaw here is that you're still outwardly/visibly thinking and acting on behalf of the corporations. You are literally in this comments section doing the job of some corporate lackey and consciously or subconsciously affecting the mindset of everyone else in here too, guiding it towards thinking and acting on behalf of corporations rather than on behalf of the people. And that's where you are doing far more harm for the people than good—and you REALLY should be concerned with what's best for people over what's best for corporations—whether you are able to understand this or not.
If you think on behalf of the corporations you will see no issue with what happened in that clip because technically these corporations were acting in their own best interests and within the law (although really stretching/abusing it), just like Microsoft above. If you think on behalf of the people you will understand there's such a huge issue with what these corporations did that it's utterly beyond absurd it could ever even have come to this, because it's really not as simple as just doing what keeps the other corporations happy and avoiding any messy business dealings, and it's totally irrelevant that the people responded by breaking the "law" to get back their rights and freedoms, in this case rights and freedoms that really should be theirs by default and basically protected by God almighty from on high.
Now, you may not grasp that what is happening with Microsoft and the people's right(s) to create and distribute perfectly legal emulators is basically the same as the example in the video above, but it is, just in a less obvious way and in the particular area of the gaming/entertainment—but the consequences and outcomes of Microsoft being allowed to bend the law like this to serve its best interests above the people's reaches far beyond just gaming/entertainment. And you serving the corporations, and encouraging everyone in here to think and act similarly, is at the very root of many of the biggest and ever-growing issues in our modern so called "civilised" society. It all leads to the same eventual outcome, which is corporations dictating the law in ways that absolutely are not best for the people—and these corporations are slowly but surely writing and re-writing all law, beyond just gaming/entertainment—instead of the law serving the best interests of the people.
So again, you fight for the corporations—it's there clear as day to see in your very words and actions—and me, "I fight for the users."
But, one more time, I'm literally wasting my breath explaining this.
@Vincent294 The problem is that it's not really a grey area; emulators in and of themselves are totally legal. The problem is that corporations like Microsoft are dictating the conversation, such that even you are now saying it's a grey area, which is what they want you to start believing and indeed spreading . . . until eventually you and everyone else simply believes it's not even grey but totally illegal . . . and then they've done exactly what they intended from the start. This is precisely how it's done; how laws that were once in our favour are changed to do us no good whatsoever and only serve the corporate agenda, and every just blindly accepts it as though that's how it's always been and it's totally and utterly fair. It's not . . . but it will be too late before you all realise that.
@JaxonH And every single one of your pros and cons are all about what's good and bad for the corporation.
You simply do not get it; you don't even realise you are, right now, acting like some kind of corporate lackey. Everything you think and say is from the point of what's good and bad for the corporation—you are a tool for the corporations at this point—and you don't even get that what you should be debating is what's good and bad for the consumers and for the people (because this is ultimately a bigger issue than just how it affects Microsoft/Nintendo and some gamers in this particular case).
@JaxonH And again, I believe it's irrelevant how these emulators are used 90% of the time. This is not a moral debate; it's a legal one. It is not illegal to create or use emulators, just as it's not illegal to create or use fan-made character skins in a game and share them for example (even ones based on popular characters), and therefor the law should be respected and protected when someone creates an emulator just as much as it should if someone creates a character skin and uploads it for others to use (just an example). It matters not that someone might then put illegal ROMs on these emulators, just as it matters not that someone might take that fan art based on a copyrighted character, put it on a t-shirt, and sell it for cash. As a consumers and punter, not a cooperation, I say these emulators, just like fan-created character skins, should not be getting removed from these services unless there's some legit reason beyond the fact that there's the potential for them to be abused. If the service supports these things in the first place, and Microsoft's store does support Apps (and this emulator is simply and App like any other App, be it a weather App, a book App, a movie streaming App, a whatever App), then basically all Apps that fit within the law and within the categories of Apps the store supports should be allowed on there. Removing emulators is the same as if they suddenly banned all user-created character skins for popular games just because they wanted to protect the interests of all these corporations, even when the skins are extremely rough approximations of the original characters—it's insidious, unnecessarily restrictive, and worrying. And, actually, I guess it really is a moral issue too. But it's all about what/whose morals you value and want to protect in this world. Me, "I fight for the users."
The leash ever tightens at the hand of the corporations—in all walks of life—and it looks like it's going to take most people choking to death from it before they finally realise there's an ever-growing and pretty serious problem in our so called "free" society, and that maybe the root of the issue is the person [corporations] controlling the leash and not the glorified slaves pulling on the end of it and just trying to get a little slack and freedom back.
@JaxonH That's like saying you would take this stance if the corporations started saying people weren't allowed to draw fan art of things they loved, like Mario, because those things are copyrighted. It's just as legal to create an emulator as fan art, even though both when abused and taken to their extremes can infringe the law, but I don't see you saying fans shouldn't be allowed to draw images of copyrighted characters like Mario or whatever and post them online for others to enjoy and share. So, yes, it is a case of people just taking the corporate line when they claim it's perfectly fair to basically ban these totally legal and totally non-infringing emulators, even though these people are not corporations and should in fact therefore really be taking the side of the consumer and general punter.
@JaxonH I've not looked into it but I'm pretty sure there's laws to prevent mega corporations like Microsoft from abusing their power to basically direct the market in a way that is unfair to fair competition or whatever. If you've created a totally legal App and the only reason Microsoft is not letting your App on its store is because it competes with its own Apps or some other mega corporations Apps, but otherwise it's totally within the terms and conditions required to put your App on their store, I think a case could be made there. Like I say, I've not looked into it, but common sense rather than simply drinking the corporate Kook-Aid tells me there's something there. I mean, GAME took a whole bunch of people's souls at one point and now own them till the end of time, just because it decided to add this into the terms & conditions of its service of whatever at one point for a joke, but that doesn't mean everyone now has to give them their souls just because they agree to those terms and conditions without realising that's what they'd done. Companies can be sneaky with manipulating the law (be it for fun or otherwise); that's doesn't automatically make them on the right side of the law.
@JaxonH That's because you're coming at it as though there is something inherently wrong with emulators, but there's not. Only misuse of emulators to run illegal copies of copyrighted games is wrong. Creating and using emulators in and of themselves is not wrong in the slightest and it is in fact completely legal (as far as I'm aware). There's a group of guys out there still making brand Dreamcast games today, a lot of games, and if there's an emulator that let's people run these totally legal games then no "mortality" has been challenged in any way, shape, or form. The problem is people like you are too quick to just take the corporate line, the one these corporations have now brainwashed into everyone via the pervasiveness of social media and the sheepishness of people on social media, quick to believe and preach whatever these corporations and their media bedfellows tell them, to the point the most people now speak as though they're actually corporate lackeys rather than normal consumers. Fight for the users, not those who would own and control the entire system if they had their way.
@TG1 Here's the thing, Nintendo owns the Trademark for Nintendo Entertainment System; I'm not even sure it owns the Trademark for NES. I mean, it probably does, but still, even if it does, I'm sure the creator of NESBox could simply change the name if necessary. I don't think that excuses how Microsoft is sneakily going about twisting the law to suit its own agenda by writing certain terms and conditions that kind of circumvent the law.
@jimi If Apps that let you play ISOs are legal in and off themselves, which I don't really know if they are or not, and the App itself doesn't come with any copies of actual copyrighted games then I would have zero problem with this. I'm not for corporations arbitrarily re-writing the law to suit their own whims. It would be a bit like someone saying no one should be allowed sell guns at all in America because some people might misuse them and then enacting this re-jigging of the law themselves, even though it's perfectly legal to sell guns. In fact, it's even a constitutionally protected right to bear arms in America. it's not the corporation's job to pre-determine what people will and will not do with these things or enact its own version of the law based on its assumptions. That's when we need to start worrying because at that point these corporations are now acting as though they are above they law, by sneakily twisting the law in very insidious and underhanded ways that most people are totally clueless about.
@aaronsullivan I doubt it's that black & white when it comes to Microsoft basically insidiously re-writing the likes copyright law as it sees fit through sneaky terms-&-conditions wording or whatever. These stores can ban whomever they want, sure (as a general/broad rule), but if they simply ban someone just because they decide they don't like them, with zero just-cause, I'm sure there's a case to be made there. It's not as simple as, "It's my store and the likes of you aren't getting in", or else every racist/sexist/homophobe/whatever in the world could just say "I don't like blacks, women, gays, midgets, cripples, fat people . . . and you're not allowed in here because it's my store and I can let in whomever I choose." Pretty sure the same applies to putting the likes of an App on these App/game stores in general principle: If the company is banning your App/game then I expect it would have to show a legit reason should you bother to challenge that decision in any legal fashion, otherwise it amounts to some form of discrimination against you/your product—hence why Microsoft has went to the trouble of writing all the insidious wording about how an App can now be called a game, when it's absolutely not, and therefore has to pass checks that only games are normally required to pass and not Apps, which Microsoft can now apply arbitrarily when it thinks it serves its own corporate interests above even the law. I'm not sure half the people in here realise that these corporations aren't supposed to be above the law, and they're not supposed to be arbitrarily and insidiously re-writing it either.
Your pre-conclusion comes because of . . . ignorance. You think a few words tells you the whole story; you assume too much without really knowing anything or bothering to learn anything about that of which you speak.
@LetsGoRetro This isn't about growing up. You and all the people liking your comment need to wise up. It's irrelevant what you think these emulators are going to be used for. They are legal; it's that simple. You don't get to decide in advance that anyone who uses them is going to immediately decide to break the law and therefor they must be banned from existence, and neither should Microsoft. What Microsoft is doing is the abuse of the law, not the other way around. Whether people then use illegal ROMs on these emulators or not is beside the point; it's not Microsoft's job to pre-determine how someone may or not use a perfectly legal emulator, and it's not your job either. What the hell are people like you . . . some kind of pre-crime experts or something? No, you're just some easily brainwashed corporate lackeys serving the corporate agenda, and eventually you'll wise up enough to realise that's not actually in your best interests in the slightest. God help you when you finally have the sense to realise you're part of the problem (not the problem you think), and just how big a problem there is. Just remember, you're the one that argued for this. . . .
@SM4SHshorts Horrendous . . . but with charm and character out the wahooza!
For comparison:
Mario's design is not exactly oozing charm and character these days; in fact, I'd say it's pretty generic and bland in some ways with its very computery rendered look—thank God the games themselves are flowing with charm and character for the most part. Although, Mario is still an iconic design design regardless, and still better than most mascot characters.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE No they shouldn't. This product is breaking no laws whatsoever from what I have seen and is not infringing anyone's copyright either. It is perfectly legal to create emulators as far as I'm aware. It's only illegal to copy official ROMs. But if the creator of the emulator doesn't create any ROM copies or have anything to do with them, then they aren't violating any laws and are creating a perfectly legal product just like every single other hardware/software creator out there, as far as I'm aware. You really shouldn't just spout out the corporate line like some sheep lackey; it certainly isn't doing any of us consumers and gamers any good whatsoever. So, unless you are a paid Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony employee and are in here to spread the corporate agenda, like some insidious worm, you maybe shouldn't be doing its bidding like a perfect little drone.
This is total and utter bull from what I can tell, although I'm just skimming articles. From what I've read this emulator has nothing directly built into it that is a violation of any patent laws or copyright, and it doesn't supply any Nintendo games with the download or any such things like that. As far as I'm aware there should be no legal grounds for Microsoft blocking this, and it seems it's simply dictating the law arbitrarily based on what it thinks it best for all the large corporations involved rather than affording this creator the same rights as any other creator on the store. It seems to me like it basically amounts to discrimination in some way—we don't like the cut of your jib so you're not getting on our store, even though you've done absolutely nothing wrong—and unfair business practices.
Seriously, once these giant corporations start getting this dodgy about how they enforce the "law" as they have arbitrarily decided it should be, but not what it actually is, I genuinely want them to fail and be replaced by some new start up that isn't [yet] putting its own agenda above the actual legal rights of the content creators and consumers. I'm talking about replacing companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and even Nintendo sometimes. It's not in our best interests to allow these corporations to arbitrarily re-write laws that actually exist to protect us in many ways.
This emulator is blatantly not a game; it's an application that allows you to play games (clearly). And Microsoft sneakily wording its submission rules to make it go through a submission process that lets it treat this App[lication] like a game and therefor ban it for not meeting the game submission criteria is extremely questionable and very insidious practice indeed, far more so than any of you corporate justice warriors even imagine emulators are. It's basically Microsoft abusing the terms of service to literally change the actual law that's supposed to protect this kind of creation, and that's a far, far bigger crime than someone making a totally legal and legit emulator that's supposed to be protected under the law.
Every time someone supports a mega-corporation from stopping someone NOT breaking a law, they are effectively aiding these companies in re-writing laws that were created to protect OUR rights in the first place rather than simply serving the ever more controlling and oppressive corporate agenda—and if you don't know why that's a bad thing I'd suggest you should maybe go educate yourself on such matters. . . .
So technically you'll be able to use it like a Wii U GamePad, which is technically a normal controller too, or you can detach the ends and use them like Wiimotes.
There's basically not previous Nintendo console control that wouldn't work pretty much perfectly on such a device.
And, much like any other handheld, you'll be able to play local multiplayer if other people also have an XNS, or if you each you one of the ends like a Wiimote, and potentially you can even use wired controllers with it too anyway.
@rjejr Tell me about it; and I actually came up with the idea some time before I finally decided to write it down too. In fact, the stuff about the creation suite was something I was thinking about before even the original Wii came out—not that I think the NX is going to have any of the creation suite stuff anyway. So, it feels like I've been waiting a real long time in one way or another.
And, if the NX really is the hybrid (but primarily handheld) that is rumoured, it will be largely pointless comparing it to dedicated home consoles, which is really only a good thing for Nintendo at this point because in those areas it's simply not competed for a long time.
People keep thinking consumers will see the NX as underpowered next to the likes of PS4/PS4 Pro and Xbox One/Scorpio if it comes out and isn't at least around the power of say the Xbox One or PS4, but I don't think that will be the case at all if it's the hybrid seen in the rumoured images and is primarily viewed as a handheld device that can simply output to TV. With some clear and focused advertising I think it would be easy to get people to simply see NX as the most powerful handheld ever created, which I think is a much better and smarter approach for Nintendo to take.
It just needs to nail all the smaller and maybe less obvious aspects of the device, all the little things that could easily be overlooked but are important in creating a truly compelling and satisfying system, and make sure to get some great first games on it from day one (with a steady stream after release), as well as do its best to get as much third party support as humanly possible (ideally the AAA stuff but also all the indies too).
I'm also thinking the NX, if it's the hybrid device as rumoured, will have a 720p screen on the handheld part with 1080p max output when it goes to TV to save money in at least one area. And, unlike my own idea where I thought it would be cool to make the handheld screen stereoscopic 3D so it could perfectly emulate the likes of 3DS and Virtual Boy games, I think it will just stick with simple 2D, once again to save costs. The 3DS aspect will simply work more like the 2DS aspect instead, in 2D, which is totally fine (it will still be able to play 3DS and Virtual Boy games). I definitely think there's a few areas Nintendo can save costs and still have a machine that delivers on being new, unique, and compelling.
So, just imagine my idea with a 720p non-stereoscopic screen and only 1080p output to TV, and with the detachable controllers as seen in most popular NX rumours included in the design, and sorted:
@JaxonH "You can't have a game with such a rich and developed combat system and deeply involved mechanics, and yet be super simple and easy requiring no effort to learn at the same time. Can't have your cake and eat it too, as they say."
The flaw in that thinking is that you absolutely can. You can have one of the most deep and developed games in all of existence but still have it be something that's intuitive to pick up and play out the gate. The two things are not at conflict with each other as a matter of default.
And, see what you said about Phantasy Star Online . . . that's exactly what I hear when you tell me Monster Hunter is the best game ever. I've played it, admittedly not for very long, but long enough to put me off wanting to play any more of it. The controls were pretty clunky and it was boring for the time I played. I really didn't like the idea of the load screens between areas either; it totally pulled me out of the action each time it happened. On Wii it also looked low-res and blurry, which was another major and immediately off-putting thing for me. It just failed in a few ways that I consider essential to any game I'm likely to consider great.
So, where you see gold with Monster Hunter, and where my bro sees gold with Phantasy Star Online, I see meh from where I'm looking at it. But each to their own.
I will say this, however; I believe I could take Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star Online and turn them both into better games with a few tweaks here and there while not losing anything that you guys love about them in the process—in some imaginary world where I had the means/resources to do so of course.
@JaxonH The problem is that many people who are into whatever games/series could make similar claims; that's because they happen to now be deeply invested in those games. It doesn't mean other people want to invest in something that they actually aren't into but could probably convince themselves they're into simply by virtue of the amount of time they've invested. Most stuff, if you spend tens of hours investing in it, ends up becoming quite important and meaningful to you. I could spend 40 hours overcoming the controls in Monster Hunter until I get used to them and they become second nature, but that doesn't mean they're good controls; it just means I've learned to work with what's there. I had a similar experience with my bro and Phantasy Star Online, where he swore it was one of the best games he'd ever played, and to me it just felt clunky as junk to actually control the main character, with attacks that didn't even properly respond to my button presses and stuff—apparently the button presses needed to be "timed" in this particular game—so I was out right away. And, personally, I think stuff like that is really important in any game I end up calling one of the greats. Same applies to games that require you to play for multiple hours before they're actually enjoyable to play, like they make you go through an hour long tutorial that's not actually fun or whatever else. I'm just not going to slog through an hour or more of meh to maybe get to a game that isn't meh, but that's not guaranteed to not be meh imo. So, for me, Monster Hunter simply isn't one of those games I care to get into, especially the main games on 3DS where I think the visuals just look fugly, which is another important element to me. Monster Hunter Stories at least looks visually appealing though, so that's something. But, each to their own, and clearly a lot of people absolutely love the Monster Hunters series. More power to them.
Looks pretty cool, and it shows you how by-the-numbers and safe Nintendo's own effort on mobile is. I mean, look, this guy did this in how long? Although I obviously know Nintendo's own game will be many degrees more polished and stuff.
Still, how cool would a 2.5D Super Mario Runner like this on mobile be.
Comments 6,304
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@TG1 Then you may have just saved your soul.
Re: Poll: The GameCube is 15 Years Old - Pick Your Favourite Games
Eternal Darkness.
If you owned a GC and didn't play it . . .
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@TG1 Well, there you go. . . .
And I wonder what kind of law you'd like to practice one day. . . .
I wonder if you'd like to be a corporate lawyer. . . .
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@TG1 Yes.
Here's the law: It's perfectly legal to make and distribute emulators and the Nesbox name violates no Trademarks. A lawyer would have to go to court and prove otherwise for me to say otherwise, and I don't believe they'd succeed.
See the difference between your law, as looked at from the point of view of a corporation, and my law as looked at from the point of view of someone who doesn't think like and speak for the corporations?
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@TG1 Pointing out the law from the perspective of the corporations.
The law from the perspective of the Nesbox developer is that his emulator's name does not infringe any Trademark and his emulator is completely legal.
So, I'll point out the law from the perspective of that side of the equation, thanks, because I come at things from the perspective of a consumer and not a corporation.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@TG1 You don't have to know/realise you're arguing in favour of the corporations to be arguing in favour of the corporations.
And it's called Nesbox, not NESBox.
http://nesbox.com/console/
All these little details are actually important—ask any lawyer—and it's media sites getting even the basics wrong, inadvertently twisting the story just a little bit in one particular direction, that starts swinging the situation in the favour of the corporations. The poor corporation gets painted as the victim and the emulator creator as the bad guy more and more with each little innocent mistake like this—and then the sheep jump on board and throw in their ten cents worth too.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@TG1 Nintendo owns the Trademark for NES; it does not own the Trademark for Nesbox as one word, and I don't think these homebrew guys are even trying to claim any Nesbox Trademark anyway or even sell the product (Isn't it a free App?). I think it would be another abuse of the law if Nintendo claimed copyright on the name just because it starts with the same three letters as its own console, just like my main point in all my posts above, even as more obvious a nod as it is in this case.
To me it's just like when Bethesda tried to claim all ownership and use of the "scrolls" word in any game titles and basically lost.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/03/16/bethesda-and-mojang-settle-scrolls-lawsuit/#56e40b8652d4
Or when King tried to claim any and all use of the word "saga" in any game titles and basically lost:
http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/17/5624980/king-settles-trademark-disputes-with-the-banner-saga-developer
Nintendo doesn't own every single use of "nes" in all games and entertainment products.
And, yeah, clearly it's a bit more of a clear case of using the name with Nesbox—although still not a home run—but you shouldn't be arguing in favour of these corporations regardless, unless you're some kind of corporate lackey. We really should only argue for them when it's a total black & white case and a clear and deliberate violation of the law that's actually intended to profit from abusing the original Trademark, not what Nintendo might like us all to believe is the law and what you think must be the law because that's what these corporations have now got everyone believing is the case and telling everyone else is the case too.
Seriously, did Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony go out and pay you all at some point to act as their corporate minions?
PS. From personal experience I can tell you that "settles" often just means these mega corporations basically lost but came to some "agreement" so as to save face, put up a strong front, and maybe get the other side to agree to at least some conditions that serve both parties, which only happens because the other side decides it's really not worth the hassle at that point and they just want these corporate worms to go away and stop wasting their time:
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/games-firm-boss-in-legal-battle-with-bullying-warner-bros-over-business-name-1-2590283
Re: Hardware Review: RetroUSB AVS
@TeslaChippie I'm sure some people would have stuff like this banned because teh corporations don't like people making such totally legal and legit hardware and software that competes with and compares extremely favourably to their own products. I'm not one of those people; I 100% support the creation of awesome hardware and software like this. The corporations don't control everything (yet) and we certainly shouldn't be aiding them in gaining that absolute control of absolutely everything, which they would and will given the chance, especially when it doesn't serve our best interests as consumers (or just people) in the slightest, in any way, shape, or form.
I honestly don't know when we all turned into corporate lackeys.
What most people really don't seem to grasp fully here is that this is precisely why certain laws protecting the creation of these consoles and the likes of emulators were created (or at least are still protected if they weren't created specifically for this purpose), to provide fair competition in the market, to offer the consumer options, and to prevent huge corporations dictating entire markets by abusing the likes of copyright law to the point where it becomes detrimental to everyone other than these mega corporations.
Seriously, we all really need to stop fighting for the corporations and start to "fight for the users*" again—trust me, it's actually better for us all this way.
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiw2FbHBd14
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH Blah, blah, blah. You've done Microsoft proud today.
Someone submitted a totally legal App that initially passed certification for release on Xbox One even under Microsoft's own App submission term & conditions:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/09/xbox_one_nes_emulator_passes_certification_could_hit_console_in_the_next_few_days
But because Microsoft arbitrarily decided it still didn't want this particular App on its store, even though it already passed all the requirements to be on there and is indeed entirely legal, it decided to just go in and lie about the App being something else (a game in this case) so it could apply a different set of rules entirely that would allow it to now discriminate* between/against and prevent the App from being released.
And you think the totally legal emulator is the problem here and the thing we should be concerned with/about.
PS. There's little more I can say on this point, I'm wasting precious air, so from my side this back and forth is now over.
*For the record: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/discriminate and http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/discrimination The use of the word "discriminate" or "discrimination" is not only assigned to thing likes of people and sex, race, or religion.
Re: Hardware Review: RetroUSB AVS
Looks like a really solid piece of kit. My only gripe, and it's the same one I've had since the first time it was shown, is that I really don't think these kinds of fan consoles need to be so big in this day and age, but it still looks cool regardless. For fans of playing original NES games on proper hardware I imagine this would be an extremely attractive value proposition.
Re: Video: Nintendo Releases Showcase Video for Paper Mario: Color Splash
Some pretty cool stuff there.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH Hey, if the shoe fits I'll help you put it on.
I think we both know the real truth here, but you keep sipping away. . . .
Maybe one day you'll "fight for the users" instead of your corporate masters.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH See updated comment above.
You're too blinded by the corporate Kool-Aid to see the difference between absolutely following the law, as the guys making the emulator have done, and insidiously bending both the law and even Microsoft's own Terms & Conditions as Microsoft has done here to basically not follow that law as it was designed and intended to protect such creations.
Again, the guys making the emulator aren't illegally copying games or whatever; they're just releasing a perfectly legal emulator. Microsoft, however, is sneakily and insidiously bending the law to stop something that should have every right to be on the store just like every single other App it has approved.
One is the kind of sneaky stuff lawyers pull off every day to manipulate the system and the people the system is supposed to serve, and the other is a group of people trying to create something cool and share it with others. Who the hell cares, as a consumer and not a corporation, if it means we can then get to play great Nintendo games for free IF we ourselves choose to abuse the law in order to do so. If you don't want to abuse the law, don't—the product itself won't break any laws or play any illegal games in the slightest if you don't choose to. But Microsoft is abusing the law, and in that none of us have any choice, power, control, or say whatsoever.
But you just can't see it, because . . .
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH Well, that's like saying I shouldn't tell someone not to kill just because that's how I think. There's right and there's wrong Making an emulator is right, as dictated by our very laws. Bending.twisting the law and terms & conditions in a really sneaky and insidious way just to prevent the release of a perfectly legal and legit emulators is basically wrong—but Microsoft's just been sneaky about how it goes about things so people like you can't see it's wrong. So, yes, I absolutely will tell everyone they're wrong if they argue in Microsoft's favour in this case, because they are wrong from where I'm standing—unless of course they are a corporate lackey. Are you a corporate lackey? Do you work for Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo? It's not my job in life to pussyfoot around your misguided beliefs. In this particular case I'm not here to pander to your fragile ego; I'm here to stop the corporations taking away everything in the world that matters to both me and you, one little bit at a time, while you sit there and actually fight in their corner. But you probably still don't think some silly little emulator being stopped from release on Microsoft's console via sneaky and insidious bending of the law and even Microsoft's own terms & conditions really matters in the grander scheme of things—so I'm wasting my breath.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH Denying this emulators approval, especially via the really sneaky and insidious way Microsoft has done it by labelling this blatant App as a "game" just so it doesn't have to approve it like any other App, is bending the law in favour of these corporations. Releasing a ROM is following the law to the letter and not abusing the system in any way, shape, or form. How people then use that emulator is not the emulator, and maybe that's what Microsoft should be possibly checking and managing, as in at least not letting anyone upload any official Nintendo ROMs onto its services and stuff like that. But that's about the extent to which Microsoft should be getting involved, because going further is basically abusing a law put in place to protect such creations, regardless of what anyone on planet Earth thinks of them.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH I know why they don't support emulators. I'm telling you I don't support that reasoning as a consumer and from a consumer's point of view, and neither should anyone that isn't in bed with the corporations or some corporate lackey.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH You don't have to entertain it; it's a fact. It's just sad you actively encourage and support such things that are really only in the interests of the corporations, even if you don't really mean to. You throw out what the corporations would have you believe and evangelise is going to happen if they put a totally legal emulator on their device, as opposed to what would actually happen. For example: Emulators haven't destroyed the PC gaming market in the slightest; they've simply given more people a chance to play these classic games—poor people who can't afford new consoles and the $5 it costs per VC title or whatever. And having emulators freely available for decades on PC hasn't killed off Nintendo, Sony, or even Microsoft or stopped them making consoles. These corporations don't like them, because they'd sell the same ancient game to you an infinite amount of times if they could get away with it, but these emulators really only ever done the consumers a service—and you're a consumer, not a corporation.
And your ASSumption about what I care about is exactly that. If you've ever read any of my comments in here, which you have, you should know better. And I don't have Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages like this for nothing:
https://www.facebook.com/impurekind/
https://twitter.com/impurekind
https://www.youtube.com/user/impurekind
I'm sure you do really care though . . . in your head . . . and maybe once in a blue moon when you get called out on it like now.
But I expect too much of you.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH The eternal flaw here is that you're still outwardly/visibly thinking and acting on behalf of the corporations. You are literally in this comments section doing the job of some corporate lackey and consciously or subconsciously affecting the mindset of everyone else in here too, guiding it towards thinking and acting on behalf of corporations rather than on behalf of the people. And that's where you are doing far more harm for the people than good—and you REALLY should be concerned with what's best for people over what's best for corporations—whether you are able to understand this or not.
Let me try to get you to get it:
https://youtu.be/KMNZXV7jOG0?t=6031 (watch from 1:40:31)
If you think on behalf of the corporations you will see no issue with what happened in that clip because technically these corporations were acting in their own best interests and within the law (although really stretching/abusing it), just like Microsoft above. If you think on behalf of the people you will understand there's such a huge issue with what these corporations did that it's utterly beyond absurd it could ever even have come to this, because it's really not as simple as just doing what keeps the other corporations happy and avoiding any messy business dealings, and it's totally irrelevant that the people responded by breaking the "law" to get back their rights and freedoms, in this case rights and freedoms that really should be theirs by default and basically protected by God almighty from on high.
Now, you may not grasp that what is happening with Microsoft and the people's right(s) to create and distribute perfectly legal emulators is basically the same as the example in the video above, but it is, just in a less obvious way and in the particular area of the gaming/entertainment—but the consequences and outcomes of Microsoft being allowed to bend the law like this to serve its best interests above the people's reaches far beyond just gaming/entertainment. And you serving the corporations, and encouraging everyone in here to think and act similarly, is at the very root of many of the biggest and ever-growing issues in our modern so called "civilised" society. It all leads to the same eventual outcome, which is corporations dictating the law in ways that absolutely are not best for the people—and these corporations are slowly but surely writing and re-writing all law, beyond just gaming/entertainment—instead of the law serving the best interests of the people.
So again, you fight for the corporations—it's there clear as day to see in your very words and actions—and me, "I fight for the users."
But, one more time, I'm literally wasting my breath explaining this.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@Vincent294 The problem is that it's not really a grey area; emulators in and of themselves are totally legal. The problem is that corporations like Microsoft are dictating the conversation, such that even you are now saying it's a grey area, which is what they want you to start believing and indeed spreading . . . until eventually you and everyone else simply believes it's not even grey but totally illegal . . . and then they've done exactly what they intended from the start. This is precisely how it's done; how laws that were once in our favour are changed to do us no good whatsoever and only serve the corporate agenda, and every just blindly accepts it as though that's how it's always been and it's totally and utterly fair. It's not . . . but it will be too late before you all realise that.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH And every single one of your pros and cons are all about what's good and bad for the corporation.
You simply do not get it; you don't even realise you are, right now, acting like some kind of corporate lackey. Everything you think and say is from the point of what's good and bad for the corporation—you are a tool for the corporations at this point—and you don't even get that what you should be debating is what's good and bad for the consumers and for the people (because this is ultimately a bigger issue than just how it affects Microsoft/Nintendo and some gamers in this particular case).
I'm literally wasting breath as I type.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH And again, I believe it's irrelevant how these emulators are used 90% of the time. This is not a moral debate; it's a legal one. It is not illegal to create or use emulators, just as it's not illegal to create or use fan-made character skins in a game and share them for example (even ones based on popular characters), and therefor the law should be respected and protected when someone creates an emulator just as much as it should if someone creates a character skin and uploads it for others to use (just an example). It matters not that someone might then put illegal ROMs on these emulators, just as it matters not that someone might take that fan art based on a copyrighted character, put it on a t-shirt, and sell it for cash. As a consumers and punter, not a cooperation, I say these emulators, just like fan-created character skins, should not be getting removed from these services unless there's some legit reason beyond the fact that there's the potential for them to be abused. If the service supports these things in the first place, and Microsoft's store does support Apps (and this emulator is simply and App like any other App, be it a weather App, a book App, a movie streaming App, a whatever App), then basically all Apps that fit within the law and within the categories of Apps the store supports should be allowed on there. Removing emulators is the same as if they suddenly banned all user-created character skins for popular games just because they wanted to protect the interests of all these corporations, even when the skins are extremely rough approximations of the original characters—it's insidious, unnecessarily restrictive, and worrying. And, actually, I guess it really is a moral issue too. But it's all about what/whose morals you value and want to protect in this world. Me, "I fight for the users."
The leash ever tightens at the hand of the corporations—in all walks of life—and it looks like it's going to take most people choking to death from it before they finally realise there's an ever-growing and pretty serious problem in our so called "free" society, and that maybe the root of the issue is the person [corporations] controlling the leash and not the glorified slaves pulling on the end of it and just trying to get a little slack and freedom back.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH That's like saying you would take this stance if the corporations started saying people weren't allowed to draw fan art of things they loved, like Mario, because those things are copyrighted. It's just as legal to create an emulator as fan art, even though both when abused and taken to their extremes can infringe the law, but I don't see you saying fans shouldn't be allowed to draw images of copyrighted characters like Mario or whatever and post them online for others to enjoy and share. So, yes, it is a case of people just taking the corporate line when they claim it's perfectly fair to basically ban these totally legal and totally non-infringing emulators, even though these people are not corporations and should in fact therefore really be taking the side of the consumer and general punter.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@Slim1999 Was that sentence supposed to be legible in English?
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH I've not looked into it but I'm pretty sure there's laws to prevent mega corporations like Microsoft from abusing their power to basically direct the market in a way that is unfair to fair competition or whatever. If you've created a totally legal App and the only reason Microsoft is not letting your App on its store is because it competes with its own Apps or some other mega corporations Apps, but otherwise it's totally within the terms and conditions required to put your App on their store, I think a case could be made there. Like I say, I've not looked into it, but common sense rather than simply drinking the corporate Kook-Aid tells me there's something there. I mean, GAME took a whole bunch of people's souls at one point and now own them till the end of time, just because it decided to add this into the terms & conditions of its service of whatever at one point for a joke, but that doesn't mean everyone now has to give them their souls just because they agree to those terms and conditions without realising that's what they'd done. Companies can be sneaky with manipulating the law (be it for fun or otherwise); that's doesn't automatically make them on the right side of the law.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@JaxonH That's because you're coming at it as though there is something inherently wrong with emulators, but there's not. Only misuse of emulators to run illegal copies of copyrighted games is wrong. Creating and using emulators in and of themselves is not wrong in the slightest and it is in fact completely legal (as far as I'm aware). There's a group of guys out there still making brand Dreamcast games today, a lot of games, and if there's an emulator that let's people run these totally legal games then no "mortality" has been challenged in any way, shape, or form. The problem is people like you are too quick to just take the corporate line, the one these corporations have now brainwashed into everyone via the pervasiveness of social media and the sheepishness of people on social media, quick to believe and preach whatever these corporations and their media bedfellows tell them, to the point the most people now speak as though they're actually corporate lackeys rather than normal consumers. Fight for the users, not those who would own and control the entire system if they had their way.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@TG1 Here's the thing, Nintendo owns the Trademark for Nintendo Entertainment System; I'm not even sure it owns the Trademark for NES. I mean, it probably does, but still, even if it does, I'm sure the creator of NESBox could simply change the name if necessary. I don't think that excuses how Microsoft is sneakily going about twisting the law to suit its own agenda by writing certain terms and conditions that kind of circumvent the law.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@jimi If Apps that let you play ISOs are legal in and off themselves, which I don't really know if they are or not, and the App itself doesn't come with any copies of actual copyrighted games then I would have zero problem with this. I'm not for corporations arbitrarily re-writing the law to suit their own whims. It would be a bit like someone saying no one should be allowed sell guns at all in America because some people might misuse them and then enacting this re-jigging of the law themselves, even though it's perfectly legal to sell guns. In fact, it's even a constitutionally protected right to bear arms in America. it's not the corporation's job to pre-determine what people will and will not do with these things or enact its own version of the law based on its assumptions. That's when we need to start worrying because at that point these corporations are now acting as though they are above they law, by sneakily twisting the law in very insidious and underhanded ways that most people are totally clueless about.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@Captain_Gonru Now here's a reasonable guy.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@faint I have no modern consoles because I can't afford any.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@aaronsullivan I doubt it's that black & white when it comes to Microsoft basically insidiously re-writing the likes copyright law as it sees fit through sneaky terms-&-conditions wording or whatever. These stores can ban whomever they want, sure (as a general/broad rule), but if they simply ban someone just because they decide they don't like them, with zero just-cause, I'm sure there's a case to be made there. It's not as simple as, "It's my store and the likes of you aren't getting in", or else every racist/sexist/homophobe/whatever in the world could just say "I don't like blacks, women, gays, midgets, cripples, fat people . . . and you're not allowed in here because it's my store and I can let in whomever I choose." Pretty sure the same applies to putting the likes of an App on these App/game stores in general principle: If the company is banning your App/game then I expect it would have to show a legit reason should you bother to challenge that decision in any legal fashion, otherwise it amounts to some form of discrimination against you/your product—hence why Microsoft has went to the trouble of writing all the insidious wording about how an App can now be called a game, when it's absolutely not, and therefore has to pass checks that only games are normally required to pass and not Apps, which Microsoft can now apply arbitrarily when it thinks it serves its own corporate interests above even the law. I'm not sure half the people in here realise that these corporations aren't supposed to be above the law, and they're not supposed to be arbitrarily and insidiously re-writing it either.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@LetsGoRetro What, you mean like this:
http://gb.imdb.com/title/tt0058212/
Your pre-conclusion comes because of . . . ignorance. You think a few words tells you the whole story; you assume too much without really knowing anything or bothering to learn anything about that of which you speak.
Again, education. . . .
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@Slim1999 And you sound like a corporate lackey. Do you work for Microsoft or Nintendo?
Let me answer that: You do, whether you realise it or not. And, whether you realise it or not, that's not actually a good thing in this case.
But give it time . . . and then you'll maybe finally understand the real issue here. . . .
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@LetsGoRetro This isn't about growing up. You and all the people liking your comment need to wise up. It's irrelevant what you think these emulators are going to be used for. They are legal; it's that simple. You don't get to decide in advance that anyone who uses them is going to immediately decide to break the law and therefor they must be banned from existence, and neither should Microsoft. What Microsoft is doing is the abuse of the law, not the other way around. Whether people then use illegal ROMs on these emulators or not is beside the point; it's not Microsoft's job to pre-determine how someone may or not use a perfectly legal emulator, and it's not your job either. What the hell are people like you . . . some kind of pre-crime experts or something? No, you're just some easily brainwashed corporate lackeys serving the corporate agenda, and eventually you'll wise up enough to realise that's not actually in your best interests in the slightest. God help you when you finally have the sense to realise you're part of the problem (not the problem you think), and just how big a problem there is. Just remember, you're the one that argued for this. . . .
Re: Weirdness: Fans Think They've Found Mario And Luigi's Father
@SM4SHshorts Horrendous . . . but with charm and character out the wahooza!
For comparison:
Mario's design is not exactly oozing charm and character these days; in fact, I'd say it's pretty generic and bland in some ways with its very computery rendered look—thank God the games themselves are flowing with charm and character for the most part. Although, Mario is still an iconic design design regardless, and still better than most mascot characters.
Re: Weirdness: Fans Think They've Found Mario And Luigi's Father
Whoa!
Re: Video: Learn a Little More About Super Mario World
I actually learned a couple of things there.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
@SLIGEACH_EIRE No they shouldn't. This product is breaking no laws whatsoever from what I have seen and is not infringing anyone's copyright either. It is perfectly legal to create emulators as far as I'm aware. It's only illegal to copy official ROMs. But if the creator of the emulator doesn't create any ROM copies or have anything to do with them, then they aren't violating any laws and are creating a perfectly legal product just like every single other hardware/software creator out there, as far as I'm aware. You really shouldn't just spout out the corporate line like some sheep lackey; it certainly isn't doing any of us consumers and gamers any good whatsoever. So, unless you are a paid Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony employee and are in here to spread the corporate agenda, like some insidious worm, you maybe shouldn't be doing its bidding like a perfect little drone.
Re: Microsoft Blocks NESBox Emulator On Xbox One
This is total and utter bull from what I can tell, although I'm just skimming articles. From what I've read this emulator has nothing directly built into it that is a violation of any patent laws or copyright, and it doesn't supply any Nintendo games with the download or any such things like that. As far as I'm aware there should be no legal grounds for Microsoft blocking this, and it seems it's simply dictating the law arbitrarily based on what it thinks it best for all the large corporations involved rather than affording this creator the same rights as any other creator on the store. It seems to me like it basically amounts to discrimination in some way—we don't like the cut of your jib so you're not getting on our store, even though you've done absolutely nothing wrong—and unfair business practices.
Seriously, once these giant corporations start getting this dodgy about how they enforce the "law" as they have arbitrarily decided it should be, but not what it actually is, I genuinely want them to fail and be replaced by some new start up that isn't [yet] putting its own agenda above the actual legal rights of the content creators and consumers. I'm talking about replacing companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and even Nintendo sometimes. It's not in our best interests to allow these corporations to arbitrarily re-write laws that actually exist to protect us in many ways.
This emulator is blatantly not a game; it's an application that allows you to play games (clearly). And Microsoft sneakily wording its submission rules to make it go through a submission process that lets it treat this App[lication] like a game and therefor ban it for not meeting the game submission criteria is extremely questionable and very insidious practice indeed, far more so than any of you corporate justice warriors even imagine emulators are. It's basically Microsoft abusing the terms of service to literally change the actual law that's supposed to protect this kind of creation, and that's a far, far bigger crime than someone making a totally legal and legit emulator that's supposed to be protected under the law.
Every time someone supports a mega-corporation from stopping someone NOT breaking a law, they are effectively aiding these companies in re-writing laws that were created to protect OUR rights in the first place rather than simply serving the ever more controlling and oppressive corporate agenda—and if you don't know why that's a bad thing I'd suggest you should maybe go educate yourself on such matters. . . .
Re: Talking Point: Unique and Affordable - Nintendo's NX Needs to Avoid Direct Competition With PlayStation and Xbox
@Rukiafan7 Well the rumours say it will be this:
https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uq1MjMZO5LyBNR6nToaUiy_vLAs=/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6844609/jpg.0.jpg
So technically you'll be able to use it like a Wii U GamePad, which is technically a normal controller too, or you can detach the ends and use them like Wiimotes.
There's basically not previous Nintendo console control that wouldn't work pretty much perfectly on such a device.
And, much like any other handheld, you'll be able to play local multiplayer if other people also have an XNS, or if you each you one of the ends like a Wiimote, and potentially you can even use wired controllers with it too anyway.
Re: Talking Point: Unique and Affordable - Nintendo's NX Needs to Avoid Direct Competition With PlayStation and Xbox
@Moshugan I agree, and it's actually very cheap to include, but I expect Nintendo would/will skip it to save a few pennies.
Re: Talking Point: Unique and Affordable - Nintendo's NX Needs to Avoid Direct Competition With PlayStation and Xbox
@rjejr
Re: Talking Point: Unique and Affordable - Nintendo's NX Needs to Avoid Direct Competition With PlayStation and Xbox
@rjejr Tell me about it; and I actually came up with the idea some time before I finally decided to write it down too. In fact, the stuff about the creation suite was something I was thinking about before even the original Wii came out—not that I think the NX is going to have any of the creation suite stuff anyway. So, it feels like I've been waiting a real long time in one way or another.
#justtellus
Re: Talking Point: Unique and Affordable - Nintendo's NX Needs to Avoid Direct Competition With PlayStation and Xbox
And, if the NX really is the hybrid (but primarily handheld) that is rumoured, it will be largely pointless comparing it to dedicated home consoles, which is really only a good thing for Nintendo at this point because in those areas it's simply not competed for a long time.
People keep thinking consumers will see the NX as underpowered next to the likes of PS4/PS4 Pro and Xbox One/Scorpio if it comes out and isn't at least around the power of say the Xbox One or PS4, but I don't think that will be the case at all if it's the hybrid seen in the rumoured images and is primarily viewed as a handheld device that can simply output to TV. With some clear and focused advertising I think it would be easy to get people to simply see NX as the most powerful handheld ever created, which I think is a much better and smarter approach for Nintendo to take.
It just needs to nail all the smaller and maybe less obvious aspects of the device, all the little things that could easily be overlooked but are important in creating a truly compelling and satisfying system, and make sure to get some great first games on it from day one (with a steady stream after release), as well as do its best to get as much third party support as humanly possible (ideally the AAA stuff but also all the indies too).
Re: Talking Point: Unique and Affordable - Nintendo's NX Needs to Avoid Direct Competition With PlayStation and Xbox
I'm also thinking the NX, if it's the hybrid device as rumoured, will have a 720p screen on the handheld part with 1080p max output when it goes to TV to save money in at least one area. And, unlike my own idea where I thought it would be cool to make the handheld screen stereoscopic 3D so it could perfectly emulate the likes of 3DS and Virtual Boy games, I think it will just stick with simple 2D, once again to save costs. The 3DS aspect will simply work more like the 2DS aspect instead, in 2D, which is totally fine (it will still be able to play 3DS and Virtual Boy games). I definitely think there's a few areas Nintendo can save costs and still have a machine that delivers on being new, unique, and compelling.
So, just imagine my idea with a 720p non-stereoscopic screen and only 1080p output to TV, and with the detachable controllers as seen in most popular NX rumours included in the design, and sorted:
http://www.inceptional.com/2015/06/26/heres-the-gist-of-my-idea-for-nintendos-nx/
I see nothing about that idea that wouldn't fulfil all the requirements mentioned in the article.
Re: Talking Point: Unique and Affordable - Nintendo's NX Needs to Avoid Direct Competition With PlayStation and Xbox
If it's as rumoured I think it will avoid direct competition with PlayStation and Xbox
Re: Video: Check Out Monster Hunter Stories' Zelda Crossover Content
@JaxonH "You can't have a game with such a rich and developed combat system and deeply involved mechanics, and yet be super simple and easy requiring no effort to learn at the same time. Can't have your cake and eat it too, as they say."
The flaw in that thinking is that you absolutely can. You can have one of the most deep and developed games in all of existence but still have it be something that's intuitive to pick up and play out the gate. The two things are not at conflict with each other as a matter of default.
And, see what you said about Phantasy Star Online . . . that's exactly what I hear when you tell me Monster Hunter is the best game ever. I've played it, admittedly not for very long, but long enough to put me off wanting to play any more of it. The controls were pretty clunky and it was boring for the time I played. I really didn't like the idea of the load screens between areas either; it totally pulled me out of the action each time it happened. On Wii it also looked low-res and blurry, which was another major and immediately off-putting thing for me. It just failed in a few ways that I consider essential to any game I'm likely to consider great.
So, where you see gold with Monster Hunter, and where my bro sees gold with Phantasy Star Online, I see meh from where I'm looking at it. But each to their own.
I will say this, however; I believe I could take Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star Online and turn them both into better games with a few tweaks here and there while not losing anything that you guys love about them in the process—in some imaginary world where I had the means/resources to do so of course.
Re: Video: Check Out Monster Hunter Stories' Zelda Crossover Content
@JaxonH The problem is that many people who are into whatever games/series could make similar claims; that's because they happen to now be deeply invested in those games. It doesn't mean other people want to invest in something that they actually aren't into but could probably convince themselves they're into simply by virtue of the amount of time they've invested. Most stuff, if you spend tens of hours investing in it, ends up becoming quite important and meaningful to you. I could spend 40 hours overcoming the controls in Monster Hunter until I get used to them and they become second nature, but that doesn't mean they're good controls; it just means I've learned to work with what's there. I had a similar experience with my bro and Phantasy Star Online, where he swore it was one of the best games he'd ever played, and to me it just felt clunky as junk to actually control the main character, with attacks that didn't even properly respond to my button presses and stuff—apparently the button presses needed to be "timed" in this particular game—so I was out right away. And, personally, I think stuff like that is really important in any game I end up calling one of the greats. Same applies to games that require you to play for multiple hours before they're actually enjoyable to play, like they make you go through an hour long tutorial that's not actually fun or whatever else. I'm just not going to slog through an hour or more of meh to maybe get to a game that isn't meh, but that's not guaranteed to not be meh imo. So, for me, Monster Hunter simply isn't one of those games I care to get into, especially the main games on 3DS where I think the visuals just look fugly, which is another important element to me. Monster Hunter Stories at least looks visually appealing though, so that's something. But, each to their own, and clearly a lot of people absolutely love the Monster Hunters series. More power to them.
Re: Video: A Modder Has Made Super Mario Run 64
Well, Nintendo will be on that in a minute. lol
Looks pretty cool, and it shows you how by-the-numbers and safe Nintendo's own effort on mobile is. I mean, look, this guy did this in how long? Although I obviously know Nintendo's own game will be many degrees more polished and stuff.
Still, how cool would a 2.5D Super Mario Runner like this on mobile be.
Re: Review: TAP TAP ARCADE 2 (Wii U eShop)
Re: Xbox One NES Emulator Passes Certification, Could Hit Console In The Next Few Days
Good