Memes @lemmy.ml

1y ago

It feels like Nintendo doesn’t want us to play older games until they say we can...

115 comments

They don't even "lose money" in either scenario. They just don't make new money.
- Businesses consider those the same thing unfortunately :/
  
  I'd argue they consider not making new money worse, losing money means tax write offs.
- The argument is the suppression of titles is to control the brand. Its indirect nonsense.
- I used copies of old Nintendo games and they don't get a single cut. I don't see them shutting down those stores that sell them. Fuck Nintendo greed.

Nintendo: "How about you don't play those old games and buy our new games instead."
- I was told by my parents not to play with shit.
- 🎵🎶How'bout I do anyway ?🎶🎵
  
  Damn, what do we do now when we see an UnexpectedBillWurtz? Joking aside, I almost typed an r/ on reflex. It's weird how hard it is to break some habits.
- I'll buy your new games AND play the old games! You get the exact same amount of money either way!

They don’t even lose money, they just don’t earn any.
- Yup. And it wasn't money they would have gotten anyway so big N gets mad about nothing.
  
  As is tradition.

This is why pirating games that aren't available to be bought anymore is never wrong
- Yeah, say I want an old need for speed game, either buy a disk for a high price that I can't put in my disk drive-less PC or pirate it...
  Hmm I wonder which one I will choose
- big imo: pirating AAA games at all is never wrong
  
  Aye!
  OPs example also applies to games they never intend to release on PC. It's not like I was going to buy a Switch anyway.
- Limited subscriptions can go to hell as well. Sure, I could pay $50/yr for a Switch Online + Expansion Pack (not featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series) so I can temporarily play GBA games and lose access to them forever when the service is eventually discontinued... or I could just emulate them on my smartphone/jailbroken consoles for free.
- Agreed. Really though, the ultimate goal should be to enact legal protections for older video games, same as any other historically significant cultural artefacts.
- Only reason games don't become public domain is because of IP license. So just in case the rights holder wants to revisit a mothballed IP decades after the last time it was relevant, the entire catalog of that IP is off limits

they dont really "lose" money regardless
they just dont gain money, which they could have gained... if emulation wasn't super fucking easy and also fuck nintendo

Nintendo is run by old Japanese men who don't understand technology. They still use faxes ffs when conducting business-critical decisions.
If you asked Shigeru Miyamoto "What is a ROM" he's probably reply: "Is it 2.3cm Cashew San?"
- You. Sound like a nice and smart person. Can you send me your 78 character friend code so I can enter it with a controller to add you?
  
  Omg lmao yes this feature is so clunky and antiquated
  
  If you don't want to climb a mountain and part the sea for them, are you really friends with them? - Old Japanese dudes probably

You’re supposed to wait until they re-release it on a new console with the same graphics for $70, then pay for it then, dummy.
- Todd Howard, is that you?

For a company who brags about not going to have issue even if they're not making even a penny for years to come, they sure trying their best to get every penny they can.
- No, they're actually not. They leave a ton of money on the table every time they release a new console and then don't sell their old games on it.

I'm sooo tired of hearing about bad companies being shitty to their consumers and then watching thousands post about how wholesome and sweet Nintendo is and sharing their new animal crossing themed butthole tattoo to honor them.
Stop paying these pricks and just pirate their stuff.
- The problem is that only one person choosing to pirate the games because they think the company doesn't deserve their money can't offset the fanboy who buys two collection edition games just because
  
  We have to rally around the blackest flag. It's a numbers game.
- How did you know about my nook's cranny tattoo??
- I'm tired of people removed and complain about not being able to play old Nintendo games, and at the same time make fun of Skyrim for being purchasable on any system you want.

Big Ninten doesn't want you to play Paper Mario TTYD. You should be playing Origami King, it's new and exciting while TTYD is old and obsolete. They are both Paper Mario, they are basically the same game anyway but only until we want to suggest it's a brand new upgrade to the previous game
- TTYD is one of my favorite games of all time and I made the mistake of playing Origami King.
  It was a mix of disappointment, despair, resignation.... I've truly never felt so insulted by a game. They stomped on my childlike joy and wonder like a vat of grapes in Napa Valley. Sickening

Doesn't lose them money, the used game woudn't make them anyway which is whu they lobbied to try and make reselling used games require a royalty or be illegal for years before everything became digital.
As for emulation they lie and call emulation itself illegal (the copies may be but emulation itself is not) because then they can't pull a disney and "vault" old games on their digital storefronts and make you buy it again when they decide to just up shut down the previous server when they launch the next console.
They don't want us to own the things we pay for. They want us to rent them while not realizing it.
- They don’t want us to own the things we pay for.
  The real answer right there.

Pirating games is kinda a pain in the ass these days and I don't even bother on PC
But I will pirate as much from Nintendo as possible. From their price fixing in the 80s and 90s to hostility towards people who want to buy games to people not even being able to get games they've paid for...
Fuck Nintendo
- They could easily set up a permanent library of ALL previous titles for sale along with emulators for each new console they release. Nintendo could re-sell you every game they have ever made every time they drop new hardware, but nope, just a big fuck you.
  
  I know this is a pipedream, but I hope behind the scenes this is what they're doing. It's probably impossible to secure the rights from game companies which are no longer in business, but if they're able add third party titles to the Nintendo Switch Online membership, and have it include games up to the Wii U era, that would be a pretty good subscription model.
  I think they key would be centering it around a good online multiplayer lobby system to play the multiplayer version of these old games. This is a value add that you don't get via emulation. The current system of needing to be friends first is a big hurdle to play most of these games in NSO.
  Also disassociate the name from the console. Don't call it Nintendo Switch Online and call it Nintendo+ or some shit. Have this service be available on all platforms and easy for anyone to use without Nintendo hardware.
  But who am I kidding, this is Nintendo, they're not going to do any of this and just sit on their stacks of cash and make The new New Super Mario Bros. exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2

I'm almost convinced Nintendo wants to erase the legacy of PM:TYD. Like it's definitely the game that took the most chances with the Mario universe, and in the Japanese version especially, it pushed the limits of what was acceptable in media at the time, and would probably be a difficult game to navigate rereleasing in today's climate. Probably the same reasons we likely won't see an official Mother 3 localization either.
- Can you educate me on what the differences were with the Japanese version that made it push the limits?
  
  They're probably referring to Vivian being trans.
  In the American release, the other two ghost sisters just call her ugly a lot. In the OG Japanese, it was more explicit that they were actually misgendering her, iirc.
  
  Aside from the dialogue being darker than the US localization, Vivi is trans in the Japanese PMTYD. I go into detail on what roadblocks nintendo faces rereleasing it and Mother 3 in a reply to @testfactor
  
  Second.

Remember the Disney Vault?
- Artificial scarcity and capitalism, the two are a perfect match.

More companies should do like id Software and open-source their games after a set amount of time.
- Id didin't open source the game. They open sourced the game engine. So you can download gzdoom which is an open source port of the original doom engine, but you still need to own the original game for the game files in order to play it.
- That would be pretty nice. But companies usually protect their IP, so they won't go around showing how they code their games.
  If they open source it isn't it easier for other companies to release clones? Not identical but inspired on their code. At a lower cost because the engineering challenges of coding the game are already taught in there.
  
  not sure if the programming and engineering problems of a game released 20 yeasr ago have too much relevance today

When Nintendo started Virtual Console, I was really impressed, because instead of fighting emulation, they embraced it and made money off of it. All of these old games were just potential profit that they were sitting on. On top of that, they even managed to get games from non-Nintendo consoles onto VC!
Then, they discontinued it, and I'm sitting here, scratching my head and trying to figure out why. Nintendo is a strange company. They have an undeniably awesome product and very talented and creative developers, but also pretty bone-headed management.
- They have brilliant, and creative game designers who love their work. They also have managers and lawyers who hate their fans with the passion of 1000 supernovae, and the wrath of 3000 women besmirched.

Copyright in Japan seems to be even more of a nightmare as it already is in the west.
- For context, Japan has no fair use clause.
  
  Fair use is not universal in the west though. We don't have fair use in Denmark, but we do have a similar and more limited concept.

Honestly most people who use emulation probably own a copy of the games they emulate. It actually is possible to legally obtain a ROM or iso of a Nintendo game, despite how bad Nintendo wants you to believe it isn't. You are allowed to back up software that you purchased. Do most people do it the legal way? Probably not. But effectively I think it's all the same.
Wanna make money off your old games? Release an upgraded version. Put in the content that was left on the cutting room floor and up the resolution. Or just sell it as an emulator pack with the bare minimum requirements for it to function on the console like they did with 3D all Stars. People will probably still buy it.
- It seems legally that the only way to legitimately have a rom is to rip it yourself. For example, I own 1943: Battle of Midway and Flying Shark arcade machines, but I would likely have to dump the roms myself to legally be able to play then via emulation.
  I have ps1 and ps2 games that I have ripped the isos for, but I have c64, Atari, and nes games that I can't dump without significant expense.

The real pain is that several sources seem to say that the Thousand Year Door is arguably the best Paper Mario. I missed out on it when it came out, so the only choice I have if I want to play it is to Monkey D. Luffy it. Which to be honest, I'll probably do.

Nintendo is the Disney of video games.
They want to take their content and squirrel it away in their vault, so for like 10 minutes you can buy the emulated recreation of some obscure title on some future platform where it's digitally tied to the device and the online Nintendo store you bought it from, so when the console inevitably breaks or the store is shut down, you lose access.
All of this for a premium cost for a decades old game of dubious quality that only has value because of your nostalgia.
So stop emulating games so Nintendo can decide when they will gift you with the privilege of paying far too much for a game they didn't make, which has a life expectancy, which will expire when they want it to.
Also piracy is bad! So stop it.

you lose money regardless
Except Nintendo does not lose any money either way.

you gotta wait until they release the exact same emulator on the switch with the new switch online expansion pack plus premium ultra 3D bonus pass

I mean lots of media has always worked that way. Build up the nostalgia to increase what people are willing to pay. Before VHS, Disney would lock up their movies and bring them out to theaters every couple of decades making way more money than if they put it on TV. It drives demand. And they think it should be their decision whether to satisfy that demand or not.
- They called it the "Disney Vault". They did the same for VHS too, they would re-release old movies onto VHS for a limited time and then it would "Go back in the Vault". Its an annoyingly effective marketing scheme and I hate that almost all studios do this with their shows and movies now.
  
  Same thing with DVD and Blu Ray, heck if you still buy those plastic data disks they still do it.

I literally had to look for a patched Chrono Trigger Rom with Spanish translations bcuz nor Square Enix, nor Nintendo ever released it with spanish dialogues in mind. Now my little sister is able to enjoy it, and it is always thanks to the community that Nintendo despise. So as always fuck Nintendo as a corporate and most important:

Pirating as an alternative to paying as often as one can, even when the product is on offer by Nintendo or whoever, is usually very easy. It's the least we can all do in terms of class struggle.
- That's why Steam's business mindset is to get you the game as easily as possible. If it's easier to buy than to not most people will buy it.

More like "You'll spend your money when we tell you to"
- and for a lot of nintendo fantatics, they'll line up and do just that.
  because they don't care about the greed, or exploitation, or anything else.
  They just care about getting their next Mario/Zelda/Etc, at whatever price point Nintendo sets.

NINTENDO REALLY SUCKS
- NO I SUCK NINTENDO
  
  🤣

You could say...
NintenDON'T wanna see you playing old stuff

I only bought a switch because my hip was broken and so was my gaming PC. I wanted something to do while I was laid up on the couch.
I have already had my pro controller die on me forcing me to use just the switch controllers it came with. That’s really annoying. I’m paying way over market price already for a proprietary game device since I thought Nintendo has really good quality. The quality in my experience doesn’t justify the price of the controller.
I don’t feel bad at all if they lose a little bit of money as a result of any of their crappy businesses decisions. You can argue the games are great and they are but it doesn’t justify how the company behaves and if I could go back I wouldn’t have given them any money at all.
- My pro controller has drift that doesn't go away even when I open it up and clean it. Nintendo really dropped the ball with quality this gen - never had any issues with any other Nintendo product before. I bought an adapter to use a PS5 controller with it.

The games aren't being sold anymore and so it's not affecting Nintendo. Hence what's the point?

There’s a flip side to this that I’ve found; until recently I have never had any desire to buy a Switch, ‘There’s Mario Kart and that’s all’ is what I thought. Then I obtained a few Switch games to play on an emulator and ooh boy is the temptation real now. I’ve been playing Zelda (the newest one and my first Zelda game), Luigi’s Mansion and of course Mario Kart. Piracy has me sweating every time I see a Switch on sale.
- It really is a great intro to how good the switch is. Even though I have a switch lite and it's been good. Emulating the games I have on the steam deck with its slightly bigger screen has made me yearn for an OLED switch. Just imagining how much better Zelda and some other titles will look on it. It's tempting and I wouldn't have gotten there had I not been emulating

Dang, I sure am glad I pirated like every Nintendo rom N64 and prior a long time ago before they started purging everything.
- They're still trivially easy to get.
  
  So easy that I didn't even know they purged anything.
  Hell I remember when my favorite shady rom site stopped serving Nintendo roms because of legal threats, and I was sad for five minutes until I clicked on the web ring links to a different shady rom site.

I believe it does actually cut into profits, because they te release every popular game every X years

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