xdaniel Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 Let's have a general thread about gaming-related websites and blogs! And I'll be honest, I'm making this for a little rant about one such site: GoNintendo. No idea who here is a regular reader of that site; I tend to be one, because it's being kept up-to-date very well and is a good compilation of each day's Nintendo news. However, there's something I do have a problem with on the site: their ideas of legal standards and morals, in particular regarding emulation, etc. On one hand, you get posts condemning emulation, such as on the Ouya or regarding a recent (and obviously fake) Wii U emulator for PC, stating how Nintendo won't like that and so on; similar goes for ROMs, flash cartridges, etc. Most commenters tend to agree with those opinions as well. On the other hand, you regularly get posts showcasing ROM hacks, information and links to reproduction cartridges, such as Earthbound Zero, and just today, the official Game Boy Programming Manual, which clearly states its confidental nature on page 2! How can you, by any logical measure, post and link to reproduction cartridges and even (regardless of their age) confidental development documents freely, while at the same time being all annoyed by emulators and ROMs? Just how does that work? Either stop posting about all of this stuff and condemn it equally, or stop being so bitchy about emulation & co.! I shot a tweet in their direction a few days ago, far friendlier worded than this post and genuinely curious about where this mindset comes from. Do you think I got any reply? Nah, didn't think so either. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BullockDS Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 I wouldn't necessarily condemn them for advertising ROM hacks, since they're not in themselves illegal (although if they're helping people find ROMs for these hacks in their articles or they're announcing things like anti-piracy bypassing hacks, that's a different story). Everything else, however, I agree with you. It's entirely bullshit to tut-tut emulation but endorse things like reproduction carts (which as far as I know, are like a million, bazillion times more illegal than emulation) and sharing confidential gaming documents. As you said, it's crap that they pick-and-choose what's wrong and what's not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conker Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I wouldn't necessarily condemn them for advertising ROM hacks, since they're not in themselves illegal (although if they're helping people find ROMs for these hacks in their articles or they're announcing things like anti-piracy bypassing hacks, that's a different story). They condemn absolutely every single possible way to play these ROM hacks because they're "illegal". If you have a problem with emulators or flash cartridges, why post about hacks that literally depend on the two to even be played? Just think about it for a second, and you'll realize just how much sense it doesn't make. Sent from my cell phone, because ancient satellites from across the cosmic web are lame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyZ Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Advertising reproduction carts and generally hating on rom hack, and emulation? I do agree and find that very obnoxious. Not only are reproduction carts illegal, but they are turning something that was intended to be played for free by the original hacker, so not only is Nintendo not seeing any profit for the hacked rom used in the Repo cart, but someone is making money off the said hackers work as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BullockDS Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Advertising reproduction carts and generally hating on rom hack, and emulation? I do agree and find that very obnoxious. Not only are reproduction carts illegal, but they are turning something that was intended to be played for free by the original hacker, so not only is Nintendo not seeing any profit for the hacked rom used in the Repo cart, but someone is making money off the said hackers work as well. It's pretty sickening to sell somebody else's specifically non-profit work, but what pisses me off more is the market for reproductions of OFFICIAL retail games; that shit can ruin the economy of retro game collecting (this has been a bit of an issue with SNES Earthbound carts, since repros have popped up in auctions from people expecting the prices of real carts). Of course, I could go SO in-depth about all the things that make retro game collecting difficult, but that's for its own topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdaniel Posted July 31, 2013 Author Share Posted July 31, 2013 I have a sort of tiering for being "pissed off by repros", if you want to call it that: Reproductions of never released games (ex. Star Fox 2): "Alright, I guess, and some of those I wouldn't mind having either..." Reproductions of never released official localizations (ex. Earthbound Zero): "Hrm, this did get a release somewhere, this isn't right..." Near exact reproductions of retail games, regardless of release regions (ex. Terranigma, Mega Man: Wily Wars): "Hey, wtf? This is just piracy!" For those last two people could cry "But no one ever made those available in my region!" Guess what? Import the originals if you're really interested in them! "But they're in a language I don't speak!" So? With a bit of effort, you'll still be able to play the game, even if it's a Japanese RPG - I have done that, with ex. Children of Mana for DS and some Digimon RPGs for WonderSwan, and my Japanese is abysmal. "But the originals are so expensive!" Then you've got the wrong hobby. Okay, that might be a bit harsh, because then I have the wrong hobby, too! But anyway, you can sometimes find bargains if you know where to look - I paid ca. 40€ for an original PAL CIB Mega Man: Wily Wars on Amazon Marketplace, which normally goes for up to 200€. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BullockDS Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 I have a sort of tiering for being "pissed off by repros", if you want to call it that: Reproductions of never released games (ex. Star Fox 2): "Alright, I guess, and some of those I wouldn't mind having either..." Reproductions of never released official localizations (ex. Earthbound Zero): "Hrm, this did get a release somewhere, this isn't right..." Near exact reproductions of retail games, regardless of release regions (ex. Terranigma, Mega Man: Wily Wars): "Hey, wtf? This is just piracy!" For those last two people could cry "But no one ever made those available in my region!" Guess what? Import the originals if you're really interested in them! "But they're in a language I don't speak!" So? With a bit of effort, you'll still be able to play the game, even if it's a Japanese RPG - I have done that, with ex. Children of Mana for DS and some Digimon RPGs for WonderSwan, and my Japanese is abysmal. "But the originals are so expensive!" Then you've got the wrong hobby. Okay, that might be a bit harsh, because then I have the wrong hobby, too! But anyway, you can sometimes find bargains if you know where to look - I paid ca. 40€ for an original PAL CIB Mega Man: Wily Wars on Amazon Marketplace, which normally goes for up to 200€. I fall into those same tiers of hate, more or less, but there's one more tier I'd like to mention: -Repros of "Holy Grails" (e.g. Nintendo World Championship): if they're made specifically to differentiate from the real deal, I'm fine there since things like event carts have little to no likelihood of seeing a rerelease otherwise (many of the NWC repro carts are in translucent, colored cartridges to differentiate from the real gray/gold ones), falling into a similar situation as the unreleased games you mentioned. However, if any crop up designed to look the same as the original, it's pretty obvious that there's scamming afoot and they'd need to be nipped in the bud, since such forgeries can be even more effective in skewing an item's value than a forgery of a "regular" game. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdaniel Posted July 31, 2013 Author Share Posted July 31, 2013 I fall into those same tiers of hate, more or less, but there's one more tier I'd like to mention:-Repros of "Holy Grails" (e.g. Nintendo World Championship) Oh right, there's those too, I forgot about them... Hm, event-only cartridges that are different from their retail versions, are compilations of multiple retail games, etc. could kinda be considered "unreleased by nature"? Like, besides NWC, that "SNES Campus Challenge" cartridge as well, or the Star Fox Competition cart... although I don't know how many of the latter exist. It's probably not as rare as the other two, so I'm not sure how I'd feel about repros of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyZ Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 This is why I buy flash carts. I mean yeah I would like to collect some, like StarFox 2, and even though you might disagree, the english version of games like Mother, and Final Fantasy 2 (Jap version). Though they are charging an arm, and a leg, I think if I wanted them bad enough I would learn how to make them rather than paying 70$-90$ or more a piece in US currency Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armos Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 I don't know what to say on this, but I would simple just use a flash cart just for playing modded N64 games just for fun. But I would only do that if I owned the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyZ Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 There are flash carts for almost every old gen console out there. There's even a new Nes everdrive, which I think beats the older Power Pak Nes flash cart because it uses an SD card instead of some big CF card or whatever that most computers don't have slots for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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