Kotaku Promoting PC Emulator Versions of Nintendo Games

Silver Lynel

http://kotaku.com/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-looks-awesome-in-4k-1797696064

This is something that really annoys me.

I've seen other websites do it too but the example here is Kotaku.

Isn't this essentially promoting the piracy of games that are not available on PC?

On a video game website it seems kind of wrong that they would do this.

You wouldn't find a respectable movie website promoting some guy who's watching a ripped version of the latest Christopher Nolan movie release on his home made IMAX projector, right?

They've done this a few times now with Zelda and Mario Kart.http://kotaku.com/tag/cemu

For me they are advertising that if you don't have Nintendo hardware then it's fine because you can play pirated versions of their new games for free on PC. Even going so far as to show how good the PC versions of Nintendo games can be.

Is this wrong?

heebusjeebus

They do the same for other emulators though. It's not necessarily Nintendo being targeted.

PS3:

http://kotaku.com/now-heres-demons-souls-running-on-a-pc-1797176200
http://kotaku.com/persona-5-is-now-playable-on-the-pc-via-emulation-1796903001

Silver Lynel

heebusjeebus wrote: »

They do the same for other emulators though. It's not necessarily Nintendo being targeted.

PS3:

http://kotaku.com/now-heres-demons-souls-running-on-a-pc-1797176200
http://kotaku.com/persona-5-is-now-playable-on-the-pc-via-emulation-1796903001

Yeah, the point was more whether or not they should be promoting emulators like this at all?

Like I said, you'd never see a movie blog showing off the home projector set up of some guy with a ripped version of the latest cinema release.

Especially as a mainstream video game website, it seems to be a bit wrong to me.

heebusjeebus

It's not like they are giving you instructions on how to do it.

I would love to pack away my PS3 and get the emulator to run Demons Souls, but I know my PC is not fast enough to do it.
I've tried CEMU but could only get 12FPS for Breath of the Wild.

Silver Lynel

heebusjeebus wrote: »

It's not like they are giving you instructions on how to do it.

I would love to pack away my PS3 and get the emulator to run Demons Souls, but I know my PC is not fast enough to do it.
I've tried CEMU but could only get 12FPS for Breath of the Wild.

I thought that to do it at all you would need to get your hands on a pirated copy of the game?

Robert ninja

Emulation isn't piracy. Have you ever ripped a CD and played it on your computer later? Just because you can download the music online and play it that way doesn't make the music playing software a promotion of piracy.

Also this is hardly the worst Kotatu have been up to. http://deepfreeze.it/outlet.php?o=kotaku

Silver Lynel wrote: »

I thought that to do it at all you would need to get your hands on a pirated copy of the game?

No you just need to rip the game and perhaps some things from the console (PS2 requires commercial BIOS to be extracted for example)

Silver Lynel

Robert ninja wrote: »

Emulation isn't piracy. Have you ever ripped a CD and played it on your computer later? Just because you can download the music online and play it that way doesn't make the music playing software a promotion of piracy.

Also this is hardly the worst Kotatu have been up to. http://deepfreeze.it/outlet.php?o=kotaku

No you just need to rip the game and perhaps some things from the console (PS2 requires commercial BIOS to be extracted for example)

I see. I didn't realize that you'd need to buy a physical copy of the game anyway. Seems fair enough.

I saw another poster mention it on the "games you've completed" thread and thought that's a bit weird.

Kind of like everyone talking about the latest Star Wars movie that's in the cinema and you've got people saying "sure I just watched it in my living room at home on my projector".

I thought it was weird and then saw you've got places like Kotaku promoting this stuff.

gizmo

You don't need to buy a physical copy of the game to get it working however the developers of CEMU state that you should own an original copy of the game and the console in order to use it. Whether you see that as legitimizing the situation to any extent is up to you really.

Your movie analogies are interesting though, do you feel the same way about movie sites discussing the Despecialized Editions of the Star Wars movies?

K.O.Kiki

Emulation allowed me to play Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Edition, patched into English, 6+ years before the HD Remaster (which still hasn't been confirmed for PC).

Silver Lynel

gizmo wrote: »

You don't need to buy a physical copy of the game to get it working however the developers of CEMU state that you should own an original copy of the game and the console in order to use it. Whether you see that as legitimizing the situation to any extent is up to you really.

Your movie analogies are interesting though, do you feel the same way about movie sites discussing the Despecialized Editions of the Star Wars movies?

I'm not sure, to be honest.

I think something like that could potentially come under fair use?

I would feel that it's a bit "off" for a major movie site to promote the Despecialized Editions especially if the creators of those editions are making a profit.

The original Star Wars films are quite old and I think that is definitely a factor.

In the case of Zelda BotW, it's a relatively new game and they it seemed, to me anyway, like they were basically promoting a bootleg version of the game.

I was thinking if you were to meet the creators of BotW specifically, producers or art designers or programmers etc, how comfortable would people feel saying to them "well, I didn't buy a copy of your game but I've played it on my PC at home"?

gizmo

Silver Lynel wrote: »

I'm not sure, to be honest.

I think something like that could potentially come under fair use?

I would feel that it's a bit "off" for a major movie site to promote the Despecialized Editions especially if the creators of those editions are making a profit.

The original Star Wars films are quite old and I think that is definitely a factor.

In the case of Zelda BotW, it's a relatively new game and they it seemed, to me anyway, like they were basically promoting a bootleg version of the game.

I was thinking if you were to meet the creators of BotW specifically, producers or art designers or programmers etc, how comfortable would people feel saying to them "well, I didn't buy a copy of your game but I've played it on my PC at home"?

Well, do you think their reaction should change depending on whether you had purchased the game for the original platform before you played it on your PC?

Given that it's Nintendo we're talking about here, their actual reaction would be pretty obvious regardless so I suppose the more interesting question is, does your stance on this issue change given the above circumstances?

As for how this applies to the article from Kotaku, same question applies, does the legitimacy of their reporting on the subject change under each circumstance or should they just not cover the topic at all?