Gamespot forbis Homebrew?

[techforumz]

I was googling about, and found an article about a guy inquiring about which flashcard was the best. A mod quickly banned the topic and locked it. And then some more googling, I found this:

Any mention about flashcards, homebrew or emulators will result in an automatic suspension. Mentioning it directly or indirectly will result in suspension.

Discussions about flashcards, homebrew or emulators, displaying any knowledge about any of them or admitting you use them will result in an automatic extended suspension with the possibility of a permanent ban from GameSpot.

Flashcards, Homebrew & Emulators for the DS are illegal. Keep it out of GameSpot!

Congratulations Gamespot! You officially lost my support. CNET, you still have a chance. Also, I would like to note that flashcards, homebrew, and emulators, are most certain legal. They may not remain as such, but if they ever do become illegal, I have a feeling that some revolt might incur. *HINT*

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Well I'm pretty sure gamespot is affiliated with gamestop. So, they want you to buy the games.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Huh. GFAQs had nothing against flash card topics last I checked, wonder why GS would? Maybe just a psycho mod?

 

[BoneMonkey]

ppl still go to gamespot ? lol after the whole grest scangel i havent been there again

 

[MC DUI]

How is this news....

 

[techforumz]

Perhaps this isn't news, but It's news for me. I thought this was a fairly recent (Jan 2008) development.

 

[Talaria]

Technically Emulators are illegal. I remember Grimalkin compiled alot of information about this in a thread. Gonna go find it

Edit- Here it is

 

[MC DUI]

Perhaps this isn't news, but It's news for me. I thought this was a fairly recent (Jan 2008) development.

Gamespot and Gamefaqs have always been against talk of such nature, it just depends on which moderater you get and how pissed off they are as to whether anything is done about the posts.

So yeah not really news.

 

[CockroachMan]

Well.. since you need a flashcard to run homebrew, and flashcards are not allowed.. makes sence..

Anyway.. this shouldn't be on the "news" section.

 

[techforumz]

Technically Emulators and Homebrew are still illegal. I remember Grimalkin compiled alot of information about this in a thread. Gonna go find it

Edit- Here it is

He never said anything about the Flashcards themselves being illegal. Certain ROMs and all Homebrew is also perfectly legal.

Oh and about the 'news' thing, you're probably right. So if you happen to be a mod passing by, then feel free to move this.

 

[Heran Bago]

Technically Emulators and Homebrew are still illegal. I remember Grimalkin compiled alot of information about this in a thread. Gonna go find it

Edit- Here it is

Homebrew is legal.

Emulators are not.


http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp


I swear no one reads this.

e: as for flash carts, if you can construct one without breaking copyright that's nice, but (US) law is not specific

 

[techforumz]

Technically Emulators and Homebrew are still illegal. I remember Grimalkin compiled alot of information about this in a thread. Gonna go find it

Edit- Here it is
Homebrew is legal.

Emulators are not.


http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp


I swear no one reads this.

e: as for flash carts, if you can construct one without breaking copyright that's nice, but (US) law is not specific



Interesting... I love this part:

Emulators developed to play illegally copied Nintendo software promote piracy. That's like asking why doesn't Nintendo legitimize piracy. It doesn't make any business sense. It's that simple and not open to debate.

Don't mind if I question that over here at the GBAtemp forums.

Ok, so maybe it doesn't. It's not like you're making any money from your old NES/SNES/N64/GB/GBC games. (well until the Wii anyways). And if I'm not mistaken, it's semi-legal. But being semi-illegal never stopped anybody from using limewire.

Anyways, I believe that emulators are perfectly legal. What people do with them may not be. It's like saying a PC is illegal because I can use it to download MP3s or write a devastating computer virus.

And this part:

QUOTE

Are Game Copying Devices Illegal?

Yes. Game copiers enable users to illegally copy video game software onto floppy disks, writeable compact disks or the hard drive of a personal computer. They enable the user to make, play and distribute illegal copies of video game software which violates Nintendo's copyrights and trademarks. These devices also allow for the uploading and downloading of ROMs to and from the Internet. Based upon the functions of these devices, they are illegal.

Yeah, whatever. My PC is a game copying device, does that make it illegal? My Tape player, voice recorder, CD/DVD burner, scanner, printer, wifi modem... Get a grip.

 

[Heran Bago]

Anyways, I believe that emulators are perfectly legal. What people do with them may not be. It's like saying a PC is illegal because I can use it to download MP3s or write a devastating computer virus.

From a programming standpoint, not all emulators are "perfectly" legal. For example, Sega CD emulation requires you to have a bios file for which the copyrights are still held.

 

[Mangofett]

Under US law, any device made specifically to circumvent security of any machine to play unauthorized games on it could be argued in court as to its legality. Thats why mod chips are being busted so much, and rumor has it that the R4 has illegal boot code, so its being raided against too.

And remember: best lawyer wins.

 

[cory1492]

Quite a bit of doublespeak on that nint. legal page

I take it their best lawyer didn't write (or proofread it for accuracy) it at all.

As a copyright owner, and creator of such famous characters, only Nintendo has the right to benefit from such valuable assets.

aka: the customer who bought the game 15 years ago and find it's not working today and thus have no recourse to replace and repair it, technically should not be benefiting from the "asset" they purchased. Also, that one sentence tells me they don't want me to buy anything of theirs, because I might benefit from their so-called "assets". By the sound of it, if they had their way all gaming would be like those pay as you go phones, a resurrection of the reason why I stopped patronizing arcades (they got far too obvious and over-ambitious with their "insert coin here" routines.)

Any rate, as a sad attempt of putting this on topic... it's pretty much known that gamespot is in the pockets of the developers, and as such cater to them rather than their user base (else they stop getting preview copies and press materials and such.)

 

[jalaneme]

Quite a bit of doublespeak on that nint. legal page

I take it their best lawyer didn't write (or proofread it for accuracy) it at all.

As a copyright owner, and creator of such famous characters, only Nintendo has the right to benefit from such valuable assets.

aka: the customer who bought the game 15 years ago and find it's not working today and thus have no recourse to replace and repair it, technically should not be benefiting from the "asset" they purchased. Also, that one sentence tells me they don't want me to buy anything of theirs, because I might benefit from their so-called "assets". By the sound of it, if they had their way all gaming would be like those pay as you go phones, a resurrection of the reason why I stopped patronizing arcades (they got far too obvious and over-ambitious with their "insert coin here" routines.)

well the VC games are like that, if your Wii breaks there is nothing you can do about it, your VC games are gone forever, i will never touch a VC game for that reason only, also when you buy a VC from the Wii shop channel you are only buying the rights to use it, you don't actually own the files.

 

[.TakaM]

who cares, FUCK gamespot.

I would love to see them all crash and burn.

 

[blahman]

Regardless of flashcarts being legal or not, I'm not against gamespot for not allowing that sort of discussions on their forums. Gamepot mostly focuses on commercial games anyway. Moreover they're bound to have dumbasses going "ZOMG I DOWNLOADED NARUTO ROM ON MY R4! ITS THE BEST!!!1". There are plenty of places that specifically discuss the homebrew scene anyway.

 

[cutterjohn]

Technically Emulators are illegal. I remember Grimalkin compiled alot of information about this in a thread. Gonna go find it

Edit- Here it is

Emulators ARE legal, else how could connectix have remained in business for over 18y when their primary product was an x86 emulator for the mac? They also made a PSX emulator and sold it commercially for the mac. And there was also Bleem, another commercial PSX emulator.

 

[techforumz]

Technically Emulators are illegal. I remember Grimalkin compiled alot of information about this in a thread. Gonna go find it

Edit- Here it is

Emulators ARE legal, else how could connectix have remained in business for over 18y when their primary product was an x86 emulator for the mac? They also made a PSX emulator and sold it commercially for the mac. And there was also Bleem, another commercial PSX emulator.

Wow this really boiled down to 'emulators, legal or not' very quickly. I believe that they are legal. Some believe that they are not. I believe that the question shouldn't be whether it's legal (yes I realize I said it), but whether it's ethical. The US (and other countries) are bribed (or 'lobbied') into making copyright laws trump my bill of rights. So as to my opinion of ethicality: yes, it's ethical if the emulator was not stolen, and the games are not commercially sold for your platform. Meaning that Super Mario World is ethical, but maybe not legal. Remember, ethics is something that varies from one person to another, don't take my word for it, make up your own mind. My 2c worth.