The emulator that lets you play NES games in 3D has left early access on Steam
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The law is all about those technicalities.
I don’t agree with any of that noise around the DMCA for the record. I feel like we effectively lost our right to archival copies.
On a PC, what you said about copying the DRM along with the data is largely true. It is possible sometimes to copy the DRM and reproduce the image with the DRM intact. It also might not be depending upon the copy protection mechanism. Commercial video DVDs used to employ tricks with the storage sector that made it almost impossible to properly copy by a standard computer disc drive. You could get around this with additional program like AnyDVD, but that was only available for sale outside the USA because of the fact that it allowed you to bypass DRM.
And like you said, the content can be encrypted. Decrypting it is, IIRC, considered bypassing DRM - at least in the USA.
Again, I don’t agree that this is how things should be, but the legality of emulation is complicated depending upon what we’re talking about emulating.
I also don't like how things are legally speaking with DMCA, but the main takeaway is - the creation and distribution of an emulator, without DRM protections, is unequivocally protected and legal. ROM backup is certainly in most cases not, but if you are making your own copies for your own use, even while illegally breaking encryption, it would be difficult to prove and prosecute on an individual basis.
The right we must continually remind people is NOT even REMOTELY in question is the right to create and distribute emulators. This is by far the more important one, because people cannot reasonably develop their own emulators - it requires an open, collaborative community to ensure future preservation, and it's a constant battle to keep people from actively trying to cede this right because they have nebulous loyalties to soulless companies that return no such feelings.
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yeah, i know. Point is that Nintendo can do whatever they want with the flimsyest excuse.
Exactly. They can file a lawsuit even knowing they might not win just to burden someone into crippling debt if they want to defend themselves
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https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201
In the USA, it is illegal to make a backup copy of any of your media when the original contains any form of DRM.
On any media where DRM wasn’t used, you’re okay to create a backup copy.
The law is different everywhere though.
Bleem would like a word...
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Bleem would like a word...
The Bleem case is a separate issue from creating a backup copy protected by DRM
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I would be interested in that case if you find it. I spend a lot of time thinking about emulation and the surrounding stuff.
I get you! I was bigger into copyright some 20-30 years ago myself when we would've all been on Slashdot.
To that end, I was WRONG in my post, I think I was conflating two things, and for that, I'm sorry. I was certainly thinking in part about Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley (2001). That was the case that decided that the software DeCSS was illegal, and you could distribute the software. I was thinking that while the court did agree with Universal over the software, that it did not find that breaking DRM on a product you owned was inherently illegal. (I legit think this was a "take" at the time. Probably wouldn't hold up in court these days, sadly.) And I did find that years later the Library of Congress offered exemptions for breaking DRM on some hardware (vehicles, medical devices,) but I believe even those were temporary and have since lapsed.
Sorry I spoke so surely about something I was wrong about.
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The emulator being 3dSen, direct link to Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1147940/3dSen_PC/
wrote last edited by [email protected]I saw there’s a VR mode and couldn’t throw $15 at this fast enough. This looks phenomenal! So cool.
Thanks for posting this. Had no idea it existed.
You can play Duck Hunt with a VR Zapper. Worth $15 there alone. I'm a simple man.
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I get you! I was bigger into copyright some 20-30 years ago myself when we would've all been on Slashdot.
To that end, I was WRONG in my post, I think I was conflating two things, and for that, I'm sorry. I was certainly thinking in part about Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley (2001). That was the case that decided that the software DeCSS was illegal, and you could distribute the software. I was thinking that while the court did agree with Universal over the software, that it did not find that breaking DRM on a product you owned was inherently illegal. (I legit think this was a "take" at the time. Probably wouldn't hold up in court these days, sadly.) And I did find that years later the Library of Congress offered exemptions for breaking DRM on some hardware (vehicles, medical devices,) but I believe even those were temporary and have since lapsed.
Sorry I spoke so surely about something I was wrong about.
You’re okay by me!
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I saw there’s a VR mode and couldn’t throw $15 at this fast enough. This looks phenomenal! So cool.
Thanks for posting this. Had no idea it existed.
You can play Duck Hunt with a VR Zapper. Worth $15 there alone. I'm a simple man.
Duck Season is pretty fun too FWIW.
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Zelda 1 seems an odd omission from the supported games. I wonder if some games are harder to implement than others or something.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Zelda is there! Remember it’s under “Legend of Zelda.” It looks friggin' rad in VR 3D. I'm definitely playing through this whole game like this.
The weird one for me is that Super Mario Bros 2 is missing.
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Zelda is there! Remember it’s under “Legend of Zelda.” It looks friggin' rad in VR 3D. I'm definitely playing through this whole game like this.
The weird one for me is that Super Mario Bros 2 is missing.
I thought I saw in very recent patch notes that there was a community-made version of SM2?
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I'm not sure they can in this instance. The reason they could sue the Switch emulator team was because they were using a proprietary encryption key.
I don't think the NES had that, and as long as you own the game, emulation is legal.
Also, this might be considered transformative use since the devs have to create the 3D profile by hand.
They were able to prevent Dolphin’s release on Steam
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I thought I saw in very recent patch notes that there was a community-made version of SM2?
Ah, I haven’t even started investigating community made content yet. Neat!
