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Putting an amiibo against my controller to unlock something does not feel fun.

soqquatto

Member
It has saved you tons of money because you are literally stealing the content.

Pretty sure GAF is no-nonsense when it comes to active admissions of piracy?

no one is stealing anything, the content is already in your possession. you're probably just accessing it without authorization. amiibos are the worst idea this industry has come up with lately, worse than DLC on disc (being just a shittier variation), I can't say I feel bad about circumventing them.
 
Amiibo have always seemed pretty dumb to me. I mean the figures look cheap as hell, they are hard to find sometimes, and they lock people who don't want to collect cheap looking Nintendo figures out of content. It certainly is a very Nintendo solution to DLC.
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
Can some please make a good argument for Amiibo spoofing devices not being piracy? I just bought one and I'm feeling a bit conflicted.

I don't think you can. You're acquiring and using content that's intended to be paid for. It's pretty clear cut to me.

It's more or less tantamount to finding some way to acquire microtransactions without having to pay for them.
 

egruntz

shelaughz
Amiibo have always seemed pretty dumb to me. I mean the figures look cheap as hell, they are hard to find sometimes, and they lock people who don't want to collect cheap looking Nintendo figures out of content. It certainly is a very Nintendo solution to DLC.

Contribution to extreme DLC.**

Lmao at the one poster in this thread getting angry that people are getting full use out of the game they bought while still being able to pay their bills. And not having 200 plastic toys lying around the place.
 
I didn't know about this. The picture of someone sitting there with all their voice chat and phone app connectors as well as a pile of amiibo is kind of hilarious. :p

Is it actually true that you need an Amiibo to store your loadout in Splatoon. Like every time you boot the game you have to put all your shit back the way it was?
 

Peltz

Member
Imagine how it felt when you had to connect a Game Boy Advance to a GameCube with a pricey GBA-GameCube Link Cable, then stick in a pricey Card Reader into your GBA, and then scan cards purchased separately, which would ultimately unlock some trivial stuff in your GameCube game.
I have a nearly complete eReader set. In many ways, that genuinely wasn't as bad as this.

The fact that the e-Reader thing only lasted a year or two was what made it cool. Amiibo, in contrast are still going. And to own them all requires an absurd investment of funds and space to hold all of that plastic.

Had amiibo been a year long promotional type thing, I wouldn't complain. But it's already been 4 years and the practices around it are getting worse.

And there's no sign of it stopping.
 
I got the Powersaves thing as well, though it's not very convenient due to having to rewrite it everytime. I do own about 25 amiibo but I like to keep them sealed. Plus 90% of amiibo are out of print anyway so I don't see anything morally wrong with it. Maybe if Nintendo actually attempted to match demand, or made cards of the old ones, I would feel bad for them.
 
Meh there's not much of a "magic moment" when you touch them in, not even on the Wii U or 3DS/that dongle thing.

Infinity didn't really have much of anything but Skylanders had a pretty cool glowing portal through their series. Lego Dimensions was probably the coolest one where you actively change the portal as you progress through the game. It was a really nice surprise to see things come together and you're like "oh holy shit, THAT'S what this is for?!"

I don't mind it since I'm buying the figures mainly because they're cool collectibles. They could do nothing in any game and I'd still buy them because they're neat.
 

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
no one is stealing anything, the content is already in your possession. you're probably just accessing it without authorization. amiibos are the worst idea this industry has come up with lately, worse than DLC on disc (being just a shittier variation), I can't say I feel bad about circumventing them.

It's literally on-disc DLC. Hacking it open is stealing it. Feel free to feel fine about it, but something being in your house doesn't mean you own it.
 

Griss

Member
And with the recent thread about the unlocks in Metroid: Samus Returns, a hard mode and gallery that are locked behind amiibo, - things that came standard in Metroid Zero Mission, I have to say, it's truly becoming ridiculous.

...wait, what the fuck? Say it ain't so!

I have no interest in their plastic tat, I just want to play hard mode. That's absolutely something that should come standard.

Until now they've been good at making amiibo rewards meaningless junk. This, however, would really piss me off.
 

Toxi

Banned
...wait, what the fuck? Say it ain't so!

I have no interest in their plastic tat, I just want to play hard mode. That's absolutely something that should come standard.

Until now they've been good at making amiibo rewards meaningless junk. This, however, would really piss me off.
I bet that there's another type of hard mode in the game without Amiibo support, since it's a Metroid standard, but it's possible the likely Amiibo-exclusive Fusion mode might have some differences beyond just allowing you to wear the Fusion Suit.
 
On the whole topic of spoofing amibo and how it legally works.

It could be argued that the content of the NFC-Tags inside the amibo statues is protected by copyright law. However copyrighting means that a certain amount of novelty and originality is connected to it. I'm not certain the tags even fullfil that criterium but for sake of argument lets assume it does.

Copying for private purposes is generally allowed under fair use. So if you own the amibo and copy it to a card for easier use that would not be a problem. In many countries it's prohibited by law to circumvent copy protection measures on copyrighted materials. However the NFC standard does not provide for any copy protection. So that isn't a problem either. You can use different apps on Android to read any NFC tag and write the data to another writable tag (which you can get for cheap).

Copying and reselling the contents might be problematic from a legal standpoint if the contents of the chips are copyrighted. This in the end would have to be decided in court (I don't think you can clearly attribute copyrightability to the chip contents given the small size and many technical necessities to them - of course the unlocked content would be copyrighted however that's not what's being copied).

As for ownership of the content. You don't own anything but a license. Depending on where you live there's different stuff you can legally put into a license agreement. Common examples include that software is only licensed for private use but not for commercial purposes or lending to other people. In all likelihood that would be the main legal issue with unlocking content through spoofing. Somebody would have to look it up if there's any provision in the license for the games that says something on only using original amibo to unlock stuff.
 

jstripes

Banned
How old are you, OP?

If you're <10 years old, it's probably fun as hell. (Too bad adults hoard them and kids can't get them.)
 

Nosgotham

Junior Member
clicking buy on an in game DLC menu isnt fun either.

at least i can use my amiibo in multiple games and they tend to look cool.
 
If Amiibos weren't always out of stock for the ones that mattered I don't think people would mind as much.

The fact that Nintendo loves to just..not make enough of their shit is infuriating.
 
Can some please make a good argument for Amiibo spoofing devices not being piracy? I just bought one and I'm feeling a bit conflicted.

I hate having shelves of plastic ugly junk around just to unlock dlc. MUCH easier to keep my amiiqo on hand and keep the amiibo in a box in the basement.
 
Is it actually true that you need an Amiibo to store your loadout in Splatoon. Like every time you boot the game you have to put all your shit back the way it was?
Good because that would be bad.
Your last used gear stays the same, but if you want to quickly swap between sets of gear you need to use Amiibo.

You can have 1 amiibo set to quickly equip an aerospray and shirt/shoes/headgear with primarily ink saver stats then have a 2nd amiibo that will swap you to a slosher and shirt/shoes/headgear with primarily run speed stats on them.

There is no way to store these quick swaps of gear without using amiibo. This shit has been in almost every game with loadouts since CoD 4 popularized it, and Nintendo stuffs it behind amiibos.
 

Toxi

Banned
The ability to use an Amiibo for content in multiple games is pointless if those games have significant content locked behind new Amiibo. You're not saving money if you have to keep buying new figurines.
 
If Amiibos weren't always out of stock for the ones that mattered I don't think people would mind as much.

The fact that Nintendo loves to just..not make enough of their shit is infuriating.

Hey Nintendo - will I be able to wear the traditional Link costume in Breath of the Wild?

- Sure you will. But you will need to purchase the appropriate Amiibo

OK, I can live with that, how much is the Amiibo?

- The Amiibo is not currently offered for sale.

Oh, when will it be offered for sale?

- The Amiibo will never be restocked

So how do I get the costume?

- Go fuck yourself. That's how.

.........ok.........
 

Cels

Member
I don't object to this, but let me also buy the skin as DLC. What is the harm? Why lock it behind a physical item?



But how can you love not having access to content by any other means? I'm not saying to get rid of amiibo. I'm saying let me buy content digitally.

nintendo seems to think that people would buy fewer amiibo if there weren't also some kind of exclusive dlc too, cause they would let people buy the DLC without also buying the amiibo

on top of that, nintendo hasn't made enough amiibo to meet demand, so they are often out of stock and some can only be purchased at inflated prices from the secondary markets
now people are amiibo spoofing, which is probably some sort of piracy but i'd give them a pass on it.
 

"D"

I'm extremely insecure with how much f2p mobile games are encroaching on Nintendo
Personally I could care less about the "DLC" purpose they serve, I see them more as little collectables. I haven't even scanned in my amiibo for Breath of the Wild cause I just plain forgot that I could. I see the unlocking extra stuff as an added benefit, but maybe that's just me.
 
Hey Nintendo - will I be able to wear the traditional Link costume in Breath of the Wild?

- Sure you will. But you will need to purchase the appropriate Amiibo

OK, I can live with that, how much is the Amiibo?

- The Amiibo is not currently offered for sale.

Oh, when will it be offered for sale?

- The Amiibo will never be restocked

So how do I get the costume?

- Go fuck yourself. That's how.

.........ok.........



This. So much this.
 

psyfi

Banned
I have zero interest in Amiibos and I really resent when content is locked behind them. Most annoying DLC ever.
 
It's all about perspective. For instance, being a lifelong series fan I got all the Zelda amiibo before we even knew BotW would use them in any way, just because I like having the figurines. The fact that they're good quality for their retail price also helps. The way I see it, I got a few cosmetic items extra. In all honesty, they were pretty useless in the game, so no one is really missing out.

Amiibo aren't the same as on-disc DLC. The latter is when a game is close to completion and then the dev/pub decides to lock content for some more cash flow. I don't think any of those items would have been included in the game if it wasn't for the figurines. After all, no other Zelda game has had the tunics from past games.

Wolf Link is the only functionality that's impossible to get otherwise. But even after leveling him up near max in TP HD, he still dies in no time and takes forever to eat the food you give him to replenish his hearts. The only thing useful about him is that he gives a different feel to the game when exploring. I wish they'd had made that into a mechanic that allows you to turn into a wolf when your hearts run out, or something along those lines.

The only issue with amiibo is the fact that Nintendo keeps arbitrarily making some of them retailer exclusive, which is both a pain in the ass and hurts your wallet even more if you're planning on getting each online. There is no excuse for making each of the 3 anniversary Links exclusive to one retailer. They definitely know lots of people want them all and yet they keep doing this.

Can't talk about other games since BotW is the only game where I used amiibo on but that's my 2 cents on the matter.
 

forrest

formerly nacire
I've always been of the mindset that cosmetics and extras should be unlockable through play and that the most intricate detailed pieces should come from very hard in game achievements. Kind of like World of Warcraft challenge mode rewards or Destiny's recent Age of Triumph armor sets.

Like many of us, it's easy to get FOMO when it comes to our games especially if you lean towards the completionist end of the spectrum. Nintendo's "Skylanders-lite" approach will continue to leverage this as long as it's making money unfortunately.

It's a neat concept overall and I do quite like the small figures, but at the current prices and availability causing inflated prices in the reseller market, I wouldn't actually call it fun either.
 

Berordn

Member
Aye well, whatever, the Ocarina version then. Or the Fierce Deity costume. It's not really important.

I mean, it's silly either way but the example you gave is at least not a terribly egregious one.

The spinner in Hyrule Warriors, for instance...
 

Kevdo

Member
Personally I just like having the figures, if they had no functionality it would make little difference to me.

That being said, OP is still right.I wonder, would it be a satisfactory solution to separately offer the amiibo unlocks as cheap digital purchases?

And amiibo are not worse than loot crates. Fuck loot crates.
 

Nydius

Member
It really isn't though. There's not a single piece of Amiibo DLC that makes you feel "left out" of anything. All the DLC it unlocks is something I'd pay $.99 for digitally. Which is crazy Nintendo doesn't just charge you $X.XX to unlock stuff.

No, it really IS.

Splatoon 1 unlocked a complete set of challenge modes for single player that effectively doubled the single player replay value (and added multiplayer gear as well) - but only if you dropped $34.99 (at launch) for the three pack of amiibo. If you were lucky enough to be able to get the three pack with the squid, that is - otherwise you were at the mercy of scalpers.

Challenge modes that would normally have been standard in previous games once completing the single player the first time. Now locked behind a toy paywall. When EA and Activision wall off disc content for Day 1 DLC and preorder bonuses, people rightfully bash the shit out of them. But Nintendo gets a pass for not only participating in the same behavior but being even more egregious by tying the locked content to expensive toys with scarcity issues.
 

Raysoul

Member
I can borrow and resell Amiibo, which you can't do with a normal DLC.

I also don't like locked content though. I think Nintendo should re-think how Amiibo should work so everybody can be happy. Have the Amiibo unlockables be obtainable in-game, even if it takes grinding. Amiibo's should only unlock the content easily.
 

Peltz

Member
No, it really IS.

Splatoon 1 unlocked a complete set of challenge modes for single player that effectively doubled the single player replay value (and added multiplayer gear as well) - but only if you dropped $34.99 (at launch) for the three pack of amiibo. If you were lucky enough to be able to get the three pack with the squid, that is - otherwise you were at the mercy of scalpers.

Challenge modes that would normally have been standard in previous games once completing the single player the first time. Now locked behind a toy paywall. When EA and Activision wall off disc content for Day 1 DLC and preorder bonuses, people rightfully bash the shit out of them. But Nintendo gets a pass for not only participating in the same behavior but being even more egregious by tying the locked content to expensive toys with scarcity issues.

Captain Toad had a similar type of deal locked behind the Toad amiibo. Metroid will too.

An entire mode should not be locked behind a figurine.

At first glance, I thought is was going to be a fetish thread about things the OP enjoys putting against his/ her controller.

I really like gripping it with my thumbs.
 
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