• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Nintendo takes down videos of TAS, rom-hacked games on Nicovideo

zelas

Member
i don't think Nintendo is that stupid. if they ever messed with the GDQs, the bad press they would get would be pretty big. it would be they basically blocking charity and that's a big no-no. GDQs will proceed the same as usual.
not to mention everything in the GDQs is done on real hardware. emulators are never used there (except for official ones like Virtual console) and rom hacks are never there at all.

Isn't Kazio Mario World just a rom hack played on a reproduction cart?
 
i don't think Nintendo is that stupid. if they ever messed with the GDQs, the bad press they would get would be pretty big. it would be they basically blocking charity and that's a big no-no. GDQs will proceed the same as usual.
not to mention everything in the GDQs is done on real hardware. emulators are never used there (except for official ones like Virtual console) and rom hacks are never there at all.

i still want to see Nintendo shoot themselves in the foot just to see the shitstorm.
I think you might be right.
I also agree with you about the spoiler comment.
 

xaszatm

Banned
I'm always surprised when people are surprised that Nintendo does this. I mean, they have two pages existing on IP policy and one in particular that specifically talks about how the are against things such as emulation. Now, whether you actually agree with this or not, it's still there for everyone to see so it's not like its hidden information

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

Nintendo said:
How Does Nintendo Feel About the Emergence of Video Game Emulators?

The introduction of emulators created to play illegally copied Nintendo software represents the greatest threat to date to the intellectual property rights of video game developers. As is the case with any business or industry, when its products become available for free, the revenue stream supporting that industry is threatened. Such emulators have the potential to significantly damage a worldwide entertainment software industry which generates over $15 billion annually, and tens of thousands of jobs.

What Does Nintendo Think of the Argument that Emulators are Actually Good for Nintendo Because it Promotes the Nintendo Brand to PC Users and Leads to More Sales?

Distribution of an emulator developed to play illegally copied Nintendo software hurts Nintendo's goodwill, the millions of dollars invested in research & development and marketing by Nintendo and its licensees. Substantial damages are caused to Nintendo and its licensees. It is irrelevant whether or not someone profits from the distribution of an emulator. The emulator promotes the play of illegal ROMs , NOT authentic games. Thus, not only does it not lead to more sales, it has the opposite effect and purpose.

How Come Nintendo Does Not Take Steps Towards Legitimizing Nintendo Emulators?

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.

People Making Nintendo Emulators and Nintendo ROMs are Helping Publishers by Making Old Games Available that are No Longer Being Sold by the Copyright Owner. This Does Not Hurt Anyone and Allows Gamers to Play Old Favorites. What's the Problem?

The problem is that it's illegal. Copyrights and trademarks of games are corporate assets. If these vintage titles are available far and wide, it undermines the value of this intellectual property and adversely affects the right owner. In addition, the assumption that the games involved are vintage or nostalgia games is incorrect. Nintendo is famous for bringing back to life its popular characters for its newer systems, for example, Mario and Donkey Kong have enjoyed their adventures on all Nintendo platforms, going from coin-op machines to our latest hardware platforms. As a copyright owner, and creator of such famous characters, only Nintendo has the right to benefit from such valuable assets.

Isn't it Okay to Download Nintendo ROMs for Games that are No Longer Distributed in the Stores or Commercially Exploited? Aren't They Considered "Public Domain"?

No, the current availability of a game in stores is irrelevant as to its copyright status. Copyrights do not enter the public domain just because they are no longer commercially exploited or widely available. Therefore, the copyrights of games are valid even if the games are not found on store shelves, and using, copying and/or distributing those games is a copyright infringement.

Haven't the Copyrights for Old Games Expired?

U.S. copyright laws state that copyrights owned by corporations are valid for 75 years from the date of first publication. Because video games have been around for less than three decades, the copyrights of all video games will not expire for many decades to come.

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.

I mean, agree or disagree, they are pretty clear on this matter.
 

Koren

Member
NeoGAF will be closed by Nintendo? I remember a challenge using Lunar Magic that lead to many clones of SMW ^_^

Romhacks and TAS videos are done on not legal copies of games.
They're probably not done totally legally most of the time, but it's perfectly possible.

Especially now that there's USB SNES carts readers that allow to play real carts (and patch them on the go if needed)
 
I'm always surprised when people are surprised that Nintendo does this. I mean, they have two pages existing on IP policy and one in particular that specifically talks about how the are against things such as emulation. Now, whether you actually agree with this or not, it's still there for everyone to see so it's not like its hidden information

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



I mean, agree or disagree, they are pretty clear on this matter.

It doesn't really matter if they've explained themselves. It's still embarrassing and makes them look like a dinosaur - especially because no one else does nonsense like this.
 

Madao

Member
Err, TAS videos aren't inherently on non "real games".

There are TAS demonstrations there, so it'd be affected all the same.

the TAS demos are on real hardware since the bot is just feeding the game the button presses to replicate the TAS in real hardware.

i dunno but seems that a lot of people forgot what was the real goal of TASes. it was to make sequences that are beyond a human's reflexes and can be reproduced on real hardware all along but the tech wasn't there initially. nowadays, we have things like TASbot that makes this goal a reality. emulators are just a part of the process in creating the TAS but the final product can work without any emulation involved.

i'm pretty sure Nintendo doesn't even know this so they'll take down a video done in real hardware and that will start a shitstorm regardless.
 

Brashnir

Member
I'm always surprised when people are surprised that Nintendo does this. I mean, they have two pages existing on IP policy and one in particular that specifically talks about how the are against things such as emulation. Now, whether you actually agree with this or not, it's still there for everyone to see so it's not like its hidden information

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



I mean, agree or disagree, they are pretty clear on this matter.

People aren't criticizing a lack of clarity of their policies, they're criticizing the policies themselves.
 

FyreWulff

Member
I would say this wouuldn't fly.. but they're part owners of nico, so i guess they can do with their property what they want to.
 
i still want to see Nintendo shoot themselves in the foot just to see the shitstorm.

It worked wonders for competitive Smash, LOL.

Seriously, though, this is dumb--and entirely expected, in Nintendo's case. At this point I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.
 

Kama_1082

Banned
You say that as though hacks or tool-assisted runs damage their brands.
That's not my call to make as it's not that my IP is being manipulated, but I can definitely see how they are against it. They have explicitly said that no one is to emulate their games whatsoever, no matter what the reason. It's written on their site in black and white.
 
You'd think a game dev would be savvy enough to know where their priorities lie. Someone making TAS videos of some super old ass games is not a legitimate threat to your IP. You're just ruining some fan's day for no reason other than formality.
 

jimi_dini

Member
Is there any more information on this than a Japanese blog post?

What I find really weird is that other TAS videos are still available.

For example this here - all sorts of Majora's Mask TAS videos:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm25189727

It seems at least the GBA Mario Kart video was uploaded by user cstrakm, who still has a few videos up and those remaining videos have ads enabled. So it seems actually the ads were the problem, not the TAS videos themselves.

WCguiER.jpg


EDIT: user ISMin, that uploaded Kirby, has ads enabled for other videos too.
 

sörine

Banned
I'm always surprised when people are surprised that Nintendo does this. I mean, they have two pages existing on IP policy and one in particular that specifically talks about how the are against things such as emulation. Now, whether you actually agree with this or not, it's still there for everyone to see so it's not like its hidden information

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



I mean, agree or disagree, they are pretty clear on this matter.
People are surprised because Nintendo's never taken legal action against emulator makers, even commercial ones. They go after ROM hosts/uploaders, and joint action against companies who make/sell game copiers, but that's pretty much it before.

I don't really think this is an "emulation" issue.
 

xk0sm0sx

Member
Is there any more information on this than a Japanese blog post?

For now it's all speculation, since there's no official word on what happened yet.
Anyway in the blog you can see a few charts. It shows that videos tagged under "TAS" and "Kaizo Mario" have dropped severely the past few days, (about a hundred were removed).

It seems at least the GBA Mario Kart video was uploaded by user cstrakm, who still has a few videos up and those remaining videos have ads enabled. So it seems actually the ads were the problem, not the TAS videos themselves.

Hmm, as a premium user I can skip the ads, so I'm wondering if the ads were actually turned on for video monetization, or rather to support Nicovideo.

I have also not heard of any ad monetization program for Nicovideo other than Nico's own Creator's Program which Nintendo have joined in.
 
You do know that making backups is perfectly legal, right? And that it's entirely possible to make rom hacks and TASes of said legal backups?

if in the united states, making backups is illegal *IF* you have to circumvent ANY form of copy protection (which could be interpreted to include having to use a custom interface to acccess the chip).

it may be perfectly legal in other countries, such as japan, but here in the states if you have to bypass any form of protection at all, its a dmca violation to make a copy.
 
Nintendo's responses as to why they don't support emulators (as posted earlier) are more or less irrelevant as far as TASes and other videos go.

What their responses fail to take into account (conveniently, for them) is that emulators and personal backups aren't illegal at all. They instead speak around the issue and only talk about the fact that emulators can be used to play games which have been distributed illegally (which is a fair point on their end) and frame it as though emulators can only be used to play said illegal copies.

The problem with that is that unless Nintendo can prove that the roms being used are illegal, there's nothing they can do about people posting videos of them.

I think that's why they're removing them for monetary reasons. They know that there's no way they can realistically prove that the roms being used aren't legal so instead they're opting to just pull videos with any roms down since they can't control them.

Only problem is, this also hurts people who are playing (and making videos) completely legally, which in no way helps Nintendo at all. This whole thing comes off like Nintendo throwing a tantrum about the fact that they can't control the ecosystem.
 
They have explicitly said that no one is to emulate their games whatsoever, no matter what the reason.

Even under our absurdly corporate-friendly copyright laws that isn't a thing Nintendo actually has the legal power to demand.

if in the united states, making backups is illegal *IF* you have to circumvent ANY form of copy protection (which could be interpreted to include having to use a custom interface to acccess the chip).

No, it couldn't. No cartridge-based system uses any technology that qualifies under the DMCA anti-circumvention rules.
 

JSoup

Banned
it may be perfectly legal in other countries, such as japan, but here in the states if you have to bypass any form of protection at all, its a dmca violation to make a copy.

While Nintendo and other companies will tell you this and try to sue over it, it's been upheld in court several times that your right to create a personal backup supersedes their right to prevent you. If they don't want you making backups, the only recourse they have so to either A. Make it difficult for you to do that or B. Scare you into not wanting to do it.
 

levyjl1988

Banned
They'll probably mirror the videos somewhere else on the internet, other than that.
Nintendo likes to get negative press. First comes lack of stock followed by lack of amiibo's to this. Nintendo the new Ubisoft?
 

xk0sm0sx

Member
People are speedrunning Mario Kart with rom hacks? Wtf.

Yeah, there's plenty of creative TAS videos.
There's a Made In Wario speedrun, and there's also a Dr Mario one which shows two TAS fighting against each other, one at level 0, one at level 20.
 

Dunkley

Member
I mean, agree or disagree, they are pretty clear on this matter.

At first due to the wording I though this was a fan article, but I'm actually surprised how clearly they even outlined things related to internet rumors (24 hour rule, second copy). Illegal emulation seems to be a big issue to Nintendo, which makes me sad since those people are also hurting the good number of people (at least here on GAF) that use emulators only for personal backups.

Old men are the future!

UNATCO?
 

dose

Member
Nintendo's responses as to why they don't support emulators (as posted earlier) are more or less irrelevant as far as TASes and other videos go.

What their responses fail to take into account (conveniently, for them) is that emulators and personal backups aren't illegal at all. They instead speak around the issue and only talk about the fact that emulators can be used to play games which have been distributed illegally (which is a fair point on their end) and frame it as though emulators can only be used to play said illegal copies.

The problem with that is that unless Nintendo can prove that the roms being used are illegal, there's nothing they can do about people posting videos of them.

I think that's why they're removing them for monetary reasons. They know that there's no way they can realistically prove that the roms being used aren't legal so instead they're opting to just pull videos with any roms down since they can't control them.

Only problem is, this also hurts people who are playing (and making videos) completely legally, which in no way helps Nintendo at all. This whole thing comes off like Nintendo throwing a tantrum about the fact that they can't control the ecosystem.
Great post, and you took the words right out of my mouth. They fail to mention that having rom backups of your own games is perfectly legal, and so emulators are not ilegal whatsoever. Nintendo being Nintendo.
 
Nintendo makes no sense. I can only guess they consider those to be "not proper representations of the gameplay" or something. I think that's why Nintendo doesn't condone emulator use, though of course they most probably take roms offline for economic purposes.
 
For the record, unless I'm mistaken, the great purge of playthroughs youtube experienced never happened on nico nico. You'll have no problem finding Shining Force III playthroughs, etc. Videogame playthroughs probably make up a much larger percentage of nico nico's content than youtube, if not the majority of content on the site (the section including games and anime features several times more recent uploads than the other sections). Essentially, if you're posting a gameplay video and you're Japanese, you're most likely posting it on this website. So this might piss off a considerable portion of the playthrough community, but it's probably hard to say what real consequences if any there will be for Nintendo for doing so.
 

REDSLATE

Member
Honestly, if it's just videos of speed-run cheating, is it really that big of a deal, or is this in fear of cause-effect (removing videos of emulation and such)?
 
Honestly, if it's just videos of speed-run cheating, is it really that big of a deal, or is this in fear of cause-effect (removing videos of emulation and such)?

This isn't "just speed-run cheating". TAS and rom-hacks are big projects which can require months of work and are made by very dedicated and talented people. Nintendo has no reason to intervene here in any way. (Unless it's really just about monetization)
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Honestly, if it's just videos of speed-run cheating, is it really that big of a deal, or is this in fear of cause-effect (removing videos of emulation and such)?
Please explain how this TAS can be described as "speed-run cheating"?

TASs allow people to demonstrate things possible in a game that are almost impossible to do in real time. As such they are not really representative of what the game is usually like for the average person so you can't even use the same argument of being able to experience the game without playing it yourself like you can with a Let's Play.
 

Pyccko

Member
Welp, guess I better download the videos of the Mario Kumikyoku and the Item Abuse TAS before Nintendo eradicates them. What a silly company.
 
if in the united states, making backups is illegal *IF* you have to circumvent ANY form of copy protection (which could be interpreted to include having to use a custom interface to acccess the chip).

it may be perfectly legal in other countries, such as japan, but here in the states if you have to bypass any form of protection at all, its a dmca violation to make a copy.

Nope.

As said above, there are certain consumer laws that have been in place for decades, and allow users to have specific things they can and can't do with software. You can make a one-off backup copy, as long as you're not using it for personal profit or illegal copying, you can augment or modify the files on your disc as you see fit, and you can sell it once provided that (once again) it is not for personal profit.

Contrary to what Nintendo (or even Steam) claims, you have rights when it comes to the software you purchase.
 

SerTapTap

Member
i don't think Nintendo is that stupid. if they ever messed with the GDQs, the bad press they would get would be pretty big. it would be they basically blocking charity and that's a big no-no. GDQs will proceed the same as usual.
not to mention everything in the GDQs is done on real hardware. emulators are never used there (except for official ones like Virtual console) and rom hacks are never there at all.

i still want to see Nintendo shoot themselves in the foot just to see the shitstorm.

There's always a TAS block in recent GDQs, usually they'll bring a bot that inputs TAS inputs on live hardware but they've played romhacks and crap before (Kazio, a straight romhack and I Wanna Be The Boshy which uses a great deal of unlicensed assets from Nintendo and more)

I agree that Nintendo probably isn't quite that stupid though.

This isn't "just speed-run cheating". TAS and rom-hacks are big projects which can require months of work and are made by very dedicated and talented people. Nintendo has no reason to intervene here in any way. (Unless it's really just about monetization)

Does Nicovideo even have any sort of monetization program like Youtube?
 
Top Bottom