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Nintendo's claim that emulation 'stifles innovation' isn't just absurd—it's hypocritical
(www.pcgamer.com)
this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2023
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That's why I like GOG. No DRM bullshit and they actually put in some effort to make old games run on modern hardware.
When it comes to console games, emulation is the only way to go most of the time. If only they would just let you buy ROMs legally for a fair price. Instead Nintendo likes to give you a sub par experience and only if you subscribe to their service. No way to purchase old games. Not that you ever really owned the eShop games you bought, but at least it was not tied to a bloody subscription service.
I feel some kind of way lately about the superior experience available with emulators vs the original console, too. Like, do you want to buy a switch and a ~$70 game to play Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in 720p at 30fps and with no ability to adjust the control mappings, or do you want to emulate it at 1440p 60fps and use your favorite controller set up just the way you like it? And that's not even accounting for mods, which could include accessibility improvements (by god, why is there not a color blind mode in a 2023 game? I hate to think what that game must be like for people who can't distinguish blue/green or yellow/orange, when using the powers that rely on highlighting objects in those colors.)
The system as is now asks people to pay more for an inferior experience than the people who download it and emulate it, and inferior than the one people get if they do have legal copies but use those legal copies to set up an "illegal" - per Nintendo - emulator for the game they legitimately bought. When Nintendo attacks emulators, it screws over both pirates and people who literally bought the game on switch, and would probably buy it on PC too if they could, who just want that better experience.
Tldr: longwinded agreement with you
@Lowbird @Link To add to this, when Nintendo attacks emulators they even screw over folks that buy their games to show support and then play them via emulator for the benefits they provide over the original hardware.
Sure, that may be an exceedingly small number of folks, but I've personally done this with older titles simply 'cause emulation provides so much more flexibility. I'd do similar with other platforms' recent games if it was as viable (looking at you specific PS3/PS4 exclusives).
My brother bought an original box case of SWAT 4 for over 100 dollars, saying it was the only way he could get it, I then bought it on GOG for 9 bucks lol. He then swapped to saying he wanted it for the box and art and all that (which is a valid reason), but that definitely wasn't why he spend 100+
I would guess that was after he found out the disc doesn't run on a modern PC.
It actually did work! idk how lol