An open letter to Nintendo about Emulators: You’re doing it wrong…

* UPDATE *

Writing this in the heat of the moment, I was incorrect with my understanding of one part of this story. Nintendo did not file a DMCA take down request. Nintendo sent a cease and desist, where they mentioned their rights under the DMCA. This is an important distinction that I missed.

As to the numerous comments on this editorial claiming the Dolphin emulator uses Nintendo intellectual property, I am not a lawyer, but we’ll have to watch and see if a court case establishes that an encryption key can be considered IP. In much the same way that if someone were to “hack” your laptop because your password was “12345”, would we consider that password intellectual property?

This is an ongoing legal battle, and akin to the fight over DVD encryption, the idea of an encryption key being protected IP doesn’t seem to have been tested directly in any recent court cases. Considering the complexity of code required to run a computer or game console, I stand by my statement that the Dolphin emulator does not include any proprietary Nintendo IP, even for it including an encryption key. Many will disagree with me, but I believe including Nintendo’s “password” is not the same as including more complex code.

I’m leaving the letter as originally written, to maintain the emotional tone of the editorial. I always welcome debate, but rude or insulting comments will of course be scrubbed.

* Original Editorial *

Dear Nintendo,

This emulator stuff? I think you’re doing it wrong.

I have a LOT of fondness for your games. My family has been into gaming since the earliest days of arcades and Atari home consoles. I was so fortunate to grow up in the early 80’s with nerd parents who were ahead of the curve on video gaming.

We rode the wave of your classic consoles through the 8-bit, 16-bit, and 64-bit eras. To this day, my younger siblings still sport Switches as their primary gaming solutions.

I still have a lot of classic Nintendo gear, mostly in storage, but I got off the console gaming train around the Wii and PS3 hardware generation.

I’m also a PC nerd. Software licensing was changing back then. In the early 2000’s, PC gaming started experimenting with online stores and digital distribution. There was a lot of anxious editorializing of online stores, copy protection, verification, and “ownership”.

Years later, we still face some challenges with titles in online shops. We might not really “own” that content when it’s licensed to web stores, but the generational convenience has kept me far more invested in PC gaming than in recent console gaming.

The idea of buying a box, then buying content for a box, and only being able to consume that content on one box, is sorely antiquated. My Wife and I ran into that limitation hard with Playstations. Continue reading “An open letter to Nintendo about Emulators: You’re doing it wrong… “

March 7, 2014

You can do better than this commercial Samsung. Confusing “HD” with more MegaPixels? Really?

Dear Samsung,

I’m a fan of your work. I think you cracked the code on funny ads which skewer your competition (namely Apple). Those spots featuring people sitting in lines for the next iPhone? Priceless.

Samsung? Are you comparing the Galaxy S4 to an iPhone 4S? Seriously?

Of late however, it seems like you might be struggling. Depending on fiscal quarter, you’re often the number one in sales. It’s a little harder to beat up on your competition when you’re in the top spot without looking like a bully. We’re also reaching that point where it’s getting a bit more difficult to communicate to consumers why they should upgrade their phones, when it seems like all we’re getting are modest spec bumps.

Case in point, your most recent ad featuring the Galaxy S4’s camera is the worst combination of picking on Apple and throwing around meaningless buzz words and specs to try and impress us.

I honestly don’t mind a snarky tone, but it’s the absurd implications of what “Full HD” means which bothers me.

First of all, “Full HD” really only pertains to video and is a consumer shorthand for 1080p, which itself is an abbreviation of the actual video resolution of 1920×1080. Thirty times a second, a 1920×1080 resolution image is flashed on the screen which allows for fluid and highly detailed video. It has NOTHING to do with still photography. That’s where megapixels come into play. The iPhone’s 8MP camera shoots 1080p video, but each still is 3264×2448. That’s a whole lot more than “Full HD” isn’t it? You missed out on an opportunity to feature drama shot more fully, and to brag that pictures from your camera will have a resolution of 4128×3096.

Of course this is all inane as you can’t even win the resolution war. Nokia has you handily slapped with 20MP (4992×3744) and 40MP (7152×5368) resolution cameras. What’s worst, I’ve detailed on numerous occasions how resolution doesn’t mean you’ll get better images. Things like OIS and image processing can often provide more significant improvements to photos and videos than just having millions more dots. Congratulations, you’ve brought us back to the MEGAPIXEL WARS that consumer point and shoot cameras fought years ago.

Not to mention phones like your own Galaxy Note 3 or the LG G Flex are capable of delivering 4K video which is FOUR TIMES the resolution of the video on the GS4. Doesn’t little Jack deserve full motion video with that kind of clarity for his big life moment?

This is not your best work Samsung. We all know you can do better than this. As we’re closing in on the release of the Galaxy S5, which many are criticizing for not being enough of a departure or upgrade from the S4, hopefully your ad agency is able to bring a bit more nuance to the discussion.

Sincerely,

SomeGadgetGuy

August 31, 2013

A Letter to HTC: The HTC One Mini isn’t THAT mini…

Dear HTC,

I like the One Mini a lot. I think you’ve largely succeeded in bringing a nicer experience to the mid range Android ecosystem. The fit and finish are outstanding, and in many ways it out shines its bigger brother One. There are a few things I’m going to be critical about when I wrap up my review, but honestly there aren’t any severe deal breakers here. It’s a great little phone.

You know what is bothering me about the HTC One Mini however? Your advertising for the phone.

You remember two sentences ago, when I said it was “…a great little phone”? The problem is, it’s not THAT little. In fact it’s ever so slightly bigger than the Moto X. This wouldn’t be a problem by itself. The phone IS smaller than the original One, so you have every right to call it the “Mini”. I guess I’m just a little disappointed to continue seeing press pictures of the Mini like this on your official HTC site:

Nice! That makes the Mini look like it’s a tiny wunder-phone. A Mighty Mouse here to save the day from all of these gargantuan mini-tablets! Huzzah!

Unfortunately reality look more like this:

Yeah… See that’s not what you showed us it would be. That’s actually pretty close in size to the original One. This is the problem with forced perspective and Photoshop. Moving the Mini in front of the One would actually make the One appear to be smaller as it would be slightly farther away from the “camera”. To recreate the size difference you showcase I actually had to move the One closer to the camera:

I know, I know a LOT of tech has to be crammed in there like a 4.3″ 720p screen and those terrific Boomsound speakers. I get it. But you didn’t have to lie to us.

Ahem, I mean, you didn’t have to exaggerate the differences in size for dramatic effect.

Love,

SomeGadgetGuy

P.S.

Click here to watch my video first impressions of the HTC One Mini.