Notorious DRM Company Takes Aim At Switch Piracy (kotaku.com) 27
Denuvo, the company best known for its heavily-criticized PC gaming DRM technology, has set its sights on a new scourge: Nintendo Switch piracy. Kotaku reports: The software maker announced during GamesCom 2022 on Wednesday that it will begin selling a new product called Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection to prevent Switch games from being pirated on PC. It doesn't appear to be partnering with Nintendo on the initiative, which instead seems aimed mostly at third-party publishers of multiplatform games. "As with all other Denuvo solutions, the technology integrates seamlessly into the build toolchain with no impact on the gaming experience. It then allows for the insertion of checks into the code, which blocks gameplay on emulators," the company wrote in a press release. In the past, however, Denuvo's "checks" have been accused of making some games run worse.
"Even if a game is protected against piracy on its PC version, the released version on Switch can be emulated from day one and played on PC, therefore bypassing the strong protections offered on the PC version," Denuvo wrote. "The Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection will ensure that anyone wishing to play the game has to buy a legitimate copy."
"Even if a game is protected against piracy on its PC version, the released version on Switch can be emulated from day one and played on PC, therefore bypassing the strong protections offered on the PC version," Denuvo wrote. "The Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection will ensure that anyone wishing to play the game has to buy a legitimate copy."
Nintendo is all about the experience. (Score:2, Insightful)
As a shareholder, I hope they go after these fucks with prejudice for fucking with the brand.
Re: Nintendo is all about the experience. (Score:1, Troll)
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Isn't the purpose of Nintendo's "seal of quality" bullshit that caused the NES to have that blinking power button that would keep people hopelessly blowing into their cartridges to ensure that only high quality games get published for the platform?
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Oh and the games that didn't have the seal of quality didn't have the blinking power light problem.
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Future-proof? (Score:3)
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They either refuse (not every game gets re-released on future systems, after all), or they modify the source code to remove the protective software from the source?
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What will happen when Nintendo wants those third parties to re-release these protected titles on future systems, via emultaion?
The third parties recompile without this stuff? (shrug)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Nintendo games are meant to sell Nintendo systems, not the other way around. Charging every single developer that wants to sell their games on Nintendo systems and selling those systems is Nintendo's core business.
Basically what you're asking Nintendo to do is like asking Apple to start selling computers with Windows or selling macOS for DELL PCs.
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The point is that Apple doesn't "want your money". Selling OS licenses isn't their business. Vertical integration and controlling the entire ecosystem, that's their business. You say they aren't getting your money like if you were denying them something but, the thing is, they don't want "that" money.
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It still does, and on a MacOS host, it is supported. It isn't a great experience though due to lack of GPU acceleration.
You can for example set up a MacOS VM on VMWare Fusion. That is supported and totally legal. You could then copy that VM onto another VMWare Platform. That isn't supported, and probably not legal, but it will work.
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The Switch was an interesting novelty for a bit until the joycons started breaking constantly and they never fixed it. Even my third party ones don't pair right, nor any of the Pro controllers. I gave up on it years ago.
Sorry to hear about your joycon issues. Mine developed the infamous joycon drift problem, but I sent them to Nintendo's repair facility and they fixed them for free. They haven't had a problem since then.
Third-party controllers not pairing was a relatively small problem that some people reported after a recent update. It required un-pairing then re-pairing the controllers. Also, since the joycons use Bluetooth to connect, a noisy 2.4GHz environment can affect your signals. This can sometimes be mitigat
Really? (Score:2)
Unless they're adding extra chips to the cartridge the emulator writers will work around this in about three seconds.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Informative)
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And then denuvo will find new flaws, and then the new flaws will be fixed and it will go back and forth until yuzu/ryujinx are as precise as bsnes
will ensure nothing (Score:2)
You lost me on "The Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection will ensure"... Emulators are Turing complete, and you'll be forever trying to play cat and mouse with the users of the emulator. PCs are open ecosystems. If I wanted to download someone's ripped game and an emulator to play it, then I would Google for it, and be done with it already.
Weird reasoning (Score:3)
So, instead of releasing the PC version for a native "4K UHD experience with raytracing and whatnot", pirates are using the Switch version for a faster turnaround. Okay...
The issue is, Switch releases will be slower, lower res, and will have less features. This is not to disparage the native experience on the otherwise portable and cheap device, it does its job very well. However the quality difference will be obvious.
And let's not forget, network functionality will not work either. It will have even less features than the Switch.
Bottom line: I don't think the loss is that much. If someone is willing to run an emulated version of a pirated game, it is very unlikely they would be your customer anytime soon.
Yet, once again, Denuvo will inject their code to make the slower, and those 30 fps Switch releases will soon become choppy 15 fps experiences.
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Yet, once again, Denuvo will inject their code to make the slower, and those 30 fps Switch releases will soon become choppy 15 fps experiences.
Doesn't matter. The shareholders will eat it up and demand it's inclusion to "protect" their profits. Keep in mind this makes the Switch no different than an actual PC from the developer's point of view*, but we've long past the point of consoles having relevance to the consumer beyond primitive tribalism. That fact is also the reason why the "Nintendo Seal of Quality" doesn't exist anymore as a marketing gimmick.
*Consoles are no longer a "plug in the game and play it" device, and haven't been for a few
I pay for my software (Score:3)
Notorious DRM. (Score:3)