People already using Ouya to play ROMs

by **robometal cowboy** » 07 Jan 2013 02:00

People already using Ouya to play ROMs
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You can bet there are going to be many, many devs that are quite unhappy with this news.

Direct link here

by **LegendofSantiago** » 07 Jan 2013 02:08

That's a selling point to the majority if the potential ouya market

by **Einar1025** » 07 Jan 2013 02:08

I don't really see how this hurts Nintendo or any major dev in any serious way.

If they are playing things that they can attain legitimately, yes I see the issue. But otherwise I do not.

by **Cape_Mario** » 07 Jan 2013 02:20

That didn't take long

by **enigmaxtreme** » 07 Jan 2013 02:23

This is gonna be the Ouyas biggest hurdle, dealing with the potential lawsuits from the big 3 about these emulators

by **The_Dude1212** » 07 Jan 2013 02:23

Einar1025 wrote:I don't really see how this hurts Nintendo or any major dev in any serious way.

If they are playing things that they can attain legitimately, yes I see the issue. But otherwise I do not.

All the games are obtainable legitimately. Even if they are mostly if all through the used games market, in rare quantities and exorbitant prices, they are still not making money off these 'new' copies.

In short, devs get pissy they're not getting royalty checks from people who download ROMs, and while I think it is silly they do, I would be raising hell alongside them if I poured years of my life into developing a creative project and wasn't rewarded as such for recognition.

by **internet** » 07 Jan 2013 02:47

I hope those devs will take comforts in knowing that microsoft received a 15$ payment for that unit for some silly patents , not as silly as the one they could have asked for the rasberry pi but a reality nonetheless. It's funny how that works

by **Windsor** » 07 Jan 2013 03:09

This is going to get me hate, but I don't care.

If it's on the Virtual Console, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Steam, or anywhere else, emulation is theft, and it's inexcusable. The fact that this is such a huge draw for the Ouya is quite uncomfortable if you ask me.

I don't emulate much, but my personal stance on emulation is that if you can't pay the original developers or the current rights holders for the ability to play, well, there's still copyright law and all that, but there's no harm done if there literally isn't a way to pay the developer for their work. But in this day and age it's highly likely that there is indeed a way to support the developers even if the game is twenty+ years old.

by **MetroidMan5000** » 07 Jan 2013 03:36

People realize that the Ouya is just an Android machine, right?

You don't think it's something on it's own, do you?

by **scikoolaid** » 07 Jan 2013 03:50

This is the only reason I might get one. Indie games which are actually good isn't a big enough list to merit the need to buy this hardware at all.

@Einar1025 If anything it might put a small fire under their asses to get with the program, and offer more features for their virtual console games which are no where close to how unofficial emulators do the job and with tons of customizing options.

@Windsor Your selective enforcement of law is not very convincing. Copyright law is crap to begin with, coming up with a reason to ignore it for those who can't immediately benefit from it is appalling to say the least. If you haven't delved into it enough to form an encompassing opinion on it you'll probably do better to just keep it to yourself until you do.

by **XCWarrior** » 07 Jan 2013 07:44

I'm not shocked. Piracy is a problem yet again. Sometimes I'm amazed developers like giving digital download the time of day, makes this kind of stuff so much easier.

by **theimporter** » 07 Jan 2013 07:51

Yes, because emulation on PC and Mac OS have been killing the retro gaming scene on VC, XBLA and PSN.... oh wait!

Emulation has been around since the mid-90' and it's still there today. This site has been around for well over 15 years now, still kicking:
http://www.planetemu.net/

by **J0RdAnN** » 07 Jan 2013 08:54

Called this from the moment I first heard about Ouya. Emulation is illegal, and I only condone in in special cases like the Brodcast Satellite Zelda Games which are unobtainable otherwise.

by **t27duck** » 07 Jan 2013 09:29

Well it is just an Android OS in a box. Who didn't see this coming?

Doubt any pub houses will try to do anything about it. Stuff like this has been going on for Android, PC, Mac, Linux, etc forever.

If anything the legality issue is on the user, not the "console" or OS maker.

by **Frank** » 07 Jan 2013 09:34

J0RdAnN wrote:Emulation is illegal

Emulation is absolutely not illegal. When you fire up VC on your Wii or 3DS, play OoT on the GameCube, buy Sega Genesis games on Steam or use something like a Retrode to play SNES games on your PC, the law is 100% on your side. Emulators themselves are perfectly legal.

Playing backup copies of ROMs, like in this case, is a bit of a grey area no matter how they're obtained largely because copyright holders have never brought a case to cort, which is honestly because there's a fair chance they'd lose such a case and make this kind of emulation entirely legal.

The only thing that's explicitly illegal is distributing ROMs if you're not the copyright holder.

by **BlueRangerVegeta** » 07 Jan 2013 10:21

Einar1025 wrote:I don't really see how this hurts Nintendo or any major dev in any serious way.

If they are playing things that they can attain legitimately, yes I see the issue. But otherwise I do not.

The sense of entitlement these "artists" have never ceases to amaze and disguist me. Pirating games released this gen is one thing but getting pissy about people downloading old roms is another

No other industry is like this that I can think of except the "creative" induatries namely Hollywood and the MPAA/RIAA.. I work as an engineer and guess what? If anybody reuses my plans/drawings/designs/details/notes/ect I never see a penny of it. I get paid for the initial work, that is it. When san attorney drafts a swt of boilerplate docs for a new company he isn't paid everytime they are used. It is once and that is it..

Thats a big problem in this world. Copyright laws for "artists" favor them and the corporations way too much and the consumer too little.

by **Zug Zug** » 07 Jan 2013 10:25

This is such a pointless product.

by **Deep4t** » 07 Jan 2013 10:33

the whole point of the ouyo is its designed to get hacked.
massive oversight there.

If it gets hacked so people can get all the games for free, developers will stop making games for it, and it'll die off.
It's a bit silly really.

Emulators are so easy to get, this is a non-issue really. I guess it'll increase piracy since its on the tv and more appealing

by **MAGNUS-8M** » 07 Jan 2013 10:48

For some reason, I seem to remember that Renegade Kid also got an Ouya recently...

by **HammerGalladeBro** » 07 Jan 2013 11:36

This was the first thing that came to my ming when I first read about OUYA.

by **Nintendude92** » 07 Jan 2013 12:04

RMC, this was subliminally a huge selling point of OUYA.

As soon as it was open source android, this was certain.

by **Shaanyboi** » 07 Jan 2013 12:48

Oh no... all that sweet dough being made off of... street fighter 2....

by **metalpants** » 07 Jan 2013 13:20

The Ouya is out??!?!?!?

by **komicturtle92** » 07 Jan 2013 13:40

I'm getting my Ouya (originally backed it up) but I'm not getting it for emulation. It's an interesting console that I hope becomes it's own success. I would love to see original indie games comes to Ouya.

Just not looking forward to people bragging how they hacked and sideloaded games. A majority of Android users have this entitlement to anything and everything free. That's why Ouya's concept is that games should have some "free" into it, whether it be demoes or free to play. The smartphone market has seriously poisoned the minds of consumers.

by **whosmav** » 07 Jan 2013 13:58

Emulators are everywhere, and yet the original MM is making money again on 3ds. Go figure. The important thing it seems is that piracy needs to remain more difficult than it is obtain by legal means. Most people don't want to pirate games. Personally, I feel like the experience is detracted when you pirate.... for some reason I enjoy a game more thoroughly when it's legitimately attained.