Comment by mjr00
4 hours ago
> I don't really understand the IP protection angle here [...] What's more interesting is the new ability to easily create ports of old games that let you play old games legally: Bringing your copy of the original's data files and playing on a modernised engine with high-resolution, unlocked FPS, bugfixes, etc. In the past couple of months, I've seen a bunch of vibe-coded ports of DOS games for which the source code was lost.
If you've noticed the obscene amount of ports, remakes, and remasters (most of which are done terribly) in recent years, it's obvious why certain people are pushing this as IP infringement. Companies were loving the fact that they could pull from a back-catalog of their PS2 games, get it compiling again, do some minor fixes to support modern widescreen/controllers/etc, maybe do some minor graphical enhancements, then resell a 20-year-old game for $60. Far less work than a new title, and far less risk since it has a built-in fanbase.
It's exploitative and shitty, to be clear, but it's understandable why some people are very upset about this.
> it's understandable why some people are very upset about this.
The people who are looking to lay off all their developers and lazily vibe code ports are furious that other randos are able to lazily vibe code ports just as easily.
/world's tiniest violin plays sad song/
Games aren't like old movies getting remastered that can be done in a rented-out storage container for a weekend. Video game ports are generally a skillset that takes time to master. Plus, getting a 20-year-old game running well on a new system isn't free. I'm on board with copyright protection incentivizing all that initial hard work, the years of blood sweat and tears will get to live on as long as possible.
Looks like software is having its Napster moment now. Except, instead of one entity dictating the rules of engagement and deciding to sue Napster and its clones out of existence, we have 100s of entities with competing interests.
IP has been a good source of revenue generation, that social contract is now broken. I've got my popcorn bowl ready though, the industry that just fought Google and Apple for better revenue sharing is about to take all that legal infrastructure they acquired and make a big mess of everything. Here's to the next decade hah.
Good thing now people can do this "expensive skillset" porting themselves. Game companies don't need to bother with such hard work :)
Right or wrong, it is literally IP infringement.
It isn’t if the website forces you to bring the ROM yourself. The Halo CE and God Of War ones work like that. They don’t provide the ROM and you can legally rip the ROM from a CD/DVD you have and play it legally.
If you own the game legally, ripping it and playing it on a web emulator is not illegal.
Yes, that is different. The Simpsons one doesn't ask you to bring a ROM, though.
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There are a few bad examples like Halo, Black Flag, and Oblivion but overall I think remakes/remasters over the last several years have been pretty good. Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Dead Space, Persona, Final Fantasy Tactics, Gothic, Super Mario/Paper Mario, and Tomb Raider all come to mind.
Regardless, IP holders should have the rights to distribution and while you may disagree with that it's still a legal protection they get to enjoy under our legal system.