Hacker News Reader

Comment by deergomoo | Hacker News Reader

I'm intrigued as to why they DMCA'd the Steam version when it's available on the Play Store and has been for quite a while.

I wonder if it's driven by the Steam Deck being a Switch-like device and they see it as a threat to any future plans of releasing GameCube/Wii games on NSO.

Then again Nintendo still insists that emulators are blanket illegal despite the disagreement of (at least US) court rulings, so maybe I'm looking too far into things.

View on HN

I wouldn't be surprised if it was because of the Steam Deck hardware. Also possible all the news coverage of leaked copies of 'Tears of the Kingdom' running on the Steam Deck prompted Nintendo to want to take a more aggressive posture towards emulation generally (even if dolphin doesn't emulate switch)

Yeah I think it’s because the Steam Deck is very similar to the Switch, whose sales have been declining drastically the last year or two. Recently a big wig at Nintendo said something to the effect of “we want people who already own a switch to buy a second switch”, a “one in every room” type of deal.

To me at least, playing emulated games on something like a phone is unpleasant, because of the on-screen, touch controls. It sours the nostalgia and is plain ol unpleasant. The controls use part of the screen and aren’t tactile at all.

is the Steam deck powerful enough to run Dolphin?

Yes. Sometimes it can even run better than native Switch games better than the Switch itself, but sometimes it doesn't. IIRC it depends on the game.

Dolphin doesn’t run Switch games.

Oh, I got completely confused. I guess that changes the answer to "almost everything can run well on dolphin on the Deck"

Yuzu does, though, and Yuzu runs so well on the Steam deck that it was accidentally shown in the launch video. You have youtubers saying to buy a steam deck and sell their switch for spare cash to offset the cost of the deck.

Nintendo is trying to do to its consoles and the 90s game nostalgia in general what Disney has done with the last 40 years or so of media: become the arbiter of this content by being an impossible to confront megalith.

I cynically think its all in retribution to teach all of those who would dare emulate Nintendo a lesson... As all of the takedowns since the Tears of the Kingdom leak seem to be. All in all it just steels my resolve never to give Nintendo money.

Valve < Nintendo << Google?

Maybe but I doubt either Google, Valve or any marketplace would intercede on Dolphin's behalf and risk their safe harbor.

What'll be interesting to see is if Dolphin officially objects, and if Valve reinstate it on that basis.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com