Heres a story about a developer who, screwed over by his publisher who couldn't get him the source code or any assets from the original game, used MAME to create a phone port of Spy Hunter. Amazing story. One of my favorite psp games is the Midway Arcade Classics, makes me wonder if its just all MAME code and roms. http://www.ppl-pilot.com.nyud.net/mame.aspx
Wow, and i bet they got paid like shit too. It was a very nice story makes me wary about if i want to do anything with programming (not even in gaming, just programing in general).
Great story. And kudos to the guy mentioning MAME and praising it on his last paragraph. Thankfully emulators like MAME keep those games alive. PS: It's just me or that company ethics are really low? I was shocked on pratically everything, including the part where a fan of the game had all original sound files avaiable (something the company didn't). Even though it helped them on the process of re-releasing the game, they were already asking their legal department to go over the fan of the game?! WTF I understand the legal issues there, but c'mon... Before anything, they should have said "thank you"!
I'm pretty sure there was a Wii game released in the not too distant past that was basically a MAME port but it wasn't authorised and included GPL code without acknowledgment or following the requirements of GPL. It may not have been Wii or MAME, my memory of it is very sketchy, perhaps someone else remembers? EDIT: It was ScummVM and developer Mistic Software - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ScummVM#Mistic.27s_GPL_violations
Yeah, that's just fucking low. It's a real shame the small man can't fight back against these corporations.
Publishers are dicks. I have quite a few bad storries from over the years. I mean seriously how would you like it if at 11pm your producer calls you at home (which you just got to 1 hour prior) saying someone broke the build and you need to come back in to fix it. Even if someone else broke the game, I had to go back in and fix it, waste 30 mins for the damn GBA tool to burn a new flash cart, test, then resend. I'd probably waste 1-2 hours in total fixing the bug to resend it. Hell this happened multiple times on the project and I don't fully blame my producer because the publisher had her personal cell and was calling her up at home at night to complain about the build.
Actually I think the legal department's hands were tied on this one. If they say "thank you" or otherwise encourage that individual's copyright infringement then that could later be used against them in court. Same with telling him to remove the files - if it can be shown that they knew about infringement but didn't defend their copyright this can also cause problems later. It's a shitty scenario, but the fault lies with modern copyright legislation (which is overtly tuned toward defending big corporations and stifling individual use), not with the legal department of that developer.
I know all the legal stuff there. Still, if it wasn't for the fan "breaking the law", they wouldn't have the original sound files in the first place. In other words they would be screwed. Plus this part is interesting: "We had signed a contract to do some mobile ports of some old Midway arcade titles for a publisher who was subcontracting us on behalf of a much larger publisher." So the publisher would be screwed as it wouldn't be a perfect port, something that was required by the "much larger publisher". Also, they promised the original assets to the guy, and when they couldn't find it / get it, they said : "Fuck it, you signed a contract with us. We demand the product and that's it. It's not our problem." If anyone was breaking the law there (or at least having total lack of commom sense), was the publisher that wanted a miracle - something the guy actually made it, thanks to MAME and that Spyhunter fan. To sum things up, If it wasn't for an emulator (for most game companies, the evil) and someone breaking the copyright law (the spyhunter fan), there wouldn't be a product for the publisher show to the "much larger publisher". So they should have credited everybody involved with MAME, including the ones who developed the MAME driver, who dumped the game rom, and the fan for the sound files. Instead they got away with a finished product, without crediting anyone, and the "much larger publisher" thinks was their hard work. Which is not true at all.
I remember the ScummVM incident. I find it funny how companies are so lax when it comes to using various software sources without attribution. Just because the source is free on the Internet doesn't intrinsically mean it is free without conditions. If software houses want others to respect their rights, they need to start doing the same if we are to take them seriously. I totally think they got off pretty easy.
The issue is not how you play them. Its the fact you openly admit to pirating current gen games (yes Wii is current gen). :dammit:
Not only does he admit that fact, he usually goes out of his way to rub it in peoples faces... As if we are all suckers for supporting our favorite developers by actually paying for a game.
Or just don't fucking boast about it. Most people here don't care whether or not you pirate games. Just have the common sense and decency not to talk about it here.
Then don't play the god damn games. :dammit: Hey I don't support what you do for making a living, Yet still give me your service for free.
I imagine games like Midway Treasures and the Capcom collections use emulation which likely atleast benefits from open source projects like MAME. Just hopefully they aren't plain copying code from MAME to profit off the work of those that worked on it. But I get the feeling some of these commercial emulated versions do just that.
Eh, don't be quick to judge large companies. Much of the capcom stuff comes from backbone which does build their own emulators from scratch. If it's from a small studio then it gets more questionable (as they tend to be the ones who are most likely to steal).
Weren't the Korean Metal Slug releases for PC (officially licensed by SNKP) a few years back basically MAME and roms on a disc?
