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Author:
Sycraft
Well, UltraHLE has certainly managed to generate the most fuss on
the emulation scene in these short few days than anything before. It has
given the mighty Nintendo and their Hand of Justice, the ISDA a new and
renewed purpose in their holy war against the evils of the emulation
community. But why shouldn't they? I mean, the authors are just trying
to rob Nintendo of all their hard earned money, right? Emulators aren't
used for anything but pirating games anyway, right? And this is costing
the industry BILLIONS of dollars, right? I don't know, you tell me, but
the way I see it, we have here just another classic case of Corporate
America trying it's best to take all the denarii for itself and give the
shaft to the consumers, something that's rather common these days.
What you say, you've never seen anything else like this? Well, think
a moment my friend on some other hot technologies and what has been the
scoop about them. How about Divx, Circuit City's little pet project to
make themselves and Hollywood the richest institutions of all. For those
of you who have been playing too many games and haven't heard of Divx,
I'll relate all the most important information. Divx (DIgital Video
eXpress) is a "enhancement" for DVD developed by the loveable Circuit
City. The difference between Divx and DVD comes in the features and copy
protection. Divx lacks some of DVDs more advanced features such as
multiple audio track, but adds another layer of copy protection,
specifically triple DES. The idea is that you pick up a Divx disc for
some four to five dollars and then you own it forever. The only problem
is, you can only watch it for 48 hours, to watch it more you have to pay
extra. Every time you view, your Divx unit calls up to HQ and gets the
key to let you play you disc. Good idea.... not. The problem I have
with this is I like to OWN my movies, I want to be able to watch them
whenever I want, without having to pay again or having to dial into some
server. But, fear not the mighty Circuit City has an answer you can, for
a one time fee, turn *selected* discs into DIVX SILVER. This will allow
you to watch it whenever you want.... But not wherever you want. While
the master server will happily provide with you the key as often as
you'd like, you can't simply bring the disc over to a friends play and
watch it there. Also please take note of one more fact, they can and do
know every movie you view on the Divx system. So, dear reader, was Divx
developed to cater to the consumer or Hollywood?
Or then, what say you to mp3, the revolutionary new music format and
the arch nemesis of the music industry at large? But mp3s are nothing
more than a pirates media, right? They aren't used for anything but
stealing music from hardworking musicians, right? It's costing the music
industry BILLIONS, right? Perhaps, but then again perhaps not. For just
a moment I would like you to head over to www.mp3.com and have look. You
will find a site stuffed full of all types of mp3s. A pirates paradise?
No, for all of these songs have been legally released by the musicians
for your delight. You sometimes can, on occasion find some music on
there from a well known artist. For a brief spell Billy Idol had a few
songs for all to enjoy, until his record label made him take them down.
Now why would recording companies want to do away with such things?
Should not Billy be able to post his music freely? Why, it might even be
seen to be free publicity. So why then would they want it gone (and all
the rest of the site)? Because it threatens to remove their ability to
give the shaft to consumers.
Now don't deny it, CD are very overpriced. The last time I was
browsing I believe $16 and up was the going rate for a small disc of
silver and plastic worth some 50 cents. Well then, if the disc itself is
not expensive, where does all that money go? To greedy musicians no
doubt. Or not. Most professional musicians I know rather have to
struggle just to earn back their advance on their CD and start to
receive royalties. So if the money is not in construction or creation
then it only can be going to one place: the recording company and the
retail stores. In other words, the middlemen. What with modern
technology and the mp3 format it is now possible for artist to cut out
the middle man entirely. A friend of mine Kelani (www.kelani.com) has
done just that. You may download mp3s of his songs to listen to. If you
decide you like a song and wish to keep it, he asks a modest fee, only
one dollar for each song you wish to keep. Better yet, you need only pay
for those songs that you wish to listen to. If you don't like a song,
don't pay for it. In my humble opinion, this is a great thing. But, cry
the recording companies, the mp3 format allows for easy wide spread
piracy. Yes, that they do, but then again I have a CD burner sitting by
my side....
Now what, you may ask, does all this have to do with UltraHLE? Why
very simply, Nintendo's reaction to UltraHLE shows nothing more than
their want to continue to give the shaft to consumers. Nintendo, in my
eyes, is far more guilty than any other video game company of this. How
so? Well for starters there is the format of their games: they are
cartridges. Now why is that giving the shaft to consumers? Well consider
this: as compared to a CD cartridges hold less data, and cost much
more. The only advantage the have is quick load times (a problem that
with fast CD-ROMs is a problem no more). So why would they choose this
format? Simple: it makes their games harder to copy. I can copy a
Playstation CD with nothing more than the CD burner that I already own
for other purposes. To copy a cartridge, however, I need some
specialized (read that as expensive) equipment. That puts the copying
out of the reach of most people. Fine, but the consumers are getting the
shaft in the form of less content (due to space restrictions) and higher
prices. However, the whole fact that they would call something such as
UltraHLE *illegal* best shows their want to shaft us. But, the emulator
is for nothing but pirating roms, right? Not at all.
If brought to it's final and ultimate stage, it could offer
something to the masses that would be very exciting indeed: the ability
to develop our own Nintendo 64 games. For, gentle reader, there is no
doubt in my mind that, given time, the authors would be able to turn
their not-quite-so-humble emulator into something far grander. If they
were to add a C compiler to it, and to add interfaces to add graphics
and sound, all of a sudden the masses would be able to develop their own
games (true, it can be done now in pure assembly, but you try MIPS
assembly and tell me how easy you find it)! Wonderful, right? I mean
what could be wrong with having a huge base of N64 software? Answer:
Nintendo wouldn't get a piece of the action. For you see all games that
are found on the open market are 'licensed' by dear old Nintendo. What
that means is Nintendo receives a cut for each game sold. Well, why
shouldn't they, it's their hardware after all? Yes, but only in the
video game industry do the holy hardware manufacturers demand a tithe
from the lows plebs that are the software developers. When I write a
program on my PC, I am free to give it away or sell it to all the world,
however I do not have to give any of that to the companies whose
software or hardware it is that makes my creation possible. Neither
Intel nor Borland demands any sort of compensation on a per copy basis,
for they have already been duly paid, Intel for its processor and
Borland fo its compiler. This payment for their goods and services is
all that they ask. For the almighty Nintendo however, such is not good
enough. Nay, they must be compensated for each and every copy of your
software you sell and what's more you shall not develop your software on
anything but their holy, authorized, official (and therefore costly)
developer kit. This would be such the same as if Intel expected me to
use only their compiler since it was their hardware for which my program
was intended. It would be *illegal* to use Borland's. So, you tell me,
is Nintendo guilty of trying to shaft the consumers?
Consider all this, dear reader, and come away more watchful.
Everyday someone in corporate america comes up with a new way to attempt
to shaft the consumer (examples can be furnished upon request).
Thankfully, most of these die before ever being brought to life, but
some (Divx) begin to surface. We are not powerless, however, and we must
exert our power in the only way we can: by voting with our dollars.
Don't buy technology that is trying to give you the shaft.
--Sycraft
Bio: Sycraft is a cynical, self centred, arrogant college student who
thinks that all others should have to sit and listen to him rant and
rave. He is a webmaster, studying to become a Computer Scientist.
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