Nintendo Patents Handheld Emulation Software


Loonie

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Nintendo patents handheld emulation software

Nintendo has successfully patented the emulation in software of handheld gaming devices, and the company has already begun challenging emulator developers to cough up royalties.

Nintendo's patent, number 6,672,963, was filed in November 2000 but only granted on 6 January this year. It is titled 'Software implementation of a handheld video game hardware platform'.

The filing outlines a "software emulator for emulating a handheld video game platform on a low-capability target platform (eg. a seat-back display for airline or train use, a personal digital assistant, a cell phone)". It goes on to outline "a number of features and optimisations to provide high quality graphics and sound that nearly duplicates the game playing experience on the native platform."

The choice of the phrase "low capability" is odd, since PDAs for one, tend to be more powerful than handheld gaming devices. So are PCs, yet the wording of the patent's claims suggests that it too could be covered by the patent. Interestingly, emulators targeting Nintendo's GameCube - ie. of non-handheld devices - are not covered by the patent.

Canadian mobile software developer Crimson Fire would appear to be the first victim. On 5 March, it announced Firestorm, a GameBoy Advance emulator for Tapwave's Palm OS-based Zodiac handheld console. By 12 March, the day the emulator was due to ship, the company had already received a 'cease and desist' letter from Nintendo.

While emulating is inherently legal - reverse engineering is permitted - the situation has always been murky with regard to game systems, since the act of emulation potentially violates intellectual property and anti-piracy systems.

In any case, Nintendo has a history of aggressively targeting emulator developers since the late 1990s. Long-term readers will recall its battle against the N64 emulator UltraHLE. Its argument against UltraHLE centred on the emulator's fostering of the illegal duplication of game ROMs - essentially the same contributory copyright infringement charge Napster was hauled over the coals for. Nintendo makes the same claim against Crimson Fire, but this time has the added weight of patent violation. ®
 
but it seems that this patent is only for the united states.. those arent for europe right?
Also it will be hard for nintendo to bring down every emu, i think they will more acre about those which are selled.
 
i also wonder why they dont do more against those flashcards.. i think they lose more money because of this than any emulation.

sorry for double posting
 
Canadian mobile software developer Crimson Fire would appear to be the first victim. On 5 March, it announced Firestorm, a GameBoy Advance emulator for Tapwave's Palm OS-based Zodiac handheld console. By 12 March, the day the emulator was due to ship, the company had already received a 'cease and desist' letter from Nintendo.

[nelson] HA, HA! [/nelson]
 
Sonic-NKT posted on Mar 12 2004 at 02:10 PM said:
i also wonder why they dont do more against those flashcards.. i think they lose more money because of this than any emulation.

sorry for double posting
They sued Liksang for example. And now, they dont sell em anymore. Don't know if there's so much they can do... Are they illegal at all? Some gamedevelopers in Sweden use em as Devkits.
 
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taubstumm posted on Mar 12 2004 at 05:23 PM said:
could that be the end of the gp32 gba emu? :unsure:
No, It will take Nintendo a long time before they can do anything to GamePark or a emulator coder.
 
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taubstumm posted on Mar 12 2004 at 05:23 PM said:
could that be the end of the gp32 gba emu? :unsure:
Very doubtful unless the author for some reason decides to stop making it. The zodiac author is in trouble since he advertised it as a way to play thousands of commercial games and at the same time tried to charge money for it. Also, they are based in america.
 
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Dolfhin posted on Mar 12 2004 at 07:13 PM said:
No, It will take Nintendo a long time before they can do anything to GamePark or a emulator coder.
What makes you think that?
 
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pip posted on Mar 12 2004 at 03:40 PM said:
taubstumm posted on Mar 12 2004 at 05:23 PM said:
could that be the end of the gp32 gba emu? :unsure:
Very doubtful unless the author for some reason decides to stop making it. The zodiac author is in trouble since he advertised it as a way to play thousands of commercial games and at the same time tried to charge money for it. Also, they are based in america.
CrimsonFire is based in Canada.

jeff
 
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mr twit posted on Mar 12 2004 at 08:40 PM said:
Dolfhin posted on Mar 12 2004 at 07:13 PM said:
No, It will take Nintendo a long time before they can do anything to GamePark or a emulator coder.
What makes you think that?
They can do nothing whatso ever to game park as long as game park do not endorse, advertise, or condone the use of a gba emulator. Due to dif laws in dif countrys the most they can do is try and scare coders . So who cares?
 
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Well, I dont have too much sympathy with Crimson Fire.

You shouldnt emulate commercially viable systems and DEFINITELY should not charge for doing it either. It gives emulation a VERY VERY bad name.

Anything that involves commercial exploitation only justifies the big N's actions. I mean, if you want to play GBA games go to the shops and buy one ffs.

By comparison, that argument doesn't apply to redundant systems that are now no longer commerically viable.

I only hope that people stick to the type of non-commerical GBA emulators that we have right now for the GP32 - that and emulators of redundant non commerically viable systems.

On the other hand if as their patent suggests the big N starts to pursue GB and GBC emulators as well, (such as we have with fGB32) then that will most definitely be a step too far.
 
skeezix posted on Mar 12 2004 at 10:04 PM said:
pip posted on Mar 12 2004 at 03:40 PM said:
taubstumm posted on Mar 12 2004 at 05:23 PM said:
could that be the end of the gp32 gba emu?  :unsure:
Very doubtful unless the author for some reason decides to stop making it. The zodiac author is in trouble since he advertised it as a way to play thousands of commercial games and at the same time tried to charge money for it. Also, they are based in america.
CrimsonFire is based in Canada.

jeff
Last time I checked Canada was in America.
 
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