Always a joy to read those and the fact that the emulator keeps on improving. You can run it on SteamDeck nicely and play Gamecube games better than Switch 2. It's a shame nintendo has only released about 5 games thus far.. Great work Dolphin Devs! I still need to give RetroAchievements a try.
Whats even more interesting IMHO is that according to TFA the most popular platform in terms of usage is Android. This is probably related to the large amount of dedicated Android gaming devices like the Ayn Thor and similar.
... and the fact that (at least so far) android devices haven't 3x'ed in price due to AI bubbling.
And to add insult to injury: take a galaxy s23 ultra. Start a gamecube title. Connect USB-C to a monitor, display, TV, project: you get an image (and with a bluetooth gamepad it works from a distance). USB-C to HDMI converter? Also works! Going to a friend's house? Use a display at work? Just works!
Take either of Nintendo's 2 most recent hardware platforms: it doesn't effin work! Despite this being a major complaint on the previous hardware ...
> Take either of Nintendo's 2 most recent hardware platforms: it doesn't effin work!
Assuming this is the Switch and Switch 2 here, are you specifically talking about Gamecube titles? Because I've recorded video from my Switch over a USB-C->HDMI->USB-C dongle chain (Zelda:TOTK)
Dolphin is one of my absolutely favorite software projects. The kind of polish they put into absolutely everything, including these announcements, is incredible. And as somebody who spent many a relaxing day playing Super Monkey Ball against my fellow comp sci students in the early 2000s, this holds a special place in my heart.
You're probably thinking of the Steam debacle. Nintendo wasn't responsible for that.
What happened was that Dolphins developers wanted to release the emulator on Steam. Valve, independently from anyone else, send a message to Nintendo's legal team asking if they think it's permissible to distribute Dolphin on Steam. Nintendo's lawyers essentially responded with the company's policy on emulation ("third parties doing emulation is not okay") and that they might consider looking into their options should Dolphin release on Steam. After that, Valve told the Dolphin developers that the game was banned from Steam.
Nobody send any legal threats or anything; no C&D was issued, no DMCA invoked, no lawsuits, nothing. As far as the legal side of things is considered, the only thing that happened is that a business refused to do business with someone. (Which is generally their right to do, as long as it's not because that someone belongs to a protected class and being an emulation developer is not a protected class.) That's why Dolphin's devs also effectively had no recourse, even if they could pay the necessary lawyers. You can't force someone else to sell/publish your stuff.
You're likely thinking of Yuzu which was a switch emulator. Nintendo probably targeted them because they were about to launch the switch 2 and wanted to send a message.
It being a Switch emulator certainly didn't help. However, the primary reason Nintendo went after Yuzu was that Yuzu devs were openly accepting payment for special updates to run Tears of the Kingdom. TOTK was, at the time, only available because of a leak and had not officially released.
I think that was Citra emulator. Protect Dolphin at all costs!
Nintendo (among other creative corporations) do not seem to realise that invite to play creates an attachment to the product that is deeper than a license agreement, which is our shared cultural filament.
Whats even more interesting IMHO is that according to TFA the most popular platform in terms of usage is Android. This is probably related to the large amount of dedicated Android gaming devices like the Ayn Thor and similar.
And to add insult to injury: take a galaxy s23 ultra. Start a gamecube title. Connect USB-C to a monitor, display, TV, project: you get an image (and with a bluetooth gamepad it works from a distance). USB-C to HDMI converter? Also works! Going to a friend's house? Use a display at work? Just works!
Take either of Nintendo's 2 most recent hardware platforms: it doesn't effin work! Despite this being a major complaint on the previous hardware ...
Assuming this is the Switch and Switch 2 here, are you specifically talking about Gamecube titles? Because I've recorded video from my Switch over a USB-C->HDMI->USB-C dongle chain (Zelda:TOTK)
100%. They're easily the gold standard for emulation and open-source gaming...and possibly open-source projects in general.
The effort they put into the announcements is frankly amazing and shows what a labor of love this project is.
Dolphin Team, you are amazing and hilarious.
> It was clear that something had to change. Bunny
When this issue was brought up in one of our chats, a former Dolphin developer suggested that we should give Bunny a try.
Another mention of bunny [0] gives them good exposure, and not just because they're an European company!
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48657030
What happened was that Dolphins developers wanted to release the emulator on Steam. Valve, independently from anyone else, send a message to Nintendo's legal team asking if they think it's permissible to distribute Dolphin on Steam. Nintendo's lawyers essentially responded with the company's policy on emulation ("third parties doing emulation is not okay") and that they might consider looking into their options should Dolphin release on Steam. After that, Valve told the Dolphin developers that the game was banned from Steam.
Nobody send any legal threats or anything; no C&D was issued, no DMCA invoked, no lawsuits, nothing. As far as the legal side of things is considered, the only thing that happened is that a business refused to do business with someone. (Which is generally their right to do, as long as it's not because that someone belongs to a protected class and being an emulation developer is not a protected class.) That's why Dolphin's devs also effectively had no recourse, even if they could pay the necessary lawyers. You can't force someone else to sell/publish your stuff.
Nintendo (among other creative corporations) do not seem to realise that invite to play creates an attachment to the product that is deeper than a license agreement, which is our shared cultural filament.