Nintendo Shuts Down Ryujinx Switch Emulator (theverge.com) 37
Nintendo has convinced Ryujinx's lead developer to shut down the project. According to The Verge, the Switch emulator's download page is empty and its GitHub is gone. The Verge reports: "Yesterday, gdkchan was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of," writes developer and moderator ripinperiperi on Discord. "While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organization has been removed, so I think it's safe to say what the outcome is." The rest of ripinperiperi's message is a eulogy for the project, including a pair of videos showing the Ryujinx team's progress on iOS and Android ports of the Nintendo Switch emulator, among other core changes -- ones that will now presumably never ship.
Nintendo would not confirm or deny to The Verge that it made a deal with the developer. Instead, Nintendo spokesperson Eddie Garcia mysteriously pointed me to the Entertainment Software Association's head of public affairs Aubrey Quinn -- who said she couldn't speak on behalf of Nintendo.
Nintendo would not confirm or deny to The Verge that it made a deal with the developer. Instead, Nintendo spokesperson Eddie Garcia mysteriously pointed me to the Entertainment Software Association's head of public affairs Aubrey Quinn -- who said she couldn't speak on behalf of Nintendo.
Two people pointing at each other. (Score:2)
Both: He did it!
Rolling my eyes.
Gone... but not gone (Score:5, Informative)
There are multiple mirrors of the repo: https://github.com/search?q=Ry... [github.com]
Recent copy? (Score:2)
The most recent copy I've found so far is from early 2022:
https://archive.org/details/gi... [archive.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Reminder (Score:2)
Always clone or at least screenshot things you like, as a habit. Even things that aren’t very likely to disappear .. just so you have the habit of doing it. Make backup copies of Wikipedia and maybe wiki books.
Re: Reminder (Score:2)
Just backup the entire interwebs.
Re: (Score:3)
Note - you'll need to use the "high compression" setting in your backup program to do this.
Re: Reminder (Score:4, Funny)
No Need. I have unlimited data storage on cloud.
Re: (Score:2)
You should ask the ARRL about relying exclusively on cloud backups...
Nintendo ninjas, they are everywhere! (Score:2)
Or at least Nintendo lawyers are everywhere.
Surprsingly Savvy (Score:4, Interesting)
Huh. Well, that's unexpected.
Paying off a developer to stop working on an emulator is surprisingly savvy for Nintendo. Normally they go for force via the legal route - in other words, using the stick. This is the first time I can recall them using the carrot.
But it makes sense. Making an emulator, even of a current-gen console, isn't illegal. But as Nintendo is in the business of selling games, having them trivially pirated is a big problem. So spending a bit of cash to buy off the developers now is likely going to net them a lot more money down the road.
Re:Surprsingly Savvy (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd be more inclined to suspect that it was a choice of Carrot or Stick.
Re: (Score:1)
This is not how a carrot and stick works. The stick is to attach (with string) and hold out the carrot ahead of the donkey to keep it moving forwards. Therefore it is the carrot AND stick that is used to motivate, not carrot OR stick. I don't know where humanity started to get this wrong but it really has to stop now.
Thanks for listening.
Re: (Score:2)
The stick is to attach (with string) and hold out the carrot ahead of the donkey to keep it moving forwards. Therefore it is the carrot AND stick that is used to motivate, not carrot OR stick.
What? The carrot and (or) stick has nothing to do with a carrot on a string. It's a reward/punishment dichotomy. If you do what I want (pull the cart) I will give you a carrot, if you don't do what I want (don't pull the cart) I will hit you with the stick. You either get the carrot or you get the stick. You are using the carrot and the stick method. Both of these are grammatically correct. I'm not sure where you got your idea from.
Re: (Score:2)
Paying off a developer to stop working on an emulator is surprisingly savvy for Nintendo.
I have to wonder if they bought (some of) it, or hired him. Getting it working on Android and iOS could be something Nintendo had hoped to do later anyway (ex. a switch version 1 emulator on mobile, while they sell the new switch).
Re: (Score:2)
Building an emulator for mobile: not something Nintendo would ever do. Their whole company has always been built under hardware-exclusive franchises. You can be nigh certain they will never make their Switch games available on a platform that is not Nintendo-exclusive hardware.
There's just a chance they'd might want to write an Emulator at some point to be designed to run on a future console. Not forseeable any time soon. Nintendo just won't need a Switch1 emulator until later generations when the
Re: (Score:2)
Building an emulator for mobile: not something Nintendo would ever do. Their whole company has always been built under hardware-exclusive franchises. You can be nigh certain they will never make their Switch games available on a platform that is not Nintendo-exclusive hardware.
Um... https://www.nintendo.com/sg/ga... [nintendo.com]
Nintendo mobile games exist, and it includes some of their top IP like Mario Kart and Animal Crossing. Granted, that page only has 5 games on it, but they have tried venturing into mobile and they do put out some mobile games. I don't think a switch emulator on mobile is all that crazy, especially just to keep in their back pocket in case the switch2 fails or something like that.
Re: (Score:2)
Nintendo mobile games exist..
Sure. After 20+ years of mobile platforms existing, there've only ever been a few apps by Nintendo. Likely so they could test the waters and see if they could benefit from Mobile games' highly exploitative monetization models. They are not comparable to anything Nintendo would release on their consoles, and it's obvious Nintendo is winding down their little foray into mobile, anyways, with no announced further mobile apps so far.
The "Mario Kart Tour" title was essentially
Re: (Score:2)
This is the first time I can recall them using the carrot.
The nature of the agreement was never revealed. So there's nothing to say it was a carrot and not an understood mafia-style "You know it would be an awful shame if something were to happen to you and your loved ones, and you were all never heard from again. Better sign this, or else."
Nintendo's backwards compatability (Score:2)
Given that Nintendo's kept backwards compatibility in many of its consoles, this may be a way for Nintendo to incorporate the emulator or parts of it into Nintendo's next generation console.
Nintendo's SDK may be in C, C++ and they could be looking to move to a more recent language for some or all of the SDK
Re: (Score:2)
C and C++ are more recent languages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
and the upcoming
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Switch games are mostly developed in Unity, so .NET/C# is the "default". C# can call compiled native functions, but you wouldn't write the bulk of your game that way. Or you could if you were doing native development and just had the C# wrapper to bootstrap the game. Rust is also an option in Unity, but usually the SDK docs are sorta language specific.
This makes me think... (Score:3, Insightful)
Though shit. Development will most likely continue on a fork.
I pay for games I like, have hundreds of games on Steam, tens of games as physical media.
BUT, Im 100% for game conservation, I want to be able to play my old games when im old and retired.
I still play a game released in 95, and I want to be able to play Mario 3D land in 2040, even if my switch's OLED screen, joy cons and battery have degraded.
I will donate to the next emulator that surfaces and gains traction.
Re: (Score:2)
Though shit. Development will most likely continue on a fork
They may just keep getting to every new developer who steps up - once it becomes popular. until there's nobody left who has the passion, skills, and/or knowledge to push a fork forward.
The internet does have ways of building things and staying anonymous in theory, but Nintendo's resources are also vast. They can make other people offers they can't refuse to help them find you, and when they find you they can make an offer you can't refuse to st
Re: (Score:2)
that the "Switch 2" might have a very similar architecture
That was/is the case with the Gamecube/Wii. The Wii just used a couple of upgraded bits, like faster (same class) CPU and an updated GPU
Pretty Evil (Score:2)
Thats pretty fucking evil. Nintendo was mostly neutral good, but they're walking towards lawful evil at a pretty good clip. Hopefully their shareholders understand what burning bridges with their fans means.
Re: (Score:3)
No, Ninty has been both chaotic evil (in its game and watch days. Check its history) and lawful evil this whole time. See for instance, the shit it said in court about galoob, and the gamegenie.
It's just very good at looking 'family friendly', like Disney.
In terms of ninja attack lawyers, ninty is second only to Disney, imo.
It has never been 'neutral good.'
Re: (Score:2)
Well; yes and no. If Nintendo paid the lead dev a few hundred thousand to hand over their work and delete it.
I don't think there is anything legally or morally that prohibits Nintendo from doing something like that to undermine open releases.
In a way that's just business, and the dev's free choice to do that with their work. The community's probably never about to offer to pay the author something like that -- We are bystanders, unless we actually donated to the dev and contributed substantially to the wo
No way (Score:2)
The emulator will continue it's life somewhere else. Just like any other pirates contents.
Universal AI emulator (Score:1)
Thanks (Score:3)
Trying to get rid of something thats already on the internet... [metrorod.co.uk]
Yuzu (Score:2)
Back in spring Nintendo forced the closure of another emulator, Yuzu, with lawsuits. Yuzu disappeared and Suyu took its place. Lawsuits proved they don't work, let's see if bribing works.
Re: A bloo bloo bloo (Score:2)
Or I want to run the latest Zelda game I bought for 45â on day 4 at a steady 60fps and without that insane amount of depth of field blur.
Both of which I can't do on my switch oled with my game, both of which I bought new, so giving the full margins to Nintendo.
So yeah, I will probably restart a run on ryujinx.
Of course piracy happens, but remember that the only efficient way to fight it is to make people not want to pirate.
Nintendo doesn't want people to emulate (Score:3)
Nintendo relies on FUD and inconvenience to convince people not to engage with emulation. They scare developers by sending legal threats that probably wouldn't stand up in court, like in this case where their team of lawyers knocked on the guy's door and gave him an ultimatum (they literally sent multiple people to the guy's house as a scare tactic). Ryujinx, to the best of my knowledge, did not include any of the stuff that was believed to be the cause of Yuzu's issues; any encryption keys had to be obtained by the user and no guidance was provided by the software to tell you where to get those. But it doesn't matter because the project was headed by one guy and they didn't actually need to take the project down, just convince the lead to take it down. And that's what they did.
In addition to scaring developers, this serves the dual purpose of making it more inconvenient for users. Yuzu was obviously forked after their troubles and Ryujinx likely will be as well, but their goal isn't to completely wipe it from the internet, it's to make it a pain for users and this serves that purpose as well. People who were relying on auto-updates for Ryjinx won't get them, people who search for it will have more trouble finding it and might end up getting malware instead, etc. It's a worse experience for the user and that's one of their goals.
There are legal arguments Nintendo has that might actually stand up to scrutiny in court, but they don't actually care about testing those. They have other, better tools to achieve their aims, and it's actually more convenient for them to have the status of emulation remain uncertain than for them to risk having it settled in a way that isn't completely in their favor. They don't need to bother with going to court because other methods more consistently serve their goal of convincing people not to engage with it.
As an aside, this sucks for me because I've been using Ryujinx since the start. I was able to locate the final build online (tested against virustotal and it appears to be legit) and it seems to work pretty well but I'm still hoping the project gets forked and people don't get scared off by Nintendo's BS.
Might be really misreading this one (Score:2)
A lot of people are assuming Nintendo went mafia tactics on this guy, but we have no proof either way. Given the news that a lot of Nintendo tech docs and code are in the wild now [vice.com], Nintendo may very well have just approached him with an offer to walk away with a fat check and a contract saying he'll never pursue Switch emulator work. It would certainly be cheaper than doing a deep audit of the code and trying to prove a case that someone violated Nintendo's IP rights by using proprietary documents or liftin