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[IbizaPocholo]

Video game preservation charity accuses Nintendo of being ‘actively destructive’ to game history | VGC

The VGHF criticises Nintendo’s support of anti-preservation lobbying…

www.videogameschronicle.com

Nintendo announced earlier this week that it will cease digital game purchases on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems in March 2023.

This will result in around 1000 digital-only games, some of which are exclusive to the Wii U and 3DS, being removed for good with no way to acquire them legally in the future.

The game preservation charity posted a statement on Twitter, accusing the company of not taking sufficient steps to ensure that the games it will be delisting are being properly preserved.

“While it is unfortunate that people won’t be able to purchase digital 3DS or Wii U games anymore, we understand the business reality that went into this decision,” the statement reads.

“What we don’t understand is what path Nintendo expects its fans to take, should they wish to play these games in the future.

“As a paying member of the Entertainment Software Association, Nintendo actively funds lobbying that prevents even libraries from being able to provide legal access to these games.

“Not providing commercial access is understandable, but preventing institutional work to preserve these titles on top of that is actively destructive to video game history.



“We encourage ESA members like Nintendo to rethink their position on this issue and work with existing institutions to find a solution.”

The Foundation’s founder and co-director, Frank Cifaldi, also took to Twitter to suggest that players should hack their Nintendo systems so they can play preserved backups in the future.

Referring to a previous tweet in which he suggested PS3 owners “go ahead and jailbreak that PS3 and load it with whatever you want” because “they’re only delaying pulling the plug later on anyway”, Cifaldi added: “Hi, this also applies to the Wii U and 3DS.”

“The commercial industry is never going to offer full support of back catalogue games, and our own federal government is making it all but impossible for even libraries to help with access,” Cifaldi explained. “No one will save video game history but all of us, and that will never change.”

 

[Fess]

It’s such a shame really. Nintendo had an awesome thing going on Wii with Virtual Console, so many old consoles were included, you could even buy Commodore 64 games. Then they started dropping the ball on WiiU. Some games were converted but most only worked through Wii mode on WiiU. Then came Switch and it all went poof.

 

[Cattlyst]

VGHF doesn’t care about game preservation unless it gets them Twitter likes or articles like this written about them

 

[Dream-Knife]

Nintendo is terrible with that stuff. Fortunately, the internet has preserved these games.

 

[SentientStone]

We’re expected to make the Switch every generation.

 

[lh032]

Thats nintendo for you.
People keep shitting on Playstation, but Nintendo is the worst .

 

[baphomet]

VGHF doesn’t care about game preservation unless it gets them Twitter likes or articles like this written about them

Frank Cifaldi has been actively preserving one of a kind games for multiple decades at this point.

 

[Fess]

Thats nintendo for you.
People keep shitting on Playstation, but Nintendo is the worst .

Makes you wonder what’s their plan for the fans of their old games right now. Is Nintendo Online the solution? Will they ramp up the emulation release schedule?
They should start selling preloaded Retropie images or something, would make the library more stable over generations instead of this back and forth drip feeding that just annoy their fans.

 

[ParaSeoul]

Nintendo is terrible with that stuff. Fortunately, the internet has preserved these games.

And then Nintendo takes them down and has the people who did it arrested.

 

[ckaneo]

If the game isnt available legally then piracy is fair game in my mind.

 

[KingGhidorah]

LOL suddenly everyone cares about Wii U now

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Bonfires Down]

It’s stupid, but everything is already preserved so I really don’t care too much. Thank god we have piracy though.

 

[AV]

LOL suddenly everyone cares about Wii U now

People always cared about the WiiU library (hence nearly all the best stuff has been moved to Switch), the problem was that it was stuck on... that thing.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Thats nintendo for you.
People keep shitting on Playstation, but Nintendo is the worst .

This. I don't like any company really, but Nintendo sure knows how to piss me off on a regular basis like no other entity.

 

[00_Zer0]

Thankfully there is easy ways to back up physical and digital games,/dlc on almost every console now. I'm contemplating getting a PS3, and Wii U to do just that. I already have a 3DS and Switch and you better believe at the end of their lifecycles I will personally hack my own consoles and back up all my personal games whether digital or physical.

I already have done so on all my games from NES all the way up to the PS2 and Wii generations, and I won't stop now. I sure won't trust any company to preserve their own games, or do right by the consumer.

 

[Dream-Knife]

And then Nintendo takes them down and has the people who did it arrested.

They can try I guess.

 

[Ezquimacore]

Lol I don't agree with Nintendo and the other day I was talking shit about them because of this, but this is a bit too much. Just buy yourself a potato PC (even your phone can be your "preservation" machine) and you can literally have every Nintendo game ever, do the Jack Sparrow dance. It's not like y'all are going to actually buy every Nintendo game ever even if they had a eShop with every Nintendo game ever... because you love preservation so much.

 

[Ezquimacore]

People always cared about the WiiU library (hence nearly all the best stuff has been moved to Switch), the problem was that it was stuck on... that thing.

Not even 14 million consoles, nobody cares. and Nintendo ported almost every single Wii u game to switch... People buy an used Wii u these days to homebrew that shit still not giving Nintendo any type of money.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Emulation.

 

[AV]

Not even 14 million consoles, nobody cares. and Nintendo ported almost every single Wii u game to switch... People buy an used Wii u these days to homebrew that shit still not giving Nintendo any type of money.

People care about the library which is why Mario Kart 8 has sold over 50 million units on Switch, people always wanted to play those games, they just didn't want a WiiU.

 

[Huevos de Oro]

This is unsurprising. Nintendo is very anti-consumer.

 

[Ezquimacore]

People care about the library which is why Mario Kart 8 has sold over 50 million units on Switch, people always wanted to play those games, they just didn't want a WiiU.

Exactly, Mario Kart is preserved already on switch and that Wii u eShop can't last forever because it's stuck on a system that failed. It's not a "play store" where you can access from every Nintendo device.

 

[kuncol02]

Makes you wonder what’s their plan for the fans of their old games right now. Is Nintendo Online the solution? Will they ramp up the emulation release schedule?
They should start selling preloaded Retropie images or something, would make the library more stable over generations instead of this back and forth drip feeding that just annoy their fans.

Their plan is to move fans to new game which is same as old one, but on new platform. That's what they are doing with Mario Kart, Smash, 2D Mario....

 

[00_Zer0]

Their plan is to move fans to new game which is same as old one, but on new platform. That's what they are doing with Mario Kart, Smash, 2D Mario....

That's what most companies don't get. If us consumers love a certain game series we will get the newest one regardless if past games in that series are still available. There is something still fun and unique in many past Mario Kart games for example. To this day I still love Super Mario Kart for SNES, Mario Kart 64, and Double Dash, but I still love Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.


I would not stop purchasing future games in this series if Nintendo provided a virtual console to buy them digitally.

 

[Arioco]

And they're right, Nintendo doesn't give a shit about game history. Except when they need to download a rom from the Internet to sell it to the consumers, which wouldn't be the first time (and they are so stupid that they get caught).

 

[TT2k17]

I can believe how naive and fake some users are here.....

"If it's not legally available then piracy is ok" so what do you do when sex with minors is not legal? Have it anyway?

What do you do when a 1950s car is not made anymore? Just steal it? Make it yourself without licence?

Entitled kids I swear...


Nintendo's IP, Nintendo's product. Nintendo's decision. Want the games go f'ing buy them instead if whining you have 1 year left. I can't believe how much time and energy is wasted on whining every single time instead of actually making sure you don't have to whine again the moment it ACTUALLY happens like smart people.

But then using a brain would be needed..Remember everyone whining a decade in advance that Mario 3D Allstars won't be available and yet in 2022 you can still find it almost everywhere. But let's just whine in advance like we always do.....

And every single dev with half a brain has the games stored somewhere ready to be rereleased when they feel like it. It's not like it's a unique MonaLisa that needs to be stored for humanities sake and taken care of.... it's digital 1s and 0s that exists everywhere. Everyone just pretending to talk about preservation when in fact it's their selfish "I want to whine and I want to play illegal copies"-mentality showing.

Want to preserve? Rebuild the servers for online access. Rebuild miiverse. Rebuild the SatellaView service. No? Why not? Oh yeah I forgot that's actually preserving not pirating and whining. How about donating and NOT using the stuff you want to be preserved? Oh yeah I forgot YOU want to use it not preserve it.

Pathetic kindergarten.

 

[Orta]

If the game isnt available legally than piracy is fair game in my mind.

100%

 

[nush]

I can believe how naive users are here.....

"If it's not legally available then piracy is ok" so what do you do when sex with minors is not legal? Have it anyway?

With this being your enlightened third only post I can only rightly imagine from where you came when your first thought of piracy being wrong was to make the jump to pedophilia.

 

[TheDreadLord]

These forgotten games/IPs should be made public including source code. I understand that re-releasing many of these isn’t profitable and therefore companies don’t care. However, at the same time, if you download/share a rom you risk yourself being prosecuted by a multi-billion dollar company trying to grab some money from you.

 

[TT2k17]

With this being your enlightened third only post I can only rightly imagine from where you came when your first thought of piracy being wrong was to make the jump to pedophilia.

You must be pretty smart to assume someone that never posts because he mostly has a real life is from retardera. It's my third? Post because I forgot I had an account. Also what's with that obsessive "let's find out more about this person"? Are you a stalker? If you would care less about other people and more about yourself maybe you would be a better person.

It's about the logic fail in saying when it' not legally available it's ok. Good on you defending piracy tells alot about your upbringing. Also cool that you ignored the car thing. Guess that didn't help your flawed point?

How about actually countering my post with logic and real arguments instead of only being personal? Pretty childish tbh.

 

[TheDreadLord]

I

You must be pretty smart to assume someone that never posts because he mostly has a real life is from retardera. It's my third? Post because I forgot I had an account.

It's about the logic fail in saying when it' not legally available it's ok. Good on you defending piracy tells alot about your upbringing. Also cool that you ignored the car thing. Guess that didn't help your flawed point?

How about actually countering my post with logic and real arguments instead of only being personal? Pretty childish tbh.

I see your point here but there is pretty huge difference in terms of damage when it comes to the two crimes you used in your analogy.

 

[nush]

I

I see your point here but there is pretty huge difference in terms of damage when it comes to the two crimes you used in your analogy.

Shh no logic, only faux outrage now...

 

[TT2k17]

I

I see your point here but there is pretty huge difference in terms of damage when it comes to the two crimes you used in your analogy.

BUT there is damage anyway. That's the point.

And there is people that think it's up to THEM to decide what a company does with it's own things.

So I will keep dating a Girl that breaks up with me because it's up to me to decide what she does with her life? Not her decision because I decide how the world should work?

Look don't you think all those dense people whining about it online. Every YouTuber jumping on that wagon to whine about Nintendo does not damage Nintendo in any way?
"Nintendo hates it's customers" blah blah like how about being neutral? And trying to understand and maybe try to explain? NOO let's just spread lies for clicks and attention or because of being to lazy to find out the reasons since whining is easier.
Why are opinions and feelings presented as facts?

Just because grown up children are butthurt or just want to be part of the whine-train so they can SHOW IT to the evil big companies?

 

[Saber]

And its true though.
And this isn't about money. Its about preservation of old ass games no longer available and Nintendo clearly don't give a single fuck about.

 

[mitch1971]

BUT there is damage anyway. That's the point.

Damage to a child for life and damage to some rich companies wallet is so fucking much a chasm apart it's stupid to compare the two.

 

[Nautilus]

Kind of exagerated.Sucks that the stores are being closed(one of several reasons why I prefer physical), but saying here that Nintendo is the villain here is just stupid.

 

[Petopia]

Lets just hope fanboys dont defend this crap.

 

[TT2k17]

Damage to a child and damage to some rich persons wallet is a fucking chasm apart. Jesus.

Again logic fail? There is damage. end of the story.

So cutting of your fingers is okay because cutting all legs and arms of someone else is worse?

Good to know

 

[ACESHIGH]

I'll double down on that

Consoles are harmful towards game preservation. The best thing that can happen I'd them going the way of the dodo and everyone gaming on open platforms.

 

[Fake]

This is Nintendo alright. All people care are Japan sales.

 

[Saber]

Again logic fail? There is damage. end of the story.

So cutting of your fingers is okay because cutting all legs and arms of someone else is worse?

Good to know

Are seriously comparing to cutting limbs? What kind of dumb logic is that comparing a child going to prison and a few dimes just because both are "damage"?

Your logic fails miserably. Theres nothing to actually "support" piracy, it's called preservation. Piracy exists because theres oldass games that companies either don't care, do a very putrit job porting(aka easy money grab) or can't bother about legal issues. If it wasn't for it most of those games would cease to exist, because your favorite company doesn't give a shit about them unless it provides money.

 

[ParaSeoul]

They can try I guess.

They have

 

[kingfey]

LOL suddenly everyone cares about Wii U now

People only care about something, when its gone.

They didn't bother buying the system at all on launch.

 

[cireza]

Hacking Vita, 3DS and Wii U is very valid advice. That guy is legit.

 

[AJUMP23]

 

[wvnative]

Glad they called them out on it but I mean...the entire industry is shit in this category. Why we singling out Nintendo?

Emulation is the way unfortunately.

 

[Jubenhimer]

We're these guys saying this about Sony when they were about to do the same exact thing?

I do think it's too early to close the 3DS eShop at least, and would hope Nintendo would backtrack on that. But the vast majority of Wii U games were ported to other consoles, so unless you like Virtual Console games, it makes more sense to shut that store down.

You have to realize that stores don't go offline because they like making people miserable. Maintaining legacy servers for long periods of time is insanely expensive, and if there's no longer a ton of profit being made from them, then something has to give.

Sure, Sony is letting the PS3 and PS Vita stores stay up, but for how much longer? It sucks yes, but it's the reality of digital distribution, one that people should be looking for a solution to if they actually want to preserve game history.

 

[zeorhymer]

A foundation that advocates for piracy. Interesting messaging.

 

[speckz]

ROM all things!