If there ever was a new story worthy of a sad trombone, it’d be this one. The absolutely fantastic Game Boy Advance emulator GBA4iOS has been removed from its home on GitHub following a DMCA takedown request by Nintendo. GBA4iOS creator Riley Testut mentions on Twitter that the emulator will still work for anyone who has it installed, and that downloads will be “temporarily suspended."
I guess it’s not much of a surprise, considering how ridiculously easy it was to load ROMs in to the emulator, but really sucks for the DMCA takedown to hit now. I was talking to Riley not more than a day ago on Skype and he was telling me how he has multiplayer working between two of his devices, and had plans to implement the feature as soon as he could speed it up a bit.
A DMCA takedown now puts the entire project in jeopardy, as Nintendo is a legal beast few people want to tango with. The sad part is, the insane demand for GBA4iOS just goes to show that there’s a market for these kind of games on iOS. The only reason I emulated the games I did was because it’s impossible for me to buy them and play them on my iPad- And I’m guessing many folks out there feel the same way.
It was good while it lasted! If you’ve got GBA4iOS on your iOS device, I’d never delete it.
I'm honestly pretty surprised that, despite all the crap that King has pulled, you're still going to publish positive coverage of their games. Do you have any integrity? Either hate King and stick to your guns, or love them, or stay neutral. You can't say "Look at all these terrible things King is doing, and here are their victims" and months later say "Hey, this new King game looks pretty great. And the previous games in the series are great, too!"
What's interesting about the King stuff is they're actually a super awesome company with an incredible culture. They've amicably resolved every trademark dispute, yet the only thing people seem to care about is that immediate flash in the pan headline that everyone got so pissed off about... Which, if you looked in to it literally AT ALL turned out to be about 1% true.
God Dam Eli, how much is King paying you to say this shi*???
Nothing?
You can get paid for that? Damn lol, I'll say whatever they want me to :P
I've looked, and I've found them "amicably" resolving ONE dispute (notably, CandySwipe). Amicably being defined here as "both companies go their separate ways without any further form of compensation." Do you have any other cases in mind?
And why are the headlines "about 1% true"? Did it turn out that King.com wasn't actually handing out takedown notices and legal action to indie developers? Did they not try to forcibly rename The Banner Saga and CandySwipe, the latter of which was actually made before their claim to the "candy" title? As far as I can see, those things are actually 100% true.
The reason you don't hear about it is because internet news, particularly in the gaming circle, is all about playing on whatever emotion gets you to click and share stories then dropping the mic whenever those clicks and shares stop happening.
"King trademarks the word 'candy', collectively ruins every indie developer" was huge news. When anyone actually researched it beyond the initial knee-jerk they discovered that wasn't actually the case. Of course, "King actually doesn't do anything that evil, media over-reacts" isn't a headline, so no one ran it.
CandySwipe is the biggest, but every single instance of a "Candy" game that wasn't a 100% ripoff riding the coat tales of Candy Crush was dealt with in an incredibly reasonable and tasteful manner. King personally responded (and still does) to everyone who emails them about this.
It's unfortunate that the internet has largely become a game of who can be the most offended the quickest, but you'll find 99 times out of 100, if you look past that initial reaction on absolutely ANYTHING that the sky isn't actually falling and the world as we know it isn't ruined. But, as I mentioned, "Hey, things are actually pretty good you guys" isn't a headline anyone will click.
So, in other words, most gaming publications only represent the truth (as of the time of publication) as long as it is shocking enough to merit views. Additionally, Toucharcade is no different?
I mean, part of me is obviously disappointed in myself for not seeing that it's possible that King.com isn't as evil as I thought it was (even though I heavily dislike American corporations, I'm usually aware of a duality in things), and another part of me is disappointed in TouchArcade for knowing that there was more to the King story, but refusing to publish the truth because it wouldn't be profitable...
You'd like our podcast, we talk about this kind of thing a lot. Additionally, keep an eye on TouchArcade as I'm working on a story about it. It's kind of fascinating to me, particularly because public perception due to the way internet/social media works and reality are so significantly divorced from each other.
You know, I usually never listen to podcasts, but if this is an avenue that you guys explore, I'll start tuning in. And sure, I'll keep an eye out for that. It sounds like an interesting read. I'm glad we had this discussion.
Minor derailer to a thought provoking and mature discussion (kudos):
Love your podcast but the only safe and efficient way I listen to it is using apple's "podcasts" app while I drive (I can't safely mess with my phone to pull up other sources while driving and tend to forget to preload my phone for offline listening). Right now it is only update to episode #150 (apr 12th). It chronically seems to have these 1 month+ backlogs that once in a while resolve themselves and then start happening again.
As you imagine your podcast is partial about discussing current events in the iOS gaming community so I'm sure there's a material loss of listenership with this bug!
Is it in your control to fix or is it Apple's problem?
If it's not fixable can anyone suggest an alternative app? The apple Podcasts app seems pretty slick especially since their recent update (Siri integration!) though so that's still my preference!
Finally! No political answers here. Someone from the site admitting to not having any integrity. This story was totally worth the read.
To be fair, professional integrity would demand that he offer coverage regardless of any past actions. Positive or negative, it should be unbiased.
It also would have demanded a retraction for the BS story they originally published about King, which never happened.
Yeah, we know there shouldn't be any form of coverage for King's games being the money trap freemium "game" shovelers they are but Eli got a trip to Spain so i'll give him this one.
Like it or not, Kings games are enjoyed by *millions* and a new release deserves coverage
They are still terrible games...
Enjoyed by millions, but made by a company that sues innocent companies for hundreds of millions.
[Citation Needed]
Aaaah i see a trademark on the word Bubble coming up.
Let King vs Capcom begin :)
I tried the first Bubble Witch Saga before I knew anything about the crap King pulls, and I hated it and deleted it because of the transparent money grab. That's my 2 cents.
Its not her fault Eli get money from King for saying positive things nah just KIDDING.
So... are King going to still try and convince people that Bubble Bobble never existed and that they invented this game type? I saw a new Peggle clone from King on the App Store this week as well... Stay classy King.
The International Game Developer's Association [IGDA] published their comments on the King issue, and trademarks in general in the gaming industry:
http://www.igda.org/resourc...
"Moving past the obvious case of THE BANNER SAGA there are existing marks for several other games, such as SIGMA STAR SAGA by Namco Bandai, ROMANCING SAGA, SAGA FRONTIER, UNLIMITED SAGA by Square Enix, and FIFTH PHANTOM SAGA by Sega, all with registration dates ranging from 1999 to 2007. Additionally, in order to be capable of registration, King are likely to have to prove that the SAGA mark has gained a secondary meaning...King would be attempting to argue that the phrase “Saga” itself is nearly exclusively viewed by the public as associated with their “Saga” series.
As a matter of best practice, businesses should register the trademark in the form in which they use it. If the name of the game is CALL OF DUTY you register CALL OF DUTY. Not CALL and DUTY. If the name of the game is CANDY CRUSH SAGA, you register CANDY CRUSH SAGA. Not CANDY and SAGA.
...acquiring a similar registration with an earlier first use in commerce date may assist in overcoming oppositions by third parties whose rights pre-date your own rights...The [IGDA] appreciates that business is business, but is uncomfortable with these practices, particularly where small developers are disadvantaged by the ability of more successful developers to spend money acquiring earlier rights to use as sword and shield against them."
Hei Eli Hodapp! checking out KING? if you are still in Barcelona, why not have a hands on with our coming Asslay Gore endless hack&slash?
If I can be praised by you as a developer who plagiarises the core gameplay of a game and slap some new GUI, add some extra and ever so slightly tweaked mode, reword a few things here and there, and monetise some features (IAP), I'll make sure to contact you for a positive review!
Puzzle Bobble (Bust-a-move) by NILS/Taito, eat your heart out!
Eff king.
Derivative tripe, ripping off old, gold standard IP. Eff them and all of their supporters.