That's like a headline out of some corny cyberpunk story. Total evil megacorp stuff. It used to be you could just activate cheats with a few button presses. Anyone remember GameShark? How on earth...
That's like a headline out of some corny cyberpunk story. Total evil megacorp stuff.
It used to be you could just activate cheats with a few button presses. Anyone remember GameShark? How on earth have we sunk to this point?
I'm generally all for exposing all manner of modifiers for the average player to tweak for their needs, so long as it the results don't completely break the game (e.g. let you get to and get stuck...
I'm generally all for exposing all manner of modifiers for the average player to tweak for their needs, so long as it the results don't completely break the game (e.g. let you get to and get stuck in a place you normally need a special item to traverse) since that requires either possibly significant developer foresight and time/effort/alterations to accommodate every "assist" setting combination, or a bunch of people reasonably complaining that easy to change settings break the game.
does not punish you by disabling achievements
This, though, I don't agree with. While achievements are completely local and meaningless in some games, most modern games have some online comparisons (% of players who got a particular one, rankings for % achievements completed, etc.), and some even tie in to rewards (either in-game, or in the broader store). Aside from players caring, developers often use achievement completion stats to evaluate and balance a game instead of more invasive telemetries. "Assist" settings should either disable achievements, or switch to a duplicate set of "assisted" achievements.
Precisely because they have not earned the achievement! Achievements are a recognition of particular feats of skill, determination, and (occasionally) a little luck under certain conditions....
Why should players using assists not be eligible for earning rewards from completing achievements?
Precisely because they have not earned the achievement! Achievements are a recognition of particular feats of skill, determination, and (occasionally) a little luck under certain conditions. Someone who didn't meet the criteria, or did so under different conditions, has simply not earned the same achievement. I'm not going to say you're not a "real gamer" or whatever nonsense for using assists. There's plenty of times I change difficulty or adjust settings to get through a game myself. You got to play the game in your own way, enjoy the experience, get from a start to a finish. Beyond that, to ask for the same meta recognition and reward without distinction, is ridiculous.
Letting players with disabilities use assists and still earn achievements doesn't detract from a typical player's experience when they earn an achievement "the hard way" for themselves.
A significant part of the appeal of achievements is the competitive nature and bragging rights, otherwise we'd all be fine with just the knowledge in our hearts and without explicit achievements. Once "everyone" has them, they become less meaningful, less noteworthy. Further, an unintended consequence could be new games thinking they really suck when they can't immediately get a super hard achievement is presented as easy due to the 90% completion rate thanks to assisted completions.
I really don't think introducing assists is going to meaningfully affect whatever data you're trying to get from achievement stats anyways.
You really think a bunch of people turning on god mode to get all of those achievements (and they definitely will if it's easy and they might get some rewards) won't impact the data?
I'm not even going to touch the "young men" stuff.
What? The Japanese police are lackies for Nintendo? Why is this not just going to court? Can someone in Japan or familiar with their culture shed some light? This seems insane to me.
What? The Japanese police are lackies for Nintendo? Why is this not just going to court? Can someone in Japan or familiar with their culture shed some light? This seems insane to me.
They are taking advantage of this law that was passed in Japan called the Unfair Competition Prevention Law which aims to protect a company's trade secrets, which it defines as Because modifying a...
They are taking advantage of this law that was passed in Japan called the Unfair Competition Prevention Law which aims to protect a company's trade secrets, which it defines as
Technical or business information that is:
i) useful for commercial activities such as manufacturing or marketing methods,
ii) kept secret, and
iii) not publicly known.
Because modifying a save file means you have accessed trade secrets and hampered them, they can use this law to go after you. The law is written in such a way that pretty much anything related to modifying a company's product and sharing that in any capacity can get you in trouble. It's absolutely insane to many of us, but this falls in line with Japan's extremely rigid copyright laws.
Somewhat anecdotal example but I have talked to several streamers in Japan who have a rough time simply streaming just because they typically have to directly contact most companies to get explicit permissions to stream games, because unlike in the US, there is not only no fair use but you cannot monetize video game content at all without explicit permission (without risking a copyright strike of course). This is just to exemplify how big of a copyright choke hold companies hold in Japan.
I'm incensed that governments - any of them - protect trade secrets. Trade secrets do not help society. They are a technological monopoly that lasts forever, and that only helps increase...
I'm incensed that governments - any of them - protect trade secrets. Trade secrets do not help society. They are a technological monopoly that lasts forever, and that only helps increase inequality. Any government that protects them is openly corrupt.
This is Japan, after all. Fairly unlikely. There's a reason Phoenix Wright comes out of Japan - seriously, you can look it up, in Japan there is an over 99% conviction rate. If this guy got to the...
That's like a headline out of some corny cyberpunk story. Total evil megacorp stuff.
It used to be you could just activate cheats with a few button presses. Anyone remember GameShark? How on earth have we sunk to this point?
I'm generally all for exposing all manner of modifiers for the average player to tweak for their needs, so long as it the results don't completely break the game (e.g. let you get to and get stuck in a place you normally need a special item to traverse) since that requires either possibly significant developer foresight and time/effort/alterations to accommodate every "assist" setting combination, or a bunch of people reasonably complaining that easy to change settings break the game.
This, though, I don't agree with. While achievements are completely local and meaningless in some games, most modern games have some online comparisons (% of players who got a particular one, rankings for % achievements completed, etc.), and some even tie in to rewards (either in-game, or in the broader store). Aside from players caring, developers often use achievement completion stats to evaluate and balance a game instead of more invasive telemetries. "Assist" settings should either disable achievements, or switch to a duplicate set of "assisted" achievements.
Precisely because they have not earned the achievement! Achievements are a recognition of particular feats of skill, determination, and (occasionally) a little luck under certain conditions. Someone who didn't meet the criteria, or did so under different conditions, has simply not earned the same achievement. I'm not going to say you're not a "real gamer" or whatever nonsense for using assists. There's plenty of times I change difficulty or adjust settings to get through a game myself. You got to play the game in your own way, enjoy the experience, get from a start to a finish. Beyond that, to ask for the same meta recognition and reward without distinction, is ridiculous.
A significant part of the appeal of achievements is the competitive nature and bragging rights, otherwise we'd all be fine with just the knowledge in our hearts and without explicit achievements. Once "everyone" has them, they become less meaningful, less noteworthy. Further, an unintended consequence could be new games thinking they really suck when they can't immediately get a super hard achievement is presented as easy due to the 90% completion rate thanks to assisted completions.
You really think a bunch of people turning on god mode to get all of those achievements (and they definitely will if it's easy and they might get some rewards) won't impact the data?
I'm not even going to touch the "young men" stuff.
What? The Japanese police are lackies for Nintendo? Why is this not just going to court? Can someone in Japan or familiar with their culture shed some light? This seems insane to me.
They are taking advantage of this law that was passed in Japan called the Unfair Competition Prevention Law which aims to protect a company's trade secrets, which it defines as
Because modifying a save file means you have accessed trade secrets and hampered them, they can use this law to go after you. The law is written in such a way that pretty much anything related to modifying a company's product and sharing that in any capacity can get you in trouble. It's absolutely insane to many of us, but this falls in line with Japan's extremely rigid copyright laws.
Somewhat anecdotal example but I have talked to several streamers in Japan who have a rough time simply streaming just because they typically have to directly contact most companies to get explicit permissions to stream games, because unlike in the US, there is not only no fair use but you cannot monetize video game content at all without explicit permission (without risking a copyright strike of course). This is just to exemplify how big of a copyright choke hold companies hold in Japan.
I'm incensed that governments - any of them - protect trade secrets. Trade secrets do not help society. They are a technological monopoly that lasts forever, and that only helps increase inequality. Any government that protects them is openly corrupt.
If protecting trade secrets was the true intent of that law, then I'm really hoping that Japanese judges laugh this case out of the courtroom.
This is Japan, after all. Fairly unlikely. There's a reason Phoenix Wright comes out of Japan - seriously, you can look it up, in Japan there is an over 99% conviction rate.
If this guy got to the point where they arrest him, it's just a matter of how severe the sentencing wil be.
This seems wrong on so many levels