Dolphin Emulator (GameCube and Wii Emulator) coming to steam

[fragglerock]

https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2023/03/28/coming-soon-dolphin-steam/

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1941680/Dolphin_Emulator/

 

Seems like a risky move... don't want to catch the ire of Nintendo. The steam description says "an emulator for the big N's 6th and 7th generation consoles" which I doubt is coded enough to deflect the lawyers if they come running!

[DeciderVT]

As long as it's not using any of Nintendo's actual code I don't think there's a thing they can do about it.

[Shimmyhill]

5 hours ago, DeciderVT said:

As long as it's not using any of Nintendo's actual code I don't think there's a thing they can do about it.

 

Isnt it always the case that the emulators are potentially legal but the bios files are not - there is always lots they can do about it, its whether the courts rule in their favour that decides and as there often isnt any money in it they dont bother short of threats to do so.

[DeciderVT]

Which is why emulator authors don't include things like a BIOS.

[Quest]

Dolphin doesn't even need a BIOS. 

[amc]

Dolphin is incredible. F-Zero GX with or without a couple of graphical patches looks and plays magnificently. 4K at 60fps. WOW!

 

I do hope they aren't risking the ire of Nintendo, but as of now it plays everything I've tried superbly. Still, nice getting updates whether superfluous or not. Always more to improve I suppose?

 

I'm on a massive emulation kick, Rumble Racing on PS2 (PCSX2) has been getting hammered*.

 

Viva la emulation.

 

*As have Gran Turismo 3, WipEout Fusion, Ridge Racer 5, Shox, Super Monkey Ball, Burnout, and I'd started Metroid Prime until the re-do kicked it up a notch or three.

[Darwock]

Maybe I’m being an idiot, but, why? Dolphin has been available for years. Who cares if it’s on Steam or not?

[merrychan]

 

3 hours ago, Darwock said:

Maybe I’m being an idiot, but, why? Dolphin has been available for years. Who cares if it’s on Steam or not?

Yeah I mean I run Dolphin via RetroArch in Steam just for F-Zero GX and it's incredible, I'm interested in this for the Steam Deck though if that makes it possible / less faff

[K]

Putting it on Steam makes it more prominent, but it was pretty well-known anyway - I would be very surprised if Nintendo hadn't been aware of it for years. I don't think this will change anything, although there is an element of danger in putting it onto a commercial platform, even if they're not charging for it. RetroArch has been on Steam for ages without causing much controversy (other than the usual emulation community drama).

[Gotters]

All I can see putting it on steam does is enables cloud saves via the steam infrastructure and brings a load more heat/attention to the situation.

[Qazimod]

Looking forward to enjoying plenty of legally distinct homebrew Gamecube games in the future.  

 

I'm with @Darwock though - anyone interested in playing GC/Wii games on their desktop already set up Dolphin years ago, and anyone keen to get started today doesn't have to jump though that many hoops.

 

EDIT: I wonder if the Smash community is a driving force behind this? There have been massive developments in making Melee playable online with rollback, but whenever it gets a whiff of exposure (use in a tournament for example), Nintendo send out the C&Ds. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a catalyst to establish a community of online Melee players...

[simms]

Been playing Mario sunshine on Dolphin with an original GameCube controller and Super Mario Galaxy with an original Wiimote. They are both amazing games although I’m fighting with the camera a bit in Sunshine.  Sunshine looks so clean and crisp with a high res.  Not sure I’ll see any aloe in the Steam edition of Dolphin but glad it may give it more exposure to those who aren’t aware of how far emulation has come.

[Quest]

Unsurprisingly, Nintendo have DMCA'd the Steam release:

 

https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2023/05/27/dolphin-steam-indefinitely-postponed/

 

 

[yakumo]

14 hours ago, Quest said:

Unsurprisingly, Nintendo have DMCA'd the Steam release:

 

https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2023/05/27/dolphin-steam-indefinitely-postponed/

 

 

Nintendo not being the bad guy here is a shocker.

[Phantoon]

Yeah, them including copyright material in the emulator was a very stupid move

[Goemon]

Not sure why they would put the eye of Mordor on themselves by attempting this, I'm not sure what they were trying to gain? 

[Gotters]

interesting read on reddit from an emulator dev, discussing how all the others put the need for keys/bios on the user so the illegality (if any) is not on the emulator side.

 

dolphin doesn't do this.

 

surprised at their naivety really, it's probably more hubris

 

 

[Festoon]

Maybe they thought, hey, maybe Nintendo will be cool?

[bplus]

4 hours ago, Gotters said:

interesting read on reddit from an emulator dev, discussing how all the others put the need for keys/bios on the user so the illegality (if any) is not on the emulator side.

 

dolphin doesn't do this.

 

surprised at their naivety really, it's probably more hubris

 

 

Edit I completely mustidunderstood your post! Sorry!!!

 

watched a modern vintage gamer YouTube vid about this

 

 

I would be surprised if dolphin isn't DMCA-ed entirely after this.

 

[bplus]

On 29/03/2023 at 10:22, Gotters said:

All I can see putting it on steam does is enables cloud saves via the steam infrastructure and brings a load more heat/attention to the situation.

My thoughts too. Use Dropbox or similar if you want cloud saves

[Flub]

Emudeck will be out of beta on Windows soon. That has cloud sync and cloud backup for everything I believe.

[bplus]

What is emudeck? I had a look at their site but it reads like marketing speil.

Even retro arch is at this too, hyping features. I do wonder how these projects make money. Feels like they make it off talented developers who do the heavy lifting of writing the emulation code (plus all the research required).

 

Sorry this isn't aimed at your post im just getting cynical about the direction of some of the emulation scene!

[Flub]

Emudeck originally came out for the Steam Deck. It's a big pack of emulators (Including Emulation Station, RetroArch and a load of standalones) built to all work with the Steam Deck. It's in beta for Windows. It's basically a one stop installer to get everything working and kept up to date. The nice thing is when it's all done you'll be able to sync your savegames seamlessly between any platform it's running on.

[bplus]

1 hour ago, Flub said:

Emudeck originally came out for the Steam Deck. It's a big pack of emulators (Including Emulation Station, RetroArch and a load of standalones) built to all work with the Steam Deck. It's in beta for Windows. It's basically a one stop installer to get everything working and kept up to date. The nice thing is when it's all done you'll be able to sync your savegames seamlessly between any platform it's running on.

After more reading, it seems I'll definitely be interested in this.

[Gabe]

16 hours ago, bplus said:

What is emudeck? I had a look at their site but it reads like marketing speil.

Even retro arch is at this too, hyping features. I do wonder how these projects make money. Feels like they make it off talented developers who do the heavy lifting of writing the emulation code (plus all the research required).

 

Sorry this isn't aimed at your post im just getting cynical about the direction of some of the emulation scene!

Most of them have Patreon's and suchlike for donations, don't they?

[bplus]

16 minutes ago, Gabe said:

Most of them have Patreon's and suchlike for donations, don't they?

Retroarch is an amazing bit of software (though lots of people hate it). My problem is they tend to hype their features and do down FPGA and original hardware solutions. I've no idea what their incentive for this is.