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Tecmo Sues Game Hackers Under DMCA
blueZhift writes "This Reuters report on CNet states that Tecmo has filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act accusing the site owners and perhaps some users of game hacking site www.ninjahacker.net (now offline) of knowingly infringing on their game software. This should be another interesting test of the DMCA and just how far it can be pushed to restrict what end users can do with/to their software purchases. This might ultimately affect the legality of cheat devices like the Game Shark and even the mere sharing of cheats or exploits."
Considering how most American slashdotters (myself included) consider the DMCA to be a violation of our rights, I hope everyone will understand the urgency of my plight...I need somewhere to post this cheat code...
;-)
left-right-left-left-B-A-left-down-trigger-left-B
I can only hope Slashdot has the resources to protect my free speech.
Really, though...the DMCA sucks, but I can't see cheat codes being a violation while game makers keep putting them in on purpose. Aren't they the ones writing code to do different things when we enter the codes in? What next, prison time for opening an easter egg in Word?
Here's a link to the archived site, before it was taken down.
omg I read that as Taco sues gamers :\
but Tecmo Bowl was one of my favorite games.
IDDQD
Now sue me.
You guys really don't mind taking up the @$$ do you.
and ninjahackers??? Please, if your going to get in trouble don't involve da ninja masta!
I hope at this point, some enterprising and idealistic lawyer will finally take a stand for the right of the individual to use and modify his property as he sees fit.
MacroHard - Boning you in a big way! (TM)
They must have been mad over those hacks to DOA:EBV. I wonder if anyone here will know what I'm talking about... hehehe
Hooray for google. Click on the caches.
Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious
Nowhere in TFA or the ninjahacker page (Even though I only skimmed it) are cheat codes mentioned. The article says "hacking into popular games... to change their codes" which doesn't have ANYTHING to do with cheating, sounds more like cracking/reverse engineering. You guys are exactly right in saying using the DMCA against cheat codes is ridiculous - hence why this has nothing to do with it.
to stop using proprietary software. There are a lot of amazing free software game projects that need our support (like e.g. WorldForge) that not only allow but in fact encourage hacking. Proprietary crap is good for uneducated people who want to have a one-size-fits-all black box. For thinking people who want to learn by tinkering, free software is the way to go.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
If you look at those caches, the greatest number of people on the site was 88 in mid-2003. The lawsuit is almost certainly designed to test the boundaries of the DMCA in courts, rather than to stop 20-odd people from fucking around with their DOA costumes.
a couple of hundred people sharing nudey skins for Xtreme Volleyball now becomes the WHOLE INTERNET!
way to protect your IP there Tecmo...
Clearly, this is a pathetic attempt to stir up a bit of froth for what is essentially a dog-shit game.
no-one will get sued, 14yr olds will break their xboxes trying to make the naked women do handstands.
I.e. you can't drive your car at 200MPh - that is to say, you can. But it's against the law.
You can't mod your car with a spoiler that's twice the width of your car - that is to say, you can. But it's against the law. At least driving on public roads with one is.
What's being argued here, now, is that you can't hack the game and distribute the hack. That is to say, you can. But it may be against the law (the DMCA one).
Btw.. the article referred to is rather short, and people seem to think this is about sharing cheat codes. Not quite.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/02/09/news_6118
I would let'em do anything they want to extirpate cheaters - those MFers ruined my day yesterday (two cheaters clans on my favorite CS:S server - that really sucked).
And I wide-eyed astonished at some cheaters who readily corrupt their gameplay (by removing textures etc.) just to be able to piss people off.
That is weird, isn't it?
Is something similar happening with America's Army?
Someone enlighten me as I don't choke under pressure.
I haven't been able to access the site, and the article doesn't say much, but how is hacking games to have new graphics breaking copy protection? Or is there another part of the DMCA they're using? Unless they were distributing hacks to disable CD checking, then maybe, but if they're just altering gameplay, how is that breaking copy protection? Heck, if the patches are done normally, they wouldn't even need to contain any copyrighted material.
You can do whatever the fuck you want with your car. You just can't endanger other people by bringing an unsafe vehicle on the public roads. Naked skins on your own xbox doesn't endanger anyone.
Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A B A Start
Massively Multiplayer Online Game. MMOG. "Massively Multiplayer Online Games are boring". See, that makes sense.
Massively Multiplayer Online. MMO. "Massively Multiplayer Onlines are boring". This does not make sense.
You don't do stupid things like through in extra letters from single words, to create extra long acronyms like your "Massively MultiPlayer OnLine", and there is nothing Role Playing about most of these games.
The DMCA notice was due to cd check removers or some other thing to allow the games to be pirated.
That these people also have cheat codes is irrelevant.
Aren't you contradicting yourself ?
You just said you can do whatever the etc. you want with your car. Next you say that you can't endanger other people with it.
What if I -want- to endanger other people with it ?
Oh shit. I can't. Rather, it's against the law.
That's the whole point - you CAN'T do whatever you want with your car, as there are set limits within the law within which you have to operate - or risk the consequences.
And no - naked skins on your own x-box won't endanger anyone*. That's why the DMCA is being invoked here, and not e.g. reckless driving. Any more than that state troopers would call upon the DMCA when you're speeding.
* Tecmo obviously argues that it hurts their public image, for one, so that's open to intepretation.
Seems the only people who are gaining from the DMCA are lawyers. Curious!
Que for debasing lawyer jokes.
They aren't being sued for the cheats, they are being sued for making skins (including a bunch of nude ones that TECMO doesn't seem to like) for these games.
Apparantly they had to reverse engineer the games to make these skins and therefore they are being sued under the cover of the DMCA (natch).
Personally I think it's a bitch that modifying something that you've paid for, to add value to it so that others are more likely to want to pay for it in the future is seen as a suable offence by TECMO. Bioware, Id, Valve and others make it as easy as possible to make mods since the community efforts can add considerable value to the product at zero cost to the developers.
Counterstrike anyone?
No one should be made a criminal in this case. No one is getting hurt. The game makers aren't losing any money. The gamers aren't doing any harm as I can see.
Does anyone know exactly which hacks Temco is suing over? Hacks that only affect how you experience the game is one thing, hell, I own a Gameshark myself simply because I hate the 20 hours of leveling you have to do in RPGs. Hacks that affect online play are a completely different ball game. Online gaming can be ruined when codes hit the wild. I'm sure a lot of people remember when the SOCOM gameshark codes were released and suddenly there were thousands of invulnerable players running around firing automatic sniper rifles.
Yes, developers can implement systems to combat online game cheating but to be honest, they shouldn't have to. Unfortunatly we live in a world where a good percentage of parents never successfully taught their children to grow up and stop acting like idiots. It's a shame that going after individual cheaters isn't viable and cost effective, like gun manufacturers, the people who release these codes shouldn't be held accountable for what people do with them.
This is one of the reasons I will never buy a console. Console games are geared to be throw-away games. i.e. You spend $50 on a FPS, and you are stuck with whatever maps the publisher sees fit to let you have. Even those games on the Xbox that have downloadable mods. Mods on Xbox live see: here are limited to publisher produced material. This means that you will never see a candyland map for Uneal Championship, or the gigantic burger joint map for that matter.
I have a few hundred megs of Maps for games like Unreal Tournament, Doom 3, Red Faction, Starcraft, etc, etc, etc. that were created by fans. I have a friend who is really into Morrowind, which is over 3 years old, and mods that offer nudity, god mode, extra locations, extra equipment, skins, and anything else some fan has the imagination and inclination to produce. He has been playing this game off and on for 3 years... I'm still playing Neverwinter Nights.
And for the game companies: attack your customers at your peril... We don't care about IP, we don't care whether you are too puritanical for nude skins, or whatever. A new game is a toy to us that will be used as we see fit. If you want to clamp down, many people simply won't buy from you. I sure as hell won't. And furthermore this makes me feel like I have made the right decision in avoiding the console market altogether.
So when does Mattel start suing all those people who have made Barby appear "different from the original designs" by undressing their dolls and making her appear "naked"? And what about EA games and sims nude patches?!
Tampering with your car (or driving too fast) is against the law because it poses a thread to yourself and most likely others (Well, we german may disagree with the "driving to fast" part, but that's another story). Tampering with a game you have installed on your harddisk does not harm anyone, and I don't see any reason why this should be unlawful. In fact, here in germany, it isn't ;-)
It is a nice trick to compare computers with cars, but most of the times the implications of such an analogy are just plain wrong.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Be careful or you'll have an IDKFA suit launched against ya!
Have you metaroderated recently?
Surely you mean Up, Down, Left Right, A, B, C, Start and listen for the "ring" sound?
We are the target market for these companies and you should take your outrage to them. Here is some contact info. Remember to be polite but firm :)
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Contact Us Via Snail Mail:
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Contact Us Via Fax or Phone:
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I doN'7 PrOb4bLY bEc4U53 1 n3VeR CHeaT. 4nD J00 do, r1GH+?
I've followed the monsanto link and this is the most insightful post in this thread. Why is it moderated as Score:0?
Source: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=
The Faceless Master
I figure its worth pointing out that the statement that this will be a test of how far the DMCA can be applied to software people purchase is inaccurate. Its a test of how far the DMCA can be applied to enforce the fact that people have purchased media and an associated license for the software, and as such have no rights beyond what are granted by the software owner. I'd doubt very many people on /. have ever really bought software.
The publisher can't tell you that you can't use their CD as a coaster, or pop it in a microwave because you bought the CD. They can restrict in any way they want what you can do with the software, however, because you do not own that.
There are bad aspects of the DMCA, but people need to keep in mind that the means of protecting intellectual property and enforcing licenses may be wrong, but the concept is quite valid.
TECMO seems to think that their characters wholesome image are being corrupted. The Ninjahacker site hosted files that allowed for the modification of "packages" that contained graphic files, and some teen pervs made some nude skins with it. The majority of the skins were tastefull and some even surpassed the quality of the ones created by TECMO, only a small amount were nudes but those always seem to get the most attention. They claim that the package files that were used to package said graphic files were protected and considered "source code" thereby the protection had to be circumvented in order to be modified. I thought a copyright didn't give you a right to keep that IP from being used by fair use? Which obviously said protection is doing?
DMCA is very reminicent of one of life major examples. you buy a car and the motor company put a locking large steel wall over the engine so you can't fiddle with it, they also added a latch to prevent access. You then circumvent that by pushing a button and pulling a lever. is that also illegal? i bypassed protective mechanisms
From a forums post I read by the owner of ninjahacker.net apparently someone posted a modified game file and not just a PPF file on there without him knowing and it was found by Tecmo and now they are suing him
Have you metaroderated recently?
It's the difference between euridite and pedantic!
Congratulations.
Fact: You have never been to a demolition derby, or seen an action movie. You can do anything you want to a car, including turning it into a big bomb, or ram it into other cars until they're all disabled, or drive into a reinforced concrete wall at 180 mph so you can be eulogized on limited edition commemorative plates. Now how a person uses a techological terror they've created. Well, in America, the right to swing your fist ends at my nose, unless that person has agreed to a punch in the mouth.
To make your improbable theory work with the tenent on which this great nation was founded, they would have had to create a package to install their modifications without permission from the owners of the software. That you fail to understand this makes me think you should pursue a career in law. Your fantastic ignorance of this country's origins and obliviousness the world around you leads me to believe you'd be rated "Excellent" by the American Bar association were you to pursue employment as a judge.
I'm assuming you're trolling, but in case you're not...
The reason you can't drive 200MPH is because its dangerous.
The reason you can't have a spoiler twice as wide as your car is because it would be dangerous as it would run into other cars (not to mention that it makes you look like an illegal alien with bad skin and no taste)
The reason you can't modify a Tecmo game is...because the publisher doesn't like what you're doing with the game they sold you.
Do you get it now? Or will you continue to be stupid? I mean, you've been smacked down once. But if you keep it up, I'll smack you down again because (a) its fun (b) you're not that bright, so its easy to do.
Surely the combined mental muscle of Slashdot can help me ?
e alsilly/ will not return,
e alsilly/neitheristhis.jpg will resolve just fine.
I am writing a script to "spider" ( not *actually* spider, but I will get to that ) Photobucket albums.
Photobucket has a weakness where if you know the actual file name, it will bypass any security on the album.
for example http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/thisisnotr
But http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/thisisnotr
I want to write a script that will use Wget ( as it can be set to discard the photobucket error page ) and a random number/word generator to test and return all possible valid images from an album.
Are there any good random number or word generators that will output into a simple text file ?
I think the best approach is to simply output the randomness into a file and then add Wget command to all words in it using a shell command
I would also like to have a predefined addition to the random text, like DS00 for example, in one step.
Anyone done anything like this before ?
" like to play games with production value"
Translation: I like 1st person shooters. Especially the ones with lots of cut scenes. And girls in bikinis!
"Enjoy TuxRacer while I get down to Galactic Civilizations II"
I get it...you have no clue what a good game is. "Galactic Civilizations 2"... I've had more fun jamming bamboo under my fingernails.
But hey, Tecmo is right. And the PSP is a great value at $400 at gamestop!
Noticed that thay have a petition up at that site as well at http://www.petitiononline.com/tecmomod/petition.ht ml
I find it hard to believe that a program for modifying savegames can be viewed as copyright infringement. Fine, the savegames were created by the program in question, but this is made possible through the skill and dedication of the player in question. And if I've understood correctly, the Gameshark is nothing but a savegame editor for various console games.
On the matter of hacks/mods to games, I find it rather rude of the creators of said games to deny players this possibility, whether or not this is actual copyright infringement.
If I hadn't been modded down, you'd be reading this right now.
"That is weird, isn't it?"
Agree 100%.
I mean, can you believe these guys pay money to buy the game, then buy a monthly fee to play the game, pretend they're a "Jedi Night", and then remove game textures.
Its all so weird that I put it down to social misfits and people who probably masturbate way too much in their too abundant free time.
Nice of Temco to put up the cash, time, and potentially negitive publicity to test out a US law. Another case of the world just trying to make us look dumb?
The law restricts the use of your property on public roads in those cases, it does not restrict your use of your property on private land.
But most important to this conversaion, you have every right to do whatever you want with the physical goods you purchased. Burn the box, microwave the CD, use it as a coaster. The CD is yours.
The contents, however, are not yours. Software is licensed, not sold, and you do not own it. You do not have the rights you seem to think you have around it becuase of your mistaken assumption that you own the software. (Although in most cases I think its a deliberate side-stepping of that fact, not a mistaken assumption... 90% of the posts on here so far are from people who know perfectly well they do not own that software).
I think the article missinforms. You don't have any software purchases. Unless it was reffering to the rights to use the software that you purchased. And as such, they control what rights and restrictions you are bound to by the terms in the, may I say, "Contract"? (a.k.a: "License Agreement").
IANAL, But I think that's how it works. When you buy something tangeable, you buy that specific item, and you can do with it what you like (legally... of course). But when it comes to IP, I think those that created the material deserve to choose what can and cannot be done with their works. Just because someone bought a copy of a book, doesn't mean they can change a few words and modify a couple of chapters, then release another version of it and not expect me to stay quiet.
I'm a signature virus. Please copy me to your signature so I can replicate.
I always thought that having just a skin to cover you meant being naked ;)
I think the idea is wrong. People should be able to do whatever they want to the software on their systems. Although, this becomes an issue if modifications to software interferes with the experience in, lets say, a not-so-perfectly-designed online game. That's the only reason I would like to see things like the GameShark disappear; aside from the fact that I view "lets plug in the codes and never die in game x" as totally stupid, which I do understand is different from what these guys were probably doing.
How much bandwidth do you have available to you in Scotland? If thats the law there, that means you could rip every CD and DVD you get your hands on, and put them online for the rest of us.
Got the rest of the season one episodes of Battlestar Galactica taped? I assume you weren't forced to sign anything before buying a product with a tuner in it, right? Those should be free game, too, then.
Can I get some mods to follow me around modding up all my posts full of incorrect information?
...like it wouldn't have been "offline" anyway after getting front-page mention on /.!
This space intentionally left (almost) blank.
As for Microsoft's involvement in the case (as the claims revolve around only those games released on the Xbox platform), apparently there is none. Inada said, "I understand why they can't come and rescue us. I know they have a full team of lawyers [for game and Windows-related issues." He added, "These [hackers] must have a modified Xbox--it should be of great concern to them."
When I read that they could of convinced me this was satire.
Does anyone remember ye old Sega Vs. Accolade case? This seems kinda similar...
Why am I not rapping? I am rapping with you in a way.
The idea is, the precedent has been set that modifying your own property, when it doesn't impact others, is not illegal; if modifying your game code impacts others, that's one thing (ie. if you take your modified code out on "the open road" and game online with it, potentially using it to cheat; much like speeding, though without the possible death part).
So yeah, maybe it's a bit against the DMCA . . . but, laws contradict eachother all the time nowadays, the idea here is to establish that by prior laws and values set, it shouldn't be illegal, thus, regardless of whether the exact literal wording of the DMCA ends up backing up the lawsuit or not, it shouldn't be illegal.
To say "it's a statement of fact" is to take it too far; and after all, there is such a thing as civil disobedience (even if, yes, it's illegal, so if we want to live in a black-and-white world we can just use that as an excuse to stop the argument now), and it's definitely true that some laws are stronger (more enforced, more respected, more likely to stay in their current forms) than others.
So in conclusion, I declare that your attempted analogy works against you!
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
Maybe he could escape using either IDSPISPOPD, IDCLIP, or ultimately IDCLEV## ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Did you really just suggest ONI as a perfectly fine PC alternative to Metal Gear Solid? The reason you have no concept of why people might prefer a console: ignorance is bliss.
If your car was a techmo game...
Techmo Autos'r'Us
Legal Department
101 Somelane Anytown USA 54321
777-123-4567
Sir or Madam:
It has come to our attention that not only are you selling an aftermarket radio system for our automobiles, you have also launched a website in order to tell others how to replace the radio system in their automobiles.
Prepared to be sued.
- Techmo Autos'r'Us Legal Department.
Absurd, isn't it? Dodge isn't going to sue a store for selling naked-lady mudflaps and a "don't come a knockin' if this vehicle's a rockin'" bumpersticker for my truck, no matter how distasteful they may find it. If they even attempted to sue the store, the case would be a laughing stock. The store could give me step-by-step instructions on how to remove the old mudflaps and install the new mudflaps without any fear of being sued.
Yet there is no outrage when Techmo tells gamers that they can't distribute or tell others how to put the digital equivalent of naked-lady mudflaps on their games.
Are they really going to sue the users of the site? I downloaded nude patches from there before Christmas, but I didn't register. I hope I don't get busted...
If you realy want to see naked people in your games, or pretty much anywhere in fact, you should take up self-hypnosis!
This is the worst thread ever.
This guy is nuts. I can't believe he's modded up to 5, while most of the people who disagree are modded flamebait.
In the same column : car manufacturers disallow placing of spoilers etc., or changing the fuel-system (from petrol to gas), as it changes their, in their eyes, DMCA protected design (I've taken some artistic freedom here :-) ).
Need more none-to-silly, but very choking examples ?
Oh for crying out loud the goodwill of the game died when they released Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
If you think car companies don't sue each other left and right constantly, you're living with your head in the sand. They sue from things as trivial as naming (Porsche 911 has a "1" in the middle digit because Peugeot owned car names with zero as a middle digit -- the original 911 was a 901)
Car makes sue over grill designs, interior designs, ergonomic innovations, brake system designs, motor design. The lists go on and on.
And clearly nearly 200 years of industrialized history has demonstrated your conentention that those laws can't be passed or enforced are completely incorrect. There are lots of good books about IP cases in the 1700's and 1800's. Hell, the history around the invention and implementation of the telegraph puts all this stuff around the Internet to shame.
Sure there are nude skins for Americas Army, how else would you stage an Abu Ghraib style prisoner pyramid?
.."
"Videogames don't hurt people, it is people
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
If you provide software on a disk to your customers then someone somewhere will hack it, fact of life.
Of course the difference is when the people who hack it post details on the Internet. I have a problem with current titles being hacked and details posted on the net, but not with old games.
I guess when the DRM pushers have their way we will all be prevented from hacking code. Maybe sometime in the future people won't be able to repair, resurrect or emulate old systems. The machine code debugger will be a musuem piece.
The point of DMCA is to restrict what end users can do with/to your software purchases...
Note: *YOUR* software purchases.
The way it is going, it seem that in the future, you will not own what you pay for anyomore, you will just pay for the right to use somebody's product, what you can do with your stuff depends on the manufactor's good will.
That, and Nintendo v. Galoob, the Game Genie case.
You're right. I've printed out that post and had it laminated already, quite a singular intelligence at work there.
That was classic intercourse!
One thing that seems to be missing from most statements is that the data on an Xbox DVD cannot even be read by normal DVD readers. Pop one in your PC and see what it contains. The only way to get the files properly off the DVD itself is to modify an Xbox and ftp the files off the xbox to a PC. This action itself breaks the DMCA.
The fact they have the files on their PCs to modify them means at one point someone broke the law.
Use of a proprietary file type can be construed as a protective measure to prevent hacking. Altering any files using said file type would break the DMCA as it's written IMO.
I'm suprised nobody's mentioned this, but why don't they start hosting the data from a Canadian server? I mean, we don't have the DMCA or any equivelant, and our federal courts have a recent history of finding in favour of consumers in these cases. It seems like a dead-easy solution, although maybe a little too late for this specific site.
-- sudo.ca
DOABV was just a precursor to what would have been a more adult game in the future, and the patches beat them to the punch?
Actually I've wondered about this myself, what determines where the court proceedings will take place in regards to websites?
Nationality of infringers?
Location of infringers?
Location of hosting servers?
Location of "infringed" product?
If I as a Canadian were to post such patches on my server, if there were a law shared between Canada in the US that made it purportedly "illegal," where would I be tried?
Look at the all time best sellers and most persistent games (The Sims, Quake series, Unreal Tournament series) and you find that they all not only allow you to modify them, they actively encourage it! Hell, UT 2004 comes with a powerful scripting language that lets you do everything short of change the engine, a free version of Maya to do graphics, a level editor that is absolutly top notch, and shitloads of free training materials on the web to learn how to use the. Then, they run a contest and give money to the people who modify it the best.
All that, and they make money doing it.
I've never understood the need some companies have to try and lock people out of their games. If there's one thing game fans seem to love to do, it's to give you free content. They will spend an amazing amount of time to produce free addons for your games. I have no idea why anyone would want to prohibit that.
Welcome to the United States of Intellectual Property, where ownership is everything. Our surveillance cameras observed you taking photos of privately owned structures through the airplane window, and the in-seat microphone recorded you repeating part of Letterman's Top Ten list from last night. Here's your copy of the DMCA. The lawyer assigned to you will be contacting you shortly regarding the initial series of lawsuits you'll be defending yourself against. We hope you enjoy your stay.
Oh Crap! I put a window in my Antec case! Now Antec's going to come after me! Uh oh... I hope Microsoft doesn't find out I skinned Windows.. Man I'm screwed!
mount
Wait, are you are saying it didn't die with the first DOA?
But here, unlike the car industry where you don't buy a new car until yours breaks down, the game companies DO NOT want you to extend your play time of a game; they want you to play, get bored, and go buy another. From a sales point of view, extending the playtime of a game just keeps you from wanting to go out and buy another
contact@tecmoinc.com
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Just when you make it idiotproof, some idiot builds a better idiot.
Seriously.
nt.
...Japanese automobile manufacturers have launched a coordinated legal attack against car owners that modify their vehicles.
"Adding nitrous systems to the fuel injection and 'coffee can' mufflers to the exhaust systems are clearly actions that violate the DMCA," said Hiroshi Yagasaki, lead attorney for Toyota.
Taking a page from the RIAA, investigators have been hired to watch for teens entering automotive parts stores to purchase after market parts for compact vehicles. Fake auto parts websites have been set up to net offenders who would order parts online.
"These young hooligans are clearly stealing from the car companies by circumventing our state-of-the-art protection schemes, which we call 'The Hood'."
Commander Taco was not available for comment.
*** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***
Kevin Poulsen provides some more details on SecurityFocus.
Does this mean that we will not be able to modify anything we own in the future? Will they stop me if I want to put fog lights on my car or paint my house?
:-)
I think this is a call to boycot Tecmo! They haven't made anything good since Tecmo Bowl anyway.
http://web.archive.org/web/20040210040258/http://w ww.ninjahacker.net/
All your Sybase are belong to us.
i think the posting of such modifications is similar to the posting of Game Genie codes (which another member has also mentioned), which can alter the course of gameplay by either directly altering a game's code or it's RAM.
The Game Genie "codes" were just a means for obfuscating the true nature of it's game alterations, but in essance it was doing the exact same thing as the posted modifications.
NES WORLD, which summarized the Nintendo vs Galoob Game Genie case, offers this information which (to me at least) seems very relavant and perhaps in the least not bad news for NinjaHacker and co?
http://www.nesworld.com/law-0005.htm
"After trial, the district court found:
(1) The "Game Genie" does not create a "derivative work" within the definition in 101. "[I]nherent in the concept of a `derivative work' is the ability for that work to exist on its own, fixed and transferable from the original work, i.e., having a separate `form'. . . . The Game Genie does not meet that definition." Id. at 1291. (emphasis in original).
The court distinguished Midway Mfg. Co. v. Artic Int'l, Inc., stating that "Midway's result, if not its analysis, appears to have turned on the fact that the licensee arcade owner, not the copyright holder, was making money from the performance of the altered game, a violation of section 106(4) (copyright holder has exclusive right `to perform the copyrighted work publicly')." Id.
Under the facts of Midway, that court "was willing to `stretch' the acceptable definition of a derivative work." Id. The Galoob court, however, was not willing to "stretch" the definition of "derivative work" where the performance was non- commercial and was confined to the homes of purchasers of legitimate copies of the videogame.
(2) "[E]ven if the Game Genie did create a derivative product, the doctrine of `fair use' enables consumers to use the Game Genie for their personal enjoyment, 17 U.S.C. 107, and therefore allows Galoob to sell it." Id. at 1286. In its analysis of fair use, the court "relied extensively," id. at 1292, on Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. -- particularly in its emphasis on the first statutory fair use factor, the purpose and character of the use. The court found that the non-commercial, nonprofit nature of the use by the alleged direct infringer, the videogame purchaser, created a presumption of fair use. Id. at 1293.
On the fourth fair use factor (effect on the work's potential market or value), the court said it had not been shown that the use supplanted demand for Nintendo's works, that any actual or reasonably likely market was injured, or that use of the Game Genie in ways that arguably infringe Nintendo's copyrights would diminish the overall demand for Nintendo games. Id. at 1294-98. Nor did the remaining fair use factors weigh in favor of Nintendo. Id. at 1293-94.
(3) "Galoob's use of copyrighted video games for purposes of testing or marketing the Game Genie does not violate any of Nintendo's rights under the Copyright Act." Id. at 1286.
(4) A permanent injunction in favor of Nintendo would not be warranted even if the court had found copyright infringement because:
"1) Any presumption of immediate and irreparable harm resulting from the alleged infringement was rebutted;
2) The presence of the Game Genie in the market benefits the public by expanding personal consumer utilization of purchased games; and
3) Assuming infringement, adequate remedies exist at law." Id. at 1298."
"Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience."
This reminds me of the time someone first discovered that there was an unusually easy way to disable/remove certain...uhhh.. important textures from the Dawn demo (nVidia, Early GeForce FX Series).. Musta been embarassing for nVidia, but I don't remember any lawsuits over it. In fact, many people argued that nVidia did it on purpose.
I have a few hundred megs of Maps for games like Unreal Tournament, Doom 3, Red Faction, Starcraft, etc, etc, etc. that were created by fans.
:)
Odds are you've played against my Aimbot (or a grandchild of my aimbot, since mine was the first publically released) too if you play Unreal Tournament. Gotta love the 'modability' of PC games
-NoClanNeeded-
Campers 4 Ever
http://go.to/c4e
From 1999-2000, I was one of three hackers working furiously to uncover the inner workings of Monster Rancher 2, another game published by Tecmo. After the months of work, Tecmo made it very clear to us that they frowned upon our activities. I personally had a very cordial relationship with Tecmo's PR dept. through my Monster Rancher fansite, and though the PR department admitted that there were developers who appreciated our level of enthusiasm and work, the official company stance was quite the opposite as they were afraid that we would somehow reveal trade secrets to their competitors. Though we continued to actively post information about the game's internals on the monster-rancher.com message board (now defunct, as the domain has since been acquired by a competing site), Tecmo forbid us from posting similar information on their own message boards.
Some time after I had left the scene, I visited with the old board briefly to find out that the game hackers were now asked to not mention specific memory locations (you could refer to the "lifespan register", but not to "0x800B...."); I do not know what inspired this new policy, but knowing the site's owner and board administrator personally, I suspect that Tecmo's dissatisfaction of hacker activity had grown more vocal. Never once did we make or distribute new skins for monsters or any game modification other than altered save files, so our situation was a little different than that of www.ninjahacker.net, but this is indeed sad, and rather chilling that this could have happened to us had people been using the DMCA in such a manner at that time. In the past, Tecmo has had an amazingly good relationship with owners of fansites across the web, and domains like "monsterrancher.com" still remain in possession of the fans. Why they would sue fans for making game skins... I don't know. All that I can say is that for years, Tecmo as a corporate entity has never been happy with those of us who want to explore their products a bit more thoroughly.
Microsoft seems to have had quite a bit of luck here too. You cannot find walkthroughs or help for a number of their games. Only links to purchase strategy guides come up no matter how you search. ex. Age of Mythology Titans = nothing useful at all.
IANL, but hopefully they are being sued under DMCA for reverse engineering so that they could skin a game:
Its like the old Wolf3D cheat where you had to add -goobers to the command line argument
The funniest thing about it is that Tecmo is actually upset about the nude patches. They can develop their own women as close to naked as possible, but I guess that's alright as long as somebody doesn't remove the pasties. They probably spent hundreds of hours alone just on their boob jiggle animations, and they are essentially calling a couple of hackers the perverts? http://images.google.com/images?q=doax&hl=en&lr=&c 2coff=1&sa=N&tab=wi
(Quoted from my post at forums.xbox-scene.com)
Just to add my two cents...
I was reading the front page article (again, I had already read the thing in this post), the section where cypher's summing up the lawsuit or whatnot. That Pfeiffer guy says, well, we spent all this money developing the game, it's illegal for people to edit the code. That doesn't really make sense to me. Isn't that like taking some publishers magazine, crossing out a word you didn't like and replacing it, and reading it that way. So they decide to sue you, since they spent money producing that magazine, and you aren't allowed to enjoy it the way you want.
Now, I can see if they rewrote some articles and starting selling it at the newstand, but that's not what's happening here.
So yeah. The end.
Nick
Just because someone bought a copy of a book, doesn't mean they can change a few words and modify a couple of chapters, then release another version of it and not expect me to stay quiet.
True enough. On the other hand, if someone chooses to highlight/underline/cross-out passages of the copy of your book that they own, they are well within their rights. And if someone found some typos or grammatical mistakes in your work, or even had some suggestions for an alternate ending, they can legally post such things online. All of these cases are much more germane to the topic than your example.
> Sorry, but most open source games are just not very good. The ones that are fun, are almost without exception the ones that are just ripoff versions of commercial software.
Learn some history before you bash Open Source gaming. I don't think you realize Diablo was just a better looking version of Nethack, like a dungeon generator where levels are different every time. Or, proprietary network games ripped off Netrek's status and distress macro, and player communication systems; moreover, Counter Strike's observer feature was a rip off of Netrek's, where in Netrek you can login the observer port and watch anyone's game like you're right next them, but over a network instead.
Proprietary games today ripped off a lot from Open Source. The only reason Open Source games don't look so great is because coders aren't artists, and there aren't enough of decent artists interested in Open Source. A fun game like Netrek (most of the time with a decent team) doesn't need cut scenes, nor pretty graphics, but it wouldn't hurt to have nice graphics. What you're seeing with proprietary games today are cookie cutters with improved graphics.
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~netrek/history/
They are not doing this for interoperability purposes, so they actually are in violation of this "law". That being said, I do think that this aspect of the DMCA is unjust and a load of horsepucky, but the current state of the law is on Tecmo's side.
The way this is supposed to be set up according to actual fair use rights is that reverse engineering should be overall legal with the exception of if it is being done to commit copyright infringement. As the DMCA stands, reverse engineering is overall illegal with the exception of the specific, narrow condition of interoperability purposes. That is what is wrong with this part of the DMCA.
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
it's called modding!
;-) or a modchip
you can do this with an exploit
i can have custom add-ons for a whole bunch of games, check out the xbox scene
i must admit i mainly use it for xbmc though
Its not a narrow exception. Your statement about how it should work is pretty much correct. Making a skin is, essentially, making a computer program. Not to a CS major, maybe, but to a lawyer its just binary code executed on a computer. Making a skin work with a game is interoperability.
I've been following most DMCA decisions because I do reverse engineering for a living. Look at the Lexmark decision:
"Congress did not intend to allow the DMCA to be used offensively in this manner, but rather only sought to reach those who circumvented protective measures 'for the purpose' of pirating works protected by the copyright statute."
Basically, if you aren't reverse engineering to crack the copy protection, then you are safe, according to the Lexmark decision.
It's not redundant when I point out a place where people could see the page before it was taken't offline. That is just wasting moderation points.
This forum thread was started about this topic and the owner (whose screen name on this forum is cypher35) ends up posting details about the suit. A very interesting disscussion.
Physics makes the world go 'round.
There were more skins then just nudes, Street fighter, MGS, and some original ones too. Plus, to use the skins, you need a mod-chip, and the skins were loaded on the HD.
You are right, this is an exercise, but Chi has some good IP lawyers, so hopefully these guys can get one.
Perhaps I'm a bit fuzzy on this, but exactly when did companies get the rights to tell me what to do with something I bought with my own money?
I go to work everyday so I can buy myself the few nice amenities that I can afford. After I've paid for something, that should be the end. We made an agreement. I paid money for something, now you give it to me. End of story.
Once I've purchased something, that's it. The company has no right whatsoever to tell me what I can or cannot do. If I do something illegal, I should get arrested. If I take it apart and turn it into something better, good for me.
The software/music/movie companies are trying to have it both ways, and their winning because people have become apthetic to fundamental concept of owning something.
For example, the companies treat file-sharing as property theft. However, when it comes to making backup copies or reversing, it's no longer property but a liscence. The best of both worlds; they have you give them money then they can tell you what you can do. Talk about the perfect little money maker.
Does this seem normal to most people? Does the average Joe think this is okay?
Let's apply this model to other property we buy.
Could grocers slap a liscense on a bag of apples stating that if I agree to use this product, I cannot plant the seeds to make more of this product?
Can a grocer put an EULA on a tri-tip steak saying that if you agree to eat this you can only make the meat medium well and must marinate it for two hours?
Can a car manufacturer send a notice to you after you bought the car saying that by purchasing said car you agree to only travel on roads in Boston at speeds no greater than 20 mph?
Can a manufacturer forgo product testing merely by stating that they cannot be held liable for any damages caused by a defect in their product?
Then what is so fscking special about software and media that it is exempt from the normal rules of capitalism? Why do I have to pay money to give up my rights to owning a piece of property that apparently I don't own at all?
And people wonder why I advocate open source.
~X~
~X~
You ASKED for this!
Making a skin is, essentially, making a computer program. Not to a CS major, maybe, but to a lawyer its just binary code executed on a computer.
Do you seriously think a lawyer can't find an expert witness to testify that there's a difference between data and code?
-mkb
Hmm.. Actually The printed manual for Halo 2 and mechassault 2 (the one that comes with the game case) are available free online for printing in the xbox.com site (I was surprised too) they are both published by MS.
The walkthrough and cheats for those and the games you mentioned are available in www.gamefaqs.com and in a ton of websites aroudn the net where were you looking them anyways?
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
... they are being sued for making skins (including a bunch of nude ones that TECMO doesn't seem to like) for these games...
Please post link to nude skin screenshots!
If you've bought it, surely you can modify what you own for your own personal use? Does this mean that I can no longer colour in the White nike symbol on my nike shoes and wear them out, because it makes it look (to the public) that they are something that is not representative of what nike really does? Could I go further to say that I could get sued by Adidas for wearing my old shirt with lots of holes on it, out in public, giving them a bad name? Modification of tangible items you own has been done for forever and a day. Why should this not apply to software? Microsoft/Bungie has not taken this action with the Halo/Halo2 mods out there!!?