Fire Emblem: Awakening

[Zeusinator]

Hey everybody! I was wondering if anyone knows of a 3DS emu that actually works? I've found several, but they all seem to be bogus. A damn shame, considering I have found an FE13 cookie and I've read it's the best one yet.

[YoungXehanort]

Last I checked there are no working 3DS Emulators.

[Junk]

No but there is gateway 3ds flash cart.

[Zeusinator]

Ah, thanks for the info fellas. Bliss, what is that? Never heard of it before.

[Gaia]

(Illegal)Emulators are only a good thing when you can no longer purchase the games that they emulate as new copies, or games that weren't localized. imo it's better that they aren't here yet. Gateway 3DS is pretty much an R4 for the 3DS. And it's illegal.

[Zeusinator]

Emulators are perfectly legal, unless there's been a law passed in the last ~2-3 years that I didn't hear about. It's the ROMs which are illegal, and even then only if you don't own the game; which leads me to a question: if you own a game and the ROM for said game, is it legal to keep the ROM if you lose possession of the hard copy? My understanding was that the purpose of a ROM was a backup to your game, but then what's stopping you from purchasing a game and returning it just so you can legally own the ROM?

[Lamia]

dunno how that rumor got started, but I'm pretty sure it's illegal period to own a copy of a game which you didn't make a copy of yourself and it must be kept only for personal use, though it's been a while since I looked that stuff up

in any case, emulators are totally legal since they're developed privately, while the use of commercial ROMs is using intellectual property without permission, something like that, hence legality etcetera

I await a 3DS emulator though since it's unlikely I will ever buy one just to play awakening (which is all that comes to mind that I'm interested in, besides I'm tired of handhelds)

[dreamcrash]

Neither emulators or flashcards like Gateway are illegal, it's the ROMs that enter that gray area. In fact, one of the biggest reasons to get a Gateway is to bypass the region lock so you can play games you bought from other countries on your system (which will probably void your warranty if it makes any lasting changes to the firmware, but I don't think it's illegal). It's perfectly legal to make backups of your games and store them on a Gateway.

Anyway, there's no 3DS emulator and I don't think there will be one any time soon, considering how cheap the system is already. I just don't think there's enough demand for it yet, since most people interested in its games already have one. And I hope that we don't see one for a while, because 3DS is Nintendo's major source of income right now and they don't need to be losing out on sales because people are emulating games they could easily just go and buy in the store brand new.

[Zeusinator]

I would gladly go and buy one (even though it'd just be for FE), but I'm facing a shitstorm of legal fees at the moment and I need to get a new car. I just lost my job too, so that's not really a possibility.

[MP2E]

Emulation of the 3DS is years away, unfortunately. It's not that today's computers aren't strong enough to run said theoretical emulator, it's the fact that very little is know about the internal architecture of the 3DS because of all of the various encryptions in place on the firmware. There are several exploits but none released, some of the authors are saying they are waiting for someone to make a homebrew ecosystem, but how can that happen without having the exploit?

Having a homebrew ecosystem for the 3DS is also a precursor to having any sort of decent emulator. It's very difficult to write an emulator without being able to write out unit tests to figure out edge case behaviors, and such.

Edited February 21, 2014 by MP2E

[Junk]

Well even you did manage to get gateway you would need to make your firmwayre 4.5-5.0 i think so yeah...

[dreamcrash]

I would gladly go and buy one (even though it'd just be for FE), but I'm facing a shitstorm of legal fees at the moment and I need to get a new car. I just lost my job too, so that's not really a possibility.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, and I hope that things get better soon, but my point is that lacking funds doesn't justify acquiring a product without paying for it, whether through downloading a ROM or stealing a physical copy. Not to turn this into a whole piracy debate and whether or not it is or isn't theft or anything, but if the devs made the game and are distributing it and making sure it is available, they are entitled to being compensated for providing that game. In other words, I believe people aren't entitled to play a game through illegitimate means and without paying for it when it is readily available legitimately. That's how developers lose money, systems lose support, and people like us lose new games to experience because devs don't make enough back to fund sequels or new projects, which we saw happen with the PSP here in the West and, toward the end of its lifespan, the DS.

If a game is out of print or unavailable in your region, I'm all for it though.

Edited February 22, 2014 by dreamcrash

[Agro]

I think you should need to stop projecting and let the guy do what he wants to do. If you don't want this to turn into a piracy debate, don't bring your debate-bait here.

As for making backups of software I think it actually varies from country to country or, failing that, the kind of software that you buy. I'm pretty sure that it's legal to backup things like Photoshop but there are specific clauses within places like the FE8 manual that claim it's illegal to own any sort of backup of the game.

[Zeusinator]

I'm not exactly excited about emulating games I don't have, I simply consider it different from stealing in that I'm not actually removing an item from someone's inventory (ha definitely gamerspeak). I recognize that I am removing the potential income they might have made from selling me the game, but I am not doing any active harm. When the question is whether or not to benefit myself or another, I don't consider it immoral to choose the former. While I understand this concept could destroy the industry, on my own I have no impact on it. The old adage "Well what if everybody decided to..." is dogma.

Oh and the Gateway thing wouldn't do me any good even if I could figure it out because the expensive item is the console, if I had that I could certainly scrounge together the funds for FE13. It's almost a living expense.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Zeusinator

[dreamcrash]

I think you should need to stop projecting and let the guy do what he wants to do. If you don't want this to turn into a piracy debate, don't bring your debate-bait here.

As for making backups of software I think it actually varies from country to country or, failing that, the kind of software that you buy. I'm pretty sure that it's legal to backup things like Photoshop but there are specific clauses within places like the FE8 manual that claim it's illegal to own any sort of backup of the game.

I wasn't aware posting my opinion on the matter was "debate-bait".

I'm not exactly excited about emulating games I don't have, I simply consider it different from stealing in that I'm not actually removing an item from someone's inventory (ha definitely gamerspeak). I recognize that I am removing the potential income they might have made from selling me the game, but I am not doing any active harm. When the question is whether or not to benefit myself or another, I don't consider it immoral to choose the former. While I understand this concept could destroy the industry, on my own I have no impact on it. The old adage "Well what if everybody decided to..." is dogma.

Oh and the Gateway thing wouldn't do me any good even if I could figure it out because the expensive item is the console, if I had that I could certainly scrounge together the funds for FE13. It's almost a living expense.

It's the lack of a transfer of money that I'm mainly concerned with, not the morality of it (I don't really care about that part). It's especially tough for small developers on PC, or for publishers localizing niche games, because their audiences are tech savvy enough to just pirate it all anyway if they wanted to, and those audiences aren't the biggest out there in the first place. But anyway, I don't want to go down this path and derail the thread, so that's all I really have to say about that.

So, back on topic, I think the only way you're going to be able to play FEA for free would be if you found a friend with a 3DS and the game and borrowed it or something. And if emulation does become available any time soon, that's certainly an option. You can do whatever you want, I was just sharing my thoughts on the emulation issue for current games and systems is all, as I thought it was relevant. Either way, I wish you the best of luck and hope you do get to play it soon! And I know what you mean about a game seeming like a living expense, haha. I'm probably not going to be able to get Dark Souls II when it comes out and I'm feeling pretty similarly about that game!

Edited February 22, 2014 by dreamcrash

[Zeusinator]

For that matter, if I just knew somebody that would let me borrow a 3DS (what's a used copy of Awakening, 20ish bucks?), but all my friends are Xbox junkies. Heard a lot of good things about Dark Souls, always wanted to try it just never got around to it. Is it as good as they say?

Oh, just for the record I do agree about the money, typically I pay for games developed by smaller companies or arms, especially when it's a game I really care about. It just doesn't really bother me to use an emulator if I don't have another option.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Zeusinator

[Cowboy Karimov]

(Illegal)Emulators are only a good thing when you can no longer purchase the games that they emulate as new copies, or games that weren't localized. imo it's better that they aren't here yet. Gateway 3DS is pretty much an R4 for the 3DS. And it's illegal.

Illegal? You live in Britain or something?

[Celice]

For that matter, if I just knew somebody that would let me borrow a 3DS (what's a used copy of Awakening, 20ish bucks?), but all my friends are Xbox junkies. Heard a lot of good things about Dark Souls, always wanted to try it just never got around to it. Is it as good as they say?

Every game from From Software that I've played has been pretty fun and great, including the King's Field series, Lost Kingdoms on the GameCube, and the Souls games. All of their games have a similar zeitgeist in their development and design, and it's a shame so many players are seemingly only aware at best of Dark Souls.

Neither emulators or flashcards like Gateway are illegal, it's the ROMs that enter that gray area. In fact, one of the biggest reasons to get a Gateway is to bypass the region lock so you can play games you bought from other countries on your system (which will probably void your warranty if it makes any lasting changes to the firmware, but I don't think it's illegal). It's perfectly legal to make backups of your games and store them on a Gateway.

As a note, it was discovered that one can use the red Gateway card to patch the 3DS system to allow region-free gaming without actually having to boot from the blue Gateway card (and as such, avoids explicit piracy via ROMs). And I believe the red Gateway card is your average DS flashcart, so anyone might do. I never read much more on it, but it might be worth looking into if anyone still has a system where the exploit is available.

[shadowofchaos]

As a note, it was discovered that one can use the red Gateway card to patch the 3DS system to allow region-free gaming without actually having to boot from the blue Gateway card (and as such, avoids explicit piracy via ROMs). And I believe the red Gateway card is your average DS flashcart, so anyone might do. I never read much more on it, but it might be worth looking into if anyone still has a system where the exploit is available.

Didn't that end up bricking some systems?

[NoNameAtAll]

Last I checked, emulators themselves really aren't illegal. By that logic, Nintendo would be in deep shit due to using emulators for their own properties. The issue that potentially arises is when the emulator writer actually were to steal code from the company to write the emulator.

But then there are those who actually write the emulators themselves having read documentation and whatnot. Those ones really aren't illegal.

Now the ROM files? That's a huge gray area. Downloading them off of sites is illegal, even if you own the game.

They can't really stop you from dumping your own image, but that's not an easy feat for John/Jane Q. Public. Obviously, they'd go after you if you started distributing said dumped image, but simply keeping it to yourself? They can't really do anything about it.

Just saying is all.

[Celice]

Didn't that end up bricking some systems?

The Gateway software itself is apparently guilty of bricking, and not the code used to affect/exploit the 3DS system; and there's no clean answer as to its cause (we know its purpose), but much rumour-brokering instead. Here is someone attempting to categorically capture a brick. Make of their results what you will.

Last I checked, emulators themselves really aren't illegal. By that logic, Nintendo would be in deep shit due to using emulators for their own properties. The issue that potentially arises is when the emulator writer actually were to steal code from the company to write the emulator.

A funny thing is that Nintendo as well as a few other developers have lifted some emulators others have made and used them in commercial products, without paying nor mentioning the emulator author. A little data spelunking in the GBA NES classics series shows up some of the Goomba emulator, or something of that nature--I last heard of it some years ago at an acmlm splinter forum.

One of the Contra games on the DS also include an older game as a bonus unlockable. The developers also initially took someone else's emulator and implemented it in their game. I believe the dev was contacted about the use of the emulator, and now the emulator author has been credited in further revisions of the game.