NES Emulator On Windows Phone 7 Breaks IP Law- Microsoft

January 18, 2011 | By Pradeep

NES EMU 7 is a Nintendo Entertainment System emulator for Windows Phone 7. Matt Bettcher is the the guy who did it along with the community support, but Microsoft didn’t allow the emulator in the marketplace. As the Chevron group met Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 team yesterday, they quizzed Microsoft on this issue, and Brandon Watson told them that the emulator breaks the Intellectual Property law, so it can’t be allowed in the marketplace. What do you think? Do we really need these Emulators when we have enough WP7 games??

Look for the video of NES Emulator running on real Windows Phone 7 device after the break.

About Pradeep Viswav

Pradeep was a Microsoft Student Partner when he was pursuing his Computer Science & Engineering degree. He now works for a MNC. He is passionate about technology and loves to share his knowledge with people. People used to mention him as “A Geek who is not Nerd”. He was fascinated by the Metro Design language and Windows Phone which made him to follow and develop applications for it. Follow him at twitter.com/pradeepviswav

Tagged emulator, NES, windows phone 7

mighty

I think it does break intellectual property laws!
http://www.facebook.com/inteller Joseph Heath Wallis

So if we banned bullets it would mean all guns are illegal? If there wasn't a secure marketplace to buy apps it would mean windows phone is illegal? Banning the vehicle because of the content is just wrong. This means all web browsers are illegal because they can be used to download child porn. Microsoft argument is weak. They should just be honest and say we don't want to piss off Nintendo.

Lennard

you're last sentence says a lot. "pissing off"
but lets check what you came up with…..

"If there wasn't a secure marketplace to buy apps it would mean windows phone is illegal?" short answer : NO. long answer: Microsoft is not suing for monetary damages, 1) because they actually do have a secure marketplace

" Banning the vehicle because of the content is just wrong", NO, it is the same as making a vehicle then copying someone else's engine mount design with the intent that you will take their engines from their cars and place it into your vehicle…the other guy actually paid good money to have those engines made, but you didn't pay anything for those engines, you just go and rob them…that is breaking the law, and also the fact that you copied their engine mount design is also breaking the law and you want Microsoft to be in hot water because they facilitate your theft of someone else's engines? the engine owner would not come after you the little guy, they will go after Microsoft who has the big money.

"This means all web browsers are illegal because they can be used to download child porn." NO, because it's not the browser that is at fault but the website that is housing such files. Also, this has nothing to do with IP laws only civil law……however, the way the browser maker(s) would be at fault is if they have the means to block such child porn files and are not blocking it then it can be considered that they are facilitating and and not abating such acts….

I don't think Microsoft's argument is weak at all, I think they are trotting on thin ice and they're being careful enough to not fall through. the windows phone branch in their Entertainment and Devices branch is not making much profits if any at all right now so they do not need to be caught up in lawsuits loosing millions on lawyers and court battles.

Greg Edwards

I think it just sort of underscores the heavy-handed "big brother" mentality that is the future of "trustworthy computing." It's no longer going to be up to the individual to decide whether their own personal ethics are flexible enough to justify installing such grey-ware. Now, the OS provider owns the keys to the kingdom. Nintendo is never going to make an emulator to allow it's 30-year-old games to be played on WP7 or any other mobile platform. So, if talented developers can't fill the gap, I guess we're just stuck between a Koopa-shell and a hard place. That's my big problem with this Marketplace approach to software distribution.
Julien

If they allowed it, they would face the risk of being sued by Nintendo. If there is a demand, Nintendo should port their oldies on WP7, probably would cost them nothing.
JJJJ

@Joseph and @Greg, come on guys why such silly answers. I have a simple question, is there a legal use at all of a NES emulator. If the answer is no, why would you expect Microsoft to publish it to the marketplace?

http://www.facebook.com/inteller Joseph Heath Wallis

Ever checked out the open source fan made new games for nes ? They exist and this emulator would be a way to play them. the guy should just resubmit the app as a 2A03 emulator…if it happens to play NES roms that's just happenstance.

http://www.facebook.com/Deavent Andreas Cummingtonite Håkansson

And that my friend, is true bullshit. Let's say you're in fact correct, and people do download it to play legal homebrew games. That would still only be a minimal fraction of all who downloaded the software. It's easy to justify purchasing an i.e. AceKard for the Nintendo DS by saying you're just going to do what's legal. But come on, who on earth bought that not to play downloaded, IP-protected games?

And this is nothing like a gun and bullets. Bullets are in fact the only solid content used in a gun, so banning that would render it redundant. This is more like allowing a spray can, but only to use with certain types of gas. This allows the spray can to be useful, but in a legal manner which doesn't harm the ozone layer.

It's nothing like an Internet browser, either. If you could control the content of the Interweb, people would. Here, in the Marketplace-predicament, Microsoft has the opportunity to put their feet down and say "no, we do not support that", and why the hell wouldn't they? It is after all their product, and they're the ones getting trapped in crossfire when the debate gets heated. I wouldn't want for others to distribute torrents via my network, would you?

I'm not against this emulator, in fact I'd consider it jolly much fun. The console itself is over 20 years old, and one believes the properties would be forgotten now, but Nintendo are still making money of NES, so there's really not much to do about it. I understand Microsoft's situation, even though the decision sort of blows for me as a consumer.

http://twitter.com/AaronCT123 @AaronCT123

As I understand it the legal use of an emulator would be for games you own. That means if there was a GBA emulator for Windows Phone 7 I could play my copies of Fire Red or Megaman Battle Network on my phone.

http://twitter.com/danrivhor @danrivhor

Sadly, it breaks the law because of the ROMS, there's no legal way to get them, too bad Nintendo doesn't take advantage of their old games and bring an official emulator to consoles and phones

syrinx

Well you can play old games on the Wii, so they technically have an emulator on one of their consoles.The only thing Nintendo doesn't (currently) have is a presence on phones. I doubt Nintendo hasn't had talks regarding phone platforms, whether they should make a phone, etc. A Nintendo phone with a D-Pad would be pretty awesome. I'm sure there's a market for it.

Ivan

Microsoft has enough games. I don't think they need the ROM games. Those who want to have a NES emulator should just get an Android phone.

http://twitter.com/AaronCT123 @AaronCT123

So because I want to play a small handful of games I actually own I should just use another OS? Lovely advice.

Boris

There is already emu on the marketplace : Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy are spectrum emu games, package in a WP7 game. (even if the code is obfuscated, 'ManicMiner.Roms.Spectrum48K.rom' is embedded in resources)
simbadogg

I hope you're not serious w/ that question. "Do we really need emulators when we have enough games?" wow, i seriously hope you're not siding with MSFT on this. by hook or by crook, people will have this on their devices en masse, its only a matter of time

BCH

If by crook, then people should be on their own and should not expect Microsoft to be an accomplice.

David

Of course we need NES on WP7. We also need SNES, N64, Genesis, and PSOne on WP7. Games designed for mobile platforms like WP7 are never as fleshed out and complete as those made for those older platforms… (read: Final Fantasy, Super Mario Brothers, Gran Turismo, et all). If Nintendo just got on board, they could make a killing off of their ROMs even if they sold them for only $0.99 a piece. The primary demographic of WP7 users is right in the target zone of nostalgic NES gamers. Seriously, NES is sitting on a gold mine.

syrinx

I can see Sega games WP7, but Nintendo? Never. They'll release their own phone before porting their games to WP7.