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Portal 64 dev says “don’t be mad at Valve” for the project’s shutdown (www.pcgamesn.com)

submitted 11 months ago by nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works to c/games@sh.itjust.works

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[-] dbilitated@aussie.zone 81 points 11 months ago

I'm mad at Nintendo, apparently that's who valve is afraid of getting sued by!

still, I think while a lot of people loved watching this get built I'd be surprised if a lot of people actually played it and he said he was almost relieved - he got an amazing amount accomplished but another 2 years of work is a lot!

I'm super interested to see what he does next. Smart guy and his videos are really interesting, and a lot of people know who he is now.

[-] ceenote@lemmy.world 25 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Can someone ELI5 how valve could possibly be sued by Nintendo? As far as I know, valve had nothing to do with the project.

[-] talizorah@kbin.social 55 points 11 months ago

Nintendo has never publicly released the tools required to build games for the N64. The tools that he used during development (specifically the libUltra library that helps programmers talk to the N64 hardware) therefore are not legally his to use, nor does he have legal rights to distribute software built using it.

As such, Valve is stepping up and asking the project to halt because if Nintdo wanted, they could cause legal troubles for the developer and/or Valve. Since the Portal name and assets are in use, Nintendo could go after Valve as well for seemingly "supporting" unauthorized use of their proprietary tools.

[-] Secret300@sh.itjust.works 20 points 11 months ago

It's definitely something I can see Nintendo doing. I hate that company so much but I hate that I love a lot of their games. Until they get their stuck out of their ass though I'm going to continue to pirate all their games and help hack all my friends consoles so they get them for free as well

[-] cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Wii was the last console I got of there's. I'll only ever use emulated ROMs from now on. I'm happy to wait for emulators.

[-] theangryseal@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Everybody keeps saying they can get TotK working on Steam deck. I get a solid 19fps.

I wish it would work though.

[-] DavLemmyHav@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 11 months ago

When TOTK released, THE place for performance mods was r/newyuzupiracy. The sub got nuked cause piracy, but now its under r/128bitbay. Check it out for mods and tips on performance settings.

[-] theangryseal@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Thank you so much.

[-] JDubbleu@programming.dev 2 points 11 months ago

I get locked 30 on mine with some rare dips. As usual though it'll get better as the emulators get updates. Still haven't even finished BotW.

[-] theangryseal@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

I went ahead and finished BotW so I could play TotK on the deck. Didn’t work haha.

I hope it gets better. I’m gonna buy the game eventually anyway.

[-] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Sounds like a reason to distribute it via the high seas instead, if you ask me... no 'support' by anyone but still available

[-] talizorah@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago

Just like AM2R and plenty of other things, once it's out there in the internet, it'll never truly disappear. However, the dev expressed some relief in not having to build more than he already has.

I have high hopes for his next project ^^

[-] theangryseal@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Me too. He is clearly insanely talented and I’m sure that with the right people and ideas he will make a fucking masterpiece. I really look forward to anything he’s a part of in the future.

AM2R is amazing by the way. I enjoyed all three versions of the game. I’ve played the original once, SR twice, and I’ve played AM2R about 7 times now. I expect that I’ll play it several times in the future.

[-] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Since the Portal name and assets are in use, Nintendo could go after Valve as well for seemingly "supporting" unauthorized use of their proprietary tools.

Hunt Down The Freeman was released with Valve's full support.

[-] falkerie71@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

That wasn't released on Nintendo hardware using Nintendo proprietary development tools.

[-] EarMaster@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Is Hunt Down The Freeman available for Nintendo consoles?

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

There wasn't a video game themed Japanese law firm with skin in the game; all technology and intellectual property used in Hunt Down The Freeman was Valve's. Same with Black Mesa.

[-] Ganbat@lemmyonline.com 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

In short: they can't. I mean, Nintendo could try, but it would definitely be thrown out. Valve was never directly involved in this project in any way, at least not until stepping in to shut it down. They were just concerned about their IP being in any way connected to anything unauthorized Nintendo.

[-] falkerie71@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

Even if it would get thrown out, they would still have to allocate resources to fight back, which is time and money they would rather spend on something else. I understand why they just don't want to have to deal with a potential lawsuit that may or may not come.

[-] magic_lobster_party@kbin.social 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Portal 64 uses a proprietary library by Nintendo (namely libultra). This library cannot be freely used, and Nintendo can sue anyone for using it without their permission. Portal is Valve’s intellectual property, so there’s a risk that Valve can be dragged in into this if Nintendo takes legal action.

Valve doesn’t want to risk dealing with Nintendo’s lawyers, so to be on the safe side they ask for Portal 64 to be taken down instead. The risks might be slim, but Valve don’t want to take any chances with Nintendo.

[-] VerseAndVermin@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

It's built using something Nintendo made. It all makes sense after watching the creators video. He outlines how the lawyers probed with questions to see if they could do it and that was the nope moment. Plus they don't have incentive to try to fight Nintendo over something that Nintendo may legitimately have reason to fuss over.

[-] Shy_high_guy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

My guess is something along the lines of violating the end user agreement of Nintendos Intellectual property the code that the N64 uses. Same reason you can't really get old ROMs of Nintendo games.

[-] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

Same reason you can't really get old ROMs of Nintendo games.

You're not trying hard enough

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 19 points 11 months ago

I'm more upset with how intellectual property law is applied to software. Software absolutely should not be copyrightable for over a century.

[-] paddirn@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

They were on the verge of shutting it down anyways for other reasons. By the time the Valve c&d came in, it was already a forgone conclusion.

this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024

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