All articles tagged with #anti piracy
The Nintendo 64 version of Super Smash Bros. employed a humorous anti-piracy measure that locked players to a single character after 69 plays, erasing save data, as a mild punishment for using pirated copies, highlighting a rare effective and amusing approach to anti-piracy.
Super Smash Bros. 64 secretly trolled pirates by gradually corrupting gameplay after repeated boot-ups, including randomized knockback, limited controls, and locked characters and stages, as an anti-piracy measure, with the only fix being to erase the game data and start over.
The largest illegal sports streaming service, Streameast, was shut down after a year-long investigation by the US-based anti-piracy group ACE, which involved law enforcement in Egypt. The platform illegally streamed major sports events, attracting over 1.6 billion visits annually. Two men were arrested, and links to a shell company in the UAE were uncovered, with authorities also monitoring potential copycat sites.
Streameast, the world's largest illegal sports streaming site, was shut down in Egypt after a yearlong investigation involving multiple international agencies, resulting in arrests, confiscation of devices, and the seizure of $6.2 million in revenue, with all associated sites redirected to legal streaming options.
Irdeto, the developer of Denuvo anti-piracy software, has unveiled TraceMark for Games, a new watermark technology that allows game developers to track down leaks back to the original source. This tool aims to discourage leakers from leaking sensitive information by adding a unique ID to game files, which can be visible or invisible. Combined with Denuvo's Anti-temper product, TraceMark provides additional security measures for game developers during the pre-release phase, helping to protect their creative and financial investments.
After the shutdown of the Yuzu Nintendo Switch emulator due to a lawsuit from Nintendo, a new replacement emulator called 'Suyu' has emerged with a focus on avoiding legal issues. The Suyu team is taking measures such as not monetizing the emulator, requiring real game keys and firmware from legitimate sources, and maintaining a strict anti-piracy stance. However, it remains to be seen if these efforts will prevent legal trouble, as Nintendo has been clear about its stance against emulation and piracy.
Nintendo is suing the creators of the Yuzu emulator, alleging that it facilitates piracy by unlawfully circumventing copyright protections and providing links to extract decryption keys from the Nintendo Switch. The lawsuit points to pirated copies of Tears of the Kingdom being downloaded over a million times before its release, leading to a doubling of Yuzu's Patreon subscriptions. Nintendo is seeking damages and a shutdown of the emulator, emphasizing its zero-tolerance stance on piracy.
Payday 3 developer Starbreeze has announced that the controversial DRM system, Denuvo, will no longer be included in the upcoming heist shooter. Denuvo is known for its anti-cheat and anti-piracy features but is disliked by players due to potential privacy concerns and negative impact on game performance. The change was made less than a week before the game's release, which will also be available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Denuvo, the maker of anti-tamper software used by major PC games, plans to conduct independent testing to prove that its DRM technology does not negatively impact game performance. Over the years, Denuvo has faced criticism for allegedly causing issues such as increased loading times and decreased framerates. While some publishers have removed Denuvo from their games due to performance concerns, other tests have suggested that its removal does not improve performance significantly. To settle the debate, Denuvo will provide two versions of a game—one with Denuvo and one without—to trusted media outlets for side-by-side testing. The company aims to gain the trust of the gaming community and change the perception that it is a negative force in the industry.
Denuvo, the controversial anti-piracy DRM, plans to address accusations of hampering game performance by allowing independent reviewers to test and publish their findings. Irdeto, the company behind Denuvo, acknowledges the perception problem and aims to provide comparable versions of games with and without Denuvo to trusted press and media for testing purposes. The CEO hopes that these independent reports will demonstrate that game performance is comparable and gain the trust of the gaming community. Additionally, DRM is seen as anti-consumer, and Denuvo has faced issues with authentication servers rendering games unplayable.
Denuvo, the controversial DRM-enhancing anti-piracy technology, is defending its reputation as a positive force for the gaming community. Irdeto, the company that acquired Denuvo in 2018, believes that their technology benefits both game publishers and players by protecting investments and enabling future game development. However, concerns about Denuvo's alleged impact on game performance persist. To address this, Irdeto plans to provide trusted media outlets with two versions of a game, one with Denuvo protection and one without, to demonstrate that performance is comparable.
Grammy Award winner Maria Schneider's class action lawsuit against YouTube over anti-piracy tools has been dismissed with prejudice, meaning she cannot sue over this again. The trial was scheduled to begin on June 12th, but a federal judge decided the case could not continue as a class action lawsuit. The decision dwindled the number of copyright owners involved in the case to Schneider, Uniglobe Entertainment, and AST Publishing. After losing, both sides have decided to have the case dismissed.
Nintendo has issued a cease and desist against the Steam release of the popular GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin, citing the DMCA. The emulator includes the Wii Common Key, a cryptographic key used by the Wii to decrypt games, which means the software actively circumvents anti-piracy measures. Emulation expert Modern Vintage Gamer suggests that Dolphin may not be legally protected and that the creators of Dolphin may have to figure out a way to get around the issue in other versions of the software. Nintendo recently issued multiple DMCA takedown requests to GitHub to remove a homebrew tool designed to make it possible to play Switch games on an emulator.
The Paris Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Nintendo in a legal dispute with Dstorage, a sharehosting website operator. The court found Dstorage liable for failing to remove or block access to pirated copies of Nintendo games on filehosting website 1fichier.com. Dstorage has been ordered to pay €442,750 to Nintendo in compensation, as well as €25,000 to cover legal fees. Nintendo sees this as a significant victory for the entire games industry, as it sets a strong precedent for anti-piracy cases.
Korean game developer Ironmace used BitTorrent to release the latest playtest of its upcoming game Dark and Darker after a Steam ban over potential copyright issues. The torrent release was a massive success, but a DMCA takedown notice was sent to Twitter, which the developers hope to overcome with Base64 encoding. Ironmace was accused of copyright infringement and stealing trade secrets by game publisher Nexon, which sent a DMCA takedown notice to Valve to remove the game from Steam.