General thoughts on piracy

As an adminstrator here at Game-Hackers, I feel it is my duty to remind our users from time to time exactly how we feel about piracy. When viewing this community, one might think of us as "pirates" or "dirty hackers." These generalizations, I understand, come with the name. Unfortunately, many will join our community based on these assumptions and continue to assume things like piracy and illegal file sharing are supported around here. We here at Game-Hackers do not, have not, and never will support any illegal activities whatsoever. This includes, but is not limited to, piracy and the sharing of illegal files.

Obviously all of this is a response to the shocking news out of Australia today. We would like to wish all the best to GBATemper KongzNutz, as he has been fined $AU1.5 million for illegally uploading New Super Mario Bros. Wii online for anyone to download. His actions should come with consequences (no matter how inflated or ridiculous) and we hope that this becomes a lesson for pirates in the future. Game-Hackers will always take a firm stand against piracy, and we would like to warn our members that discussion on the topic will always lead to a ban. It is unfortunate that a member of the community has fallen into this situation, but it was a risk he was well aware of when he hit the "upload" button.

You may come to us and say, "Aren't your programs designed to promote piracy?" The answer; Absolutely not. We have not released a single application that has required piracy as a means of proper usage. Every member of the staff here at Game-Hackers has an active role in the videogame industry. Over the years we have made connections with popular videogame developers, publishers, and websites. We see ourselves as the link between the "mainstream" software developers and the "homebrew" independent software developers. When asking around the industry, you'll find that the "homebrew" scene has a lot more respect than Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo would like you to think. The only reason "homebrew" is not a valuable resource to these major companies is because of the piracy that is sure to follow a major breakthrough on our side. People abuse the system and use it to steal from hard-working developers. It's a shame because, while some may already respect the independent software scene, we will never get the reward or mainstream access we deserve because of the pirates that use our work for their own gain. It's a common misperception that hackers are overall a bad thing for the industry. If you look at the organization of the "homebrew" scene, at least for the Nintendo Wii, you'll see that there is a flood of useful and quality applications released daily. Without "homebrew" and exploits to run our own code, thousands of programmers would never get their opportunity to develop for this wonderful platform. Why should a lack of funding or a proper business title stop inspired programmers from creating little works of art daily? The short answer; It shouldn't.

Piracy and homebrew should not be interchangeable. With the proper security, they don't have to be related whatsoever. Why doesn't Nintendo (or Sony or Microsoft) take a look at the scene and realize these same guys finding the exploits could easily be hired to fix them. Why can't "homebrew" just be an option when you pick up your console? Why can't Nintendo rely on these same programmers to disable piracy, while allowing independent developers to program for their console? Is it too risky to rely on a dedicated team of "hackers" to keep your console secure? That may be, but what is the alternative? Ignore the "homebrew" scene, have your console be exploited anyway, and allow piracy to continue? Doesn't seem like much of an alternative to me.

This has turned into quite the essay. Thanks for taking a moment to read our thoughts on piracy. We wish the best of luck to those involved in the Nintendo lawsuit. Next time...

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