Hacktube Offline

Discussion in 'Site News' started by Qjimbo, Oct 5, 2009.

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  1. Qjimbo

    Qjimbo Well-Known Member Member

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    Due to legal complications, the Hacktube emulator is currently unavailable. We are working to resolve the issues, and will be posting more in the coming days as we work to get something back online.


    Thank you for your patience.


    - Qjimbo
     
  2. Tweaker

    Tweaker OI! MIRON! Member

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    Wow, I'm suddenly overwhelmed with deja vu.


    What happened this time?
     
  3. OrdosAlpha

    OrdosAlpha RIGHT! Naebody move! Root Admin

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    Sega Europe happened.
     
  4. Spanner

    Spanner The Tool Member

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    For those that don't know, jEnesis is licensed to SEGA for use, and it is used for PlaySEGA's service which requires a VIP account. Either way, it looks like you're fucked with that emulator.


    I know this is probably annoying the fuck out of you, but is there any interest in Hacktube any more apart from the usual beginners hack? Haven't really seen a lot of new member activity from a while either.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 5, 2009
  5. Tongara

    Tongara Well-Known Member Exiled

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    Wait, so Sega of Europe own the rights to this emulator now? Sega of Europe send out C&D's all the time, and nothing ever gets done. I wouldn't worry too much, dude.
     
  6. Qjimbo

    Qjimbo Well-Known Member Member

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    This was more personal than a C&D, and they did explicitly threaten legal action if we did not remove the emulator. I can't afford to get into legal troubles, so I'm left with very little choice but to comply with their demands.
     
  7. rika_chou

    rika_chou Adopt Member

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    So Sega actually cares about the use of the Emulator but not theROMs, huh?
     
  8. Tongara

    Tongara Well-Known Member Exiled

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    So, they own the rights to the jEnesis emulator now, or is this just because they use it too?
     
  9. Qjimbo

    Qjimbo Well-Known Member Member

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    They actually hired the guy who wrote the emulator, Stephen Dittrich, so they own every aspect of it's intellectual property, including the intellect it came from.


    Edit: Oh and Rika, yes they made no mention of the ROMs, so I guess that's something!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 6, 2009
  10. Selbi

    Selbi The Euphonic Mess Member

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    Not to mention that they are using ROMs on PlaySega. :p
     
  11. iojnekns

    iojnekns OBAMA '012!!!!1!!!!!&#33 Member

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    I think this is fair enough. Of course they want you to use another emulator, they've just spent what is probably a fairly substantial amount of money to hire the creator and rights to the emulator and you're just sat here using it for free. I read the letter and it seems as though their problem is with you using that particular emulator which they have just invested in. They make no mention of forbidding hacktube as a notion - just the emulator itself. They also make no mention of the many, many ROMs hosted which at the very, very, very best could be described as being in a 'grey area' of legality. They are turning a blind eye to the rest of the site which, although its harmless fun, is probably illegal and I think this reaction is pretty gracious - they are merely protecting their new investment.
     
  12. Qjimbo

    Qjimbo Well-Known Member Member

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    Well yes I agree entirely, in fact I think it's nice to see SEGA dipping into the world of Web 2.0 and I don't exactly want to harm that. Doesn't stop it being irritating though, I'm really stuck for ideas, emulator-wise.
     
  13. Ayla

    Ayla Sonic Hacking Contest Founder & Commentator Member

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    Could we possibly program our own emulator for hacktube? It's just an emulator made in JAVA, correct? I'm learning programming, and I know lots of people out here can program quite well. Perhaps we could make our own?
     
  14. redhotsonic

    redhotsonic Also known as RHS Member

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    An SSRG hacktube emulator? That sounds like a neat idea, but does anyone actually have the time and patience to make it?
     
  15. andlabs

    andlabs Newcomer Member

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    I think it would be easier to port an existing emulator, such as HazeMD or Gens. On the other hand, a custom built emulator would be able to do more than just Genesis games. I'm porting Gens/GS to OS X and am relearning Java in university, so...


    Also Sega doesn't care too much about ROMs. The only time I heard Sega told sites to take down ROMs was when the Sonic Advance 3 beta was leaked.
     
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