this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024

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That Portal 64 demake we liked so much has been kiboshed by Valve: 'They have asked me to take the project down,' creator says (www.pcgamer.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/retrogaming

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Honestly, a bit surprised by this. It wasn't even on Steam. Hopefully switching to an open source SDK will get this back up.

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[–] RightHandOfIkaros 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

A Portal-like game without using Portal assets and Valve had no leg to stand on...

This wasn't taken down because it was based on Portal. It has nothing to do with Portal or Valve, really. It was taken down becuase it uses the official N64 SDK, which is still for some reason considered "confidential." Valve said to take it down either under duress from Nintendo, or because Valve expected to be under duress from Nintendo and didn't want to be. If it had used the libdragon API library instead of Nintendo's official one, then this wouldn't have happened and Nintendo would have been told to bite rocks.

[+] woelkchen -13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

You have no clue. It was Valve who issued the DMCA takedown. Yes, based on the wrong argument that APIs are copyrighted by Nintendo but Valve cannot take down random software. They are only involved because it uses Portal assets.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think you need to read the comment you replied to again.

Here's the bullet points:

Valve doesn't want Nintendo getting involved

Valve think Nintendo will get involved because the project is using confidential Nintendo code

Valve think Nintendo may litigate (or are already) against them because Portal is Valve's IP

Valve want it down so Nintendo can't mistake it to be Valve's responsibility and so Valve don't get the blame

[+] woelkchen -11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Valve is only involved because the game uses Valve's assets. It's not so hard to understand. Nintendo didn't even issue the takedown. Valve did.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Neither I or the person you replied to have said Nintendo have issued this takedown. That is not what we said

[–] woelkchen -3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Exactly. Valve did because the port uses Valve assets. That's what I said.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

You are both correct, Valve don't want to deal with Nintendo. Nintendo wouldnt like this project because it uses their proprietary SDK. Portal is Valve's IP, so it would be Valve getting the call from Nintendo (or they already did), so Valve had to request a takedown.

[–] woelkchen -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Why would Valve get a call from Nintendo? The N64 port isn't distributed via Steam. It's on GitHub, so Microsoft would get the call.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Because it's associated with Valve. Valve not being protective enough of their own IP and letting this stuff slide is not what Nintendo wants. Also I don't think it's actually using any Valve made assets right? Isn't it using newly created textures and models that were made for this project specifically?

[–] woelkchen 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Because it’s associated with Valve.

It's not. It's not on Steam, it's not distributed by Valve in any other way. It's located on GitHub, therefore "associated" with Microsoft in that it uses Microsoft's code hosting service.

Just because someone technically commits a copyright violation and Valve usually shrugs this off, doesn't mean that they're Nintendo's contact.

Also, and most importantly, APIs fall under fair use: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/04/how-the-supreme-court-saved-the-software-industry-from-api-copyrights/

Valve not being protective enough of their own IP and letting this stuff slide is not what Nintendo wants.

Nintendo did not ask the game to be taken down, just as Nintendo didn't even initiate the takedown of Dolphin from Steam several months ago. It was Valve who initiated the contact to Nintendo back then. That's why Dolphin is still on Github.

Also I don’t think it’s actually using any Valve made assets right?

WTF, I get lectured by people who did not even bother to watch a playthrough on YouTube? At the very least all audio is ripped straight out of real Portal and then converted. Everyone who even cared to watch only a few seconds of gameplay on YouTube would immediately recognize this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

https://www.ign.com/articles/dont-be-mad-at-valve-here-says-creator-of-cancelled-portal-64

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It wasn’t a DMCA. They advised the dude to take it down due to Nintendo bring Nintendo.

This information is really easy to look up.

[–] woelkchen 1 points 10 months ago

It wasn’t a DMCA. They advised the dude to take it down due to Nintendo bring Nintendo.

This information is really easy to look up.

People here are constantly claiming that Nintendo demanded from Valve to take action in order to not get sued. I suggest you complain to the paid authors of PC Gamer because they are the ones writing about Valve lawyers: "there's at least a possibility Valve could end up sucked into a dispute over it. Even if it's only tangential involvement, Valve's lawyers may have just decided that it's not worth the headache."