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Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

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Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#91

Post by monocasa »

beckler wrote: post #78
olliej wrote: post #73

Well I mean this seems entirely reasonable to me - I’m not sure but I suspect he isn’t an engineer, and even if he is, why waste time and money on designing something that has already been designed and built? I’m also surprised that so many people in the comments are against this, especially given how often I’ve seen people on HN arguing we should be getting rid of IP law.

I can't remember who made them, but older System76 machines were not made by System76.

They were rebadged Clevos, like most of the boutique laptops out there (Alienware, what have you).

To be fair, whenever that's brought up here, they normally drop in and say that they worked with Clevo to design a SKU that would have great Linux support out of the box.

Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#92

Post by throwaway2016a »

olliej wrote: post #77
throwaway2016a wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially given how often I’ve seen people on HN arguing we should be getting rid of IP law. Anecdotally, after years of being on HN I can't recall anyone arguing to get rid of copyright. Tons of arguments for getting rid of software patents, strengthening fair use, and putting abandonware in the public domain but flat out against copyright as a concept is a bit extreme for NH. Again, just an anecdote based on my…

There was a post a few weeks about getting rid of IP laws, with many comments from many people arguing that we should definitely get rid of all IP laws, including copyright.

I must have missed that one. Again, just an anecdote, not saying that people who want to get rid of all copyright don't exist just that I haven't seen them.

Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#93

Post by joshstrange »

com2kid wrote: post #69
joshstrange wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a video [0] of him with it on, yeah, nothing like the Apple watch. Also on the topic of cheap Chinese watches I would read the section of this article on the smartwatch [1] and note this was published 2 years ago. That whole article is interesting but the smartwatch and their contact who said it only cost them $6 to make (note they bought the watches for just under $10 each): > If the factory sold the watches…

The insane part is, if you are an American company trying to release a smart watch, you won't be able to get your cost of goods down that low. I worked on the Microsoft Band team, the RAM inside the Band cost almost the same as these watches cost to make all up! Annoyingly enough, when we asked MediaTek if we could buy use their chipset, they would only sell it to us with their OS running on top. IIRC I think they we…

> On the flip side, things like a custom made light pipe to improve HR accuracy are necessary to go from "good enough" to "best in class".

Totally agree/understand. I've had a little time messing with budget bin "smart watches" and they remind me a lot of the early versions of Android vs iOS where the hardware/software pairing in iOS was just such a better experience than a really cheap Android phone. The Android ticked all the same boxes on paper but typing or scrolling on both the device was a night and day difference. Note: I'm not trying to start an iOS vs Android fight, just pointing out that having the same basic capabilities (wifi, bluetooth, 3g, touch screen, etc) does not automatically put 2 products in the same category.

Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#94

Post by dec0dedab0de »

sodafountan wrote: post #80
dleslie wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterfeit items aren't a new thing; these are to video games as knock-off Prada bags are to fashion.

Right, this whole thread reads like hacker news is just discovering knock-offs

It's strange to see them in "main stream" locations though

Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#95

Post by thg »

atombender wrote: post #74
thg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a look at RetroPie: https://retropie.org.uk/ Doesn't come with any game ROMs, but there are enough places you can download them. Once you have them, it's just a simple file transfer to install them.

Thanks. Looks like something I need a Raspberry Pi to run? I'd like something that just works out of the box, zero building or fiddling with hardware.

It doesn't involve much effort. Transfer image to SD card, put SD card into the Pi and that's pretty much about it on the hardware side.

After that you just have to transfer some game ROMs, set up your controller(s) and you should be good to go. Takes at most 20 minutes to get it all up and running the first time.

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/First-Installation/

Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#96

Post by vibrato »

pjc50 wrote: post #86
erikpukinskis wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think he isn’t just interested in video games, discovered emulators and liked the product and saw that it wasn’t being marketed to his audience? Are you familiar with the ways musicians, particularly in hip hop, diversify their business portfolios by selling product lines? Are you familiar with Fenty, Beats by Dre, etc?

Yes, but those ranges have a high level of personal involvement and brand coherency, and are generally better quality. This is a lot more of a cheap opportunistic item.

So their marketing had its intended effects on you

Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#97

Post by jimsmart »

atombender wrote: post #74
thg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a look at RetroPie: https://retropie.org.uk/ Doesn't come with any game ROMs, but there are enough places you can download them. Once you have them, it's just a simple file transfer to install them.

Thanks. Looks like something I need a Raspberry Pi to run? I'd like something that just works out of the box, zero building or fiddling with hardware.

Look for a bundle like this [1], the only 'buiilding' it requires is putting the Pi into the case, and plugging in the controllers and PSU. It doesn't come with RetroPie, but that's easy to put onto an SD card.

As a bonus, there are also cases like this [2] available.

[1] https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-kits-and-bundl...

[2] https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-store/products...

Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#98

Post by akeck »

This feels like what happens to professional sports players. Very often they go from $0 to millions with no training or professional support on how to deal with 7+ zeros of wealth. They quickly attract bottom-feeders promising "crazy returns" on anything and everything. Witness the endless stream of sports star "owned" restaurants and bars that wink in and out of existence, and the recent sanctions by the SEC on ICO promotion.

Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#99

Post by olliej »

throwaway2016a wrote: post #92
olliej wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a post a few weeks about getting rid of IP laws, with many comments from many people arguing that we should definitely get rid of all IP laws, including copyright.

I must have missed that one. Again, just an anecdote, not saying that people who want to get rid of all copyright don't exist just that I haven't seen them.

We’re on the internet, anecdotes should always be treated as facts :)

Re: Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles

#100

Post by dgivney »

schnevets wrote: post #29
fb03 wrote: post #16

I would sincerely love to know how he got this idea. I mean, he is a renowned musician. Why would he out of nowhere sell something that reeks of piracy and can get him into problems? I fail to understand.

The product page website was originally a vehicle for a knock-off smartwatch. Clearly he's just shamelessly pitching a drop-shippable console with some branding on it. I doubt he had any influence on its creation, and will probably just plead ignorance if the lawyers come out. I'm shocked by how few people realize the scheme he's running. Then again, it only involved a tiny bit less effort than 99% of other celebrity…

> Clearly he's just shamelessly pitching a drop-shippable console with some branding on it.

Actually there's no branding on it either - it's straight drop-shipping from AliExpress.

https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/5/18127315/soulja-boy-handhe...

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