Talk:CIC (Nintendo)
Unnecessary defaultsort?
editI noticed that this article contains {{DEFAULTSORT:10nes}}. Is this intentional, or should it be removed? (I presume this article was forked from 10NES...) --SoledadKabocha (talk) 17:39, 1 February 2013 (UTC)
Digital rights management?
editSince DRM can be defined as a way of restricting access to hardware through various means, could the CIC count as such, and thus be categorised as a form of DRM? Blake Gripling (talk) 21:40, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
- Software, not hardware. It's just a confused issue since firmware is kind of needed to make hardware actually work!
- It doesn't affect content in any way, shape, or form. In fact, you can just disable the chip or clone the key, but even more importantly, you can just use a key from a different cartridge! There were some games that used a slot on the top to accept a 'donor' cartridge, like say, an official Super Mario Bros. game. All it effectively does is prove you paid the Nintendo tax on at least one cartridge. Compare this to DVD's that use actual encryption (although weak), and CD protections that depend on the actual media that contains the copyrighted code being present. They're nothing alike. In fact, there was a big deal where both Sega and Nintendo tried to put a trademark inside official Genesis and Gameboy games, and lost on claims that it should prevent third parties from making a game containing it. Especially silly since they were running on said systems and thus not exactly confusing a trademark. Anyways, they allowed it for interoperability, and this likely even lead to that clause later when the DMCA was passed. 73.95.135.84 (talk) 07:48, 31 May 2018 (UTC)
Original Research
editIt's been very well established and tested by many people, so it's no longer OR. The behavior is extremely well-documented by now. Not to mention, the patents are a matter of public record, and then there was the Tengen lawsuit which is even more documentation. All tests seem to show the algorithm matches what the clones are designed to do, and they're reliable. To claim OR, someone needs to point out specific claims in the article, and then see if they've been tested by the various sources listed at the end of the article. That dubious claim that you need Nintendo's copyrighted code to make clones is heavily disproven since modern ones don't even use the method that 'Rabbit' did - they use much more powerful MCUs that can just imitate the encryption/timing using specs instead of hand-converting assembly code. The lawsuit with Tengen was over them just porting the code line-by-line and getting an (illegal) copy of the disassembly to do so. Since the patents expired, but the copyrights haven't, Tengen still can't use Rabbits, although why they'd want to is anyone's guess! 73.95.135.84 (talk) 07:58, 31 May 2018 (UTC)
Missing information
editThis article currently focuses mainly on the CIC chip used in North American and European NES cartridges, the 10NES. More information should be added for CICs for Famicom, SNES, Super Famicom and Nintendo 64. I am an amateur with Nintendo hardware so this is a humble request for people with expert knowledge. If I come across any informative links in my learning process I will add them as a comment.