
Soulja Boy Is Selling Cheap Emulators as His Own Consoles - mises
https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/12/05/souljaboy-is-selling-some-kind-of-game-consoles-but-people-are-suspicious
======
pjc50
The article handily links to the Alibaba store:
[https://www.aliexpress.com/store/3850034](https://www.aliexpress.com/store/3850034)

I suspect what happened is that someone approached him with the idea of
putting his brand on it, and he was flattered; otherwise it's basically the
Amazon drop shipping business.

~~~
erikpukinskis
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?

~~~
p1necone
The difference is that those products are actually new things created for
those brands, and are (relatively) high quality. This is a cheap emulator box
being drop shipped from Aliexpress that already existed before Soulja Boi
slapped his name on it. (Not to mention that it's almost certainly violating
copyright laws with all the roms bundled with it).

~~~
yellowapple
IIRC, Beats are also just rebranded Chinese headphones. You can buy them
direct from China for half the price (but without that lowercase "b" on 'em).

Besides the blatant copyright infringement, I ain't seeing how this is any
worse.

~~~
tinus_hn
Apple isn’t going to risk their brand by rebranding cheap Chinese crap, they
have nothing to gain from that. It’s much more likely they designed headphones
and the Chinese factories made cheap clones.

~~~
yellowapple
Apple acquired Beats in 2014. Beats existed - and sold overpriced headphones -
for 6 years prior.

~~~
tinus_hn
Headphones made in partnership with Monster which is hardly ‘cheap Chinese
crap’. If anything it’s not cheap.

~~~
yellowapple
I never said they were cheap. I did, however, say they were Chinese, and while
I can't seem to find any info online about where Monster manufactures its
headphones, it's statistically probable that they're made in China (maybe not
literal rebrands of existing Chinese-made headphones, though, so I'll concede
that point).

Whether or not they're "crap" is subjective, but if Monster's cables are any
indication, their price is likely not consistent with their quality.

------
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.

------
baldfat
The only thing I can think is I bet you he doesn't have anything copyrighted
by Disney.

We really need to rethink our system where there will never be a time when
games from Atari will become public domain.

~~~
paulpauper
reminds me of a joke: the only things you cannot draw are Mohammad and Disney
characters

------
azinman2
The Soulja watch is interesting to me. I see very similar ones coming from
China, but it’s pretty amazing that at any hardware spec a “smart” watch could
be sold as little as $10, let alone with profit. They’re shameless rips of
Apple, but at $10 damn that’s crazy.

~~~
slashink
The really interesting part is that the highlight marketing photos are using
pictures of an Apple Watch and when you actually check the product, the "real"
photos is nothing like it.

This is basically adding a known brand onto cheap tech knockoff products.

~~~
joshstrange
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 for $7.49, how much could they possibly cost
> to make? That’s a question that can be awfully hard to get answered. Not
> really expecting an answer, we asked our friend to ask his friend. She was
> happy to tell us: $6.

> Six dollars for: a GSM chipset, a CPU, an LCD screen, a battery, a PCB, a
> metal housing, a molded silicone watch band, a MicroUSB cable, and a box.
> And the labor to assemble and test all of that.

[0] [http://www.xxlmag.com/video/2018/12/soulja-boy-watch-
brand-s...](http://www.xxlmag.com/video/2018/12/soulja-boy-watch-brand-
souljawatch/)

[1] [https://medium.com/newco/what-50-buys-you-at-huaqiangbei-
the...](https://medium.com/newco/what-50-buys-you-at-huaqiangbei-the-worlds-
most-fascinating-electronics-market-f0384d9fca32#2216)

~~~
com2kid
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
were softening up on this stance later on.

Suffice to say after paying for a Western company's MCU + the RAM, the cost
was already way above what these watches cost to make, add in all the other
parts and, well, that is how you end up with a $200 MSRP.

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".

~~~
joshstrange
> 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.

------
atombender
So has anyone tried the Chinese pirate console that he's apparently
rebranding?

It looks like it's this one [1], $89 on Amazon. Emulates PS1, GBC, SNES and
more, with 843 games, including classics like Super Mario Bros.

I'd absolutely love to have something like this in my living room, but I think
I'd prefer a somewhat less suspect, more hacker-friendly system where one
could easily add new games. But I also don't know anything about this one.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Console-Entertainment-System-
Classic-...](https://www.amazon.com/Console-Entertainment-System-Classic-
Joystick/dp/B07BT9R1K3)

~~~
thg
Have a look at RetroPie: [https://retropie.org.uk/](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.

~~~
atombender
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.

~~~
thg
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/](https://retropie.org.uk/docs/First-Installation/)

~~~
zimpenfish
> Takes at most 20 minutes to get it all up and running

I'm currently on about 2 hours of trying to get it working (having given up
several times.) And that wasn't even configuring any exotic emulators or
controllers.

------
kozak
Off-brand game consoles with preloaded pirated games exist for a long long
time. They actually make me somewhat nostalgic for early 90s, when they were
ubiquitous in my country. Maybe in first-world countries (where original
consoles are being officially distributed) they are exotic, but definitely not
everywhere.

------
fhbdukfrh
Ha! I have one of these that i built into a portable arcade machine. Some of
the hardware has Xbox references on the pcbs, though i suspect the just didn't
bother to remove from the source, though it could be surplus from earlier
versions.

The games are hilarious and completely ripped off, some the Japanese only
market versions, others weird mash-ups (like 8-bit Mario but with looney tunes
characters).

Mine most certainly does not output 4k (what would a 4k gb-color emulator
exactly look like? Gigantic, crisp pixels?)

------
bonestamp2
800 preloaded games? The disregard for copyright is embarrassingly naive...
usually the idea with selling something is to come out financially ahead in
the end.

~~~
dleslie
Best Buy has been selling pirate retro consoles for months, with no action
taken against them.

[https://m.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/300-in-1-portable-
retro-m...](https://m.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/300-in-1-portable-retro-mini-
handheld-game-console-red/13011241)

And, of course, Amazon and Ali Baba have been selling them for ages.

~~~
dec0dedab0de
My local mall had something similar for sale at a kiosk. I was shocked that
nobody checks to see if what they're selling is legal. The mall is owned by
Macerich a company that owns a ton of malls all over the place.

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

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

~~~
bonestamp2
I'm sorry if my comment came off that way. I used to buy Folex watches on the
street 20 years ago... so knock offs are certainly not new to me. The
difference is that the sleazy guy on the street has nothing to lose while best
buy, large malls, soulja boy, etc are taking a much larger risk by promoting
it because they all have a lot to lose. Knock offs are not surprising -- the
risk is.

------
Jaruzel
I'm semi-famous. Does anyone want to buy a raspberry pi running RetroArch with
my name written on it? /s

~~~
Loughla
Honestly though, I'm surprised we haven't seen this from well known
'celebrity' accounts on Reddit.

~~~
erikpukinskis
Celebrities on Reddit don’t have great push marketing channels. And in general
overt marketing doesn’t work well on Reddit. That audience likes to be tricked
into buying things via clever organic “news”.

Other sites like Instagram are much more amenable to brand marketing like
this.

------
swarnie_
These are just Alibaba emulators with ROMs preloaded right? How is he
expecting not to get sued by every game dev and manufacturer from the last 30
years?

~~~
iseeyoubydesign
because the games are all from a few devs and they get a cut. This is too
obvious to be this stupid. Take a look at this guy and ask yourself how hes
been so successful. Hes crazy like a fox.

But well see, maybe hes finally went crazy.

~~~
sct202
There's no way Nintendo would ever cut a deal.

~~~
swarnie_
Considering they already have their own Retro offering with presumably an
insane markup i feel you're correct.

------
Impossible
Does it play Braid tho?
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSXofLK5hFQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSXofLK5hFQ))

------
ocdtrekkie
I've found it interesting that knockoff SNES and NES classics are pervasive
not just online these days, but and brick and mortar malls. For the unknowing
parent buying for their kids, they seem like the better offer, they usually
list having hundreds of games rather than the couple dozen with the legitimate
consoles. At a glance, they look official, having similar styling to both the
hardware and the classic Nintendo box look.

~~~
ghostly_s
They _are_ the better offer. Why should a parent care if some company's
getting royalties for a game they released 30 years ago?

------
orblivion
Since scarcity of IP has less meaning these days, branding and identity seem
to be what's scarce and interesting. Somehow, I love this whole idea.

------
wprapido
Consoles with a bunch of preloaded pirated games were quite common in Eastern
Europe back in the 90's.

------
fb03
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.

~~~
okmokmz
He's broke and a glorified scam artist at this point. Has been selling all
sorts of garbage Chinese products marked up under his own "brand", as well as
the scams where he offers to buy everyone products for "free" and you just pay
the shipping.

[https://twitter.com/souljaboy/status/814639677550362624?lang...](https://twitter.com/souljaboy/status/814639677550362624?lang=en)

[https://news.avclub.com/we-can-all-learn-something-from-
the-...](https://news.avclub.com/we-can-all-learn-something-from-the-story-of-
soulja-boy-1825653887)

[http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2017/02/soulja-boy-sean-
kingston-...](http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2017/02/soulja-boy-sean-kingston-car-
rentals/)

~~~
xenihn
My guess is he's not broke broke -- he probably has millions in debt for
assets like homes and cars and whatever else, and he's doing this to pay those
off. I don't think someone who is getting paid $200 just to record themselves
namedropping people is broke in the same way that someone who actually has no
way to earn income is.

~~~
okmokmz
The fact that he couldn't come up with $675 for a car rental, and has had some
other similar issues including being unable to pay his rent, leads me to
beleive he's broke broke. His mother has come out claiming he is as well. He
may earn $200 just to record himself, but then he goes and spends $1000 on
designer clothes and poorly made jewelry. This is all hearsay of course

------
olliej
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.

~~~
throwaway2016a
> 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 experience.

~~~
olliej
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.

~~~
throwaway2016a
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.

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

------
kakarot
What is Linux 3.0 OS?

------
ug02nice
Where do I invest?

~~~
joshstrange
Step 1: Take money out of wallet

Step 2: Set money on fire

Step 3: You've just saved money but not investing in something that will be
mired in copyright infringement cases.

------
sehugg
Could just link to the original IGN article:
[https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/12/05/souljaboy-is-
selling...](https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/12/05/souljaboy-is-selling-some-
kind-of-game-consoles-but-people-are-suspicious)

~~~
sctb
Thanks! Updated from [https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/soulja-boy-video-game-
console...](https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/soulja-boy-video-game-console/).

------
yakshaving_jgt
(You!)

Soulja Boy, I tell 'em

Hey, I got a new cheap emulator for you all called the SouljaGame

You!

You gotta steal intellectual property rights then crank back three times from
left to right

~~~
justaman
Wonder if he got a supaman game on dat hoe

------
sergiotapia
LMAO this is funny as hell

------
_pmf_
He's also selling cheap imitation of Hip-Hop as music.

~~~
tmh88j
Got 'em.

He sold enough of that "imitation hip hop" to never have to work another day
in his life . Wish I had that luxury.

