How to extract artwork from online slots!

[mickekneg]

Hello guys,

Most of the online slots out there are built in flash, hence they are hard to extract content from, however since a year back, every slot that is released by NetEnt, and surely many other providers, are HTML5 and not flash, with this, it becomes much easier to extract content from the slots, such as paying symbols, spin buttons, animations and anything you might want to use in your slot reviews or such.

If you dont already know, here is how you do it!

So, lets say I want this symbol extracted from the Guns N Roses slot:
Attachment 5248

1. Go into any online casino that offers the slot, preferably with Google Chrome as browser but im sure you can do this with other browsers as well.
2. Before clicking your way to the slot, open the developer tools (press F12 for Google Chrome).
3. In the navigation of the dev tools box, click on network: Attachment 5249
4. Now, enter the Guns N Roses slot, you will instantly see tons of files being listed in the network tab, this is all the content needed to play the actual game, including all the artwork, background pics, animations, symbols etc etc,,
5. To more easily be able to find the pictures, use the filter and write either "png" or "jpeg", PNGs are usually all the paying symbols, spin symbols etc, where jpeg is the background etc:

6. just scroll through the list and find all the goodies!

Note that this only works for online slots and other games that are created in HTML5! Another good tip is that if you want to do this on Starburst for example, which is a Flash slot, then go to the mobile version of the website, ALL slots you find on the mobile version of any casino site are HTML5 so you can get the artworks from there!

Hope this helped!
Regards
Micke

[canadahod]

Thanks for the info, but be careful with that as netent has a rights for all these creatives i believe if you use few images it is fine but if you build the website full of netent artwork at one point they can ask you to remove it,, might be i am wrong and everything will be fine but you never know.

[mickekneg]

To be honest, I dont think NetEnt would ever worry about anyone using their artwork, as its basically promoting their online content. If I for example use starburst symbols on a website where i promote online casinos that also has the Starburst slot, then that makes the visitors remember that symbol and then be more likely to click on that slot in the casino lobby. My guess is that NetEnt or any other provider never would launch a takedown for businesses that are beneficial for them.

Regards

[agsgroup]

Very helpful thanks

[universal4]

Let's just decompile/reverse-engineer the games and steal/copy the artwork without the copyright owner's permission and if they complain later we can then take down the artwork.

If NetEnt was ok with this, wouldn't affiliates be able to request this artwork from the operators or possibly directly from NetEnt?

I agree that NetEnt may well be ok with the use of the artwork providing it is only used to promoter THEIR copyrighted products and games, but I wonder if they are ok with the explanation as to how to reverse engineer the games to get the artwork.

Rick
Universal4

[GPWA Nancy]

Here you go directly from NetEnt's website:

NetEnt's logo and graphic material is the company's intellectual property and may not be copied, reproduced, distributed or displayed without written consent of NetEnt. NetEnt is licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission.

[Karri]

I agree that NetEnt may well be ok with the use of the artwork providing it is only used to promoter THEIR copyrighted products and games, but I wonder if they are ok with the explanation as to how to reverse engineer the games to get the artwork.

Rick
Universal4

Well, they don't really have a say when it comes to reverse engineering, it's not like it's against the law(AFAIK, and if it is it shouldn't be), illegal or in any way restricted. Copyrights of course are, so using that content is a violation of their rights. Whether they like it or not doesn't matter, if you don't have and don't ask for permission the fault is yours.

[universal4]

Reverse engineering of computer software is in fact almost ALWAYS against licensing terms, and in some countries might be considered a form of computer hacking.

Some resources on reverse engineering and legal risks associated with such:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_engineering
http://mckeeoffice.com/blog2/2009/09...ering-illegal/
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Revers.../Legal_Aspects
https://www.eff.org/issues/coders/re...ngineering-faq

The act of reverse engineering itself would likely not be considered the illegal part, but to reverse engineer and then copy and reuse a portion of the code (or in this case the artwork) is that part which would likely run afoul of most courts.

Rick
Universal4

[Miles_FTA]

Isn't the best and easiest way to do this to contact your rep at the casino and ask for what images you needed?

[Maikel_Fruity]

Totally agree with Miles. Just ask for what you need and go through the proper channels.

[Celebrationbird]

Helpful thread! Thanks kneg!

[mickekneg]

Well, official channels are safer to take I guess, this is just a fast and easy way to get content for whatever you may want to write about. NetEnt, and any other provider being proactive about this may very well request content to be taken down from a site, but has this ever happened?

This isnt necessarily a guide for reverse engineering, my browser just has a feature allowing me to check all the files being downloaded to build the content displayed to me

I get your points, I'm not really worried though.

[BitCasinoNoel]

To be honest, I dont think NetEnt would ever worry about anyone using their artwork, as its basically promoting their online content. If I for example use starburst symbols on a website where i promote online casinos that also has the Starburst slot, then that makes the visitors remember that symbol and then be more likely to click on that slot in the casino lobby. My guess is that NetEnt or any other provider never would launch a takedown for businesses that are beneficial for them.

Regards

It might not just be NetEnt you need to worry about but in this case also what ever Record Label owns the rights to Gun N Roses. We all know Record Labels like to sue

[MichaelCorfman]

There is a concept of fair use that applies to copyrighted material. Generally the incorporation of some examples from a copyrighted work in a review of the copyrighted work is legally allowed without permission of the copyright holder. You can see additional background information on the concept of fair use on the wikipedia site here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use.

On the Casino City website, for example, we capture screen shots of the home pages of online gaming sites and also screen shots of slot games. We never ask for permission to do this because such use is legally authorized under the Copyright Act of 1976 within the United States.

There is a fine line though. The fair use principle does not provide carte blanche to do anything you want with a copyrighted work, and if you are incorporating material subject to copyright in reviews or using it in other ways you should be sure you understand the limitations of what is considered fair use. As an example, it would not be fair use to take images from the Casino City website to use in reviews you prepared about sites or slot games. Although it would be fair use to use a few of those images as part of a review of the Casino City website.

Michael