It looks like Nintendo is going after fan games again. Earlier this year, Nintendo sent cease and desist letters to two fan games that used Nintendo properties; Pokemon Uranium and AM2R. But it looks like NOA isn't quite done shutting down fan projects this year, as renown romhacker "Coolboyman" has received a C&D for all of his romhacks. Not only has his completed but unreleased hack called Pokemon Prism been targeted, but Rijon Adventures and Brown must also be taken down to avoid legal pursuit. (Of course the latter two have been distributed over the internet many times, so it's pretty much a nonissue.) Last week also saw Konami issue a C&D to a Castlevania 1 remake in Unreal Engine. It's a sad, harsh lesson to everyone that those who wish to create fan projects should not generate hype, but instead quietly release their works and then promote them after the fact. Pokemon Prism was the result of 8 years of Coolboyman's work, and will now likely not see a release.

SOURCE

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

If you're a so-called "less knowledgeable consumer" (which I assume are people who only casually know Pokemon to being with), these kinds of people would likely not even hear about these types of fan games no matter how popular they become. And who accidentally mixes up a fan game with an official Nintendo game? If you never heard of the game before, I imagine a reasonable person would Google it and see it that it is clearly made by a fan.

Think about parents whose kids have been begging them for Pokemon looking online and finding "Prism" on some of the big news sites. Many parents really don't take the time to research games at all. A lot of people could very easily mistaken a fan game with an official release. Actually, it would take just one case for Nintendo to completely justify legal action. They have to protect their IPs in court, and general consumers are a lot dumber than you might think.

 

[darklordrs]

Nintendo is acting really stupid.
nintendo never banned any gba/nds/3ds pokemon fan game(consoles on which they released official games).but they took down a pc game(for which they wont even release a game).

Nintendo

I don't see how this makes a tangible difference. If anything, the fact that people are trying to make Nintendo's stuff unauthorized and unlicensed on things they weren't originally made for is a reason for Nintendo to take them down. Can you imagine if they did the same thing with (as in porting and recreating a Nintendo game with free access on) a Playstation product or an Xbox line product?

 

[Apex]

It's hard to believe that companies can shove Cease and Desist orders in the face of people creating non-profit products, yet Fair Use criticism is legal and able to be monetized.

Couldn't they just claim that Prism is a parody, and in turn make money off it? I am joking, but still.

 

[Ryccardo]

Can we stop blaming Nintendo? It's not their fault trademark laws are fairly strict.

They couldn't have ignored it, but they could might potentially have approved it too

 

[FAST6191]

It's hard to believe that companies can shove Cease and Desist orders in the face of people creating non-profit products, yet Fair Use criticism is legal and able to be monetized.

Couldn't they just claim that Prism is a parody, and in turn make money off it? I am joking, but still.

Fair use as you mention is more of the counterpoint to copyright. There are various provisions, also called fair use, dealing with trademarks, which are what this C&D seems to be based on, but it is not as clear cut. Equally even if this was a copyright issue I doubt it could qualify as a parody as is.

Beyond that though "yet Fair Use criticism is legal and able to be monetized". That you would find that odd is itself mind boggling to me. I mean I guess the system would still produce something of some merit (would allow creators control of their works still) were there no fair use but the limitations that are there I find to be vital for the whole tradeoff with society.

 

[Deleted User]

I know WHY nintendo changed their stance so heavy handedly. Now that Iwata is gone, the Japanese Traditionalists (read: Regressive Terrorists) that have already consumed the insides of Sega, Capcom, and Konami's corpses, wearing them like fleshy suits are now feasting upon Nintendo's monolithic body like eaters on Examon, bringing with them their hatred for other branches' success, their distain for fans and fan works, and utter abbhorence of nonconformity, and never ending greed. Its a blight infesting the Japanese game industry like eaters feasting on the bountiful data of the Digital World. Eventually it will kill the whole gaming industry as we know it.

Legally, their Cease and Desist order wouldn't have any bearing on the release of Prisim (in the United States) if released stripped of copyrighted content, likely as a Lunar IPS patch. That way, any copyright infringement would be dependent on if the person creating a rom of Prisim from the patch legally owns a copy of the base game.

 

[Townsperson]

I know WHY nintendo changed their stance so heavy handedly. Now that Iwata is gone, the Japanese Traditionalists (read: Regressive Terrorists) that have already consumed the insides of Sega, Capcom, and Konami's corpses, wearing them like fleshy suits are now feasting upon Nintendo's monolithic body like eaters on Examon, bringing with them their hatred for other branches' success, their distain for fans and fan works, and utter abbhorence of nonconformity, and never ending greed. Its a blight infesting the Japanese game industry like eaters feasting on the bountiful data of the Digital World. Eventually it will kill the whole gaming industry as we know it.

Legally, their Cease and Desist order wouldn't have any bearing on the release of Prisim (in the United States) if released stripped of copyrighted content, likely as a Lunar IPS patch. That way, any copyright infringement would be dependent on if the person creating a rom of Prisim from the patch legally owns a copy of the base game.

Making a patch does not, in anyway, remove the swaths of infringement from Prism. Promotional material used the Pokémon logo, any additional assets added to the game (Pokémon from later generations) would be in the patch (And the dev would have no legal right to distribute them), among any other inclusions that involve material that the developer is not the owner of (In function, form, etc.).

This is a cut and dry case of infringement and ignoring trademarks. It's been ignored for a long while with rom hacks, and may continue to be ignored in the future, but the exposure of Prism ended up making it a target.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

They couldn't have ignored it, but they could might potentially have approved it too

Approved it? I'm no copyright or trademark expert, but making concessions like that could very well be seen as not enforcing your trademark. If you let things slide every time someone used your properties for a "fan-project", you wouldn't have a leg to stand on come the time that someone actually abuses it.

Nintendo has to do right by itself, and maintain control over its' properties. I understand that you might not like the outcome, but it's a very real possibility when you use other people's properties for your work. You don't get to act the victim, or complain over the result when you ignore intellectual properties and trademarks.

Again, the moral of this story is don't advertise your obvious infringement of established trademarks. Chances are it won't work out for you.

 

[darklordrs]

I know WHY nintendo changed their stance so heavy handedly. Now that Iwata is gone, the Japanese Traditionalists (read: Regressive Terrorists) that have already consumed the insides of Sega, Capcom, and Konami's corpses, wearing them like fleshy suits are now feasting upon Nintendo's monolithic body like eaters on Examon, bringing with them their hatred for other branches' success, their distain for fans and fan works, and utter abbhorence of nonconformity, and never ending greed. Its a blight infesting the Japanese game industry like eaters feasting on the bountiful data of the Digital World. Eventually it will kill the whole gaming industry as we know it.

Legally, their Cease and Desist order wouldn't have any bearing on the release of Prisim (in the United States) if released stripped of copyrighted content, likely as a Lunar IPS patch. That way, any copyright infringement would be dependent on if the person creating a rom of Prisim from the patch legally owns a copy of the base game.

I'm sorry to say that while well intentioned, at large this sounds like

the game development illuminati is going to convert my company all because the original president died of cancer! oh no!

due to the needlessly radical comparisons/metaphor. It kind of makes people question whether you're just shitposting or not.

As for an actual response to your post, this isn't a significant change to Nintendo's stance. Nintendo's stance has always been as such; the fact that the previous head could be quoted once or twice saying that he has no problem with such things doesn't mean that the entire company (in terms of financial and legal decisions) followed suit behind closed doors. From there, the rest of this (honestly propaganda-esque) post crumbles into insanity.

What really sounds strange about this post in particular is as follows:

the Japanese Traditionalists (read: Regressive Terrorists) that have already consumed the insides of Sega, Capcom, and Konami's corpses

because if you've been paying any attention at all, none of those three companies act anything like Nintendo has recently publicly acted regarding modding, piracy and fan works, because all four are significantly different in terms of value, public perception, target audience, and products output.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Approved it? I'm no copyright or trademark expert, but making concessions like that could very well be seen as not enforcing your trademark. If you let things slide every time someone used your properties for a "fan-project", you wouldn't have a leg to stand on come the time that someone actually abuses it.

I feel like it's worth pointing out again that, as seen in the C&D letter, these works can't be allowed without permission and supervision. The wording is what's key to me - it implies that such things CAN be granted, and I'm honestly convinced nobody's been assed to try, instead defaulting to hiding their fan works under the table because they're too scared of being told 'no'.

 

[Skylar-]

Well, Ninty is losing soooo many fans with this dumb(like always ndr)move by them. :v


And the rom has already leaked, and a lot of people have got a backup, me too. I mean, it was obvious that this was a battle lost by the start. Gtfo Ninty. :v

 

[darklordrs]

Well, Ninty is losing soooo many fans with this dumb(like always ndr)move by them. :v


And the rom has already leaked, and a lot of people have got a backup, me too. I mean, it was obvious that this was a battle lost by the start. Gtfo Ninty. :v

the problem is not what fans will think if they allow random romhacks and fangames to come to fruition, but rather the potential legal ramifications caused by people who actually do want to abuse the system. the fact that it was leaked does not and should not matter to nintendo - they did what they needed to, i.e. put a stop to it when it got too big and made it clear that they won't tolerate it moving further.

continue having fun dancing your victories against evil ol' Ninty, I guess, even though the only ones who actually got exactly what they wanted are Nintendo.

 

[Emenaria]

 

[Sketchy1]

See this is what I don't get about Nintendo's cease and desist. The ROM hack says that it it took 8 years to make. Therefore, it could only have been a ROM hack of any Pokémon game up to diamond/pearl/platinum, as no other pokemon games existed yet. If its a DS game, a system they no longer support, then why kill a fan made version from some one who:
1) obviosley loved your series enough to make his own
2)gives proper credit to its owners
3)isn't making money off of it, its completely free so he's not exactly profiting from your work


And most c&d get issued when they are gonna actually plan something, take for one konami's c&d against ygopro, as they were gonna release their own game so they had to kill of the comp.

But I digress, the point being, why slam the legal hammer for a console you no longer support? Its not like he isn't crediting you the work, and isn't he actually getting people more interested in Pokémon because they see "hey, the community can contributed too!". If anything, this could increase future sales.

Plus, didn't I see one home page post where hack ROM devs were asked to apply at gamefreak?
/rant

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Sorry for the DP, but just in case I'm not nessicerilly against Nintendo in defending their rightfully proclaimed trademark, but it just bothers a bit that they shut down 8 years of someones work, then expect them to let it go. Just like that. For a system they don't use.

 

[linuxares]

People still don't understand the dilemma Nintendo have. They are FORCED to act against Trademark infringment or risk losing the IP. But for future romhackers out there. There seem to be a loophole in Japan about fangames, fan stories etc. That is actually with trademarked and copyrighted characters. I don't remember the name of it right now, but apparently a lot of manga and anime artists seem to earn a rep using that. Use Japanese domain next time?

EDIT: After some Google-fu, https://www.tofugu.com/japan/doujinshi-definition/

 

[darklordrs]

See this is what I don't get about Nintendo's cease and desist. The ROM hack says that it it took 8 years to make. Therefore, it could only have been a ROM hack of any Pokémon game up to diamond/pearl/platinum, as no other pokemon games existed yet. If its a DS game, a system they no longer support, then why kill a fan made version from some one who:
1) obviosley loved your series enough to make his own
2)gives proper credit to its owners
3)isn't making money off of it, its completely free so he's not exactly profiting from your work

[...]

But I digress, the point being, why slam the legal hammer for a console you no longer support?

still basically requires piracy to play

still requires either an emulator or modding the consoles that they very very clearly don't want even slightly broken into to play in any way

Even if you ignore every other problem with Prism's very existence, that's one you can't avoid - you can't even play the damn thing without directly breaking rules Nintendo has had set in stone since the dawn of time.

 

[FAST6191]

See this is what I don't get about Nintendo's cease and desist. The ROM hack says that it it took 8 years to make. Therefore, it could only have been a ROM hack of any Pokémon game up to diamond/pearl/platinum, as no other pokemon games existed yet.

If its a DS game, a system they no longer support, then why kill a fan made version from some one who:

But I digress, the point being, why slam the legal hammer for a console you no longer support? Its not like he isn't crediting you the work, and isn't he actually getting people more interested in Pokémon because they see "hey, the community can contributed too!". If anything, this could increase future sales.

It can take me 10 years to write a book but 10 days to type it up. If you have spent 8 years doing things you can presumably port your level across.

Also it is out of stock now but looking at http://store.nintendo.co.uk/games/p...atedinfo&utm_campaign=pok-mon-white-version-2 you could have purchased it as recently as September going by one of the comments. That is still in support then.

Beyond that we already covered the need to defend trademarks. Letting it slide is bad for them as it can come back to bite them.

 

[Sketchy1]

still basically requires piracy to play

still requires either an emulator or modding the consoles that they very very clearly don't want even slightly broken into to play in any way

Even if you ignore every other problem with Prism's very existence, that's one you can't avoid - you can't even play the damn thing without directly breaking rules Nintendo has had set in stone since the dawn of time.

It can take me 10 years to write a book but 10 days to type it up. If you have spent 8 years doing things you can presumably port your level across.

Also it is out of stock now but looking at http://store.nintendo.co.uk/games/p...atedinfo&utm_campaign=pok-mon-white-version-2 you could have purchased it as recently as September going by one of the comments. That is still in support then.

Beyond that we already covered the need to defend trademarks. Letting it slide is bad for them as it can come back to bite them.

OK, gotcha. But it still bothers none the less to just know they shut down something by the community. Perhaps they could have turned it into another main series game?

 

[darklordrs]

OK, gotcha. But it still bothers none the less to just know they shut down something by the community. Perhaps they could have turned it into another main series game?

They hypothetically could. Hypothetically, with quite a bit of luck and the creators taking as many steps as possible to make sure that the product is actually safe for Nintendo to release.

But.. the Prism devs, and the devs of most romhacks and fangames, fucked themselves by trying to do it undercover before trying to do it legitimately. It doesn't help your chances to say "okay so I have like 8 years of work done - y'know, using piracy and modding and emulation, sorry about that - mind using this? thanks"

 

[Sliter]

You are reading far too much into this. This sort of thing for a legal office is trivial and boring gruntwork, very much the sort of thing you task interns at outside council with doing.

yah right, but people aways say agains it like " wow it's Junichi Masuda himself looking at the fan work, saying i'ts a trash and wanting to put fire on it all!!!11"
I'm sure if it was seems by the developers, or something more into the series work, they would get and friendly letter, but still asking them to do not break the rules... in a very optimist way, even asking the guys to work with them xD
Did you saw the the Dainel Barras' Zelda oot 2D project?(around 2000s, if I'm not wrong) that time, me with 10 years old me looked at that like " if nintendo notice this guys, they would make it for he GBA WOW !!
It got and C&D too, if I record well... not much time releasing a demo with all the game to the end of deku tree part (that I could not play because my father don't let me play on his computer =3= sad that I can't find it today) ... so idk if this was good, but with ports/re(de)makes being made in this time, I think it would be possible? :/

Anyway we know that it wring by the law and we hate it, but how do you think people would deal? fans rage against the nintendo itself don't work to change a thing and also don't help the people on the projects ... they making fan projects like this also can't wait for approval like " we are going to make your fangame available for free on the eshop!" and making hype with teasers is also a no good, having a project thread, and actually launching the thing without much noise would be the better option in my point of view :/

 

[Captain_N]

Well thats what you get for letting them know about on a website.....
Again, this is why you Stfu while making it, then release it and then stfu again. once its out, that patch will forever be on the web. You think nintendo can do anything about earth bound zero roms lol nope. I'd leak it out anyways on some Russian Direct connect hub. Once the Russians get it, it aint going anywhere.

 

[Deleted User]

-HugeDismissivePostSnip-

Or you could look at how they have treated their developers, their suicidal actions, and ect, taken note of the wild and sudden changes in behavior after a important persons have died (and its always after someone dies) and maybe you'd be as paranoid as I am. Its destroyed a lot of things I like, and I'm not happy about it.