At 9/25/10 01:57 AM, puddinN64 wrote:
Nintendo starts acting like total assholes to fans.
When did this start happening to non-Earthbound fans?
That site kind of sucks, here's copypasta.
"Pokémon Black/White is going to be huge. It's already been released in Japan to record sales and perfect scores, and Nintendo seems set to duplicate that success in the West when the games land next spring. However, Nintendo isn't making it easy on fans...
After posting images of all the new Pokémon from Black/White on their sites, fansites Pokébeach and Serebii have been threatened with closure by Nintendo. Check out this letter:
"While Nintendo appreciates your interest in and support of the Pokémon game series, your publication of this content infringes Nintendo's copyrights in violation of federal law. Your activity also and has the potential to cause substantial damage to Nintendo, and leaves Nintendo with no choice but to take steps to protect its intellectual property rights.
We have accordingly submitted a copyright infringement notice to your domain registrar under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and anticipate that your website will be taken down shortly. We encourage you to immediately remove from your website all graphics, screenshots, and other protected content taken from the Pokémon Black and Pokémon White games. Going forward, you must also refrain from posting any screenshots, videos, or other content that infringes Nintendo's rights in the Pokémon series or any other game.
Your full and immediate compliance with the foregoing should render further action on Nintendo's part unnecessary. It is essential that we receive your written response confirming that you have taken these necessary actions by Sunday, September 19, 12:00 p.m. PDT, however, or Nintendo will have no choice but to consider its alternative legal remedies."
Of course, both sites complied immediately. Pokébeach, in particular, was none too happy about it, however. Their response was to replace all images from Black & White with Ditto, a Pokémon from 1996 who they feel "will best represent Pokémon's current image." Pokébeach took it a step further and changed their name to Pokerbeach, since they "figured using 'Poké' also has the chance of causing substantial damage to Nintendo's property."
The Pokébeach writer then went on to state that maybe Nintendo should be more concerned with battling rampant DS piracy rather than wasting their lawyers' time on humble fansites that advertise their games for free. He's got a point.
It was later admitted that the images were procured from a ROM, but does that really matter? Is bullying your loyal fans the best course of action for Nintendo, or will images of a game that's already been released in Japan really "cause substantial damage" to Nintendo's intellectual property?
In my opinion, that's kind of crappy, Nintendo. You used to be so friendly."