I have a theory: Maybe he recently moved to another country, requested that Nintendo change the country on his NNID, and had all his purchased eShop games removed. Maybe he also lost 9000 Club Nintendo points, which he had been diligently inputting the codes for and saving up for years to spend on something really good, because of a random and arbitrary policy change at Nintendo which caused him to lose them. Maybe he tried to complain through the proper channels and was ignored.
I highly doubt that though - sounds like he has mental health issues, sadly.
maybe they're leading up to a press release stating that: "In a recent survey, no one of the people polled owned a Nintendo console. Consequently, from now on, EA won't even bother rebadging old games as new."
Why would anyone play this on anything other than the PC? You have the option of X360 or PS3 - both hardware from seven years ago. Or the Wii U - with its weak CPU and different architecture. It's obviously a graphically and cpu-intensive game. Probably could do with some optimisation, but it was never going to be great on any 'current gen' consoles.
Shin'en Soft make pretty games that run at 60fps because there's next to nothing happening on the CPU side in them. They can pile on the graphical effects because that's where the strength of the console is.
And regarding the number of negative articles at the moment: I'm sure that if there was more positive Nintendo news around at the moment then NL would be happily posting it and sticking it as featured. I'd rather get an unbiased view that's not sugar-coated. It's one of the reasons I come here.
@Nico07 yeah true, you're right. It's a shame that the two are so closely linked. I've personally only ever used it for legal purposes, but I realise that I'm probably in the minority. I loved that it turned the Wii into a nice little low-power media centre and that it let me play imported (purchased of course) games But yeah, I know why we can't have nice things: because the irresponsible few spoil it for the rest of us. Such a shame
@tripunktoj de nada, hombre! Yeah it's a real shame. It's a transparent money-grabbing scheme, basically.
Another sad thing about it is that it only affects legitimate users who just want to get a fair deal. People who own flashcarts and download ROMs don't have this problem. But people like us who just want to pay a fair price for a product and expect to be treated fairly in return just get follada en el culo for it. It makes me sad too
@Nico07 all of those things that Nintendo have done lately are things that the 360 had seven years ago. Only now are they catching up to what has been the norm for other platforms. So they're doing the same thing as the competition but, in typical style, they're falling short with their implementation. The good thing about the Wii was that it had great support from the homebrew community. People got really excited finding out what they could do with the hardware. They quickly added DVD and other media playback features to the console. Features which Nintendo couldn't have done themselves without paying licensing fees (eg. to Fraunhoffer for MP3). Once that happened I could stream music and video over the network from my PC to my TV through my Wii, and apart from having to reinstall the HBC every time Nintendo pushed a system update out, everything was great.
This generation feels like a step backwards in many ways for me. The first DS was region free and it was wonderful. Well, it was the games as well as the console that didn't have region encoding in them: because the same great games I imported from Japan still work on my 3DS, but a UK-bought "DSi enhanced" game refused to work on my Japanese DSi. Part of what made the DS so great for me and many others was that you could import and play anything you wanted to.
These days, if we even dare to go and live in a different country, we'll be lucky if they'll let us keep the eShop games we've paid for and downloaded.
The situation is all kinds of wrong.
Compare it to Steam. I can go anywhere in the world, to any computer with Steam on it, log in, and get access to all the games I've bought over the last eight or so years. They've made it so nice and convenient that I'll buy old games that I have on disc again through Steam when they're really cheap, just because it's easier. And now I can even authorise up to ten friends' computers, who will be able to play my games as long as I'm not playing them.
Remember the late 80s and early 90s, and the home computer wars? We had the Atari ST, Amiga, and PC. Everyone at the time was a fanboy for one of them. Amiga's got better graphics! ST's got the same graphics but better sound! I was the only PC fan of my friends, and the best I could come out with was "Yeah but anyone can build and sell a PC, but only Commodore and Atari can sell the Amiga and ST... just you wait and see - the only thing around in a few years will be the PC".
I think the same thing will happen with the SteamBox. With anyone able to make them, with one of the (if not the) biggest games libraries and regular dirt-cheap sales, I think Valve have a long-term hit on their hands that will change the market as we know it...
@ferthepoet yeah, I was pretty stunned to read that reply from them. I've done all I can do: replied and politely requested that my concerns are forwarded to the relevant department. Of course I ended it with a polite veiled threat: basically that a company that enforces such restrictions will not get my money in the future.
But yeah, why should I have to put myself through this nonsense again? Something like an updated version of the GP32X in a few years' time would suit me just fine.
Until then I'll keep searching Google every few weeks for the magical keywords "3ds region free" - I like to think that it's only a matter of time before someone manages to do it...
@ferthepoet Just got another response from Nintendo - confirms that country changing is possible, but with a major downside! Can't see anyone going for this: "In regards to your query, I can confirm you will be able to change the country for you NNID by contacting customer support team. Please bare in mind by changing the country setting this will wipe your eShop purchases that you may have on the console"
So, Nintendo are removing region locking like everyone wanted, they're just replacing it with country locking instead! ;-(
@ferthepoet they didn't, no. But I would say that it's highly liked that those games would still be playable on your 3DS.
When the Wii first came out and I lived in Australia, I would switch between the Australian and UK Wii Shops, buying things that weren't available, or saving a few pounds with favourable exchange rates. When Nintendo put a stop to this, I found you could still switch shops freely, but you'd have to spend all your Wii Shop Points before switching because they would be wiped.
All the games I bought in both shops are still playable on my Wii after they brought in the restriction. That Wii has had its country switched from AU to UK and back many times, then stuck with UK for a while, then changed to Spain.
When I took my Wii U to the UK last year, I had to create a new NNID to be able to use it online in the UK (my 'main' NNID is Spanish, and it won't let me use it online unless I'm physically located in the country) but I could still play the eShop games I'd bought with my Spanish NNID when using my new temporary UK NNID.
I haven't actually switched shops in the 3DS - I've just left it set to UK since I bought it there - but I can only assume that all your games will still be playable after the update, as they're tied to your 3DS' hardware ID.
Just make sure to keep a backup of the SD card, because even though you'll be able to play them you may not be able to re-download them again!
Here's the response I got from Nintendo when I asked them about my situation (I have moved between countries in the PAL region, own Nintendo consoles from different countries within this region, and am likely to move again): "The country on your 3DS will have to match the country settings of the NNID that you wish to link it to, this is due to the currency used in different countries as the account balances are combined.
There are no announcements to indicate if there are any restrictions for using the console outside of its set country. Currently it is possible to use the 3DS eShop outside of the country it's set to.
In regards to your last question, your purchases are tied to the country of which the NNID is set." (the last question I asked was "From the FAQ I understand that I will be forced to create or link an NNID on my 3DS when the update comes out, so I’ll have to decide which region I want my main account to be in. So if I move countries again after making this decision, will I be able to change the region associated with my NNID, or will all my purchases be forever linked to the region that I set?")
So from this answer it looks like you will still be able to access another country's eShop from your 3DS when located in a different country. (of course this is still limited by region - AU+NZ+EU / Japan / Americas)
It seems that the best course of action for anyone who wants to or has to use their 3DS in different country's eShop, is to not link the same NNID as you use on the Wii U, but to create a new one whose country is set to the country which has the eShop you want to access.
Personally, I'm going to hold off from updating my 3DS and wait and see what happens after the update comes out. I have loads of games for it already, and haven't finished a lot of them, so I don't need to update straight away. I recommend that anyone else in the same situation as me does the same.
@Ernest_The_Crab with my 3DS I don't really play online a lot, so it'll be no big loss. But I do buy games from the eShop, and that will make me register an NNID, so I'm sure I'll have to give in eventually. I live in Europe where we have lots of cheap flight operators. When a flight is only two hours you don't mind so much not having an allocated seat or in-flight entertainment. I can fly between Spain and UK for anything between €40 and €120 return, depending on how late I leave buying my ticket.
I'm just glad I only travel within Europe (and that Australia's a PAL region when I bought my Wii there) because if I had to put up with this going between US and EU regions where nothing's compatible then I would have just bought a PSP!
Yeah this is really quite annoying. I have a UK 3DS and Spanish Wii U, and I travel a lot with my 3DS.
I buy 3DS games from the UK eShop and Wii U games from the Spanish eShop.
I emailed Nintendo for more information and got "We cannot confirm if you will be required to change your ID to the correct country upon linking it to your Spanish 3DS as there have been no announcements with regards to this."
They misread my question. I have a UK 3DS and I'm not sure which country is 'correct' in my situation.
I've replied with clarification and have also asked whether changing the NNID's country is or will be possible.
.
So I'll have to decide on a single country where I will always live for the duration of my Nintendo-gaming life?
In a world where travel becomes ever cheaper and faster, is this really a good move on Nintendo's part?
I have been affected by this more than most, as I enjoy travelling and living in different parts of the world, and also enjoy Nintendo games. So I have:
Australian Wii
Japanese DSi
UK 3DS
Spanish Wii U
Why am I being penalised for this by Nintendo?
It looks like this could be the first 3DS system update that I won't install.
And if this region-locking persists in future then I'm going to have to vote with my wallet and buy open systems, because why would I pay money to be treated like this when I don't have to?
At least with the original Wii anyone who owned Zelda:TP could remove the region lock simply by loading a saved game... I live in hope for similar advances with the Wii U and 3DS!
@Mario_maniac I was living in Australia when the Wii launched. For the first few months I could switch between the AUS and EU shops. Then Nintendo brought in the restriction where you could still switch shop regions, but would lose all your credit if you did. I ended up sticking with the EU shop because games would come out there before the AUS shop, and some games would only be released in EU.
Right now I'm in a similar situation: I'm in Spain now, with a Spanish Wii U and the Spanish eShop. The difficulty with the Wii U is that it checks your region whenever you want to do anything online, and forbids you from doing anything if your console region doesn't match your physical location.
It's all very irritating. I sent an email to Nintendo yesterday after hearing about the Nintendo Network ID changes happening to the 3DS, because my 3DS is UK-bought and has credit, but my NNID is Spanish and also has credit.
As for this game: it's great! It looks very good, has a high framerate (dunno if it's 60fps because I have no way of measuring that, but it's super smooth) and is fun so far. I'm glad I acted on impulse and got it last night The price is very reasonable too. I hope this will be a big hit for Shin'en!
Nintendo: right. Current state of copyright law: wrong.
But really, changing the front page of the site while all the code remains on github is akin to putting a 'closed' sign on the front door of a shop, while it continues to operate out of the door around the side.
Still, everyone wins: Nintendo and the FSM.com creator both get publicity, and the general public can continue to play it if they really want to.
But, copyright laws, right? This is the real issue. This focus on individual infringements shows a tacit approval of the current bad state of copyright, and how it's been twisted from its original goals.
Corporations are quick to explain how important copyright is, but they never explain the equally important concept of the public domain. That's something I'd like to see addressed in the next interview with a Nintendo VP.
(just realised I paid €60-€70 per game on Sonic and Tekken when the Wii U launched - but you expect to shell out a lot of money on games when a console first comes out )
@bagszi You might have to create a new Wii U user account to work around that: I'm from the UK but I live in Spain. Bought my Wii U here in Spain at launch, then I took it back to the UK last Christmas to show my friends and family. When I hooked it up to the internet in the UK, it complained that I wasn't in my region, so I created a new Wii U user account and linked it to a new Nintendo Network ID (I used the same name as my main ID, but with "UK" appended).
So what you can do is create a new user and in system settings (console information page) change your country of residence to a European country but keep your system language to English. I have my country set to Spain and language set to English and Wii Fit shows me my weight in kilograms but speaks to me in English.
(You won't be able to use a Nintendo Network ID though, I think it blocks you from registering one unless you're actually located in the country you choose)
All this locking down of everything is starting to get annoying... it's making me not want to bother purchasing anything that's region locked ever again. I'd rather not support the practice.
One of the joys of owning the original DS was being able to import Japanese games, and the Wii was easily soft-moddable to work around the region lock (so I imported SSB:Brawl from the US).
@electrolite77 good points, well-made; I accept all that The Wii U does feel a bit like an oversized, detatched DS at times.
Actually, that reminds me of something that's annoyed me for a while now: in the days of the Gamecube and GBA, it seemed to me that Nintendo really tried to push the link-up capabilities of the systems, even though you needed to buy link cables to do it. With the Wii and DS there were a handful of games that used both systems. The best one for me was the Band Bros DX Wii channel - a perfect, lag-free, wireless mixer for 3DSes connected to it. Now we're on to the Wii U and 3DS, and the only form of link-up so far has been to transfer a Mii.
Wii Fit U could accept steps data from my 3DS, which I take everywhere while walking. But no, Nintendo want me to buy a Wii Fit Meter, don't they?
Nintendo are missing a lot of opportunities with system link features, especially when it's easier than ever before thanks to wireless networking.
@ferthepoet @Shade_Koopa A friend recently pointed me towards this list of platform exclusives ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_exclusives_(seventh_generation) ) when I asserted to him that I thought Nintendo had a monopoly on good platform-exclusive games. I was amazed to see how many there are that I didn't know about. I still believe that there are higher-quality exclusives on the Wii than the other two, but I'm biased
@electrolite77 you're saying they weren't original? I don't know of any other handheld console with 3D, or any home console with a tablet-style controller... (Ah ok I just remembered the Virtual Boy, but Microsoft's hastily-released Smartglass doesn't count)
@TechnoEA You're quite right about the incorrect perception people have. Also, both Sony and MS have gone after the younger market with Move and Kinect games. BTW, I found Zombii U pretty heavy on the blood and gore (and the stress. and the terror!). It's a shame that game wasn't more successful as I think it had a lot to offer the gamers who were after a more 'hardcore' experience.
@NoOneInParticular: Nintendo's market share is being assaulted on all sides like no time before in its history. The only way it can survive is by brute strength or by originality. Sony and MS are going for the brute strength approach again, however when the XB360 and PS3 came out they had, for a brief time, the best graphics available on the market. You couldn't get an equivalent graphical experience on the PC at consumer-level prices. Today they don't have that graphical advantage any more. Nintendo's going for originality again, and while they're not going to repeat the success of the Wii any time soon, they're still making a profit.
Final thoughts: Nintendo don't need to conquer the market to be successful. If you look at niche PC games such as simulators and point-and-click adventures. These games still have an audience, they may be few in number but they still make a decent profit and stay in business. Example 1: RailSim's Train Simulator and its famously expensive DLC. Example 2: Eagle Dynamics' Digital Combat Simulator, with its free base product - DCS World - and not-so-expensive DLC.
So Nintendo can just keep on doing what they're dong and they'll be fine
It would be good to know if the new Korg is worth an upgrade if you already own the DS original. "Some new sounds" isn't that great an addition considering it's a synthesizer...
@Mahe heheh I didn't know that the Wii's still outselling the Wii U. I would have thought that pretty much anyone who wanted a Wii has got one by now And you're right that people would like to keep on playing their Wiis. I think the Wii had a great software library. I bought most of the games that are 'green' (above 70?) on Metacritic and still play a lot of them today. It's the same with my DS games.
I went out and bought a Wii U at launch because I'm a Nintendo fan. I was worried the shop would be sold out so I went a couple of days early and spoke to the manager. He sold me one there and then, and they never sold out on launch day or afterwards.
Compare that to the launch of the Wii, where I was queuing up at midnight with lots of excited people. When I got the original Wii home and fired up Wii Sports there was something magical about the whole experience that was lacking with the Wii U...
I like my Wii U a lot and I think it has a lot of potential, but it hasn't excited me yet in the same way the Wii did. Still, my 3DS didn't get all that much use at first, but now I play it a lot, so hopefully that can happen with the Wii U.
(now I've rambled off-topic for long enough so will stop!)
@SanderEvers sorry I was being unnecessarily antagonistic towards you with my reply. When I said "ALWAYS will" that can easily mean "in the present and the future". I was simply trying to draw a logical conclusion to Nintendo focusing on the child market.
Nintendo's two main competitors have traditionally focused on the 16+ market, but with Kinect and PS Move they've both made inroads to the child market, without alienating their older customers in the process.
By focusing on the child market, Nintendo will feature less and less in each successive generation.
I hope they'll come up with another Wii - another revolutionary system with mass-market appeal - but the Wii was an anomaly and is unlikely to be repeated any time soon: I got a Wii and loved it. Several of my non-gaming friends got a Wii after playing Wii Sports or seeing it on TV. Not a single gamer friend of mine bought a Wii. I couldn't convince them to do it. They played my Wii games and they liked some of them, but they found Wii Sports to be quite gimmicky, and they complained about the controllers when playing other games. They were all used to their Xbox/Dualshock controllers, or keyboard+mouse. I thought they were boring and unwilling to try new things - unlike my non-gaming friends!
But I think that boring anecdote of mine is indicative of the bigger picture: the Wii sold well because it was mass-market. It was the SodaStream of the 2000s. Yes it made a lot of people play games who hadn't played before. But what it didn't do is turn those people into gamers. The current install base of the Wii U is evidence of that.
It used to be the case that FB and G+ would require that you are 13 or older to have an account.
Nintendo's products are aimed at young children.
I agree this is overly heavy-handed of them, and that their existing parental controls suffice, and that the blame lies solely with parents. But the headline wouldn't be "BAD PARENTS FAIL TO SET PARENTAL CONTROLS", it would be "PEDO RING USES 'FAMILY-FRIENDLY' NINTENDO'S SYSTEMS TO SNARE YOUR CHILDREN!"
The problem with Nintendo's approach is the bigger picture of market share: with this approach they will ALWAYS be number 3 out of 3. Their market is ages 3 to 18. Their competitors' markets are ages 3-103. Nintendo will always be the underdog with this strategy, because the average age of a person who plays games is always rising, and their target market will always be shrinking compared to the total market.
ah yeah and it's got sir mixxalot's "baby got back" - great tune that! hardly 'suitable', but I butchered that one too with my free trial it's amazing the number of songs that I only know the first 30 seconds of...
I had a lot of fun attempting to sing Afroman's 'cos I got high the other weekend with my free hour pass - and I normally hate karaoke - I hope they don't remove it or censor it. But they should definitely adjust the age limit on the game, or introduce content filtering based on parental controls.
It's not Nintendo's place to become surrogate parents for children whose parents can't do their job properly.
Amusingly, for those parents who do use parental controls, have a look at the new kid-friendly Wii U game called "Wii Karaoke U". It's rated as being suitable for children aged 3 and upwards. Great! Fun for all the family. Watch as little Tommy picks a fun catchy song, "Because I got high" by Afroman. Must be the radio edit, right? Listen in amazement as you hear the words "f**k" being sung, coming right out of your family-friendly Nintendo console. Watch the words "and I woulda ate your pussy too" come up on the screen, and then explain to your children why Afroman wants to eat a little cat. (After having told them that he was high because he's in a hot air balloon!) Wonder why Nintendo let this game on the store with an age rating for THREE YEAR OLDS, yet they'll take away function across the board for everyone, even though it was protected by parental controls...
@SwimyGreen you can use it as more than a footrest for PC gaming if you want. Pair it to your PC over Bluetooth and use Wii Balance Walker ( http://www.greycube.com/site/download.php?view.68 ) to assign different directions to keypresses. It's set up for FPSes by default (W,S,A,D,shift,space) and works pretty well. I still haven't tried it out as a joystick yet, but it should work as rudder pedals for flight sims or accelerator/brake for driving games.
I bought a second hand one last week for €25 in preparation. It's sitting under my desk, since I discovered that I can pair it with my PC and use it as another input controller! o/
The original of this game is what really sold the DS to me. I was interested in the DS, but only after watching a video of the developers multiplayer playing Daigasso! did it become a must-buy. Here are some of those old videos in an old video format: http://www.1101.com/asx/nintendo/DS-demo.asx http://www.1101.com/asx/nintendo/first-play.asx http://www.1101.com/asx/nintendo/matuken.asx It's such fun to play multiplayer: any wrong notes are obviously heard by everyone, which results in giggling, which leads to more wrong notes, and so on
So the question for me is: do I support Nintendo's horrible region locking policy by importing a Japanese 3DS? I really want to play this game, and don't really want to wait for four years or more for it to eventually come out over here...what a dilemma!
Turn his point around for fun and to point out how nonsensical it is: "I say this with love as a fan of Disney. But if I was Disney, I’d be sitting my a** down trying to figure out how to sell my company to Satoru Iwata, because if you look at sort of what they have done sort of the reverence they’ve had towards Sonic, if you look at what seems to be happening with Mario and Wii Sports, they clearly understand marketing, they clearly understand their audience. To imagine running a Disney Land game and having an entire land – like not just like Nintendo Land but others like Tomorrow Land – and sort of integrating that into that world, doing more with those brands." Jaffa Cake rambles on incoherently: "You know end of the day, we’re all standing gratefully if you’re lucky in the shadows, the very long and powerful shadows of Walt Disney. But ultimately, he said himself he’s setting up younger filmmakers to step in, he’s talking about staying in cryogenic stasis for another 200 years. I’m not a big Mickey Mouse fan, I don’t think he’s making a film that really has spoken to me as a film-fan in awhile. But what he has done has been industry-altering and super important and his characters live on and they should. But I think the idea of, you know, some new blood getting in there appreciating what they’ve got and doing more with it would be awesome…
…I’m a big Disney fan, but I just think it’s time to bring in some new blood that really is going to appreciate what they’ve got and bring it to a new generation and do some new s***. Never lose that essence, never lose that core, but for the love of f****** God, do some new s***."
@mercurio2054 hmmm I'm not convinced. The main parts of the review that stuck out for me were: "Sadly though, Nintendo has gone a tad overboard in ensuring that everyone feels included by rubber-banding the experience and removing the need for geniune skill. Some of the mini-games are entirely chance-based and amount to little more than pressing a button and praying to the Gods that you're not struck down to last place. This deliberate balancing act ruins what could have been some great mini-games.", "It's something of a pointless exercise, and a victory feels quite shallow if you just win through chance.", and regarding the gamepad mode "Nevertheless, it's odd that the buttons and D-Pad weren't also consider for use; the symmetrical layout, for example, could have provided some entertaining top-down or side-scrolling platforming mini-games."
It sounds to me like Nintendo haven't quite hit the mark with this one. Different difficulty levels to control the rubber-banding effect might have been nice. More two player games using the gamepad (and more of its buttons) would have been great.
But then again, this game's probably not really aimed at me is it? I can see how it would be a lot of fun to play with friends who don't play games. It's also good to see the return of the Find Mii game - one of the best games on Wii Party (which was also a good way to get a second controller at the time). The fact that games can be rated by the internet hive mind so you can avoid the worst ones is a nice touch too.
I don't need another wiimote, but I might get this when it's cheap.
The review reads like it's an incredibly average game. The lack of skill-based minigames sounds particularly bad. Pressing a button and praying to the god of RNGs that I win doesn't really appeal to me. And rubber-banding just makes everyone feel cheap. These sound like serious gameplay issues to me rather than minor annoyances.
Still, if at least some of the minigames are good, then it might be worth picking this up on the cheap, for those times where no-one's feeling energetic enough to play Just Dance Until then, Nintendoland has fun skill-based minigames.
Ah. I just checked the price. It looks like it's worth getting if you want another Wiimote. Right now on Amazon UK a Wii U Remote Plus is £38 but Wii Party U with a Wii U Remote Plus is £35! That means in a few weeks the second-hand shelves will be filled with copies of Wii Party U for just a few pounds/euros/dollars...
Is it 60 fps to each eye or 60 fps total and 30 fps to each eye? I assume it's the latter, otherwise it would be capable of running at 120 fps in 2D, right? Because that would be a good reason why games at 30 fps look bad in 3D: each eye is only seeing 15 fps.
@TheGZeus you're absolutely correct, and the sad thing is that no one seems to notice or care.
Everyone on this comment thread is able to tell you why it's such an awful, terrible, bad thing that this person had the audacity to steal Nintendo's IP. But I think only a handful; yourself, @unrandomsam, and a couple of others, are able to explain what the Public Domain is and why it is A Good Thing.
Everyone has been fed the corporate lines about what's 'fair' and "right and wrong" for so many years that many of us are repeating the corporation's words for them, without really thinking about what we're saying.
@wombatkidd Oh I agree with copyrights alright. I agree with their original intended use. I agree with the reasons for copyright to exist and I believe those to be fair and reasonable. I might not agree that the laws allowing their extensions are right, but they exist and there's not a lot I can do about that.
I don't think that this guy should have ripped off Nintendo's IP either. If I were him, I would have made a generic platformer. He's got a level creation tool already, and a sprite making tool would be easy to add. Copyright law doesn't exist to prevent people from making derivative works, and there are many things that the FullScreenMario creator could have done to avoid this (and if he had done so, the news story of "student makes generic platformer in html5" wouldn't have been nearly as interesting as this one!)
The other side of copyright law is that it's limited and works will fall into the public domain eventually. There are reasons for this; why it is a good thing and in the public interest for it to happen, and that copyright owners do not have indefinite ownership.
@aaronsullivan I was doing some reading around the topic and discovered that Walt Disney was instrumental in extending the length of copyright because of the very character you mentioned: Mickey Mouse. Also, it seems that copyright laws were never intended to protect an endless stream of revenue for the holder, but instead to give a reasonable length of protection (28 years has been bandied about, but different countries did it differently: a lot implemented copyright until the death of the creator) to the author of the work. After which time the work is released into the public domain, for the good of society as a whole.
Companies in the film, music, and now games industries have lobbied successfully to increase the length of time that they can hold copyright.
But what's reasonable? Should Nintendo be able to hold copyright over the NES Mario game for ever? Or until Miyamoto sadly passes? Or an arbitrary length of time? (Or not at all? Though I can't imagine anyone realistically arguing in favour of that)
What about other art forms? Is it fair that the descendants of world-famous classical composers don't get paid any royalties when Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc are played or performed?
@ToastyYogurt my statement was a little harsh, and "no one" too all-encompassing, but I do believe that the NES Mario today is nothing more than a curio, an important landmark in gaming and a masterclass in game design, yes, but I think as such this particular game is better off in the public domain. Obviously copyright law disagrees with me on that, though
Ohhh and another question: aren't both Mario and Mickey Mouse registered trademarks of their respective owners, and therefore protected by a different set of laws? Or are they simply IP protected under copyright?
@ToastyYogurt That's true. In this case he's copied sprites and ripped sound from the original. He can't very well claim it's a derivative work. If he had created a different sprite set and used his own sounds then he might have gotten away with it. They might have still got him on the level design though. He could have even made a sprite editor and allowed community submissions. It would have taken about 3 hours for someone to submit an original Mario sprite set for him, and he could have gotten away with it as he would have made a generic platformer, not a Mario clone..
He might possibly be able to claim that it's valid for teaching purposes, as there seems to be an exemption in copyright law for that, but I'm not a lawyer, and reading lots of John Grisham books doesn't count!
Nintendo should also contact Github to request removal of its data (graphics and sound files) because at the moment anyone can download it.
Legalities aside, does anyone think this is all a bit of a fuss about nothing? Who wants to play the original NES Mario these days anyway? No one. Apart from a short nostalgia trip to remind you how things were and how they're much better now. Yeah sure I've played NES Mario on the virtual console two or three times myself - it's a bit of fun for five minutes to harken back to simpler times - but if I want to play a platformer then I'll play NSMB:U or the new Great Giana sisters... Ah, the original Great Giana sisters...anyone old enough to remember the furore around that Mario clone?
Do Nintendo have to defend their IP in the same way Bethesda did when the Minecraft creator, Notch, started creating a game called Scrolls? The way I understood Bethesda vs. Notch was that if Bethesda didn't challenge his use of he word Scrolls, then it could lead to further challenges to Bethesda's IP in future.
If this is a similar situation then Nintendo will have to act against any form of IP infringement, because if they don't then they're seen to condone it.
@X-Factor @ECMIM heh yeah I backed it on Kickstarter and when I played the alpha thought they had decent core moving and shooting mechanics. Hoped they'd add a decent game around those mechanics. Then about a month later they announced a release date and alarm bells started ringing for me. I thought "oh no it's just going to be the alpha with a few more maps isn't it?!". And that's exactly what it was. Such a shame.
I'd rather they take the time rather than release a rushed game.
The PC release of the Kickstarted tactical FPS "Takedown: Red Sabre" a few weeks ago was horrible. If they'd spent another 6-12 months on the game it would have made a big difference.
OT: why does every thread at the moment have a comment by Dambuster with "Watch the profanity please"?
It was a silly name that makes it sound like a minor hardware revision. If they had done it with their past consoles then consumers would have been just as confused. Imagine: NES U instead of Super NES / SNES SNES U instead of N64 N64 U instead of Gamecube Gamecube U instead of Wii and now Wii U instead of ?????
At first glance it looks like the difference between an N64 and N64 DD, ie a minor hardware addition.
Appending the number 2 rather than the letter U would have helped, but not as much as a whole new name would have done!
Comments 210
Re: 25 Year-Old Japanese Man Arrested For Allegedly Threatening To Blow Up Nintendo's HQ
I have a theory:
Maybe he recently moved to another country, requested that Nintendo change the country on his NNID, and had all his purchased eShop games removed.
Maybe he also lost 9000 Club Nintendo points, which he had been diligently inputting the codes for and saving up for years to spend on something really good, because of a random and arbitrary policy change at Nintendo which caused him to lose them.
Maybe he tried to complain through the proper channels and was ignored.
I highly doubt that though - sounds like he has mental health issues, sadly.
Re: EA Germany Survey Fails To Acknowledge The Wii U
maybe they're leading up to a press release stating that: "In a recent survey, no one of the people polled owned a Nintendo console. Consequently, from now on, EA won't even bother rebadging old games as new."
what an unprecedented level of collaboration!
Re: Performance of Batman: Arkham Origins Wii U Version Compares Unfavourably to 360 and PS3
Why would anyone play this on anything other than the PC?
You have the option of X360 or PS3 - both hardware from seven years ago.
Or the Wii U - with its weak CPU and different architecture.
It's obviously a graphically and cpu-intensive game. Probably could do with some optimisation, but it was never going to be great on any 'current gen' consoles.
Shin'en Soft make pretty games that run at 60fps because there's next to nothing happening on the CPU side in them. They can pile on the graphical effects because that's where the strength of the console is.
And regarding the number of negative articles at the moment: I'm sure that if there was more positive Nintendo news around at the moment then NL would be happily posting it and sticking it as featured.
I'd rather get an unbiased view that's not sugar-coated. It's one of the reasons I come here.
Re: Talking Point: The Nintendo Network ID Creeps Ever Closer to Being Fit for the Modern Age
@Nico07 yeah true, you're right. It's a shame that the two are so closely linked.
I've personally only ever used it for legal purposes, but I realise that I'm probably in the minority. I loved that it turned the Wii into a nice little low-power media centre and that it let me play imported (purchased of course) games
But yeah, I know why we can't have nice things: because the irresponsible few spoil it for the rest of us. Such a shame
Re: Guide: Using Nintendo Network ID On Your 3DS
@tripunktoj de nada, hombre!
Yeah it's a real shame. It's a transparent money-grabbing scheme, basically.
Another sad thing about it is that it only affects legitimate users who just want to get a fair deal.
People who own flashcarts and download ROMs don't have this problem.
But people like us who just want to pay a fair price for a product and expect to be treated fairly in return just get follada en el culo for it. It makes me sad too
Re: Talking Point: The Nintendo Network ID Creeps Ever Closer to Being Fit for the Modern Age
@Nico07 all of those things that Nintendo have done lately are things that the 360 had seven years ago.
Only now are they catching up to what has been the norm for other platforms.
So they're doing the same thing as the competition but, in typical style, they're falling short with their implementation.
The good thing about the Wii was that it had great support from the homebrew community. People got really excited finding out what they could do with the hardware.
They quickly added DVD and other media playback features to the console. Features which Nintendo couldn't have done themselves without paying licensing fees (eg. to Fraunhoffer for MP3).
Once that happened I could stream music and video over the network from my PC to my TV through my Wii, and apart from having to reinstall the HBC every time Nintendo pushed a system update out, everything was great.
This generation feels like a step backwards in many ways for me.
The first DS was region free and it was wonderful. Well, it was the games as well as the console that didn't have region encoding in them: because the same great games I imported from Japan still work on my 3DS, but a UK-bought "DSi enhanced" game refused to work on my Japanese DSi.
Part of what made the DS so great for me and many others was that you could import and play anything you wanted to.
These days, if we even dare to go and live in a different country, we'll be lucky if they'll let us keep the eShop games we've paid for and downloaded.
The situation is all kinds of wrong.
Compare it to Steam. I can go anywhere in the world, to any computer with Steam on it, log in, and get access to all the games I've bought over the last eight or so years.
They've made it so nice and convenient that I'll buy old games that I have on disc again through Steam when they're really cheap, just because it's easier.
And now I can even authorise up to ten friends' computers, who will be able to play my games as long as I'm not playing them.
Remember the late 80s and early 90s, and the home computer wars?
We had the Atari ST, Amiga, and PC.
Everyone at the time was a fanboy for one of them.
Amiga's got better graphics!
ST's got the same graphics but better sound!
I was the only PC fan of my friends, and the best I could come out with was "Yeah but anyone can build and sell a PC, but only Commodore and Atari can sell the Amiga and ST... just you wait and see - the only thing around in a few years will be the PC".
I think the same thing will happen with the SteamBox. With anyone able to make them, with one of the (if not the) biggest games libraries and regular dirt-cheap sales, I think Valve have a long-term hit on their hands that will change the market as we know it...
Re: Talking Point: The Nintendo Network ID Creeps Ever Closer to Being Fit for the Modern Age
@ferthepoet yeah, I was pretty stunned to read that reply from them.
I've done all I can do: replied and politely requested that my concerns are forwarded to the relevant department.
Of course I ended it with a polite veiled threat: basically that a company that enforces such restrictions will not get my money in the future.
But yeah, why should I have to put myself through this nonsense again?
Something like an updated version of the GP32X in a few years' time would suit me just fine.
Until then I'll keep searching Google every few weeks for the magical keywords "3ds region free" - I like to think that it's only a matter of time before someone manages to do it...
Re: Talking Point: The Nintendo Network ID Creeps Ever Closer to Being Fit for the Modern Age
@ferthepoet
Just got another response from Nintendo - confirms that country changing is possible, but with a major downside! Can't see anyone going for this:
"In regards to your query, I can confirm you will be able to change the country for you NNID by contacting customer support team. Please bare in mind by changing the country setting this will wipe your eShop purchases that you may have on the console"
So, Nintendo are removing region locking like everyone wanted, they're just replacing it with country locking instead! ;-(
Re: Talking Point: The Nintendo Network ID Creeps Ever Closer to Being Fit for the Modern Age
@ferthepoet they didn't, no. But I would say that it's highly liked that those games would still be playable on your 3DS.
When the Wii first came out and I lived in Australia, I would switch between the Australian and UK Wii Shops, buying things that weren't available, or saving a few pounds with favourable exchange rates.
When Nintendo put a stop to this, I found you could still switch shops freely, but you'd have to spend all your Wii Shop Points before switching because they would be wiped.
All the games I bought in both shops are still playable on my Wii after they brought in the restriction. That Wii has had its country switched from AU to UK and back many times, then stuck with UK for a while, then changed to Spain.
When I took my Wii U to the UK last year, I had to create a new NNID to be able to use it online in the UK (my 'main' NNID is Spanish, and it won't let me use it online unless I'm physically located in the country) but I could still play the eShop games I'd bought with my Spanish NNID when using my new temporary UK NNID.
I haven't actually switched shops in the 3DS - I've just left it set to UK since I bought it there - but I can only assume that all your games will still be playable after the update, as they're tied to your 3DS' hardware ID.
Just make sure to keep a backup of the SD card, because even though you'll be able to play them you may not be able to re-download them again!
Re: Guide: Using Nintendo Network ID On Your 3DS
@tripunktoj I emailed Nintendo and asked some of those questions. Posted what I got back in the other post's comments: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/11/talking_point_the_nintendo_network_id_creeps_ever_closer_to_being_fit_for_the_modern_age#comment2047963
Re: Talking Point: The Nintendo Network ID Creeps Ever Closer to Being Fit for the Modern Age
Here's the response I got from Nintendo when I asked them about my situation (I have moved between countries in the PAL region, own Nintendo consoles from different countries within this region, and am likely to move again):
"The country on your 3DS will have to match the country settings of the NNID that you wish to link it to, this is due to the currency used in different countries as the account balances are combined.
There are no announcements to indicate if there are any restrictions for using the console outside of its set country. Currently it is possible to use the 3DS eShop outside of the country it's set to.
In regards to your last question, your purchases are tied to the country of which the NNID is set."
(the last question I asked was "From the FAQ I understand that I will be forced to create or link an NNID on my 3DS when the update comes out, so I’ll have to decide which region I want my main account to be in.
So if I move countries again after making this decision, will I be able
to change the region associated with my NNID, or will all my purchases
be forever linked to the region that I set?")
So from this answer it looks like you will still be able to access another country's eShop from your 3DS when located in a different country.
(of course this is still limited by region - AU+NZ+EU / Japan / Americas)
It seems that the best course of action for anyone who wants to or has to use their 3DS in different country's eShop, is to not link the same NNID as you use on the Wii U, but to create a new one whose country is set to the country which has the eShop you want to access.
Personally, I'm going to hold off from updating my 3DS and wait and see what happens after the update comes out.
I have loads of games for it already, and haven't finished a lot of them, so I don't need to update straight away.
I recommend that anyone else in the same situation as me does the same.
Re: Guide: Using Nintendo Network ID On Your 3DS
@Ernest_The_Crab with my 3DS I don't really play online a lot, so it'll be no big loss. But I do buy games from the eShop, and that will make me register an NNID, so I'm sure I'll have to give in eventually.
I live in Europe where we have lots of cheap flight operators. When a flight is only two hours you don't mind so much not having an allocated seat or in-flight entertainment. I can fly between Spain and UK for anything between €40 and €120 return, depending on how late I leave buying my ticket.
I'm just glad I only travel within Europe (and that Australia's a PAL region when I bought my Wii there) because if I had to put up with this going between US and EU regions where nothing's compatible then I would have just bought a PSP!
Re: Guide: Using Nintendo Network ID On Your 3DS
Yeah this is really quite annoying. I have a UK 3DS and Spanish Wii U, and I travel a lot with my 3DS.
I buy 3DS games from the UK eShop and Wii U games from the Spanish eShop.
I emailed Nintendo for more information and got "We cannot confirm if you will be required to change your ID to the correct country upon linking it to your Spanish 3DS as there have been no announcements with regards to this."
They misread my question. I have a UK 3DS and I'm not sure which country is 'correct' in my situation.
I've replied with clarification and have also asked whether changing the NNID's country is or will be possible.
.
So I'll have to decide on a single country where I will always live for the duration of my Nintendo-gaming life?
In a world where travel becomes ever cheaper and faster, is this really a good move on Nintendo's part?
I have been affected by this more than most, as I enjoy travelling and living in different parts of the world, and also enjoy Nintendo games. So I have:
Why am I being penalised for this by Nintendo?
It looks like this could be the first 3DS system update that I won't install.
And if this region-locking persists in future then I'm going to have to vote with my wallet and buy open systems, because why would I pay money to be treated like this when I don't have to?
At least with the original Wii anyone who owned Zelda:TP could remove the region lock simply by loading a saved game... I live in hope for similar advances with the Wii U and 3DS!
Re: Jett Rocket II: The Wrath of Taikai Available Now on the 3DS eShop
@Mario_maniac I was living in Australia when the Wii launched. For the first few months I could switch between the AUS and EU shops. Then Nintendo brought in the restriction where you could still switch shop regions, but would lose all your credit if you did.
I ended up sticking with the EU shop because games would come out there before the AUS shop, and some games would only be released in EU.
Right now I'm in a similar situation: I'm in Spain now, with a Spanish Wii U and the Spanish eShop.
The difficulty with the Wii U is that it checks your region whenever you want to do anything online, and forbids you from doing anything if your console region doesn't match your physical location.
It's all very irritating. I sent an email to Nintendo yesterday after hearing about the Nintendo Network ID changes happening to the 3DS, because my 3DS is UK-bought and has credit, but my NNID is Spanish and also has credit.
As for this game: it's great! It looks very good, has a high framerate (dunno if it's 60fps because I have no way of measuring that, but it's super smooth) and is fun so far.
I'm glad I acted on impulse and got it last night
The price is very reasonable too. I hope this will be a big hit for Shin'en!
Re: Jett Rocket II: The Wrath of Taikai Available Now on the 3DS eShop
It looks great! Do I download now or wait for the review?!
(looks at price)
Download now!
Re: Full Screen Mario Web Game Closed Down Following Nintendo's Copyright Complaint
Nintendo: right. Current state of copyright law: wrong.
But really, changing the front page of the site while all the code remains on github is akin to putting a 'closed' sign on the front door of a shop, while it continues to operate out of the door around the side.
Still, everyone wins: Nintendo and the FSM.com creator both get publicity, and the general public can continue to play it if they really want to.
But, copyright laws, right? This is the real issue.
This focus on individual infringements shows a tacit approval of the current bad state of copyright, and how it's been twisted from its original goals.
Corporations are quick to explain how important copyright is, but they never explain the equally important concept of the public domain.
That's something I'd like to see addressed in the next interview with a Nintendo VP.
Re: Nintendo Download: 14th November (Europe)
(just realised I paid €60-€70 per game on Sonic and Tekken when the Wii U launched - but you expect to shell out a lot of money on games when a console first comes out )
Re: Nintendo Download: 14th November (Europe)
€70 for any game is crazy.
It seems to be their new pattern: release a game way overpriced, then bring it down to what a full-price game should be and call it a discount.
€45 is still too much for me. I have a big backlog of games that I don't have time to play, so I only tend to buy games once they're €20 or less.
Re: Nintendo Combats Wii Fit U Lock-Up Error With Manual Solution
@bagszi You might have to create a new Wii U user account to work around that:
I'm from the UK but I live in Spain. Bought my Wii U here in Spain at launch, then I took it back to the UK last Christmas to show my friends and family.
When I hooked it up to the internet in the UK, it complained that I wasn't in my region, so I created a new Wii U user account and linked it to a new Nintendo Network ID (I used the same name as my main ID, but with "UK" appended).
So what you can do is create a new user and in system settings (console information page) change your country of residence to a European country but keep your system language to English.
I have my country set to Spain and language set to English and Wii Fit shows me my weight in kilograms but speaks to me in English.
(You won't be able to use a Nintendo Network ID though, I think it blocks you from registering one unless you're actually located in the country you choose)
Re: Talking Point: Regional Online Multiplayer Misses the Point
Region-locking online play is oxymoronic.
All this locking down of everything is starting to get annoying... it's making me not want to bother purchasing anything that's region locked ever again.
I'd rather not support the practice.
One of the joys of owning the original DS was being able to import Japanese games, and the Wii was easily soft-moddable to work around the region lock (so I imported SSB:Brawl from the US).
Re: EA: Being Voted The Worst Company In America Was "A Wake Up Call"
LOL
"unprecedented" for sure: they've never shown such lack of support until now!
Re: Satoru Iwata Outlines Wii U Holiday Target Audience and Aim for a "Unique Approach"
@electrolite77 good points, well-made; I accept all that
The Wii U does feel a bit like an oversized, detatched DS at times.
Actually, that reminds me of something that's annoyed me for a while now: in the days of the Gamecube and GBA, it seemed to me that Nintendo really tried to push the link-up capabilities of the systems, even though you needed to buy link cables to do it.
With the Wii and DS there were a handful of games that used both systems. The best one for me was the Band Bros DX Wii channel - a perfect, lag-free, wireless mixer for 3DSes connected to it.
Now we're on to the Wii U and 3DS, and the only form of link-up so far has been to transfer a Mii.
Wii Fit U could accept steps data from my 3DS, which I take everywhere while walking. But no, Nintendo want me to buy a Wii Fit Meter, don't they?
Nintendo are missing a lot of opportunities with system link features, especially when it's easier than ever before thanks to wireless networking.
Re: Satoru Iwata Outlines Wii U Holiday Target Audience and Aim for a "Unique Approach"
@ferthepoet @Shade_Koopa A friend recently pointed me towards this list of platform exclusives ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_exclusives_(seventh_generation) ) when I asserted to him that I thought Nintendo had a monopoly on good platform-exclusive games. I was amazed to see how many there are that I didn't know about.
I still believe that there are higher-quality exclusives on the Wii than the other two, but I'm biased
@electrolite77 you're saying they weren't original? I don't know of any other handheld console with 3D, or any home console with a tablet-style controller...
(Ah ok I just remembered the Virtual Boy, but Microsoft's hastily-released Smartglass doesn't count)
@TechnoEA You're quite right about the incorrect perception people have.
Also, both Sony and MS have gone after the younger market with Move and Kinect games.
BTW, I found Zombii U pretty heavy on the blood and gore (and the stress. and the terror!). It's a shame that game wasn't more successful as I think it had a lot to offer the gamers who were after a more 'hardcore' experience.
@NoOneInParticular: Nintendo's market share is being assaulted on all sides like no time before in its history.
The only way it can survive is by brute strength or by originality.
Sony and MS are going for the brute strength approach again, however when the XB360 and PS3 came out they had, for a brief time, the best graphics available on the market. You couldn't get an equivalent graphical experience on the PC at consumer-level prices.
Today they don't have that graphical advantage any more.
Nintendo's going for originality again, and while they're not going to repeat the success of the Wii any time soon, they're still making a profit.
Final thoughts: Nintendo don't need to conquer the market to be successful. If you look at niche PC games such as simulators and point-and-click adventures. These games still have an audience, they may be few in number but they still make a decent profit and stay in business.
Example 1: RailSim's Train Simulator and its famously expensive DLC.
Example 2: Eagle Dynamics' Digital Combat Simulator, with its free base product - DCS World - and not-so-expensive DLC.
So Nintendo can just keep on doing what they're dong and they'll be fine
Re: The Wii Mini Will Arrive in the U.S. in November
2012: Nintendo release Wii U
2013: Nintendo retire Wii
2013: Nintendo release Wii Mini
Consumer: "Err, which one do I buy? The cheapest one? The orange one? Oh look, the new Playstation......"
Re: Nintendo Download: 7th November (Europe)
It would be good to know if the new Korg is worth an upgrade if you already own the DS original.
"Some new sounds" isn't that great an addition considering it's a synthesizer...
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Safe and Family-Friendly Focus is Integral to Its Fortunes
@Mahe heheh I didn't know that the Wii's still outselling the Wii U. I would have thought that pretty much anyone who wanted a Wii has got one by now
And you're right that people would like to keep on playing their Wiis.
I think the Wii had a great software library. I bought most of the games that are 'green' (above 70?) on Metacritic and still play a lot of them today. It's the same with my DS games.
I went out and bought a Wii U at launch because I'm a Nintendo fan. I was worried the shop would be sold out so I went a couple of days early and spoke to the manager. He sold me one there and then, and they never sold out on launch day or afterwards.
Compare that to the launch of the Wii, where I was queuing up at midnight with lots of excited people. When I got the original Wii home and fired up Wii Sports there was something magical about the whole experience that was lacking with the Wii U...
I like my Wii U a lot and I think it has a lot of potential, but it hasn't excited me yet in the same way the Wii did. Still, my 3DS didn't get all that much use at first, but now I play it a lot, so hopefully that can happen with the Wii U.
(now I've rambled off-topic for long enough so will stop!)
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Safe and Family-Friendly Focus is Integral to Its Fortunes
@SanderEvers sorry I was being unnecessarily antagonistic towards you with my reply.
When I said "ALWAYS will" that can easily mean "in the present and the future".
I was simply trying to draw a logical conclusion to Nintendo focusing on the child market.
Nintendo's two main competitors have traditionally focused on the 16+ market, but with Kinect and PS Move they've both made inroads to the child market, without alienating their older customers in the process.
By focusing on the child market, Nintendo will feature less and less in each successive generation.
I hope they'll come up with another Wii - another revolutionary system with mass-market appeal - but the Wii was an anomaly and is unlikely to be repeated any time soon:
I got a Wii and loved it. Several of my non-gaming friends got a Wii after playing Wii Sports or seeing it on TV.
Not a single gamer friend of mine bought a Wii. I couldn't convince them to do it.
They played my Wii games and they liked some of them, but they found Wii Sports to be quite gimmicky, and they complained about the controllers when playing other games.
They were all used to their Xbox/Dualshock controllers, or keyboard+mouse.
I thought they were boring and unwilling to try new things - unlike my non-gaming friends!
But I think that boring anecdote of mine is indicative of the bigger picture: the Wii sold well because it was mass-market. It was the SodaStream of the 2000s.
Yes it made a lot of people play games who hadn't played before.
But what it didn't do is turn those people into gamers.
The current install base of the Wii U is evidence of that.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Safe and Family-Friendly Focus is Integral to Its Fortunes
@SanderEvers when I use the word "will" I am using the future tense of the verb "to be".
Of course what I said is not true, because it's a hypothetical future.
I'll be proved correct though ;-P
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Safe and Family-Friendly Focus is Integral to Its Fortunes
It used to be the case that FB and G+ would require that you are 13 or older to have an account.
Nintendo's products are aimed at young children.
I agree this is overly heavy-handed of them, and that their existing parental controls suffice, and that the blame lies solely with parents.
But the headline wouldn't be "BAD PARENTS FAIL TO SET PARENTAL CONTROLS", it would be "PEDO RING USES 'FAMILY-FRIENDLY' NINTENDO'S SYSTEMS TO SNARE YOUR CHILDREN!"
The problem with Nintendo's approach is the bigger picture of market share: with this approach they will ALWAYS be number 3 out of 3.
Their market is ages 3 to 18. Their competitors' markets are ages 3-103.
Nintendo will always be the underdog with this strategy, because the average age of a person who plays games is always rising, and their target market will always be shrinking compared to the total market.
Re: Wii Karaoke U Doesn't Censor Explicit Lyrics
ah yeah and it's got sir mixxalot's "baby got back" - great tune that! hardly 'suitable', but I butchered that one too with my free trial
it's amazing the number of songs that I only know the first 30 seconds of...
Re: Wii Karaoke U Doesn't Censor Explicit Lyrics
boo, I thought I was the one who tipped you off: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/11/nintendo_disables_swapnotes_spotpass_service_due_to_online_safety_concerns#comment2002278
I had a lot of fun attempting to sing Afroman's 'cos I got high the other weekend with my free hour pass - and I normally hate karaoke - I hope they don't remove it or censor it.
But they should definitely adjust the age limit on the game, or introduce content filtering based on parental controls.
Re: Nintendo Disables Swapnote's SpotPass Service Due to Online Safety Concerns
It's not Nintendo's place to become surrogate parents for children whose parents can't do their job properly.
Amusingly, for those parents who do use parental controls, have a look at the new kid-friendly Wii U game called "Wii Karaoke U". It's rated as being suitable for children aged 3 and upwards. Great! Fun for all the family.
Watch as little Tommy picks a fun catchy song, "Because I got high" by Afroman. Must be the radio edit, right?
Listen in amazement as you hear the words "f**k" being sung, coming right out of your family-friendly Nintendo console.
Watch the words "and I woulda ate your pussy too" come up on the screen, and then explain to your children why Afroman wants to eat a little cat.
(After having told them that he was high because he's in a hot air balloon!)
Wonder why Nintendo let this game on the store with an age rating for THREE YEAR OLDS, yet they'll take away function across the board for everyone, even though it was protected by parental controls...
Sense? It makes none.
Re: Feature: Where Is Your Wii Balance Board?
@SwimyGreen you can use it as more than a footrest for PC gaming if you want.
Pair it to your PC over Bluetooth and use Wii Balance Walker ( http://www.greycube.com/site/download.php?view.68 ) to assign different directions to keypresses. It's set up for FPSes by default (W,S,A,D,shift,space) and works pretty well.
I still haven't tried it out as a joystick yet, but it should work as rudder pedals for flight sims or accelerator/brake for driving games.
Re: Feature: Where Is Your Wii Balance Board?
I bought a second hand one last week for €25 in preparation.
It's sitting under my desk, since I discovered that I can pair it with my PC and use it as another input controller! o/
Re: Nintendo Direct: Check Out the Japanese Daigasso! Band Brothers P Direct Here
The original of this game is what really sold the DS to me.
I was interested in the DS, but only after watching a video of the developers multiplayer playing Daigasso! did it become a must-buy.
Here are some of those old videos in an old video format:
http://www.1101.com/asx/nintendo/DS-demo.asx
http://www.1101.com/asx/nintendo/first-play.asx
http://www.1101.com/asx/nintendo/matuken.asx
It's such fun to play multiplayer: any wrong notes are obviously heard by everyone, which results in giggling, which leads to more wrong notes, and so on
So the question for me is: do I support Nintendo's horrible region locking policy by importing a Japanese 3DS?
I really want to play this game, and don't really want to wait for four years or more for it to eventually come out over here...what a dilemma!
Re: Nintendo Download: 31st October (Europe)
I picked up a used balance board last week in anticipation for €25. Looking forward to trying it out soon!
Re: Readers Of EDGE Consider Ocarina Of Time And Mario 64 To Be The Best Games Of The Last 20 Years
Halo and Goldeneye, but no Quake? Quake was better than those two put together!
Re: David Jaffe Is A Massive Fan Of Nintendo, But Thinks The Company Should Sell Out To Disney
Turn his point around for fun and to point out how nonsensical it is:
"I say this with love as a fan of Disney. But if I was Disney, I’d be sitting my a** down trying to figure out how to sell my company to Satoru Iwata, because if you look at sort of what they have done sort of the reverence they’ve had towards Sonic, if you look at what seems to be happening with Mario and Wii Sports, they clearly understand marketing, they clearly understand their audience. To imagine running a Disney Land game and having an entire land – like not just like Nintendo Land but others like Tomorrow Land – and sort of integrating that into that world, doing more with those brands."
Jaffa Cake rambles on incoherently:
"You know end of the day, we’re all standing gratefully if you’re lucky in the shadows, the very long and powerful shadows of Walt Disney. But ultimately, he said himself he’s setting up younger filmmakers to step in, he’s talking about staying in cryogenic stasis for another 200 years. I’m not a big Mickey Mouse fan, I don’t think he’s making a film that really has spoken to me as a film-fan in awhile. But what he has done has been industry-altering and super important and his characters live on and they should. But I think the idea of, you know, some new blood getting in there appreciating what they’ve got and doing more with it would be awesome…
…I’m a big Disney fan, but I just think it’s time to bring in some new blood that really is going to appreciate what they’ve got and bring it to a new generation and do some new s***. Never lose that essence, never lose that core, but for the love of f****** God, do some new s***."
Yeah, it makes about as much sense in reverse.
Re: Review: Wii Party U (Wii U)
@mercurio2054 hmmm I'm not convinced. The main parts of the review that stuck out for me were:
"Sadly though, Nintendo has gone a tad overboard in ensuring that everyone feels included by rubber-banding the experience and removing the need for geniune skill. Some of the mini-games are entirely chance-based and amount to little more than pressing a button and praying to the Gods that you're not struck down to last place. This deliberate balancing act ruins what could have been some great mini-games.",
"It's something of a pointless exercise, and a victory feels quite shallow if you just win through chance.",
and regarding the gamepad mode "Nevertheless, it's odd that the buttons and D-Pad weren't also consider for use; the symmetrical layout, for example, could have provided some entertaining top-down or side-scrolling platforming mini-games."
It sounds to me like Nintendo haven't quite hit the mark with this one. Different difficulty levels to control the rubber-banding effect might have been nice. More two player games using the gamepad (and more of its buttons) would have been great.
But then again, this game's probably not really aimed at me is it? I can see how it would be a lot of fun to play with friends who don't play games.
It's also good to see the return of the Find Mii game - one of the best games on Wii Party (which was also a good way to get a second controller at the time).
The fact that games can be rated by the internet hive mind so you can avoid the worst ones is a nice touch too.
I don't need another wiimote, but I might get this when it's cheap.
Re: Review: Wii Party U (Wii U)
The review reads like it's an incredibly average game.
The lack of skill-based minigames sounds particularly bad.
Pressing a button and praying to the god of RNGs that I win doesn't really appeal to me.
And rubber-banding just makes everyone feel cheap.
These sound like serious gameplay issues to me rather than minor annoyances.
Still, if at least some of the minigames are good, then it might be worth picking this up on the cheap, for those times where no-one's feeling energetic enough to play Just Dance Until then, Nintendoland has fun skill-based minigames.
Ah. I just checked the price. It looks like it's worth getting if you want another Wiimote. Right now on Amazon UK a Wii U Remote Plus is £38 but Wii Party U with a Wii U Remote Plus is £35!
That means in a few weeks the second-hand shelves will be filled with copies of Wii Party U for just a few pounds/euros/dollars...
Re: Eiji Aonuma Confirms Minor Changes to A Link Between Worlds to Accommodate 2DS
Is it 60 fps to each eye or 60 fps total and 30 fps to each eye?
I assume it's the latter, otherwise it would be capable of running at 120 fps in 2D, right?
Because that would be a good reason why games at 30 fps look bad in 3D: each eye is only seeing 15 fps.
Re: Nintendo Wants To Close Down This Open-Source Web Version Of Super Mario Bros.
@TheGZeus you're absolutely correct, and the sad thing is that no one seems to notice or care.
Everyone on this comment thread is able to tell you why it's such an awful, terrible, bad thing that this person had the audacity to steal Nintendo's IP.
But I think only a handful; yourself, @unrandomsam, and a couple of others, are able to explain what the Public Domain is and why it is A Good Thing.
Everyone has been fed the corporate lines about what's 'fair' and "right and wrong" for so many years that many of us are repeating the corporation's words for them, without really thinking about what we're saying.
Disney are terribly hypocritical in this regard - their success is built upon 'copyright infringement' http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120910/02485220325/disney-claims-house-mouse-built-with-copyright-ignores-public-domain-foundation.shtml and http://roarofwolverine.com/archives/1435 (this last link points out that Disney donated several millions of dollars to get the law passed)
Just because something is law doesn't make it right.
Just because something is illegal it doesn't make it wrong.
Re: Nintendo Wants To Close Down This Open-Source Web Version Of Super Mario Bros.
@wombatkidd Oh I agree with copyrights alright. I agree with their original intended use. I agree with the reasons for copyright to exist and I believe those to be fair and reasonable.
I might not agree that the laws allowing their extensions are right, but they exist and there's not a lot I can do about that.
I don't think that this guy should have ripped off Nintendo's IP either. If I were him, I would have made a generic platformer. He's got a level creation tool already, and a sprite making tool would be easy to add.
Copyright law doesn't exist to prevent people from making derivative works, and there are many things that the FullScreenMario creator could have done to avoid this (and if he had done so, the news story of "student makes generic platformer in html5" wouldn't have been nearly as interesting as this one!)
The other side of copyright law is that it's limited and works will fall into the public domain eventually. There are reasons for this; why it is a good thing and in the public interest for it to happen, and that copyright owners do not have indefinite ownership.
Re: Nintendo Wants To Close Down This Open-Source Web Version Of Super Mario Bros.
@Ferret really? So you disagree with current copyright law then, where copyrights expire after a period of time? Why do you believe this?
Re: Nintendo Wants To Close Down This Open-Source Web Version Of Super Mario Bros.
@aaronsullivan I was doing some reading around the topic and discovered that Walt Disney was instrumental in extending the length of copyright because of the very character you mentioned: Mickey Mouse.
Also, it seems that copyright laws were never intended to protect an endless stream of revenue for the holder, but instead to give a reasonable length of protection (28 years has been bandied about, but different countries did it differently: a lot implemented copyright until the death of the creator) to the author of the work.
After which time the work is released into the public domain, for the good of society as a whole.
Companies in the film, music, and now games industries have lobbied successfully to increase the length of time that they can hold copyright.
But what's reasonable? Should Nintendo be able to hold copyright over the NES Mario game for ever? Or until Miyamoto sadly passes? Or an arbitrary length of time? (Or not at all? Though I can't imagine anyone realistically arguing in favour of that)
What about other art forms? Is it fair that the descendants of world-famous classical composers don't get paid any royalties when Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc are played or performed?
@ToastyYogurt my statement was a little harsh, and "no one" too all-encompassing, but I do believe that the NES Mario today is nothing more than a curio, an important landmark in gaming and a masterclass in game design, yes, but I think as such this particular game is better off in the public domain.
Obviously copyright law disagrees with me on that, though
Ohhh and another question: aren't both Mario and Mickey Mouse registered trademarks of their respective owners, and therefore protected by a different set of laws? Or are they simply IP protected under copyright?
Re: Nintendo Wants To Close Down This Open-Source Web Version Of Super Mario Bros.
@ToastyYogurt That's true. In this case he's copied sprites and ripped sound from the original.
He can't very well claim it's a derivative work.
If he had created a different sprite set and used his own sounds then he might have gotten away with it. They might have still got him on the level design though.
He could have even made a sprite editor and allowed community submissions. It would have taken about 3 hours for someone to submit an original Mario sprite set for him, and he could have gotten away with it as he would have made a generic platformer, not a Mario clone..
He might possibly be able to claim that it's valid for teaching purposes, as there seems to be an exemption in copyright law for that, but I'm not a lawyer, and reading lots of John Grisham books doesn't count!
Nintendo should also contact Github to request removal of its data (graphics and sound files) because at the moment anyone can download it.
Legalities aside, does anyone think this is all a bit of a fuss about nothing?
Who wants to play the original NES Mario these days anyway? No one. Apart from a short nostalgia trip to remind you how things were and how they're much better now.
Yeah sure I've played NES Mario on the virtual console two or three times myself - it's a bit of fun for five minutes to harken back to simpler times - but if I want to play a platformer then I'll play NSMB:U or the new Great Giana sisters...
Ah, the original Great Giana sisters...anyone old enough to remember the furore around that Mario clone?
Re: Nintendo Wants To Close Down This Open-Source Web Version Of Super Mario Bros.
Do Nintendo have to defend their IP in the same way Bethesda did when the Minecraft creator, Notch, started creating a game called Scrolls?
The way I understood Bethesda vs. Notch was that if Bethesda didn't challenge his use of he word Scrolls, then it could lead to further challenges to Bethesda's IP in future.
If this is a similar situation then Nintendo will have to act against any form of IP infringement, because if they don't then they're seen to condone it.
Re: Watch_Dogs Pushed Back to Spring 2014
@X-Factor @ECMIM heh yeah I backed it on Kickstarter and when I played the alpha thought they had decent core moving and shooting mechanics. Hoped they'd add a decent game around those mechanics. Then about a month later they announced a release date and alarm bells started ringing for me.
I thought "oh no it's just going to be the alpha with a few more maps isn't it?!".
And that's exactly what it was. Such a shame.
Re: Watch_Dogs Pushed Back to Spring 2014
I'd rather they take the time rather than release a rushed game.
The PC release of the Kickstarted tactical FPS "Takedown: Red Sabre" a few weeks ago was horrible. If they'd spent another 6-12 months on the game it would have made a big difference.
OT: why does every thread at the moment have a comment by Dambuster with "Watch the profanity please"?
Re: "Uninformed" Store Staff Are Hurting Wii U Sales, Claims Senior Games Analyst
It was a silly name that makes it sound like a minor hardware revision.
If they had done it with their past consoles then consumers would have been just as confused.
Imagine:
NES U instead of Super NES / SNES
SNES U instead of N64
N64 U instead of Gamecube
Gamecube U instead of Wii
and now Wii U instead of ?????
At first glance it looks like the difference between an N64 and N64 DD, ie a minor hardware addition.
Appending the number 2 rather than the letter U would have helped, but not as much as a whole new name would have done!