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Nintendo's Lawsuits Aided by Fans

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the thanks-for-the-assist dept.

Guppy06 writes "Last week there was a posting about Nintendo's efforts to crack down on people selling counterfeit Nintendo hardware and software, and there was at least one reply from a guy who reported someone to Nintendo. It turns out he's not alone; according to a posting at Nintendorks, NOA's Jodi Daugherty, their director of anti-piracy efforts, says it was helped by over 400 people reporting such kiosks to them."

11 of 402 comments (clear)

  1. Not surprising really... by tekiegreg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nintendo probably has a more loyal fan base at this time. Rather than the Record Industry pain in the butt Sony, or the Borgish I could bash them forever Microsoft. What harm has Nintendo really done to people other than sue the occasional Warez site distributing old Nintendo ROMS? People get cheap crap from these imitation game consoles, and see a Nintendo piracy hotline somewehere infuriated they give them a call...

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    ...in bed
    1. Re:Not surprising really... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think if a market stall appeared selling dodgy copies of movies and albums, then I would also do something about it.

      I have always been totally two faced about things like this. If no money is exchanged and its not being used commercially, then I don't see a problem. However, once people actually begin using actual cash, it DOES start to divert money from the real content providers, whoever they may be.

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      liqbase :: faster than paper
  2. Something you won't see... by discontinuity · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Music fans reporting file sharers.

    1. Re:Something you won't see... by LoadWB · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's because sharing music and movies cannot duplicate the experience of the genuine article. The only way to do that is to produce exact copies of the original CD or DVD, but such copies are a rarity on the P2P networks.

      When you buy a ticket to a theater, or you buy the DVD to watch on your system at home, you are getting a specific experience. Same with CDs. These copies you download, even really good screners, just cannot compare to the original. The compression makes movies look blocky and grainy, and music sound more tin-canny.

      But the majority of these things being reported are exact copies of the original ROMs. You then take them and connect them to a TV or monitor, just like the original. Ergo, the experience has now been duplicated, and hence stolen.

      There was a site which allowed you to legally purchase ROMs, but I cannot remember what it was (or maybe still is.) Everybody got caught up in the dot-com fever of "everything on the Internet should be free," which then translated to "everything which CAN be put on the Internet should be free." This just is not so, and should not be so. And to hell with the law, the issue is that of ethics and morals (and we often find the law conflicting with the later two.)

      As I have stated plenty of times before, I download movies (I even made a shirt which says so which I wear to the theater,) and I download music. If the preview is good enough, I will buy a ticket or the DVD. If it sucks, then I have lost nothing but time and do not have to try to return this unpleasing product -- which cannot be done anyway.

      ROM images, and now XBox rips and the like, are a completely different story. There just is no way to get a reduced quality copy of these -- you get the real deal, the genuine article, the real action and feel of the original game, even if it is Tinky Winky replacing Mario. And this should not be free, and should not be profited from by anyone other than the original producer, not unscrupulous scum that produce the clones.

      What has been happening now is that because of the freebie revolution many companies are realizing that the market which they abandoned years ago is still viable. We said "if you won't give us what we want, then we will take it." So, now they are giving us (albeit rather highly priced... $20 for a single "classic" retro!) what we wanted, and in return they are telling us to stop giving away their swag. Seems a reasonable compromise to me.

      Even parts of the music industry has conceded to this new medium by offering legally licensed, lower quality downloadable music. But even that is encumbered by damnedable rights management. Sure, DRM is really all about the Evil Corp, Inc. controlling what we do, but we do not have a leg to stand on in the fight against it because time and time again, the majority of file traders have proven themselves not trustworthy -- and that affects us all.

      So, coming full circle, if we report Abdul, Sheehaba, Big Tony, and Mr. Earl for profiting on illegitimately gained product which gives the exact same experience as the original, then we are saying "hey, your argument that all we want to do is steal is wrong."

  3. testament to nintendo by terrymaster69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Despite how often we trash the RIAA etc. for their (misguided) attempts to defend copyrights, this just proves that if you treat your customers well and produce quality products, you'll be paid back. I'da turned 'em in too. Rock on Nintendo.

  4. Ive done this.... by thegoogler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There was a "toys and games" shop that opened near my house, i thought nothing of it untill my friend said they were selling SNES games for $2 for any game, buy 2, get 2 free. so i headed down there. turns out they were selling counterfeit systems all the way up to the N64, and every game you could think of... I emailed nintendo, and got an amusing thank you note..

  5. Being a good company probably helps by Ambient_Developer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I probably helps that nintendo has been seen (as far as I know) as a company that has had a long long history of being a rather "good", innovative, and untainted (compared to it's counterparts). I personally like nintendo, regardless of what others say.

  6. Loyal fanbases: by Nomihn0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Almost unconsciously, I have categorized nearly all brand names I know into one of two categories: those I imagine to be supported by die hard, underdog loving fans and those embraced by the conformist, top of the game crowd. Although I realize that some of these associations are flat out absurd, they sit in my mind as such, nonetheless. I am curious if others have the same type of relationships in the back of their minds:

    *Apple:Microsoft
    *Linux:Windows
    *Nintendo:Sony (and more recently, Microsoft)
    *Armadillo Aerospace:Scaled Composites
    *Blizzard:Valve
    *Mozilla:Internet Explorer
    *Texas Instruments:Hewlett Packard (despite TI's market hold)
    *Star Trek:Star Wars
    *Archos:Apple
    *Find-a-drug:Seti@home
    *Wina mp(rip):WiMP

    I wonder how much of this is my personal bias and how much is a result of clever advertising. Clearly, some of these comparisons are not legitimate or accurate, but the vast majority are. Regardless, those are the pairs I imagine. It's the fans of those things on the left that I feel would go out of their way for their cause.

  7. Pirating Old NES Games? by rm999 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm sure I will get modded down for this, but I honestly don't think "pirating" classic NES games, which are up to 20 years old now, is that wrong. Nintendo made a lot of money off the NES, but at this point the market for the classic Mario and Donkey Kong games is limitied to the nostalgic crowd, most of whom legitmately bought the games when they were kids. Why should we have to shell out 20 bucks for a game that we not only already bought, but that pales in comparison to newer games regarding programming time and complexity? In my opinion, these old games should be freely given to the community who made Nintendo what it is today instead of whored out by the marketing department of Nintendo to squeeze the last few cents out of them.

    1. Re:Pirating Old NES Games? by BTWR · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Why is it you get to decide that video games have an arbitrary shelf life (and... a shelf life 1/5 the current copyright length?).

      You know, they just released a special edition of Dr. Strangelove. That movie is over 40 years old. Are you going to say that it should be legally piratable? What about Back to the Future? Return of the Jedi? All are at least as old as Super Mario Brothers. Are they ok to copy? Lord of the Rings books - a half-century old. Are they now public domain?

      Listen, I think abandonware sites are ok. But... let's look at the word abandonware: Abandon and Ware: i.e. "software" that has been "abandoned" (i.e. completely given up).

      This year, Nintendo decided to re-release their classic NES games. And you know what? They made one hell of a profit. Did you have to buy them? No. Could you have gotten Metroid free from other sources (i.e. beating Metroid Prime + metroid Fusion)? Sure. But, it was a decent price (half the price they were in 1985) and a lot of people got to either re-live their childhoods (the avg person doesn't know what the hell a ROM is) or introduce an awesome game to an 11 year-old whos never seen anything 2-D.

      Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with that and it is hardly "whoring" of nintendo "to squeeze the last few cents out of them."

  8. Come on, guys by ajs318 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We're always told how America is the Land of the Free Market and Government Regulation is a Bad Thing. Yet the instant someone tries practising free-market economics for real over there, they're suddenly evil. What the hell difference is there between this type of counterfeiting, and what every supermarket is doing with its "own brand" copies of bestselling goods anyway? Isn't Tesco Rich Blend Instant Coffee just counterfeit Nescafé? Aren't Sainsbury's Rice Pops just counterfeit Kellogg's Rice Krispies? What's the freakin' difference already?

    Joe Punter isn't going to be fooled for one minute into believing this sort of thing is endorsed by Nintendo. Nor, at that price, is he going to be bothered whether it is or not. All it has to do is keep the kids entertained for longer than they will take to break it. Realness isn't part of the equation. And if some third party can satisfy the relevant factors, then they're going to be the ones that get the money. Pure and simple.

    It's the same thing with the obviously fake designer clothing sold on market stalls, and those awful fake Rolex watches you can spot a mile off {hint: a real Rolex does not go around in jerks. Just on the wrists of jerks}. Nobody's expecting it to be real, and nobody's disappointed that it isn't.

    You know, just maybe if perhaps "official" stuff wasn't so overpriced, there might be a chance that people perhaps wouldn't feel so much of an urge to counterfeit it, possibly. It's all very well to say that if you're poor and have principles, you should do without; and I should know all there is to know about doing without. But while there are all these big rich corporations wanting to eat their cake and have it*, while simultaneously shoving it in your face that if you don't have foo you're obviously a loser, what the hell kind of example is that setting?

    * I just think it sounds better that way around.

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    Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!