Slashdot Mirror
Mario Gets a Portal Gun In New Indie Game
jjp9999 sends word of a game in development that mashes up Super Mario Bros. and Portal. Dubbed Mari0 by its developer, the game is being built on the Löve framework and will be released for free. The original Super Mario Bros. levels will be included, as well as some puzzle-style maps and a level editor. They also plan to include simultaneous multiplayer.
I wonder what Nintendo has to say about all this. If I remember correctly, they tend to protect their trademarks and other intellectual property.
vos nescitis quicquam, nec cogitatis quia expedit nobis ut unus moriatur homo pro populo et non tota gens pereat.
..And rolled my eyes. Did not look fun to play despite the novelty.
"What kind of music do pirates listen to?" -Paul Maud'dib
"Yeeeaaarrrrr n' Bee!!" -Stilgar, Leader of Sietch Tabr
From developer's link:
Being released for free doesn't mean much. Even completely free mods for other games, if they impinged on the intellectual property of another company have been taken down through the typical use of cease and desist letters.
Which means that
is likely going to bite this guy in the ass, assuming he didn't get permission from Nintendo (which from a lack of mention on the site I doubt he has).
Cease and Desist Letter in 3... 2... 1...
welcome to 3 weeks ago
this is like a 2 min video, not a full fucking game you dink
Closest time until DMCA without going over, and you win one fine, only slightly used internet. Me, I'll go with noon tomorrow.
Great Intellect...
I was thinking the same thing. And then when I clicked this article, I noticed the slashdot ad was for "Super Mario Bros", but clearly not from Nintendo. Ad leads to: http://www.flashgamespy.com/gog/Mario-Games.html/_FGS?ce_cid=000hLZ0000001nOb8G8xBRqz3l000000
Classy, slashdot, classy.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
He's stupid. It's not done yet. If they tell him to stop before it gets released and then a week later it's everywhere online, it should be easy to demonstrate that since he had the only copy, he was the one to initially distribute it. If it gets released, he'll be sued.
If I remember correctly there are hundreds of Mario games in the web.
But this one brings something new and interesting to the Super Mario franchise. They must cease & desist at once!
Lawks, if I'd known that all it takes to get free marketing for a no hope project is to rip off not one but two other companies' lovingly crafted ideas, I'd have announced Sonic the Star Fleet Ensign years ago.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Is that "separate character" you mention not the same as the O with umlaut in German? It is pronounced exactly the same, at least in Turkish (don't know much about the Scandinavian languages).
Pretty sure the project itself just uses the character for the appearance. From what I know of it, it's just pronounced like the English word "love", without any particular accent.
http://www.explodingrabbit.com/games/super-mario-bros-crossover I came across a similar project last month. It has been active for about a year now and features the original mario levels that you can play through with any of several other old NES characters. Maybe Nintendo is actually playing nice with the fan community?
Much Madness is divinest Sense --
To a discerning Eye --
Much Sense -- the starkest Madness
It will be, the video is just a preview.
Dilbert RSS feed
The article on TV Tropes about fanwork bans links to interviews with Nintendo executives after Nintendo's overreaction to the "Suicide Girls" incident, such as a Kotaku article that quotes Nintendo president Satoru Iwata: "it would not be appropriate if we treated people who did something based on affection for Nintendo, as criminals." So avoid porn and commercial use, and you'll probably avoid "diminish[ing] the dignities" of the settings and characters of Nintendo products.
Pretty sure level designs aren't protected work either
Would you also guess that the set design for a film is not a copyrightable element? I'd like to see a judge's opinion one way or another on that.
since that essentially comes down to software that generates it.
Software decodes MP3 into PCM for playback, but that doesn't mean a work represented as MP3 isn't copyrightable. There's a distinct format in which the levels of SMB1 and SMB2 (J) are compressed, and it's essentially a list of (X, Y, thing) tuples with 4 bits for Y, 4 bits for X, 1 bit for whether X has crossed onto a new 16-block-wide "page", and 7 bits for the thing placed there. The level is 13 tiles tall, and the bottom three rows have different meanings for the things, such as choosing from one of several predefined wall or terrain patterns to add behind the things.
And if you can't wait for some 2d portal action, there's a flash game: http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/portal.php Very fun, and someone has actually created a map pack for the original Portal inspired by levels in the flash game.
the music style "Mashup" has been deemed protected, and is fair use. Maybe this is too?
"The princess is a lie!"
This news pleases me. I wouldn't play it, but sometimes I like watching a guy named raocow play through these. His voice makes my ears tickle.
http://www.raocow.com/
Don't forget about Super Mario Bros. Crossover! http://www.explodingrabbit.com/games/super-mario-bros-crossover Almost the same idea and it's an amazing game.
Cake or princess? The cake is a lie!
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Don't worry, of course I'm sure that whoever created this project got permission from Nintendo and Valve before starting it--and so won't have to bitch and moan about them sending him an inevitable cease-and-desist letter at some point in the future.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Sometimes for nothing at all!
As usual, it's all in the execution.
Turkey Mole is pretty good.
I can see the fnords!
yea sure it will cause video animation and game programming are totally the same skill
The video is a video capture of the game. If you had bothered to take 2 minutes to look at the website, you'd see he has plenty of games for download already, and a freaking open source game library.
"It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
Dilbert RSS feed
they shouldn't have announced it beforehand.. they should have just finished it and release it(though publicity gives them a motivational boost, sure).
but still, I don't find this story to be that interesting, a new indie game that piggy backs on mario.. I mean, the 2d portal done in flash seems cooler and the portals aren't that cool nor hard to implement when it's a 2d sidescroller.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I'm sorry but the cake is in another castle...
Dungeon Tactics : Free Open Source SRPG
Now you can run around with Micky-O. I'm sure Disney has no use for that old, dried up copyright, right? ;)
I8-D
I assumed it was pronounced like Lua but with a V in there. Similar to loovuh. Or Louvre.
What an ingenious way to avoid points! A mere 2,500 AND missed the flag to complete the level. Perfection.
No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!
of course there isn't a single person working on it, there are 2 official devs messing with it http://stabyourself.net/ And there is a 1st level leak on piratebay so unless there is a lawsuit prior to that then it's already circulated a little
"Maybe this is too?"
What is this question asking? It doesn't parse.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
I swear I have my own personal stalker/mod-down fairy.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
You're right. Zelda Online got retooled into Graal Online after (IIRC) a C&D. So perhaps I should add MMOs as the third prohibited category of fan works, given that allowing strangers to communicate goes against everything that Nintendo and its friend code policy stand for.
But Pokemon is one of the easier franchies to fork: just pretend you're making a new region and then go to deviantART and get a bunch of tARTlets to draw you some new mons for that region. Use no Poke-trademarks and no copyrighted graphics, and any similarity between their cockfighting sim and your cockfighting sim is more likely to fall into a favorable side of the idea/expression divide.
The question you refer to is in itself asking nothing. However, the person who uttered it very likely wished to use it as a means to ask if the mario/portal mashup the article brought to our attention could also be considered fair use.