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Nintendo Shuts Down Tool Used To Build Pokemon Fan Games (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Since 2007, Pokemon Essentials has been a crucial part of the Pokemon fan game community. As a free mod for the paid RPG Maker software, Pokemon Essentials offers all the graphics, music, maps, and tilesets a fan game maker needs to craft their own Poke-adventure. Fans of the tool congregated around the PokeCommunity forums and a dedicated Pokemon Essentials wiki to download files, share creations, and discuss the scene. Earlier this week, however, PokeCommunity forum moderator Marin announced that "the Pokemon Essentials wikia and all downloads for it have been taken down due to a copyright claim by Nintendo of America." That means "we will not allow Pokemon Essentials or any of its assets to be hosted or distributed on PokeCommunity," the announcement reads. "We sincerely apologize that we have to do this, but there is no going around it." Fandom, the company that hosts the wiki, confirmed to the Verge that it had "received a DMCA notice on behalf of Nintendo notifying us of content that was in violation of its copyright holdings. After carefully assessing the violations in regards to the Pokemon Essentials wiki, we came to a decision to take it down."

29 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. I've never heard of this tool before by ArylAkamov · · Score: 4, Funny

    And now I'm going to seed it out of spite for a week or so.
    Czechm8 nintendo

    1. Re:I've never heard of this tool before by lgw · · Score: 1

      As Jim Sterling said regarding Nintendo copyright shenanigans:

      "I'm not saying you should pirate Nintendo ROMs, but you should totally pirate Nintendo ROMs like a particularly plundery pirate."

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    2. Re:I've never heard of this tool before by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2

      Came here for the torrent, sauce me bro!

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    3. Re:I've never heard of this tool before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The source code is up on ChubHub now!

    4. Re:I've never heard of this tool before by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      People don't own them all? Including foreign ones?

  2. code audit time by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    code audit time

  3. Working for free by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 2

    Nintendo is just not thinking here. Basically, volunteers are working for them for free to create value that they can reap... and they want to shut them down?

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    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Working for free by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Informative

      Nintendo has a history of being heavy handed when it comes to defending their IP, even when there is no real benefit to them for doing so. Not surprised in the slightest this happened.

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      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    2. Re:Working for free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nintendo is just not thinking here. Basically, volunteers are working for them for free to create value that they can reap... and they want to shut them down?

      That's standard for Nintendo, always has been.

      If you play one of their games and have the audacity to post a youtube video of you sitting in front of a camera talking about one of their games, they will claim that videos monetization at best and make a copyright strike claim at worse, depending how big of a channel you have.

      Note this happens when the video is 100% free of anything Nintendo has copyright on.
      I'm not talking about showing your play through of the game, or showing screenshots of the game, or using sounds/images related to the game.

      Just you, your own face (that they don't own copyright on), speaking in your own voice (that they don't own copyright on), and simply stating the name of the game (which they don't have copyright on)

      The natural interpretation would normally be that the game is actually so bad that a review would convince everyone they don't want to buy it, typically the indication of a scam publisher.
      But Nintendo of course does have pretty good games, and we know that isn't the case.
      Yet they do it anyway.

      This is the same company that claimed to have invented designed and be the sole manufacturer of the 6502 CPU, used in hundreds of computers before the NES.
      The same CPU already on the market while Nintendo was nothing but a card game company.
      They claim all copyright ownership of this chip they purchased and had zero hand in designing.

      So saying they are "not thinking" isn't even accurate, they are clearly thinking nothing but thoughts of self-harm and after 30 years of this that is clearly the intent of multiple individuals running the company.

    3. Re:Working for free by Calydor · · Score: 1

      They've done worse than attacking videos.

      https://arstechnica.com/civis/...

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      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    4. Re:Working for free by easyTree · · Score: 1

      "We'll defend our IP even if we bankrupt ourselves doing it!"

  4. Now with some tried to do this with QEMU / MAME? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Now with some tried to do this with QEMU and / or MAME? Then the case will to go to court with a big legal team to stop any chilling effects

  5. Not surprising. by bettodavis · · Score: 1

    They have been going after fan projects for a while. The last I heard of was Pixelmon, a long lived mod for Minecraft that added the little critters and all the commercial game dynamics (like fights) for free.

    Nothing of this was for making any money, just the work of dedicated fans with programming skills across several years

    But of course, it being free is the problem.

  6. Licenses matter. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    When will people learn not to put their work into proprietary systems? If I at all gave a shit about this comment, I wouldn't put it here. The owners of Slashdot can take it all away any moment. If you care about the time and effort you spend on these games, then demand an open license and hold off your investment until you get it. Don't be someone else's gardener for free. Work on your own turf.

    1. Re:Licenses matter. by ewibble · · Score: 2

      Because people create because they want to create, the don't care that their time is wasted, they want to make something that they enjoy and are proud of.

      I may go against the standard economic thinking that people will only create because there is money in it. That is clearly rubbish, true artists create because they are driven to create, they are quite willing to spend there own time and money on things that are very unlikely make them money.

      It is quite clear by the way people spend that it is not based optimizing there finances but their perceived enjoyment of life, how may people who live of paycheck to paycheck borrow to buy an iPhone? Debate about which phone is best, aside there are clearly cheaper alternatives out there. They do not logically weigh up the cost and benefits to them.

      Stop trying to change human nature, it is not going to happen and change the laws to take advantage of that nature. If we what more creativity all we have to do is have laws that let them.

  7. Re:the hand by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

    Yes, as I have access to a multi-system hardware based console that provides compatible hardware (retro duo). Would be unfortunate if Nintendo were to make actual inroads on suppressing used, pre-always-on-drm, game sales.

    This board is from a similar product ("retro trio", which also provides operation for Genesis/Master System), which is essentially the same concept. https://i.imgur.com/8B1lYQ0.jp...

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    There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  8. Stop having fun by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    Stop having fun with our games. They are serious business and we can't have you playing with them!

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  9. Re:this is how it works by fafalone · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ugh, haven't you been on Slashdot long enough to see that 'can't claim trademark' argument debunked 50 times? Ignoring a tiny non-profit fan mod project would absolutely not trigger a trademark forfeiture. There's absolutely no requirement to go after every fan who dares to do something trivial. And even if that was a concern, they could instead offer a perpetual license for a penny.

  10. Re:this is how it works by DRJlaw · · Score: 4, Informative

    Use it/enforce it.. or lose it

    Name one trademark lost by non-enforcement in the last, oh... 80 years. 1948 or later. Not unenforceable against someone else who was using it due to laches -- totally expected and boring -- I mean lost as in unenforecable against everyone in the registered mark's jurisdiction.

    Becasue let me tell you, my peers promulgating that meme, for a profit, keep using examples from the early 20th century, if not even earlier. May as well be warning the populace about marauding dire wolves.

  11. Re:this is how it works by DRJlaw · · Score: 1

    And of course, mental math error. Doii.

  12. Re:this is how it works by Travelsonic · · Score: 1

    They were using the pokemon name and likenesses, if Nintendo, or game freak didn't come out to say, "Hey, knock that off" then they can't claim the trademark anymore.

    That's not how it works.
    Otherwise, for instance, companies who have lax policies wouldn't be able to go after infringers because of people fan-gamers and modders - SEGA, VALVe, etc, are clearly able to do this.

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    If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
  13. Seed corn by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

    If you insist on eating the seed corn, don't be surprised when the next generation looks elsewhere.

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  14. Re: this is how it works by chronoglass · · Score: 1
  15. No one owns a ball sport by tepples · · Score: 1

    The difference between video games and ball sports is that ball sports aren't owned by anyone. The National Football League has never had a legal monopoly that gives grounds to prohibit USFL or XFL teams from playing and broadcasting their own matches. (Donald Trump did a good job of destroying the USFL all by himself, but that's beside the point.) Nor could the National League of Professional Baseball Players stop the rival American League from playing from 1901 to 2000 when it merged with the NL to form Major League Baseball. Even today, independent professional baseball leagues outside MLB and its Minor League farm system continue to operate.

    The use of a particular ball sport league's player performances in "rotisserie" or "fantasy sports" pools, on the other hand, has been the subject of lawsuits: STATS Inc. v. NBA and CDM v. MLB Advanced Media. In the latter, a federal appellate judge upheld that the players' association, not the league, owns the right to license player names and likenesses to rotisseries, and that sport statistics are uncopyrightable facts.

  16. Why use an emulator with an authentic cartridge by tepples · · Score: 1

    Who the fuck would ever use a fucking emulator if you have the original game?

    Plug an authentic game cartridge that you own into a Retrode or INL Retro cartridge reader and dump the data on the cartridge to a file (which is not infringement pursuant to 17 USC 117(a)(1)), and you can play it in an emulator. This lets you play on your phone or tablet with a USB or Bluetooth game controller, your laptop, or a PC connected to a television that isn't compatible with composite video at all or with the slightly nonstandard signal timing that third- and fourth-generation consoles produce. (NES and Super NES hsync is slightly too fast; Master System and Genesis hsync is slightly too slow. Neither one is interlaced, except for one Genesis game and one Super NES game.) It also lets you use cheats or other mods, or emulator features that allegedly improve the appearance of the game (such as high-definition texture packs in HiSMS, HDNes or automatic conversion of tile pixel patterns to 3D meshes in 3DNes VR).

    1. Re:Why use an emulator with an authentic cartridge by tepples · · Score: 1

      The 2-player mode in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is interlaced, as is all of RPM Racing (Radical Psycho Machines).

  17. Re:Who owns Pokemon? by Purity+Of+Essence · · Score: 1

    The Pokemon Company was created by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. Those companies collectively share the copyright on Pokemon products. The Pokemon trademark solely owned by Nintendo.

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    +0 Meh
  18. You get what you allow by wolff000 · · Score: 1

    If you don't like it stop buying their stuff. I have. It wasn't easy. I grew up with Nintendo. I love Nintendo games. I will not ignore the fact that they do ugly shit like this on a regular basis. They attack fans and abuse a broken copyright system. I won't support that behavior. Many do this but Nintendo is the most aggressive and abusive. If enough people said enough is enough and actually stopped buying. Nintendo's tactics would change. It always comes down to money and if it proves unprofitable they will quit.

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    WTF?
  19. The sooner we have a by Jastiv · · Score: 1

    The sooner we have a large thriving free software and free culture games industry, the sooner these types of problems will go away because games will have to be made both free culture and free software in order to make a profit.