Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror
Nintendo Australia Piracy The Courts Games

Nintendo On the Hunt For More Scalps 232

Posted by Soulskill
from the no-not-literally dept.
rjch writes "After its recent win against mod chip piracy in the Australian Federal courts, Nintendo is now on the prowl for other companies to sue. 'Nintendo will pursue those who attempt to jeopardise the gaming industry by using all means available to it under the law. In particular, Nintendo is currently contemplating bringing further actions against other sellers of game copying devices in Australia.' The game company said since 2008 it had pursued over 800 actions in 16 countries to stop game piracy, confiscating 'well over' half a million game copiers for the Nintendo DS. The company said piracy affected sales, the price of video games, and employment in the video game industry." Reader daria42 sends in a related piece asking whether Nintendo is being too harsh over this and the recent $1.5 million settlement with a man who leaked New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Nintendo On the Hunt For More Scalps More

Nintendo On the Hunt For More Scalps

Comments Filter:

  • Right to Tinker. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by headkase (533448) on Saturday February 20 2010, @01:35PM (#31211016)
    Conveniently what gets forgotten with "anti-piracy" jackbooting is my right to tinker [freedom-to-tinker.com]. I don't give a damn that console makers want to totally lock down "their" systems. It's not "theirs" its mine, I bought it at the store. All this crap preventing me from running Linux on my XBox without screwing up Live (if I wanted it) is bull. Go away, it's mine - you don't like that? In a perfect world it wouldn't be my problem, but hey, we get the best laws money can buy.

  • Spectrum of Headlines (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eldavojohn (898314) * <my/.username@@@gmail.com> on Saturday February 20 2010, @01:51PM (#31211136) Journal

    Nintendo On the Hunt For More Scalps

    Certainly one way to look at it. Here's a spectrum of possible headlines:

    • Nintendo Promises Investors That Sales Will Be Protected
    • Nintendo Goes on Offensive to Protect Bread and Butter
    • Nintendo Values Low Percentage of Sales Over Homebrew
    • Nintendo Sets Legal Precedent, Proceeds to Push the Envelope with More Prosecutions
    • Nintendo On the Hunt For More Scalps
    • After Realizing Its Bloodlust Has Not Yet Been Satiated, Nintendo Creaks Open Its Coffin to Aim Its Legion of Lawyers on More Third Party Companies Just Looking to Make a Buck by Helping Hobbyists Only to Be Raped by Nintendo in Front of Their Own Children By Way of the Twisted "Justice" System the World Has Come to Embrace

    So, congratulations, you had one final step to go before I would have considered your headline over the top or 'spin.'

  • Two reasons PC games can be cheaper (Score:4, Insightful)

    by tepples (727027) <slash2006@noSPAm.pineight.com> on Saturday February 20 2010, @01:54PM (#31211166) Homepage Journal
    The PC version is cheaper for at least three reasons I can think of:
    1. Sony and Microsoft monopolize the manufacturing for games on their console platforms, charge a substantial royalty per copy, and enforce this through code signing. On the other hand, Microsoft does not require that PC video game publishers pay for the "Games for Windows" program.
    2. On PCs, downloadable continued play packages (DLC) have to compete with freely distributed mods. Mod developers generally do not pass the "your organization must be this tall to develop for our platform" bar that the console makers set.
    3. Console games, especially those rated E through T, are more likely to support split screen due to bigger TVs, but the feature gets left out of PC games because there aren't enough home theater PCs to justify the effort to most publishers. Nor do most PC games appear to support the sort of "spawn installations" for LAN play that StarCraft supported. Not having to optimize for split screen cuts some of the development and testing effort, but it makes multiplayer more expensive for households with more than one gamer. So it's not the choice between a $60 game for a PS3 and a $100 game, one copy for each of the two gaming PCs in your household.

  • Re:Then vote with your $$$ for tinkerable devices (Score:5, Insightful)

    by headkase (533448) on Saturday February 20 2010, @02:12PM (#31211266)
    Where I'm coming from is that it's mine, it's sitting in my living room. I actually can live without Live if it came to that but here's where they get me: someday there will be a system update. This proverbial update will brick my hardware because it assumes that I don't own it. All I'm asking for is a menu option: "Boot other OS" It's simple, and if mandated by government - you know Microsoft won't do it - then there is zero percent chance the proverbial system update will take away my hardware.

  • Re:I'm glad I don't buy gaming consoles. (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 20 2010, @02:26PM (#31211390)

    Yeah, you should be safe if you stick to PC games, movies, and music. Oh wait...

  • Re:Sure it does (Score:3, Insightful)

    by LordLimecat (1103839) on Saturday February 20 2010, @02:57PM (#31211788)

    People who don't want to pay simply aren't going to, even if that means they just don't play the game at all. But people who do play, even if they pirated, may generate sales for the company through word of mouth.

    Seems like youre ignoring whether or not the act is right or wrong, and simply focusing on the net effects for society. I was under the impression that the basic purpose of a justice system was to punish actions that are wrong-- that is, to mete out justice.

    I dont mean to support the judgement one way or the other, but it seems like every time one of these conversations on piracy comes up, everyone wants to justify it by claiming that the net effect is good for society. I would reply that true or not, that is irrelevant; if a person is not entitled to a product, and they get ahold of it, it seems perfectly valid for the justice system to punish them (within reason).

  • Re:Right to Tinker. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by LordLimecat (1103839) on Saturday February 20 2010, @03:19PM (#31212018)
    You agreed to the contract though! So you really dont have a leg to stand on-- and if this was a case of "shrink wrap contract" that "I didnt have a chance to read :( " then you should have returned it-- unlike software, 99% of stores have NO issue supplying refunds for consoles. It really sounds like youre bitter because the world doesnt revolve around you and MS didnt build the features you want into the device you purchased. Why dont you just build your own damn powerpc setup and tinker with it instead of demanding MS spend dev time and resources catering to you?

  • Re:Why Wii? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by drej (1663541) on Saturday February 20 2010, @03:25PM (#31212066)
    I'm not saying it's better. It's just the only reason I kept my Wii, which I've originally bought for the games oh so long ago. As there are barely any games left worth playing (at least for me) the ability to run homebrew relatively hassle-free (you don't even need a modchip) was a huge reason for me to keep it. Of course there are other, and probably better alternatives, but why buy another piece of equipment when you already got a working one you're not using for anything else? (I know I'm voicing only my personal opinions here by the way, but I'm sure there are others who think alike).

I'm rated PG-34!!