Professor Layton and the Curious Twitter Accounts 26
Ssquared22 writes "'Frankly ... I'm ashamed. I have made myself a Twitter page and officially joined the world of technology. Perhaps Luke may help me update.'
With those words on June 28, 2009, what had been just a fictional character in a Nintendo DS game became a fixture on Twitter. Over the coming days and weeks, the TopHatProfessor account would post dozens of riddles and brainteasers of the type found in 2008's Professor Layton and the Curious Village and the upcoming Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, soliciting answers from his slowly growing cadre of followers. Along the way, the professor happily answered questions about the upcoming title and shared little slices of life from his day, all without ever breaking character. Many followers were bemused and intrigued by what they assumed was a clever new viral marketing campaign put on by Nintendo ahead of Diabolical Box's August release. In reality, though, the TopHatProfessor account was the work of a lone college student and amateur game journalist, trying to get attention for a game he felt was being sorely neglected by publisher Nintendo and the media at large."
Re: (Score:2)
You're a white-man drinking coffee?
Join us next time... (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you for your participation in our regularly scheduled program. Join us next time as we discuss a lone college student who is being sued by Nintendo for copyright infringement. ;)
Re:Join us next time... (Score:4, Insightful)
The smart thing would be to hire the guy part-time. Have him agree to some basic rules and maybe give him a guideline of what they'd work with. Or just let him be, and keep it purely fan-based.
I mean, it's Nintendo...
Not like they're SONY or anything...
Re:Join us next time... (Score:4, Informative)
They do have a point. Doing something like that without permission these days can land you in deep crap.
Re:Join us next time... (Score:5, Insightful)
What the hell has happened to us where supporting an under appreciated venue has become grounds for suing? What the hell has happened to us where people are paid to do "viral marketing" but when a fan goes out and does it, they should become fearful of the law?
Seriously, wtf has happened to my country?
Re:Join us next time... (Score:5, Insightful)
Fan created work is like free advertisement!
Nobody would have ever heard of the game mostly if not for word of mouth. The touch of fame for even a fake Layton posting on Twitter would give loads of FREE advertisement to the game.
Everyone wins.
TRADEMARK. COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, CEASE AND DESIST. Everyone now loses. Nintedo is looked upon as a tyrant. The game will now have a negative connotation, of proprietary and locked down. The end.
This story can be replaced with Chrono Trigger, and many other fan based games that got the axe because of this. I can't think of much off of the top of my head. (No Sonichu doesn't count).
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What the Chrono Trigger or any other fans based games did (remakes of Kings Quest, etc.) was create content that included the artwork, music, and game engine that was under Copyright. In some cases they entirely reproduced the original game in entirely and distributed. Unfortunate as it is, they should have been and were shut down.
What this guy seems to be doing is just pretending to be a character from the game. As long as he doesn't do lewd things with the account, he probably is looked upon much like
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Making a great brand can net you millions of dollars, so once such a brand has been created the company has to do everything in their power to protect it. This fake Professor Layton account can be just innocuous fun but it's the marketing form of vigilante justice. If the twitter account gets ridiculously popular and starts getting linked as an official Nintendo account, then the owner of the account can essentially hold the brand hostage and turn against Nintendo at will. This can cost Nintendo big money,
Re:Join us next time... (Score:5, Interesting)
They do have a point. Doing something like that without permission these days can land you in deep crap.
Uh... I don't think any of the quotes from NeoGAF actually MADE that point.
"shuri" pointed out that it wasn't very professional. (I'd argue that an amateur game journalist is, by definition, not professional.)
"Shockingalberto" called it stupid several times. A real credit to NeoGAF forums right there.
Finally "Tiktaalik" asked a question which seems pretty obvious: he liked the game, had a lot of free time (college student and "amateur game journalist"), and nintendo wouldn't have hired him.
So... nothing I see about how it's dangerous. NeoGAF just seems angry that they weren't included. Maybe it's just typical angry online gamer talk, I don't know.
Re:Join us next time... (Score:5, Interesting)
They do have something of a point. I think. I don't entirely trust them. I had a neogaf account at one point, and a while back, I got a form letter ban message. I have no idea why. I wasn't active (hadn't posted in a few months), and queries have gone unanswered. So, I have no clue. Maybe someone broke into the account? Maybe they don't like inactive accounts? Maybe they were searching for threads at least six months old in which people posted something they don't like? I can't say, but I will say, I wouldn't count a neogaf ban as meaning anything. (And if anyone CAN tell me why my account got banned, well, I sure would be curious.)
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Re:Join us next time... (Score:4, Insightful)
viral marketing (Score:4, Insightful)
"... it was a clever new viral marketing campaign put on by some guy."
Typo in summary (Score:3, Funny)
Many followers were bemused and intrigued by what they assumed was a clever new viral marketing campaign put on by Nintendo ahead of Diabolical Box's August release. In reality, though, the TopHatProfessor account was the work of a lonely college student and amateur game journalist.
There, fixed that for you.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Are you saying that the copyright masters of the fictional character of Professor Layton have more right to prevent anyone impersonating him than former President of the USA, George Bush as a real person has the right to prevent the existence of the character of "HBO George Bush"?
Yes. Unlike works of the United States Government, works of Nintendo are copyrighted. And even for works of a government that ordinarily places its works under copyright, such as the United Kingdom or several U.S. states, the First Amendment has colored the "purpose and character" factor of fair use to act more in favor of political speech than non-political speech.
Re:To be or not to be a Fictional Character (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're not using any of the content from the game, and only a character's name, then you're only guilty of trademark infringement, and then only if it is a registered trademark or you are deliberately attempting to create confusion.
Whether he can be found guilty of that latter is to be decided in a court of law if necessary, and cannot be determined here today.
Layton is a star in the UK (Score:2)
Professor Layton is a system seller here in the UK, The Curious Village is on prime view on a large number of NDS display racks and I know two women (30ish and 45ish) who purchased a DS because of Professor Layton!
So, I remain confident that English language versions of the sequels will appear in due course, at this rate probably around Christmas for the first sequel.
Nintendo CEO also has a twitter (Score:2)
Satoru Iwata has been twittering for a while. Giving insights into his daily life running a gaming empire. http://www.twitter.com/satoruiwata [twitter.com]
I Despise The Implication (Score:2)
Nintendo approves! (Score:2)
From TFA:
"And since revealing his identity (and getting an unofficial thumbs-up from Nintendo as "fans who want to spread the word of Layton"), DiLuigi has decided to return to the role he originated at TopHatProfessor,"
Yay sanity!