Nintendo Eyes Legal Action Against Nokia

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Nintendo Eyes Legal Action Against Nokia

A video showing off the emulation capabilities of the new Nintendo [http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/] is now investigating to see whether the mobile device infringes upon any of its copyrights.

Nokia posted a series of videos touting the capabilities of the new N900 mobile device on its blog [http://conversations.nokia.com/2009/11/25/n900-videos-battery-life-phone-calls-gps-hill-running-podcasts-and-video-streaming/] last week, including one (which has since been removed) talking up the unit's advanced emulation capabilities. The video showed the device running software from various other platforms, most noteworthy among them the Nintendo NES, SNES, Game Boy and Game Boy Advance. The company did apparently note that ROMs would have to be acquired "elsewhere" but added, "Most publishers allow individual title usage provided that the user is in possession of the original title."

But the aforementioned Nintendo takes a very dim view of such things, as it has not yet licensed its flagship the Independent [http://mario.nintendo.com/].

Emulation is nothing new but I honestly can't remember a major manufacturer ever pimping it so blatantly as a selling feature. Was this perhaps just an oversight, a message posted by a bottom-rung blogger who went a little too far with his enthusiasm? I'm inclined to think so, based on the sudden disappearance of the video and any mention of emulation on the Nokia site, but whether or not Nintendo agrees is another matter entirely.


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sunami88

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Jun 23, 2008
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Wooo! Go Nintendo! Sue them into the stone age!

I can't freaking wait for the Streisand effect to happen on the N900. Maybe they'll sell enough that the price'll drop and I can finally afford one.
 

stompythebeast

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May 6, 2008
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oh man, whoever that blogger was is probably fired and or in some very deep deep shisse. Of the huge companies out there Nintendo and Disney are one of the most aggressive in protecting their IP.
 

ChromeAlchemist

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Aug 21, 2008
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ForgottenPr0digy said:
damn that sucks

I would love to have that phone to play old Nintendo games
Well dry those tears, because there are about another 200 portable products that can do that. Hell even Nintendo products can do that.

I believe this was why the iPhone was denied the Atari/retro emulator wasn't it?
 

Quad08

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Oct 18, 2009
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The phrase "Shooting yourself in the foot" comes to mind

That is, IF Nokia was behind the video. Otherwise its just too bad for them
 

zauxz

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Mar 8, 2009
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Thats it, nintendo is officially on my black list.

I hereby swear an oath never to pay for a nintendo game, ever.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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I think the situation is fundementally ridiculous and brings one of the biggest problems I have with "media" in general to the forefront.

In general I agree with paying for a song/game/movie/etc. However when it comes to things like emulation and such it shows that creators are simply getting greedy in expecting people to basically pay for the same media again and again, with each new format.

I also see this as being one of the big motivations behind wanting media to go 100% digital because in the end companies can limit downloads to specific hardware, and force a fee for each new download to a new platform. Heck if brick and mortar stores ever disappear entirely I'd expect sites like Steam to move away from the "re-download whenever you want" (as long as the service exists) position, to a fee being charged for an individual one time download.

I think it's pretty much safe to say that anyone really interested in most classic nintendo titles nowadays are people who at some point paid for those titles. Thus really I feel little sympathy for Nintendo in this paticular case.

Sort of like how I fantisize about one of the greedier bands out there trying to press charges on some dude for "illegally downloading music" and then sitting in a courtroom while the defendant (an old hippy) bounces original vinyl records of their own music off of their heads like frissbees from accross the room. :p

I wouldn't quite consider this a clash of the titans, it's more like Nintendo engaging in retard rage.

I generally have little against Nintendo but really... they should be freaking ecstatic that anyone cares enough about games they did on 8 and 16 bit systems and such to keep Roms going so they could play them on new systems. It's not like those titles being on Roms hurts their bottom line with new releases or anything, and actually sort of shows how massive their fan base actually is.

I think this one will probably count as my "daily lulz" for absurdity of a conflict.
 

ZippyDSMlee

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Sep 1, 2007
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Nin whining about piracy is the same as them whining about sales... all it is is drunken whining....
 

LeonLethality

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zauxz said:
Thats it, nintendo is officially on my black list.

I hereby swear an oath never to pay for a nintendo game, ever.
going to be a sad, dull life for you my friend

OT: I wish my phone could do that... I hope this doesn't become too big a deal, nintendo should be focusing on other things
 

zauxz

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Mar 8, 2009
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LeonHellsvite said:
zauxz said:
Thats it, nintendo is officially on my black list.

I hereby swear an oath never to pay for a nintendo game, ever.
going to be a sad, dull life for you my friend
I said "pay", not "play".