Nintendo Responds to Robin Williams Legend of Zelda Petition
- Thread starter Esmeralda Portillo
- Start date
This is PR dynamite at best, one should tread very delicately. Keep in mind that the people responding are probably from the American branch, and have no impact whatsoever on what goes into the creation of a game. They would have to take this to the Japanese branch, who, though probably aware of who Robin Williams is, may or may not be interested in honoring a random American actor with an NPC. It would be like hearing that some random Japanese actor, say Toshiro Mifune, was a fan of your franchise and should be remembered there. Sure he was a great actor, but would most people give it serious thought? Maybe, it's up in the air. They'll bring it up, and it will either be ignored and never brought up again or they'll politely mention that he's in the next game. I also get the impression that his t.v. spots were specifically with the American branch, and that those were the only people he had any involvement with whatsoever.PunkRex said:
I'll say. I mean, it's a name. Blizzard is going to go full out and create an NPC in his likeness and everything, probably give him a few lines that reference the real life Robin. But all that was asked of Nintendo on the other hand is just to put his name in the game, and they can't even clarify if they'll do it or not.PunkRex said:
I mean, fuck's sake, he adopted the name of their character for his own daughter, it would be ridiculous if they couldn't offer the same gesture of respect.
I dunno, calling him a "random American actor" isn't accurate. Let's be honest, Nintendo basically used that deep love he had for the game as an full-on marketing campaign on multiple occasions. Hell, they basically ensured that Robin and Zelda Williams will forever be associated with the Legend of Zelda.Fox12 said:
Gesture of respect? Isn't allowing the family time to grieve before using his name in an exploitative way a gesture of respect? Or is there only one way to show respect now? Because let's face it: telling people that they aren't interested in exploiting the guy's name during the family's time of grief is very respectful. It shows that the company is willing to give a family some peace. I swear I don't understand how this is in any way disrespectful.TheDrunkNinja said:
So? Did Zelda Williams asked it? Did his wife ask it? Are the people more important than the family in this situation? It is only because Blizzard has a history of doing this is why I am not taking this as disrespectful. You want to use someone's name? You ask permission for it first.anthony87 said:
While I don't expect a reference to be included, I would really like to see a cookie that is a bit non-obvious, like a random NPC mentioning something like, "I even named my daughter after the Princess" or similar.
Whether or not they do, though, is up in the air, and shouldn't be expected because, despite his involvement with LoZ's advertisements and because even his daughter is named after the series, he is still just a single man. It's not exactly the norm, but neither is a famous actor advertising for his favorite game series.
Whether or not they do, though, is up in the air, and shouldn't be expected because, despite his involvement with LoZ's advertisements and because even his daughter is named after the series, he is still just a single man. It's not exactly the norm, but neither is a famous actor advertising for his favorite game series.
I like this response a lot more than Blizzards to be honest.
When I first saw the Blizzard story break, about some guy less than 24 hours after it happened telling the community that they are already working on it, all I could think was "Blizzard will cash in on anything nowadays".
It just seemed like they saw the petition to Nintendo about the Legend of Zelda and how popular it was and then set to work immediately to cash in on some good will and possibly even entice a few subscribers back.
Nintendo has basically acknowledged the wishes and quite appropriately said that right now (a few days after it) isn't the time to be talking about it, this is the time for remembering Robin, not thinking up ways they can gain brownie points.
Classier move by Nintendo in my opinion.
When I first saw the Blizzard story break, about some guy less than 24 hours after it happened telling the community that they are already working on it, all I could think was "Blizzard will cash in on anything nowadays".
It just seemed like they saw the petition to Nintendo about the Legend of Zelda and how popular it was and then set to work immediately to cash in on some good will and possibly even entice a few subscribers back.
Nintendo has basically acknowledged the wishes and quite appropriately said that right now (a few days after it) isn't the time to be talking about it, this is the time for remembering Robin, not thinking up ways they can gain brownie points.
Classier move by Nintendo in my opinion.
I don't get it either.xaszatm said:
Something like this, at this moment, is extremely tasteless if done without the families consent. And asking for the families consent at this moment is in itself extremely tasteless. They have bigger issues to deal with right now than some multi-billion dollar corporations attention grabs.
Maybe the people kicking a huff up about this have never lost anyone, so they just can't relate to the feelings of that moment. That's the only explanation I can come up with for why people think Nintendo's being anything but the utmost of respectful.
Neither are all the people leaving tributes and memorials for the guy all over the world. What's your point?Jumwa said:
You can only be saddened by his death if you're directly related?
"Asking for someone to be memorialised"
"Potato salad kickstarter"
Please tell me you can distinguish the difference between those two.
Can't help but feel you are being purposely obtuse, but let's suppose they have asked.anthony87 said:
A grieving family, just days after losing a dear loved member, (to be fair Blizzard said they'd do it within 24 hours as I recall) gets a call from a multibillion dollar corporation asking if they can stick him in their subscription based game. Yeah, if you don't find that to be a little tasteless I don't know what can be said to you.
Having lost someone very near and dear to me recently, being pestered with that kind of nonsense while I was grieving was unwanted at best.
I'm guessing they asked the American branch of Nintendo. I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese branch had only "heard of him somewhere." I never liked his comedic style, but I did enjoy his serious performances. He was so good in the Final Cut.
I can kind totally understand the idea behind the gesture. My grandmother was a big fan of a game series called Westward, & I would have loved there to have been a little easter egg in the next game dedicated to her, since she would sit there & play them for 8 hours a day. Unfortunately the developers where bought out shortly before her death.
I can kind totally understand the idea behind the gesture. My grandmother was a big fan of a game series called Westward, & I would have loved there to have been a little easter egg in the next game dedicated to her, since she would sit there & play them for 8 hours a day. Unfortunately the developers where bought out shortly before her death.
So because they responded to fans in a short amount of time it's tasteless? It's not like they just went "OOOH! Dead famous person! Get him there!"Jumwa said:
From an Associated Press interview with Ion Hazzikostas:
Link
Yeah...how tasteless.
It's a shame you think of it as just some attention seeking cash grab but this isn't the first time Blizzard have done something like this for players who've died. Famous or not.
Are you talking about Nintendo or Blizzard? Nintendo probably would ask for permission. But they have also said that they aren't currently talking about it right now "during this difficult time." Really, how is this disrespectful at all to Robin's family? Hell, how is this disrespectful for the fans?anthony87 said:
Besides, Nintendo has said before they don't capitalize on tragedies. They didn't make a big announcement that they gave supplies to people in need during the 2011 Japan Earthquakes. It wasn't until the Investor's Q&A that we even knew about it. If they did put Robin in the game, they will do so quietly.
Every time someone at Nintendo says anything that isn't scrubbed by the PR drones they get accused or racism or sexism or homophobia. It probably took 2 minutes to figure out what they wanted to say and 2 days to look at it from every possible angle so no one could accuse them of hating Robin Williams. Gamer culture is aggressive, quick to jump to conclusions, and rarely forgives or forgets even the slightest misstep. It isn't Nintendo's fault that they need to run every little statement through the PR machine.PunkRex said:
No, but names are usually the property of the person or their family if they are deceased. And don't be so obtuse. You know very well that there is a difference between leaving tribute and memorials and using his name in a commercial product. Blizzard gets away with it because Blizzard has done something like this for years now. Besides, Blizzard probably won't use his real name and use a parody name like Robin Whales or something so they don't get in legal trouble. I'm still not understanding the anger at Nintendo for saying "Let the family grieve."anthony87 said:
I was talking about Blizzard.xaszatm said:
Just to be clear I don't think Nintendo or Blizzard are being disrespectful at all. It just irks me that people seem to think the only reason Blizzard would put a Robin Williams nod into Wow is for attention, when they've done similar things for other players in the past.
EDIT: Oooooooooooooh! I misread your initial post. I thought you were saying that you found what Blizzard is doing to be disrespectful. Didn't see the "not" in that sentence. My bad ^_^