Nintendo Sued Over Wii Motion Controls

[-Dragmire-]

... A little late to be complaining now, isn't it?

 

[yuval152]

i meant that maybe if they see that making more rehashes actually damages them they might change it,also other than activision(the mw3 glasses) no other major company proucdes accessories,and lastly other then the kinect no other console maker made something gimmicky.

The PlayStation 2 had an accessory needed to plug in more than two controllers. It also had the EyeToy and the Singstar mics.

PlayStation 3 has an accessory required to plug in PS2 memory cards, the new EyeToy, three different controllers (Sixaxis, DualShock 3 and the Move).

Almost forgot,look at the list of wii games almost every mario games is a rehash.(or dosen't even match its predecessor)

If almost every Mario game is a rehash, then 99% of every sequel in the history of ever is a rehash.

The PlayStation 2 had an accessory needed to plug in more than two controllers. It also had the EyeToy and the Singstar mics.

PlayStation 3 has an accessory required to plug in PS2 memory cards, the new EyeToy, three different controllers (Sixaxis, DualShock 3 and the Move)

Pluging in PS2 memory cards aren't a gimmick,the Eyetoy.....maybe you would've noticed that i'm talking about the current gen(even if i'm wrong it still dosen't match nintendo's gimmicks),also controllers don't count as a gimmick(exepet for the move,you were right about it)

If almost every Mario game is a rehash, then 99% of every sequel in the history of ever is a rehash.

Almost forgot,look at the list of wii games almost every mario games is a rehash.(or dosen't even match its predecessor)

i meant that maybe if they see that making more rehashes actually damages them they might change it,also other than activision(the mw3 glasses) no other major company proucdes accessories,and lastly other then the kinect no other console maker made something gimmicky.

Almost forgot,look at the list of wii games almost every mario games is a rehash.(or dosen't even match its predecessor)

Well pardon me for not getting your point when you were hoping Nintendo would lose a court case over technology that was more or less a completely new experiment for them. And the only way re-hashes could damage them would be with their reputation among the "hardcore" gamers who call their consoles toys in spite of the fact that all consoles are toys, and Nintendo doesn't really care if that crowd heckles them because they can't hear you over their fort of money.

You seem to have forgotten the PlayStation Move exists, by the way. Or do you not consider that gimmicky? You also seemed to have missed my point about how the entire games industry is afraid to try original things due to the risk involved.

It is risky but at least some comapnies are trying and seem to successeed with it(Bioshock:infinite) maybe it's not an enitely new game but it's original.

also if nintendo fails the court that means no Wii.(due that it's based on a remote "controller").
Means that they're money fort will burn to the ground because coming with a new concepet will take awhile.

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*raises fist in air* DAM IT NINTENDO STOP MAKING GIMMICKS AND FUCKING REHASHES.Serious>I hope that their new zelda games will fail horribly,and the rest of the rehshes & the WII U.

Out of curiosity, are you getting Modern Warefare 3 by any chance?

No,will be getting battlefield 3.

 

[BabyRaptor]

Why would they possibly wait 'til now and also include that many other targets unless they're not serious.

They're hoping someone will cave and pay?

 

[Mekado]

I'm at a loss to comprehend some of the targets in this lawsuit.I can understand Nintendo, they made the thing but to sue large chains that sells the product is already a big stretch imo...

And Imation....what the hell? they're getting sued because they print the disks Wii games comes on ??? they don't sell the product nor any accessory for it, why the f**k are they getting sued too ? It has less than nothing to do with their stupid remote.

This looks like a cash grab to me.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I hope that nintendo loses so they will finally drop their rehashes and do original stuff.

If Nintendo actually lost this lawsuit*, they would die.

*(they won't; even if the case were legit, money would get slipped to the right people and it would get dropped)

 

[TitanAtlas]

"Et tu, Nintendo?"

 

[Evilsanta]

Argh, What is up with the sue trigger happyness in the US?

Is there anything you can't get sued for in USA? Can you sue god for making it snow on your driveway because he/she/it made you move out and shovel it?

I know that not everybody will sue for the smallest thing but sometimes some of these stories are just plain stupid.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

This isn't even remotely patent trolling. Patent trolling is when a company buys up patents, and then sues the fuck out of everyone in earshot because they want money.

This looks suspiciously like, the company actually produces a product, one of their patents got infringed upon, and they weren't able to work it out with the company in question. You know, what the patent system is supposed to do.

For 5 years? Yeah right.

If the patents supposedly infringed upon were that serious then Wii would have been blocked from distribution as soon as it was released.

 

[Starke]

This isn't even remotely patent trolling. Patent trolling is when a company buys up patents, and then sues the fuck out of everyone in earshot because they want money.

This looks suspiciously like, the company actually produces a product, one of their patents got infringed upon, and they weren't able to work it out with the company in question. You know, what the patent system is supposed to do.

For 5 years? Yeah right.

Exactly right. With most patent trolls, they purchase the patent from someone else and then go after people they already identified as infringing. So you look for things, like a very short turnaround between when a company acquires a product and when a suit is filed.

But we know that that is not the case here. The company produces an actual product, which, again, in case you had trouble understanding, is something patent trolls do not do.

Why, you might ask? Well, it's simple, patent trolling refers to a very specific kind of business model, where you look at a product, find a patent that they might be infringing, buy the patent and then sue the shit out of the product's manufacturer. The point is to make money off the lawsuit, not spend years selling some novelty doodad and then sue someone. Because that shit is expensive.

If the patents supposedly infringed upon were that serious then Wii would have been blocked from distribution as soon as it was released.

You're assuming they're psychic. They omniscient knew how the Wii's controller was going to track motion before it was released, or that they would actively look into it and assume that the product would be infringing, which is, by the way, behavior that you would expect from a patent troll.

You see, they don't have a patent on motion controls, they have a patent on a method of measuring motion for motion controls, hence why the PS3 Move and the Kinect aren't also getting sued.

Further, to actually get an injunction, they would have needed to have gotten their hands on technical data for how the Wii processed motion before the system came out, and then filed for it. Now, if a company knows you're about to turn out a competing product, and they can reasonably infer that you're going to be stepping on one of their patents, then they might have a chance to get a preliminary injunction, preventing the product from rolling out. But in this case, these people make remote controls, they had no reason to assume a video game console would infringe on their patents, because it would be monumentally stupid to flat out violate a patent in this way.

So by your logic, the only way they could not look like a patent troll would be by actually being a patent troll.

 

[willsham45]

A bit last isent it, how long has the wii been out surly they should have noticed sooner or have they been questionable about it all this time and finally gone ye we are going to take a stab at it.

 

[Epona]

Wow really? Um... Well ok... ?
This is probably the most random news I have heard in a while.
Next, Sony will probably sue Xbox for having a system that uses discs?
Or maybe Sony will sue Nintendo for making a handheld that uses cartridges. TOTALLY stealing Sony's idea.

Uh what?

Sony would sue Microsoft, not XBOX. Not that they would since the first CD based game console was made by NEC I think, PC Engine or maybe it was the CD-I made by Philips.

Sony sue Nintendo for making a cartridge based system? First of all, it's Nintendo that has always used cartridges up until the Gamecube, Sony has never used carts. Nintendo totally stole their own idea! Run for the hills.

 

[harvz]

wait, "electronic equipment for handheld vision based absolute pointing system", why isnt microsoft (kinect) and sony (move) also being sued as they would probably fit into this category

 

[rayen020]

this dear friends is called patent trolling and it is becoming an infamous practice in the technology business. Everything will probably be settled out of court for the big guys and some of that money will be used to pay legal fees for the court losses for the ones who have the patience to put through court. The difference will be paid to thinkoptics lawyers and the company that really owns the patent.

 

[Death God]

Its isn't going to work and the sooner they realize it, the faster they will stop losing their money to lawyers on a pointless patent.

 

[Starke]

wait, "electronic equipment for handheld vision based absolute pointing system", why isnt microsoft (kinect) and sony (move) also being sued as they would probably fit into this category

Because the patent protects a method of doing something, not the act of doing that thing. So, you could (for instance), patent a method of extracting alcohol from grapefruits, but you couldn't actually patent extracting alcohol from grapefruits.

 

[Starke]

this dear friends is called patent trolling and it is becoming an infamous practice in the technology business. Everything will probably be settled out of court for the big guys and some of that money will be used to pay legal fees for the court losses for the ones who have the patience to put through court. The difference will be paid to thinkoptics lawyers and the company that really owns the patent.

For fuck sake, will people stop calling this patent trolling. Patent trolling is where someone goes out there, buys a patent and then sues the shit out of people they think could be in violation, you know, precisely what has not happened here.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Why would they possibly wait 'til now and also include that many other targets unless they're not serious.

To be jerks? I dunno, it isn't like Nintendo didn't advertise the motion controls or anything...

 

[I forgot]

2)Read the post,they don't "SUX" they just keep rehasheing instead of coming up with something original,look at the posts of people that replied to me.
3)they keep making new gimmicks that are unnessacery and wasting their time & money instead of doing something good.

There have been four main Mario and Zelda games released on the main consoles in the last the last fifteen years. Each one (with the exception of the direct sequel Galaxy 2) has not only brought something new but is easily the top of it's class. If Nintendo started making something "new" instead of continuing to release these games, then what would I play if I wanted a game like a Mario platformer or a Zelda adventure? Can you think of any alternatives that rival those franchises at their respective genres? Can you think of any alternatives at all?

And then there's the spinoffs. Mario Kart is the best (and again, one of the only) kart racing games out there. Mario Party is the best (and again, one of the only) video board games out there. Paper Mario is the best (and again, one of the only).

I get that this is The Escapist and a lot of people like the parrot Yahtzee, but the issue isn't like a Call of Duty thing where Activision gets away with making an average game in a bloated genre filled with alternatives and sells it mostly on name. I'm tired of people complaining about Nintendo milking their franchises because the argument is built on trendy hate and lack of perspective.

And for the record, I agree that their recent consoles have been gimmicky, but the 360 and PS3 are already normal consoles so I don't necessarily need Nintendo to be the same. It's kinda odd that you bash their first party franchises for lack change then bash their consoles for being different.

oh my god, someone with reasoning. Only a dumbass would wish the WiiU a poor fate. I's funny when gamers learn about companies and franchises, they get dumber than the 6 year old kids who don't even know what Sony or Microsoft are. The little kids just care about playing good games regardless if it's a new IP while the console/company stalkers whine about stupid stuff like "how dare they rerelease a game".

 

[rayen020]

this dear friends is called patent trolling and it is becoming an infamous practice in the technology business. Everything will probably be settled out of court for the big guys and some of that money will be used to pay legal fees for the court losses for the ones who have the patience to put through court. The difference will be paid to thinkoptics lawyers and the company that really owns the patent.

For fuck sake, will people stop calling this patent trolling. Patent trolling is where someone goes out there, buys a patent and then sues the shit out of people they think could be in violation, you know, precisely what has not happened here.

It looks alot like patent trolling in my opinion. especially because of the time between release and lawsuit. thinkoptics created a product and patented it. If they didn't have enough money they very well may have sold into a company that did have enough money to sue. Maybe that happened maybe it didn't.

And what do you means that isn't what happened here. They are suing anyone who may have held a wii at somepoint. why are you getting so worked up about it anyway? you work at thinkoptics or something?

 

[Kopikatsu]

this dear friends is called patent trolling and it is becoming an infamous practice in the technology business. Everything will probably be settled out of court for the big guys and some of that money will be used to pay legal fees for the court losses for the ones who have the patience to put through court. The difference will be paid to thinkoptics lawyers and the company that really owns the patent.

For fuck sake, will people stop calling this patent trolling. Patent trolling is where someone goes out there, buys a patent and then sues the shit out of people they think could be in violation, you know, precisely what has not happened here.

This is the Internet. You can't expect people to read. Prepare to watch your clarification drown in a sea of people screaming 'PATIENT TROLL'.

However, if this lawsuit was successful...won't this be a massive gutpunch to Nintendo? They'd probably have to give up at least some of the money they've made off the Wii, they'd probably have to redevelop the Wii U, which will cost even more money (Assuming they're using the same system, and they probably are). And it's not like the Wii U doesn't already have a huge list of things going against it anyway.