This was originally a post I had on GameFAQs (UPD: They deleted it for “trolling”… wtf) but I thought I would also appeal to my users to contact Nintendo as well. I myself have not been contacted by Nintendo, nor have you probably, but we can still help try to rectify this situation because it affects everyone. I don’t want to be in fear of putting up information and you as fans probably want continued coverage across ALL fansites. Please take the time to contact Nintendo here.
On the drop down list you can choose ‘Corporate Questions‘ and in the second drop down ‘Trademark/Copyright Questions‘. If you are too busy to write out your own message to them (I HIGHLY recommend you try) you can copy this message that I have written and put your name at the bottom:
Dear Nintendo,
I’ve seen several Pokemon fansites take down their images of the newest Pokemon Black and White games at your request. I just wanted to write in to express my dissatisfaction with this request. We as fans would like to know all about the games that your company publishes and would like to fully appreciate the long hard work Game Freak has put into this new generation of Pokemon games. It seems uncharacteristic for Nintendo to be so harsh on sites that only wish to see your games thrive and help build the community around them. It hurts not only fans, but also our image of Nintendo as a company. We hope you would reconsider your recent actions taken against sites such as Serebii (http://serebii.net) and PokeBeach (http://pokebeach.com).
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
X
I don’t think I have to remind everyone here that if we all want to be able to receive the best coverage (or in my case give the best coverage) we need to work together as a community to ask Nintendo to allow us to continued access regarding BW screenshots and images. This would take at max 5 minutes of your time. PLEASE HELP!
<3 pokejungle
ps- Anyone with experience skinning InvsionPower Boards? :3
Nintendo is probably harsh about screenshots because they are worried that people will see too much of the game and not want it.Sure it’s rude and mean to us but they are thinking about the effect it would have on Us,Eu sales.Nintendo only thinks of money not fans.
Lol this was fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope nintendo realizes the lot of us are not happy
For the love of crap, these guys were playing ROMs! They deserve to get cease and desist letters. As for Melkor, it was nice and all that he gave us this information, but as an employee of a Nintendo Magazine he should be fired. This isn’t about the sprites or pics or any of that shit. It’s about all the illegal crap that they were doing.
If they would’ve asked for Serebii and PokeBeach to remove images that could’ve been taken from ROMs there wouldn’t be this issue. Instead they wanted all images removed. :s
And Experto does not work for any magazine though the person leaking them information could have been :s
I agree! Nintendo left alone those sites that got their information without ROMs. It’s entirely fair of Nintendo to take action against websites implicitly or explicitly promoting piracy. They didn’t bother those sites that played by the rules. This isn’t an attack against the fans, or even fansites as a whole. It’s a warning, very arguably deserved, for those sites that made public, thus promoting, their piracy of the games.
This’ll blow over, and a couple of months from now targeted sites will start putting up screenshots again and Nintendo won’t pursue legal action. But next time a game comes out, those sites that used ROMs this time will know better.
bikini miltank?
No, just another person doing his best to look at this rationally, without the knee-jerk “Nintendo hates its fans!!1” reaction. It’s a rule on basically any legitimate, respected website that you don’t promote ROMs. Some forums ban users for even so much as a mention. This is what happens when you break that rule, and why sites have such policies in place.
Nintendo has a real interest in preventing ROM use. When fansites delegitimize themselves by promoting ROMs (from those who actually run the sites, no less), I think that targeting them is justified.
Next time a new game comes out, you can bet that Serebii and Pokebeach won’t be using ROMs (or at least won’t be promoting their use). Nintendo wins, and those websites that got their information legitimately win. And the fans still get information from those sites left alone, so they win also. The only losers here are those who did real harm to Nintendo by promoting ROMs.
Sent one. What over-sensitive pieces of sh – droppings. It’s free advertising.
Very pleased to have sent an email completely in my own words. I do fear that it was a tad too informal; I’ve never written a letter to the government/evil corporation.
I sent a detailed letter to Nintendo earlier on. However, I put it in the Game Related -> Other section. Will it still reach the right people or should I resend it? It was quite long -_-
Don’t worry… it should. All question emails are most likely handled by the same people.
I hope Nintendo change their mind and reconsider it. Nintendo’s games are the first i play and beside, no one can compete with Nintendo. How could game images harm you? …
Lol i gave them a ear full
But i clicked Other should i resend it??
Nope it’ll be fine :]
Really I think that the only way Nintendo could be harmed by fansites showing pictures is if the games were bad and the pictures led to everyone realizing this. But they got a perfect score in Famitsu and everyone seems to think they are great, so there’s no point. In fact, Nintendo is more harmed by the situation now. Which is why I still suspect it’s not Nintendo sending these letters – they’d be cleverer than this, surely.
Sent my email :9 .
I wrote up and sent my own, I hope this helps; it is a rather crass thing to do, and the websites do have a record of not harming Nintendo too.
It’s all about power and control. Think about it. Pokemon Black and White were the hottest selling DS games in Japan before they were even released! Famitsu even gave the latest games in the Pokemon series a perfect score! That says a lot about the caliber of the games. So if you were the creator of a game of such great quality receiving such high marks, wouldn’t you want to do everything in your power to try and control what is allowed to be seen and what isn’t? Part of it might have to do with the fact that Nintendo is busy trying to prepare a promotion for these games outside of Japan themselves. If the webmasters put up all of the information and pictures, it could hurt their promotional sales.
Another reason might also have to do with the fact that Nintendo is still trying to milk as much out of Heart Gold and Soul Silver (and to an extent, Platinum) as it can. If you live in the U.S, you’ve seen the tv commercials for HG and SS with the twins. And with the third Pokemon Ranger game coming out to the States next month which has connectivity with the 4th generation games (as well as the final upcoming promotional pokemon to prepare us for Gen V outside of Japan), it seems clear that Nintendo doesn’t want us to jump ship just yet. If we move on to Gen V now, then that means that we are less likely to play/buy HG/SS which is only 6 months old (by U.S and Europe release anyway) or any other game connected to the fourth generation.
I know that its stupid for Nintendo to be doing this, and I don’t agree with it, but as a guy who has studied business, psychology, economics, and sociology, I can understand why Nintendo is doing this. That doesn’t mean that I won’t send a letter to Nintendo about this issue, just that I understand. Also, the 13th movie hasn’t been released outside of Japan yet, which features spoilers for the 5th generation. It’s all about promotion and timing in the eyes of Nintendo.
Honestly though, I just wish that Nintendo would release the latest Pokemon games around the same date as their Japanese counterparts. Waiting two extra weeks or even a month isn’t so bad compared to Japan, but six months? Why do I have to sit out half a year? And by having to wait longer, I miss out on some promotions and specials that only Japan gets to have (Mew has had two different promotions for HG/SS, the US hasn’t even had one yet. And Pokemon Ranch gets a Platinum upgrade for Japan only).
I don’t mean to sound like a pessimist and destroy the flames of passion that burn in the hearts of all of us fans, I just want to offer a more realistic view to the story. I’m on your side, and I enjoy the coverage that I get access to (until I recieve my copy). I just don’t want any of us to fight a battle that we don’t have a chance of winning.
Best of luck everyone.
I understand what you’re saying…
However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try,!
I mean, if Nintendo recieves all these emails then surely they’ll have our attention, right?
The Harry Potter fanbase did something like this before and got Warner Bros. to back down over an issue regarding fansites.
There’s still a chance Nintendo will listen to us, considering they have taken opinions of fans seriously in the past.
With Potterwar, the stakes were a bit more severe. But that campaign also involved swearing off warner bros. products and in fact, Warner Bros. retracted everything almost immediately. They had no idea what they fighting. Nintendo knows who we are and it knows what it’s in for. And I don’t think sending spam e-mails whining about these images getting taken down is going to solve anything. In fact, it’ll serve to tick of Nintendo even more.
Just sent one in myself. It just felt wrong not to.
I Did My Part Hope Nintendo See That Us Fansites Give Free Advertising 🙂
“long hard work” Heh heh, classic. =P
I emailed them, i hope this does something
IT IS SO OBVIOUS THAT IT WAS A TROLL, AND NOT NINTENDO.
Serebii has been in contact with Nintendo; it was them.
This is completly off topic * sorry* butt…when will the forums be updared? PJ had said somthen to me about it before switcing to a diffrent board..idk 0.o
Just curious, maybe im crazy xDD
Yeah this site is pretty much garbage. I don’t understand why they think they are actually a good website? They steal information without giving credit, I think Nintendo has the right to do what ever they want they are the publisher of the game not Pokejungle
Even though I do not make guests register to make comments I can still see IP addresses and when someone is pretending to be someone else :3 That is why your other comment (the one you’re pretending to agree with here) was deleted 🙂
Enjoy your day sir.
And you still leave it on? I don’t mean to sound rude but nintendo does have the right to do what the did. did you guys give cridit to anything?
plus I’m done here I dont want to cause any problems peace out
XD apparently someone thinks every site works like it does on Youtube, making an alt-account to back you up in a tough spot.
D–K WAD They kinda state it was endourced by nintendo and give credit when credit is due while stating an opinion on it
PS thats the point of a FANsite
PSS I think nintendo is being a bit TOO sensitive on the subject anyway
horay i’m # 2 😀 ME SO HAPPY!!!!!!
when do you think the dex will be up hopfully in about a month or so ( your pokedex)
OH GAWD I’M SORRY REPLYED TO WRONG ONE D:
any way I sent one out as well hopfully there will be enough complaints they can sort things out and we can fix what is nesscary and get along with business as usual. =D
Sent. Hopefully something good will come out of this, if not – at least if tried.
I have a tip: make Nintendo feel sorry for what they did. Just imagine it as some sort of essay you’re writing to the court, we’ll get a much more nicer response rather than a vague one. I already sent an essay detailing how much money they can lose with this, but I should have read all of your comments, you guys said things that would have been awesome to add.
Still waiting on a response from Nintendo. Or are they too…uh, not to offend anybody, scared? It’s making me think they’re just doing these cease and desist thing for the lolz. If I was the webmaster that was sent one of these, I would rather go to court and settle this out rather than go down without an explanation.
If it were me, I wouldn’t remove the pictures. If I’m not mistaken, they are required to give more than 24 hours. That alone would make me seek an attorney myself and get the situation straight before I took any further action.
I would also bring it to their attention that the roms are available and that some of us might choose not to buy the game when it is released in in the US. They might end up losing business because of their bad decisions.
Given that this whole mess is due, in part, to a webmaster alerting his readers to the existence of ROMs, don’t you think such a statement might be a little… you know… counterproductive? The rationale behind this crackdown is that making people aware of ROMs makes them more likely to download them instead of buying the actual product. Flawed logic? Perhaps. But your statement would simply confirm this notion in the minds of Nintendo, and encourage them to be even more vigilant in the future. Think about what you’re doing.
This is ill-advised. WPM admitted to using ROMs. Melkor broke an NDA. Nintendo could, if they wanted to, demand that every site take down all images that weren’t pre-sanctioned by them, and there’d be little that anybody could do about it (Yeah, there’s a fair use argument, but do you think anybody in the fandom could afford to take on a company the size of Nintendo in court?). Instead, Nintendo has opted to look the other way for the most part, letting us do our thing because it wasn’t really doing much harm to their brand.
Then suddenly, sites were publishing information prior to a game’s release – information that Nintendo had taken care to keep secret – and openly flaunting their use of ROMs. Seriously, it would be more of a surprise if Nintendo didn’t react with a firm hand. Were it not for Melkor, WPM’s actions may have slipped under the radar, sure. But there’s a limit to how far you can push things before you’re obviously taking the piss, and I think WPM just found that limit.
I feel sorry for the guy, but this is not a battle that could be won. It’s not even a battle that should be fought. Nintendo are under no obligation to give us anything. The sense of entitlement within this fandom is bewildering to me.
It isn’t a battle that should have been started. Most companies don’t wish to upset their most loyal fans. Nintendo apparently does.
Of course Nintendo don’t want to upset fans. That’s patently absurd. But don’t you agree that there’s a limit to how much they should be expected to tolerate from these “most dedicated of fans”? This isn’t a matter of a few screenshots; the webmaster of a major Pokemon site spoke openly about ROMs. Do you not see how this might be a problem? Nintendo have enough trouble with piracy as it is without major figures in the community alerting visitors to the existence of ROMs.
That’s the real issue here. Nintendo actually have a pretty good history of letting fans use their intellectual property within reason. But there are limits to everything. You can’t go advertisting the existence of ROMs and then expect Nintendo to just sit on their arses and do nothing for fear of “upsetting the fans”.
Dude, ROMs aren’t illegal. Only modified ROMs that you sell, or ROMs whose physical copies you did not own at one point or another. The ROMs that WPM and serebii used were LEGAL since they were modified for personal use (they didn’t give anyone links or anything), and they were a digital copy of a game they physically owned (though their shipment wasn’t in their hands, as long as they can prove that they own a copy, then they can legally own a ROM of the game. To be precise, two ROMs of the game. You’re allowed two digital copies of electronic media). What’s more, they never claimed that the ROMs were of their own making, nor did they sell any ROMs. So concerning the ROMs, WPM and serebii did nothing illegal. NOW, please stop having a hissy fit about roms and resituate your argument.
PS] What’s more, it’s not illegal to talk about ROMs. Otherwise I’m pretty sure you’d be in a bit of hot water for emphasizing the topic here.
Actually technically even if you own physical copies the ROMs are illegal ><;;
for some reason i can’t reply directly pj 🙁 . but you ARE allowed two digital copies of any electronic media that you physically own. distributing them is the illegal part, but as long as you own a physical copy and do not distribute the roms, they are legal. Emulators work the same way (though, once again, distributing them is illegal). R4s are another thing, since they /sell/ a product specifically for breaking through Nintendo’s anti-piracy coding.
( http://www.ncpublicschools.org/copyright1.html for some copyright bsns. while it’s old, keep in mind the copyright system is ALSO old v_v .)
I second this statement.
I sent them the complaint 😀
Im going to say that I won’t buy one of the games, when I was going to buy both! I can’t write it now, because it’s too late to write anything good enough, but I will later. And that I’m actually tempted to want to see a rom just so that I can see what the pokemon look like.
http://pokejungle.net/bw-pages/sprites-494-649/ :3
Email of disapproval sent to Nintendo 😀 (offtopic: do you have the female sprite of 593 Burunkeru? I can’t find it anywhere!)