Nintendo has just sent a DMCA claim to the AM2R developer personally - Nintendo is on the warpath

And here we go again. Yes, Nintendo is on the warpath again. However, this time Nintendo has sent a DMCA claim to the AM2R developer personally. So this is my (Robin Ek, TGG) take on the matter.

[Simon_the_sorcerer]

I´m not going to buy another Nintendo game or console after this bs move by them...

[TGG_overlord]

That´s the vibes that I get from people on social media and via our homepage as well, Nintendo is digging their own grave.

[DiscoMan]

It's a shame that they cannot embrace fan homage, but in the end, Nintendo is doing them a favor. All the effort that people put into fangames, they could just as easily create an original project and even make profit from it. So it's not all dry bones.

[freshslicepizza]

nintendo will do whatever it takes to protect its intellectual property because without it there is literally no value in the company. the problem is they are not good at all with the community or the press or third party publishers. they continue to alienate themselves and the only way they will ever change is if they stop making money.

[NukaCola]

Sly 4 was a fan project and Sony helped them to finish it. Great game.

WTF Nintendo?

[just-joe]

I hear this so many times by people on social media simply saying how they'll never buy Nintendo stuff ever again going on about how they're digging their own graves and here they are still standing. saying you'll boycott a company is one thing to to actually do it or say actual having to have purchased their stuff to even be considered a boycott is completely different. You can go on and on, but honestly the moment they release the new pokemon or announce some new thing, and this is all forgotten or is swept under the rug because a lot of the people who buy their games don't give a shit about business politics.

[ChickeyCantor]

> Nintendo is digging their own grave.

But hardcore gamers don't play nintendo games. So how does your claim hold any ground?

Where is your logic now?

[BattleAxe]

@ Just-Joe,

News flash: Not many people bought the WiiU.

[EcoSos3]

They have to do it if they dont protect their IP they could loose it.

[eldingo]

That applies to trademarks and logos but not video games which fall under copyright Nintendo doesn't need to take down the fan games as if they just let them be they would still retain the copyright to the ip.

I truly do wish for once nintendo would take a note from sega just this once on this one specific idea in association with fan games and hire these people who made pokemon uranium and am2r to publish these games because they were really good and the fact that they did this just sucks this was one of the worst ways to go about it there are alternatives.

[SinkingSage]

Fan games with no profit are not copyright infringement.

[veicht]

I don't know that I buy that. Even if them not acting on potential infringements can be harmful I am certain there are other ways to tackle the situation such as a special use license if they actually wanted to allow it.

[Stevonidas]

@SinkingSage

AM2R is not a "fan game"; it's NINTENDO'S GAME that has been updated with NINTENDO'S ASSETS by a fan.

You cannot legally distribute content you do not own. PERIOD.

Amazing how many people can't grasp this simple fucking concept.

If you want to play Metroid 2, go buy it off the eShop.

[ChickeyCantor]

> Fan games with no profit are not copyright infringement.

Neither is Nintendo making profit of it. Considering you can confuse the game for an actual Nintendo game it isn't strange Nintendo is protecting their IP.

[EddieNX]

Don't see why its a big deal,you're not allowed to use other peoples IP. And I only want to play Nintendo games made by Nintendo, not sum dude in his mums basement.

This is barely even news... Funny how the haters are like ''Nintendo is dead, doomed etc because of THIS quite frankly irrelevant story.

[Kryptix]

And if these games are essentially very good enhancements of the classics, maybe even better games than Nintendo games nowadays... (When was the last amazing 2D plane Metroid game?) ...you still rather wait years and years, for something similar in the same universe...and even end up being hit by disappointment?

Wow...that's kind of a linear, shallow mentality. Kind of like a person who would rather listen to mainstream top 40 radio all day, forever when there's better stuff made by less known artists if you really look deep.

You aren't "allowed," but you can use gaming franchises. When do you see smaller ROM hack developers, flash game developers who use pixel copies of big franchises get hit by DMCA notices? Are Nintendo just afraid that maybe those people, in a smaller group, can make equal or better games? All Nintendo has to do is look the other way and pretend that they never knew there was something like this out there. Just like how they do it for small games because I bet there just isn't any money in it if those people get taken to court.

To anyone curious on how this game looked like:
https://youtu.be/_9zDzDpcc5...

That's real Metroid fan love put in with the project.

EDIT: Looking at other people's comments, it's a 50/50 thing. The best situation would of been to either hire these guys for a new 2D Nintendo made project or at least create a letter that they're glad they have fans like these, that want to work on Metroid related stuff, but they can't allow it for legal reason. Better than a blank nothing.

[EddieNX]

Simple really, instead of calling it Metroid, i dunno, maybe call it SOMETHING ELSE and make a new character. Before you ask, no , i'm not a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

So a game Nintendo published on Game Boy. Metroid II being remade by someone who isn't apart of NIntendo nor contacted Nintendo using asset from GBA Metroid game.

This isn't a fan game. That straight up remake a commercial and copyrighted product. And YES Metroid II is on My Nintendo right now for 3DS Virtual Console.

[superchiller]

This really shows how out of touch Nintendo is with the gaming community. They could have taken an entirely different approach that would benefit all their dedicated fans, but instead chose a very anti-consumer approach to the matter. Disgusting.

[TGG_overlord]

Exactly, and Nintendo is going to lose big time because of their bad decisions. And by the looks of it, Nintendo is going after everything and everyone at the moment...

[Michiel1989]

This really shows how out of touch you are with protecting your IP and the law around it. They need to do it else anyone can just release a 'metroid' game. Yes it sucks this fan project is being taken down, but Nintendo doesn't have much of a choise.

They could have collaborated with these guys but that rarely happens in the industry, maybe only valve does that :p

[ChristopherJack]

You need to learn the difference between trademark & copyright.

[-Foxtrot]

They literally should be embracing it

Feature a "Fan Content" page on their new console where people can upload Youtube lets play videos and also fan made games which they can send to Nintendo and if it's good enough they will appear on the page to download.

Sony and Microsoft haven't done it, could be a first

[BlackIceJoe]

That is a really cool and innovative idea, but sadly that means they won't do it.

[Monster_Tard]

That would be neat, but it would probably hurt sales of their virtual console games so they wouldn't do it.

[LOL_WUT]

Nintendo would rather do more mobile games and Amiibo before giving us another Metroid. Now that the opportunity came up for a fan made Metroid game, Nintendo decides to shut these guys down. Damn scum! ;)

[Darkfist_Flames]

i guess after that horrible power ranger prime force sales, they went after them personally.

[TGG_overlord]

I bet that they did ("The Metroid game that Nintendo wish that they have made"): http://thegg.net/reviews/am...

[-Foxtrot]

Mother f****** peanut butter and jealous

https://youtu.be/qsTWgLLUUW...

[iTechHeads]

It's their right to uphold and protect their IP.

[TGG_overlord]

"I´m more than aware of the fact that it´s Nintendo´s IP´s so they have the legal right to do whatever they please. Even so, I still believe that Nintendo could have sorted out the “AM2R”, “Pokemon Uranium” and the Nintendo Power Online archive “situation” in a much classier way then they did."

[Snookies12]

Just because they have the right to do something, doesn't mean they have to do it. This was obviously a labor of love from a big fan of theirs. Yet all they see is their property being used without permission. It's one thing if someone is trying to make money off of something like this, then I could see being aggressive in taking it down. All this would have done was most likely generate more hype for any new Metroid titles that are released by Nintendo itself.

[Swiftfox]

They do have to. Thanks to the way copyright law and trademark law are written out, If Nintendo slack at all in regards to their IP's they actually lose any sort of legal weight when they need to defend it if a situation does come up. Nintendo knows it's dumb, Capcom knows it's dumb, Sega knows it's dumb, Bethesda knows it's dumb-- it's all dumb but they have little choice.

[eldingo]

It's the legal right but certainly not something i consider ethical or ok taking these things down wasn't the only option they had there were alternatives they don't have to take down fan games since they fall under copyright and not trademark infringement when i look at capcom and sega letting people make fan games on the internet for their games in peace and never getting challenged in court for their ips i only really see Nintendo as a humongous fucking dick for doing this.

[rocketpanda]

Meanwhile mods on the PC makes games flourish and devs embrace that. Nintendo and most of Japan is stuck in their famicon mindset whilst the most of the world have come into the 21st century. This is a company that doesn't want people to make YouTube videos of their games....unless you sign up to their partner program. They don't get it and never will and could care less about fan made projects or streamers Protect their IPs all they want, but it's ok at least they gave us Metroid Federation Force, right a spinoff nobody wanted even though fans would rather have something like this killed fan project.

[Pookandpie]

I mean, it sucks, because the Metroid II Remake is actually really well made.

Honestly, Nintendo may as well give away Metroid games for free at this point. If anything, gamers have taught Nintendo that they want games like Splatoon over anything in the Metroid series. I mean, Splatoon sold 4.52 million, which actually has sold more than the last 3 mainline Metroid titles (Prime 3, Other M, *and* Trilogy. Hell, if you don't want to include Trilogy and use Prime 2 in this number instead, then Splatoon sold *just as much* as the last three main Metroid titles. In game sold as well as 3, there's no spin here, that's sad). If anything, Metroid fans are such a small group that it's not profitable to cater to them. The other gamers out there are quite easily telling Nintendo that we would much prefer these random new games than anything in the Metroid series.

So why not let the remake run around in the wild, then? I don't get it. I guess Nintendo is still selling Metroid II and the Remake uses a fair number of Zero Mission assets, but I just don't see the point of producing takedown notices for a series that they may as well let die. I like the Metroid series- Super is one of my favorite games of all time- but we're realistically going to get one more, 'hail Mary' entry in the series a la Fire Emblem: Awakening, and if it doesn't do well then the whole series may be shit canned. Which, that may be for the better since no one buys the games for some reason.

[CorndogBurglar]

They just came out with Metroid Federation Force. It may not be the Metroid game people were asking for, but a fanmade Metroid game has potential to hurt their sales.

[eldingo]

A fan made metroid game has the potential to hurt sales for metroid federation force..... um you said what now?

How exactly is a fan made free single player 2d side scrolling metroid game only available on pc going to hurt sales for the spin off co op multiplayer/single player 3d metroid game federation force that is only available and playable exclusively on the 3ds a handheld console like seriously did you even come to a logical conclusion for that or just pull that outta nowhere.

Here's my opinion i think the whole situation reeks of irony and its hilarious in a twisted way from what i could find online federation force is at best a slightly above average spin off metroid game that most fans didn't even ask for and from what seems to be the consensus didn't sell too well overall and how a fan made remake of metroid 2 that a fan spent years working with time and effort on due to some serious love for the series and wanting to make a playable tribute too it and people including myself fucking love it and it got all the love and appreciation on metroids 30th anniversary instead of federation force from most fans.

Im not surprised Nintendo took the game down they do this so much with fan games i just feel confusion,sadness and anger that a company that made so many fun games from my childhood and continue to strive for games like that to this day are also fucking assholes about fan made content (just take a good look at their creator program on youtube for a constant reminder about their general consensus on things made by fans) and expected it but seriously sending dmca's to the guy when all he's doing now is working on bug fixes and patches for the game with no public statement or reasoning behind it at all that's a serious dick move and good way to also get some bad pr in my opinion.

[TGG_overlord]

You´re correct, as "AM2R" is THE best "Metroid" game since "Super Metroid". That would be the official excuse (of sorts), that "Metroid II" is still for sale via the Nintendo E-shop. Well, if Nintendo had been smart. They would have done a deal with the "AM2R" team, and released the game via the Nintendo E-shop (the developers would have earned themselves a % cut per sold title). However, they chose the path of destruction instead. So not only is "AM2R" dead and gone for life now, but Nintendo has also pissed off a lot of fans in the process...(awesome business/consumer practices there).

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

Metroid II is free on My Nintendo 3DS VC

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

What if Nintendo hired these guys to remake more Nintendo games instead,? You got to appreciate hard work not cast it to the wayside.....

[TGG_overlord]

That´s what I would have done, and I would have hired the team behind “Pokémon Uranium” as well.

[Dan_scruggs]

Call me crazy but how about people stop making games based on Nintendo properties. At this point one has to assume that if you are smart enough to make a game then you are smart enough to know all the reasons it will get taken down if its based on someone else's intellectual property. So its pretty easy for me to assume they are doing it for the headlines that result from a game getting a DMCA. If you are gonna make a game then wouldn't you want it to be original and not based on someone else's property. I don't see people running out to make games based on Halo or Uncharted but if they did you would be damn sure that Sony and Microsoft would put a stop to that immediately just like Square Enix has with every fan remake that has ever been attempted. But I forgot that Nintendo is cool to hate now.

[Artemidorus]

Nintendo showing it's true colours.

[DiscoMan]

Nintendo has been pretty transparent for years. Dunno why people are acting like this is a first.

[2cents]

I keep forgetting because Mario, that cute bastard fools me every time.

[Artemidorus]

Highlighting the real agenda of them being asshats.

If they don't make any money then what's the problem?

[Enigma_2099]

You can do homages without USING THEIR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES WITHOUT PERMISSION. Look, I know it sucks, but they kinda have the right to do this.

[Kokyu]

Not surprised

[melonfarm3r]

I'm 100% on Nintendo's side here.

It's their property. They should protect it. I would.

[superchiller]

You're always "100℅ in Nintendo's side", no matter what poor decisions they make. The very definition of blind fanboy.

[Protagonist]

It's like they join some sort of cult. No criticism whatsoever.

[Igihara]

If someone tried to rip off your IP & release it you'd go after them too, don't lie.

[The_Kills]

Worst part is, a fanboy for what exactly? It's not like Nintendo has put out anything out in recent years worthy of playing even if it was for free. I don't know what this shareholder is getting at. Oh wait, nvm..

[melonfarm3r]

'I'm always on their side?'

You mean like the past 3 years running where I've slated them for the disastrous Wii U?

Right then.

[2cents]

Really messed up.

It shocks me how disconnected these suits are from gamers.
Legally I get it but the way they do it is just cold. Why not when AM2R first hit the scene, why crush so many hours of passionate work, love and commitment AFTER the fact.

Nintendo... Shame on you.

[GrimmyReaper]

I'm not angry at Nintendo.
I understand why.
I'm mostly disappointed.

[DarXyde]

The guy complaining for "not making use of the IP" sounds like a bandwagon jumper. They literally just did something with the IP. It's not exactly traditional, but they're doing something with it. Save that argument for F-Zero.

Anyway, it does suck that this happened, but legally, it makes sense. Granted, it's not like they were making any money from it, but if they received "donations" for their work, in principle, that's profiting from Nintendo's IP. In that case, this totally makes sense. Nipping it in the bud, though it still sucks. AM2R looked promising.

Regardless, they're still well within their rights. I encourage those complaining to step outside of your feelings for a moment and consider that the move is totally fair. Frankly, upon witnessing Nintendo YouTube practices, this shouldn't come as a surprise. At all.

[Shinox]

Apparently this game meets everyone's expectations and Nintendo is pissed about it ......

W ... T ... F ! what do they want from him , are they really going to reach that way ... the internet is filled with fanmade Nintendo games and if they have the balls to sue anyone they should sue China for making millions of ripoffs .. not a person who worked hard on a game that shows how much he care about it , this company keep pissing me off every day
Fxxxxing Nintendo with their self-centered mentality treating their IP's as if its the next god or something but when it comes to reality its just a rehashed thing that doesn't give the industry anything , they always for the money and they wont give up ... they just wont .. ever .... Nintendo is like cockroaches that lives since stone ages ... whenever you kill them .. they keep coming back ages after ages .

[Lonnie18]

Once Nintendo gets any positive advancement or any sort of hold on anything they enforce all these rules and regulations...remember Nintendo 64! I won't buy Nintendo anything really because I never want a industry were they are market leader...omg it would be so bad.

[superchiller]

Nintendo really is totally out of touch with reality. They lost their way many years ago, such a shame.

[ZeekQuattro]

Times have changed. I was told to ask for permission before I just went ahead and took something that wasn't mine. There are a ton of Metrovania games out there and all pay homage to Metroid and Castlevania in some way without just taking an existing game Nintendo still sells on the 3DS eshop and modifying it. Even if the game wasn't on eshop you can't just take games and modify them as you see fit and think the company is going to be pleased about it. Sega hiring one guy to help its struggling Sonic franchise does not make it cool for anyone to think they can just do what ever they want with other IPs. People need to stop bringing up Sega. Sonic Team have been churning out sub-par traditional Sonic games for how long now. Sonic Colors and Generations are a couple of diamonds in the rough. Sega needs all the help it can get at this point.

[The_Kills]

You need to have been told to ask for permission to take something that isn't yours? As if getting something that isn't yours is something anyone would ever permit who doesn't lack a brainstem? Also the whole reason we are behind as a civilization is because the majority of the world has made ideas an exclusivity. If this sort of nonsense logic existed "back in the day" people would all be starving since planting seeds and harvesting would have been copyright.

Please, your powers of deduction on basic life principles are nearly non-existant. You only perpetuate the progress of societal degradation. Just because someone "back in the day" told you something, doesn't mean they were right for what is going on today, or even their day. And if people need to be taught things like what you were told, we are nothing but animals in collars by people who actually are busy profiteering from the stupidity of those such as yourself. When will you snap out of it?

[ZeekQuattro]

Do me a favor. Stop trying to sound smart. You come off as a rube.

[The_Kills]

@ZeekQuattro

Collateral damage it looks like you are..

Should have known I would have received a reply as shallow as this. Then again, I was just "sounding smart", thank you for wasting my time pro troll.

[Tzuno]

The only way to fight everything in this world is with your WALLET, people need to wake up and realize that.

[Warshade]

They did nintendo's job for them and then got attacked for it. WTF Nintendo. They should be hiring these guys and selling their game not trying to destroy them for loving their products. Here is hoping for a future without currency.

[Apocalypze]

Look at how fallout 4 is doing with mods. Nintend needs to update to 2016

[noksucow73]

But isn't Nintendo in the right here? Aren't they breaking the law by creating a game under a Nintendo license? Much as it may suck, I don't think Nintendo is doing anything wrong.

[Stevonidas]

Nintendo is 1,000% in the right.

What you have in this thread is a bunch of dumbass parasites who think intentions trump all, who don't respect the intellectual property of their betters, and who think everything should be free.

They can't fathom the obvious concept that this guy is redistributing Nintendo's IP for free, aka PIRACY. They actually believe Nintendo is jealous of some modder for supposedly upstaging them.They're the same idiots who think nVidia is salty for not having their hardware inside this generation's consoles when in reality nVidia told Sony to fuck themselves when they saw the meager profit margins of working together.