Nintendo wins lawsuit against Famiclones.

[boatofcar]

About damn time.

http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/11/02/1928240.shtml?tid=159

[NintendoMan]

That's good!!!!

[pixelsnpolygons]

They won? What a quick case. I thought it was only just reported that they had filed a suit last week. I would have expected the case to drag on for a year.

[TRM]

That's good!!!!

No it's not! Well I guess it is good for Nintendo, but not for the following people:

Collectors. I know some of us collectors enjoy owning weird pirated goods such as these controllers. This just makes it even harder to find such goods in my area. Some day I really do need to take a trip down to Brazil or over to Europe.

Gamers. The majority of the people who bought these clones (from what I have seen) were young adults (20s mostly) who wanted to relive their childhood memories. They had gotten rid of their NES consoles years ago, or it stopped working, and this was a quick and easy fix to playing the games. Much better feeling then playing the games on an emulator.

From a legal stand point, I can see why people would be glad that the piraters were stopped. However, it just forces people to buy over-priced GBA remakes of select NES games, if they want to play the games without digging out the old gray box. Go on Nintendo, make another freaking port of Super Mario Bros. or Mario Bros. We all want it, although we have the last six remakes of the game. Why don't you release some other games, less known (but well liked) titles. Ugh, I just don't like it.

[joshnickerson]

The thing about these "Famiclones" is that they SUCK! I played one of those N64 lookalikes, and Super Mario Bros ran at like twice the normal speed. And you could not rotate the blocks in Tetris.

[pixelsnpolygons]

Gamers. The majority of the people who bought these clones (from what I have seen) were young adults (20s mostly) who wanted to relive their childhood memories. They had gotten rid of their NES consoles years ago, or it stopped working, and this was a quick and easy fix to playing the games. Much better feeling then playing the games on an emulator.

I see a few of your points, TRM - but obviously these were different to the devices being sold at my mall. Actually, I know they were identical - but I say that because I cannot see how these things could do any of the above. These things were overpriced - often around $100+ many of them - from threads and my own observations - were played via N64 style controllers, defeating the entire point about it being authentic and nostalgic.

Now I do admit they were quick and easy - they involved two steps, buy and play - but overall, I just think they were more damaging than good. People can buy a Dreamcast and a disc of EVERY NES game released for about $19.99... and to be honest, it doesn't take any more effort than buying one of those bastardized machines. And while we're talking about prices - for the same price as one of those machines it would be possible to get a real NES and at least two dozen games. That is reliving your childhood - with a real controller, and having to blow into the carts (destroying them even more), to get them to work.

I'm as frustrated with Nintendo and it's belief that selling a 20 year old game for as many dollars is "rewarding its customers" - I think they've milked their franchises more than even Capcom, a feat I never thought I'd see eclipsed, but the fact remains they are their franchises to milk. If those people want to create those systems and cheat the system - more power to them - but keep it underground. I'm all for hyping emulation and classic gaming - but cases like this are just bad news.

As for it making it harder for collectors - I think it has just made it as difficult as before. Typically these things were found and sold on the net - and they'll still be there. They're just not in malls any more, and I think that is great. Imagine if these things caught on and generations of future gamers grew up thinking that - that - thing actually represented Nintendo's NES?

[TRM]

I see a few of your points, TRM - but obviously these were different to the devices being sold at my mall. Actually, I know they were identical - but I say that because I cannot see how these things could do any of the above. These things were overpriced - often around $100+ many of them - from threads and my own observations - were played via N64 style controllers, defeating the entire point about it being authentic and nostalgic.

The ones at my mall were around $50 a pop. 10% off if you bought two of them. Whether playing it with a Nintendo 64-style controller or not, I still think playing it on a TV is more authentic then playing it on a computer screen. Especially when you had the gun and everything. A nice package deal if you ask me.

I do see your points on not wanting gamers to think that "that - thing" represented Nintendo's NES. However, I don't see this as being any worse then playing NES games on an emulator, or on a Gameboy Advance via single (expensive) cartridges, or with a flash cart. None of them are the same as the real thing, but some can simulate it better than others.

[kainemaxwell]

I love reading the game listings and see games we know and love with messed up naming like "Mario Pipe" and the like.

[jonjandran]

This doesn't affect anything but what's sold for Retail in the U.S.

You can still import the things and but them from overseas Ebay Sellers.

Just because a law or ruling is passed in the U.S. doesn't mean it affects the rest of the world. :roll:

[Flack]

They won? What a quick case. I thought it was only just reported that they had filed a suit last week. I would have expected the case to drag on for a year.

My guess is, the defendents didn't show up, and/or a judge ruled without hearing a case.

[jonjandran]

I do see your points on not wanting gamers to think that "that - thing" represented Nintendo's NES. However, I don't see this as being any worse then playing NES games on an emulator, or on a Gameboy Advance via single (expensive) cartridges, or with a flash cart. None of them are the same as the real thing, but some can simulate it better than others.

Well The Big "N" is trying to stop that too . LOL

[maxlords]

Yeah, I'm happy they're being seized and banned. I can't wait for them to ban em here in Canada...I hate those damned things. Absolute trash and insanely overpriced. Some guy in a mall here was selling a 77,000 in 1 N64 style one in a mall booth the other day and tried to sell me one. I laughed at him and told him that was a lot of illegal copyright infringement to be peddling. He argued with me that "if it was illegal, they wouldn't let him sell it". He insisted it must be legal or the police would have come and closed his booth. I hope he and ALL others like him get shut down.

[briguy578]

I had an arguement over the legality of them with a guy once... I ended up walking away with one for only 18 bucks LOL

Seriously, though, they are good for some quick fun but don't match the real thing at all. Why would anyone pay 50 bucks for one of these?

[Ed Oscuro]

I had an arguement over the legality of them with a guy once... I ended up walking away with one for only 18 bucks LOL
ROFL So much for that argument!

Well, I hate the idea that the things are out there, but I also hate that Nintendo hasn't released any updated versions of the system themselves...though I hear from lots of people here that dropping support for old games is a good thing I disagree.

[MarioAllStar2600]

Yea, This is awsome news! I was at the flea market once and some guy was going to buy a gamecube for his son, but the guy selling famiclones convinced him that a famiclone was a better buy because its the price of one new cube game. I feel bad to this day I didn't say something, that poor kid got a famiclone for his bday or christmas. :/
I am so sick of kids being ripped off cause of these things. there is like 5 vendors that sell them in the mall now. :angry:

[MegaDrive20XX]

Well I wonder how they are gonna "Catch'em All!" FAMI-CLONES! ^_^ kekeke

I say this, because Texas is the worst for illegal crap like this.

Still, congratulations to Nintendo for waking up! Now that Nintendo is awake, how about some better 3rd party support for Cube??..what's that Nintendo? you say no?...oh well... I tried...

[pixelsnpolygons]

The ones at my mall were around $50 a pop. 10% off if you bought two of them. Whether playing it with a Nintendo 64-style controller or not, I still think playing it on a TV is more authentic then playing it on a computer screen. Especially when you had the gun and everything. A nice package deal if you ask me.

Well the price difference does make a slight change in my opinion on the systems. I agree wholeheartedly on the TV thing - though the Dreamcast emulation would have allowed that too. To be honest, I think their machines, while poorly executed and designed, were a great idea and one that I am surprised/disappointed that Nintendo hasn't adopted. If Nintendo released a unit for $50 with a couple dozen of their biggest games it would be one of the hottest holiday sales items.

Nintendo claims they lost how much due to these machines? I recall it being in the hundreds of millions. Why they can't make the connection, I don't know. But I simply hate them [the Famiclone Co.'s] for having the audacity to take a pieces of software that, obviously, still generate millions for Nintendo and just run with it. And it is funny because I don't object to the practice, I just object to the practice in the mall environment. Funny double standard of sorts - but the part that bothers me is really just that they took their product to a place that illigitimate products typically don't belong. If this was a Lik Sang item - I'd probably be somewhat interested.


I do see your points on not wanting gamers to think that "that - thing" represented Nintendo's NES. However, I don't see this as being any worse then playing NES games on an emulator, or on a Gameboy Advance via single (expensive) cartridges, or with a flash cart. None of them are the same as the real thing, but some can simulate it better than others.

True, true. In other words, we both agree that there's no substitute for the real thing. Hopefully one day Nintendo will release an official product such as those machines - though better. I suspect it will try to port its SNES and N64 games to the DS, first - however. I won't be buying those either.

[Ed Oscuro]

If Nintendo released a unit for $50 with a couple dozen of their biggest games it would be one of the hottest holiday sales items.
Here we go again...look, Nintendo makes more money selling games seperately. I'd appreciate it if they sold a new edition Famicom, but one with games built-in? Not gonna happen (they'd also piss off many of the FC 20th anniversary/NES Classics adopters too).

[pixelsnpolygons]

Here we go again...look, Nintendo makes more money selling games seperately. I'd appreciate it if they sold a new edition Famicom, but one with games built-in? Not gonna happen (they'd also piss off many of the FC 20th anniversary/NES Classics adopters too).

Whoa, slow down - we're not going anywhere again. I know how Nintendo makes its millions, and I know it isn't buy lumping all of its successful games into a piece of finely melded plastic and slapping an attractive price tag on the outside. I know that is not going to happen - I simply said it would be nice if it did, from a consumer stand point. I don’t have shares in Nintendo, and I can’t see how my idea is any more eccentric than their own kamikaze business strategies. And I honestly couldn't care less about the FC 20th anniversary/NES Classics adopters - because they're the idiots feeding Nintendo with that crazy notion that it is still 1989. I wish those games fell flat on their face - but that is a rant for another day.

In a nutshell - I'd never realistically expect Nintendo to just give away its livelihood - which at this point is games it made at earliest 10 years before present time. But such a product would be nice, and it would, still do well. In the meantime, I'll let those FC 10th/NC fans can go crazy over the re-releases, and then do it again for the DS, and Revolution... so on and so on and so on. Nintendo won’t be getting my cash, so I don’t really care.

[Ed Oscuro]

I know that is not going to happen - I simply said it would be nice if it did, from a consumer stand point.
And I said why it wouldn't be nice, from the standpoint of their loyal consumers xD

[pixelsnpolygons]

And I said why it wouldn't be nice, from the standpoint of their loyal consumers xD

I'm sorry, you're right here we go again. LOL Nintendo really needs to open up to a market other than the one that has been following it since 1985 - these so called "loyal customers". Nintendo seems to be the only company in gaming that has no interest in customers who weren't onboard from the get go - I see no attempts at diversification - NES Classics is true to this rule. Let's face it, Nintendo fans will buy the FC/NC games regardless of what happens - because they're loyal to a fault. For everyone else, a pack-in-machine would be an attractive gateway to Nintendo's world. Nintendo's loyal consumers will buy that too, I'll bet. Nintendo would make even more money.

I don't think it is beneficial to base your strategy around the same people. If those illegal Nintendo games proved one thing it is that there is a market that Nintendo is not reaching - one that existed side-by-side with those NES Classics. But anyhoo - I doubt this is something that will be agreed on. I hate people who think they can run a business better than - in this case - one that has been successfully managed for over 100 years - but I think they're losing out on a market they refuse to acknowledge - myself included.

[boatofcar]

Here's what I think. Forever now, we've been discussing how the sale of Famiclones can go on in broad daylight in a mall kiosk. Why did Nintendo wait until now to take the issue to court? Maybe they are planning a multi-game system in the future, especially after seeing the relative success of the Jakks games and with the neo-retro Atari console coming out. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get something like that. How cool would it be to get SMB, Zelda, Metroid, etc, inside a plug-in controller?

[anagrama]

I paid £3 for one once. Then instantly fried it by not checking the voltage. :roll: Ho-hum.

[SegaAges]

I think this is more like the Atari case, where Nintendo wants to make money for selling games they have the rights too, instead of others making money off of it. I don't know, I could be wrong, but it is probably more or less like the Atari case where they made a bunch of places pull roms. This case just seems like that since we all know Nintendo's style. I love Nintendo games, so I think it is good that they did this, seeing as they are not making as much money on the Gamecube as the xbox and ps2 are making. What they need is an nes super compilation for gamecube with like 100 nes games. knowing nintendo, it would come out in volumes of like 20, but even still, I don't see why they don't, that would rock.

[joshnickerson]

Here's what I think. Forever now, we've been discussing how the sale of Famiclones can go on in broad daylight in a mall kiosk. Why did Nintendo wait until now to take the issue to court? Maybe they are planning a multi-game system in the future. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get something like that. How cool would it be to get SMB, Zelda, Metroid, etc, inside a plug-in controller?

Darn you! Don't raise my hopes like that! LOL

[Push Upstairs]

Nintendo seems to be the only company in gaming that has no interest in customers who weren't onboard from the get go - I see no attempts at diversification - NES Classics is true to this rule.

Perhaps this is just my opinion/view....but I don't see releasing games i've already bought and beat numerous times as an attempt to "keep my interest".

Re-releasing old titles is fun to a point..but that stuff really has run its course.

It's time for some *NEW* adventures Nintendo.


Let's face it, Nintendo fans will buy the FC/NC games regardless of what happens - because they're loyal to a fault.

So true.

[Nesmaster]

I paid £3 for one once. Then instantly fried it by not checking the voltage. :roll: Ho-hum.

LOL! i did the same thing to one too. plugged in 9v, and it only took 6v LOL :P

[DynastyLawyer]

A district court in Washington? Way to go, Nintendo. You have succeeded in crushing the pirates around your home state of Washington. Meanwhile, in all the other 49 states...

[jonjandran]

They're still selling them at my Mall in Columbus, Georgia.

The guy was kind enough to offer me one for $50.

I didn't clue him in on the fact that he's going to be shut down soon. LOL

[Shawn Carr2o]

I have the Polystation which has 12 pirated Nes
Games like, Super Mario Bros, Super Contra,
Adventure Island etc. I heard you can play
Famicom games on it as well. O_O

I also have a Cartridge that has Yuna's picture
from Final Fantasy X and i said what! the hell!
is Yuna doing on there? O_O That's when i
found out it was a pirate system w/ 1 controller
& gun from the flea market in San Jose CA :roll:

They have Sonic instead of Mario and when you
die, you look like Mario in the game. :(