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Project AM2R getting legally slammed by Nintendo; file hosts hit with DMCA notices

LiK

Member
kgeuWtP.gif


This is shitty for Metroid fans, but lol at thinking NX will fail because Nintendo makes their fans mad. If anything the rate at which they produced million sellers on a console that had a low install base should tell you that their fans are generally catered to. Its drawing in fans of 3rd party stuff they struggle to appeal to.

yea, Nintendo has been making their fans mad for years and they still come back. It's just the normal cycle.
 

KingBroly

Banned
I'll eat crow. I mean, I wasn't wrong that Nintendo doesn't have a history of taking down non-profit fangames, but I was mistaken in my belief that this did not fall into the realm of what Nintendo finds unacceptable for fan projects. (I.e. when they compete with official releases)

My guess is they considered that this being available made purchasing Metroid II: The Return of Samus redundant and obsolete. Which is sad.

Of course the title is a bit of an exaggeration, as I wouldn't use the word 'slammed' but whatever.

It also hurts their ability to remake and sell said remake IF IF IF IF IF they chose to do so. Not only that said, a potential official remake would be compared to this remake at every turn, which again, runs the risk of hurting its' sales and reception.
 

Nairume

Banned
Sadly, I think any fan project that attracts too much attention will get taken down. Project M ended up in kinda the same situation, except they tried to ignore it for longer, hoping it would go away.

In this case too, I think the fan game was just too good, so they attacked it. From what I've seen, it makes Nintendo's recent efforts look weak and out of touch.
Project M is a bad comparison since they didn't really try and take it down beyond demanding it not be present at events they were sponsoring. No C&D has ever been publicly stated as being directed at it.
 

Kyzer

Banned
Humanity is so hopeless . Everything is politics now.


"Fuck this shit Nintendo is garbage why didnt they just let this guy release this Nintendo game for free?"

"Here's why, it makes sense, and it was always a possibility."

"Wow, corporate bootlicking shill fanboy"
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Seeing people insist in how Nintendo is right in doing this is kind of fucked up, like what do you gain from this happening? Legal or not from their part, they had a chance here to fix their relationship with their fans AND getting free publicity for their series and upcoming releases, but decided to go the old fashioned route and just shut it down.

No one wins here, I have no idea what's the point in siding with the 'legal and therefore right side' if there were clearly alternatives that could benefit everyone involved lol.
 

Mesoian

Member
Project M is a bad comparison since they didn't really try and take it down beyond demanding it not be present at events they were sponsoring. No C&D has ever been publicly stated as being directed at it.

And you still have to buy brawl in order to get Project M to work (in theory) so it's still in Nintendo's best interest to let it live. It was pushing sales on a project that Nintendo was finished with.

AM2R puts no money in Nintendo's pocket.
 
ITT: Legality=morality, "A game no one asked for is coming out, your franchise isn't dead stop being entitled", "what do you mean appearances in crossover games don't count"

Fuck Nintendo for this. There are a million Pokemon fan remake hacks, that use actual in game assets, and they're all allowed to exist. And yet Metroid fans have been wanting a real, faithful to the franchise game for fucking ages, and a fan makes one with all new assets, and people in this thread are saying fans are entitled? Corporate shills never cease to amaze me, which is sad because I see them far too much.

You do realize Pokemon is not a Nintendo IP? It's GameFreak's.
 
yea, Nintendo has been making their fans mad for years and they still come back. It's just the normal cycle.

...except fewer fans return with every passing console generation (Wii possibly excepted).

Obviously not the only or even main issue, but just one of many.
 

Boney

Banned
It also hurts their ability to remake and sell said remake IF IF IF IF IF they chose to do so. Not only that said, a potential official remake would be compared to this remake at every turn, which again, runs the risk of hurting its' sales and reception.
I know you realize that a M2 remake is never happening but it's never happening.

And not sure if posted but Iwata addressing fan games and copyrights at Nintendo's 70th shareholder meeting.

In connection with Nintendo's basic strategy of "gaming population expansion", I would like to ask about the handling of fan activities and intellectual properties. Recently, there are many fan magazines, original short movies, music bands, cosplay activities, websites, orchestras and so on, based on Nintendo's titles. If these activities threaten Nintendo's intellectual properties or licenses, will Nintendo crack down on them aggressively, or just view them as fan activities? If Nintendo has any policies, please let us know.

-------

As the principle, please understand that the question is regarding a rather delicate issue to which no one can perhaps identify a clear-cut criterion. Of course, we cannot say that we can give tacit approval to any and all the activities which threaten our intellectual properties. But on the other hand, it would not be appropriate if we treated people who did something based on affection for Nintendo, as criminals. It is true that some expressions are detrimental enough to diminish the dignity of our intellectual properties, and others destroy our intellectual properties' world-views by connecting them with something not based on fact. We think one of the criteria for deciding how to respond is whether the expression in question socially diminishes the dignity or value of our intellectual properties or not. Of course, it is very hard to have a blanket standard as this problem involves many complex elements that are very difficult to judge.

In these meanings, we cannot say OK to any and all such activities and, at the same time, it is not feasible for us to immediately respond to each small issue of this nature every time. However, these days an individual can easily transmit information through the Internet. Hearing your question today, as we cannot find these problems only by ourselves, we feel that a kind of contact window should be set up so that people can somehow report to us any inappropriate uses of Nintendo's intellectual properties which diminish their dignities or values, so that we can respond appropriately.

You do realize Pokemon is not a Nintendo IP? It's GameFreak's.
No. It's the Pokemon Company which was thought of by Iwata to manage the franchise externally due to how big it was. TPC is partly owner by Nintendo, Gamefraks and Creatures.
So get your facts straight. For all intents and purposes is a Nintendo ip
 

collige

Banned
None of these things are the same as literally remaking a game that they sell for profit and giving it away for free. The fact that it's better than the original only makes it worse lol
I mean, this is technically true, but the original is virtually unplayable by modern standards (and didn't review amazingly to begin with) and I would be willing to bet money that the VC release hasn't even made 5 figures net for Nintendo. Do you honestly believe that this is cannibalizing sales of the original game?
 

Kyzer

Banned
Lmao yeah I wonder how many millions of sales Nintendo will miss out on because people were mad they weren't allowed to illegally download one of their games for free from a fan

I mean, this is technically true, but the original is virtually unplayable by modern standards (and didn't review amazingly to begin with) and I would be willing to bet money that the VC release hasn't even made 5 figures net for Nintendo.

Ya I feel you I'm just explaining how this was pretty much asking for legal action. If you wanna remix peoples work you're free to do so for fun in your own home. Maybe show some friends for fun. ...I mean he could have gotten away with it maybe if he didnt have hundreds of snitches going around and making threads on neogaf advertising it loYou cant just decide you're gonna remake someone else's product and give it away for free lol...but yeah
 
It would be great if Nintendo had intelligent, forward thinking people in high enough positions to make fan projects like this a reality. Unfortunately they don't which is why they are in their current position and why they will always try and kill these projects.
 
Let's put it this way. Part of heading up a passion project of any kind is doing to legal legwork to make sure what you're making can be marketed without issue. That was not done here, and the act of not doing that was irresponsible.

Thank you, one of the few (if not only) comment(s) that actually makes sense. It's amazing how much people disregard this.

Like I've said before, there was nothing stopping the developer from making a pitch to Nintendo and starting off a possible business relationship in that way. The fact that he didn't and chose a more irresponsible way speaks for itself.
 
None of these things are the same as literally remaking a game that they sell for profit and giving it away for free. The fact that it's better than the original only makes it worse lol

Its understandable to have supported the project and be disappointed, but people doing backflips to logically justify their saltiness is silly

If you owned an IP you probably wouldn't let people give away one of your creations from it for free either.

There are fan remakes of red, blue, and yellow, all of which are sold on the eshop. There are also remakes of Zelda 1. Pokemon Shiny Gold was a romhack in development prior to Heart Gold and Soul SIlver being released, and there are have been gold/silver remakes being made even after HGSS, all of which could take profit away from Nintendo AND used actual Nintendo assets.
 

Mesoian

Member
Seeing people insist in how Nintendo is right in doing this is kind of fucked up, like what do you gain from this happening? Legal or not from their part, they had a chance here in fixing their relationship with their fans AND getting free publicity for their series and upcoming releases, but decided to go the old fashioned route and just shut it down.

No one wins here, I have no idea what's the point in siding with the 'legal and therefore right side' if there were clearly alternatives that could benefit everyone involved lol.

How does leaving this up fix the relationship with the fans?

How does leaving this up benefit Nintendo in any way when it's more than clear that they have no plans for a 2d metroid of any kind?

Doesn't this entire project do little more than remind the gaming world that Nintendo is not interested in making these games anymore? How is that good for Nintendo?

"They should, you know, just be, like, cool man", doesn't make any sense.
 
No one wins here, I have no idea what's the point in siding with the 'legal and therefore right side' if there were clearly alternatives that could benefit everyone involved lol.
Seriously--the amount of money this could be potentially causing Nintendo to lose is like a pittance. This is a project for the hardest of hard cores, the people who should be Nintendo fans to begin with. The only net gain I can see here for them is an increase at Metroid fan malaise towards them, something I think they already had more than enough of!
 

Eolz

Member
Confirmed legit on twitter...

Guess we can't feel any remorse by using homebrew on their machines now, or downloading every thing related to Nintendo by fear of it being taken down...
What a shame, and what a shitty year so far to be a Nintendo fan.

That said, hope people will keep reuploading the game, it's great!

edit: still kinda hopeful they could strike some kind of deal (removing metroid for the name, making it even clearer it's unofficial, licence to distribute it, this kind of stuff), but I seriously doubt it.
 

RK128

Member
Seeing people insist in how Nintendo is right in doing this is kind of fucked up, like what do you gain from this happening? Legal or not from their part, they had a chance here to fix their relationship with their fans AND getting free publicity for their series and upcoming releases, but decided to go the old fashioned route and just shut it down.

No one wins here, I have no idea what's the point in siding with the 'legal and therefore right side' if there were clearly alternatives that could benefit everyone involved lol.

Its a shame that people are so divided on this matter honestly :(.

Nintendo has the right to do this, but they could have worked something out with the developer to do something really special for the series anniversary.

Again, as long as the developer doesn't face legal issues, this really doesn't matter in the long run. Its online, many own it and it will forever be shared with Metroid fans; Nintendo can't do anything make it fully vanish from the next not unlike Project M and SEGA's own takedown of the Streets of Rage remake.

And even so, we have games like Axiom Verge out now and Ghost Song coming out soon, Nintendo can do whatever they want with Metroid for all I care honestly. The series ended with Prime 3 for me and I am getting Federation Force because Next Level Games are great developers :).
 

Portugeezer

Gold Member
Confirmed legit on twitter...

Guess we can't feel any remorse by using homebrew on their machines now, or downloading every thing related to Nintendo by fear of it being taken down...
What a shame, and what a shitty year so far to be a Nintendo fan.

That said, hope people will keep reuploading the game, it's great!

Who's twitter though? I checked the creators and it had nothing.
 

RootCause

Member
Humanity is so hopeless . Everything is politics now.


"Fuck this shit Nintendo is garbage why didnt they just let this guy release this Nintendo game for free?"

"Here's why, it makes sense, and it was always a possibility."

"Wow, corporate bootlicking shill fanboy"
Forum posts as an indictment on humanity? I'm not going that far. :3

It happens to all the time, regardless of the company. Just look at the NMS thread, or the X11 controllers.
 

KingBroly

Banned
I know you realize that a M2 remake is never happening but it's never happening.

And not sure if posted but Iwata addressing fan games and copyrights at Nintendo's 70th shareholder meeting.

I know it's not happening, but I always gotta keep the possibility open.

But if this was put out on 3DS or Wii U, Nintendo would sign this guy to a contract, it wouldn't be put out on PC, it'd be sold for like...$20, and be a bit more polished.
 
Lmao yeah I wonder how many millions of sales Nintendo will miss out on because people were mad they weren't allowed to illegally download one of their games for free from a fan

I wonder how long you're going to pretend that playing a fan made product of something that doesn't officially exist is piracy.
 

collige

Banned
How does leaving this up fix the relationship with the fans?

How does leaving this up benefit Nintendo in any way when it's more than clear that they have no plans for a 2d metroid of any kind?

Doesn't this entire project do little more than remind the gaming world that Nintendo is not interested in making these games anymore? How is that good for Nintendo?

"They should, you know, just be, like, cool man", doesn't make any sense.

It doesn't help them, but going out of their way to take this down makes it far worse. "We have no plans to make a new 2D Metroid" isn't nearly as bad as "We have no plans to make a new 2D Metroid and fuck anyone else who would be willing to do it for us for free"
 

Mesoian

Member
Its not silly some people will remember this and wont buy the NX. Nintendo blew the chance to earn some good grace with the fans. It sucks

And those people are silly. Denying yourself what Nintendo actually wants to do in the future because of stopping something that reminds people of what they used to do but don't want to do anymore makes literally 0 sense.

You're never going to get another 2D metroid. So go buy one of the other metroidvania's on the market and show, with your wallet, that those games can still be successful.

That is, if the reason why you got AM2R was because you're a huge fan of Metroid and not because it was free and, "WHATEVER."
 
Seeing people insist in how Nintendo is right in doing this is kind of fucked up, like what do you gain from this happening? Legal or not from their part, they had a chance here in fixing their relationship with their fans AND getting free publicity for their series and upcoming releases, but decided to go the old fashioned route and just shut it down.

No one wins here, I have no idea what's the point in siding with the 'legal and therefore right side' if there were clearly alternatives that could benefit everyone involved lol.
And what if they've been working on their own remake of Metroid 2 for the NX? Of all the existing Metroid games, that one's most likely due for a remake, and that would have been a relatively easy game for Nintendo to make to fill in the library on a brand new system that would have made fans happy. What if they've already spent $600,000 developing it? With the release of this PC game, they would see far less returns on that investment, especially if Metroid lovers who would have bought an NX for a brand new 2D Metroid game, suddenly wouldn't.

While I enjoy AM2R and am glad he made it, there are good reasons for the laws. I do think things could have turned out differently had he actually approached Nintendo with it - maybe they would have said "Go for it, just remove that Nintendo logo from the opening sequence and try to make your art not look like rips from Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission". They did allow that book of NES screenshots to finish its Kickstarter, with a couple changes.
 

Nairume

Banned
It dawns on me, does filehopper also act as an ad supported site like mediafire? Given mediafire getting ad money and Metroid Database advertising its own merchandise, it wouldn't surprise me if they were specifically targeting the hosts because of the perception that they were making money off of it.

That is, unless a C&D isn't in the works against AM2R itself and we just haven't heard of it yet.
 

Mesoian

Member
It doesn't help them, but going out of their way to take this down makes it far worse. "We have no plans to make a new 2D Metroid" isn't nearly as bad as "We have no plans to make a new 2D Metroid and fuck anyone else who would be willing to do it for us for free"

But that's still naive because it's still a case of, "Hey man, we don't want people using our IP without our permission. You would want the same if this was your thing too."
 
And those people are silly. Denying yourself what Nintendo actually wants to do in the future because of stopping something that reminds people of what they used to do but don't want to do anymore makes literally 0 sense.

You're never going to get another 2D metroid. So go buy one of the other metroidvania's on the market and show, with your wallet, that those games can still be successful.

That is, if the reason why you got AM2R was because you're a huge fan of Metroid and not because it was free and, "WHATEVER."

The amount of buzz of the Metroid 2 remake should show Nintendo that there is interest. There will be people out there that wont buy the NX due to this.
 

collige

Banned
And those people are silly. Denying yourself what Nintendo actually wants to do in the future because of stopping something that reminds people of what they used to do but don't want to do anymore makes literally 0 sense.

You're never going to get another 2D metroid. So go buy one of the other metroidvania's on the market and show, with your wallet, that those games can still be successful.

That is, if the reason why you got AM2R was because you're a huge fan of Metroid and not because it was free and, "WHATEVER."

Even if we assume that everyone who plays AM2R ignores every indie Metroidvania on the market right now, we already know that those games can be successful. Guacamelee and Ori have both sold over 500k on PC alone. Whether Nintendo wants to ignore this fact or not is up to them.
 
How does leaving this up fix the relationship with the fans?

How does leaving this up benefit Nintendo in any way when it's more than clear that they have no plans for a 2d metroid of any kind?

Doesn't this entire project do little more than remind the gaming world that Nintendo is not interested in making these games anymore? How is that good for Nintendo?

"They should, you know, just be, like, cool man", doesn't make any sense.

It doesn't fix it, but it throws the fans a bone.

When capcom didn't have a megaman game to release on the anniversary, but a big fanmade game was coming out, megaman x street fighter I think it was, they actually did some promotion for it, rather than shoot it down.
Heck, they even have a webpage on capcom.com for it (though it appears to be barely functional on my machine)
http://megaman.capcom.com/sfxmm/sfxmm_dl_uk.html

That's the right sort of approach to this if you want to help build goodwill with a fanbase, not "IF WE AREN'T DOING IT, NO-ONE CAN", which just leaves nobody happy.
 

b4mv

Banned
Midway through the 7 year development cycle, Nintendo could have reached out and made some type of agreement to distribute his game, and everyone would be happy. Instead, they let the developer spend years finishing and perfecting this, only to shit on it on release day. Super fucked up.
 

Paltheos

Member
Allot of people are talking about him getting a job in game development but just for the record, he already has a career as a music producer and a family in Brazil(?). From what he's shared of his personal life, he seems to be self-employed in that regard, and I haven't seen him say anything about wanting a career in game development. He's passed this off as a side hobby that he's worked on in his spare time - Part of the reason why the game's taken more than 10 (not 7, and the back end of the blog only marks where he first announced development) years to develop.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
How does leaving this up fix the relationship with the fans?

How does leaving this up benefit Nintendo in any way when it's more than clear that they have no plans for a 2d metroid of any kind?

Doesn't this entire project do little more than remind the gaming world that Nintendo is not interested in making these games anymore? How is that good for Nintendo?

"They should, you know, just be, like, cool man", doesn't make any sense.
I wasn't considering just leaving it up in that post, but actually, when I saw the game release with no interference from Nintendo I thought "Wow there's no way they're not aware of this by now and they still let it happen? Maybe they're not as bad as I thought!" and I'm sure others thought the same.

But I was thinking more in line of doing stuff like working a deal with the devs by allowing distribution of the remake with the condition that they promote M2' eShop release and Federation Force in their site. Maybe even as in-game ads in an update. I don't know, I think there are hundreds of ways to capitalize on this in a way everyone wins.

Right now the Metroid fanbase is FURIOUS with Nintendo to the point they saw necessary to make a video explaining how they're just misunderstanding their new game lol. Surely they could have tried a new approach to fan works here but they didn't, and that's fair, but it'll only affect their relationship with fans, and that sucks.
 

HvySky

Member
It's alright, guys. Nintendo knows this is what Metroid fans really want, not that fan created phony baloney.

MetriodPrime-582x388.jpg


In all seriousness, they do have the right to do this, but the way they went about it is pretty damn shitty. Get fucked, Nintendo.
 
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