tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post5170343960168319462..comments2024-03-29T11:10:02.290+00:00Comments on The IPKat: Pay up! Pay up! And play the game"Verónica RodrÃguez Arguijohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763207846940036921noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-84103034559987405472010-08-04T09:45:20.297+01:002010-08-04T09:45:20.297+01:00However, perhaps it would make sense for Nintendo ...<i>However, perhaps it would make sense for Nintendo to market such a device for game systems for which games are no longer produced.</i><br /><br />This has been done by Nintendo since about the time their Wii console came out, and is called the "Virtual Console". The functionality/service extends not only to 'extinct' Nintendo hardware (NES, SNES, N64) but further to 'extinct' hardware of Sega and NEC.<br /><br />Nintendo even markets, quite successfully I understand, a specific 'retro' controller for use with such 'old games of old systems' downloaded to and played on their Wii.<br /><br />I am unsure whether a similar service/functionality is available to their portable consoles, although they are online-enabled and their hardware should be able to support most Virtual Console titles.<br /><br />I do not believe there is any commercial or corporate sense for Nintendo to market R4-like devices. <br /><br />Nintendo's corporate policy to develop and maintain proprietary software formats (in hardware terms: e.g. sticking to game cartridges when competitors were switching to optical media, then using distinct/specific optical media relative to conventional CD/DVDs, etc.) is three decades old at least, and for certain aspects of which the company has been rapped on the knuckles by the EU itself several times already.<br /><br />Nintendo has long been considering the question of game copiers and revenue associated with same, as <br />this particular case simply slots within a decades-old list (litany?) of similar cases opposing Nintendo to manufacturers and suppliers of functionally-comparable devices (for use by 'professional' infringers and/or end users), in very many jurisdictions, in connection with its earlier consoles. <br /><br />Manifestly, Nintendo must still be making more profit with their traditional model (breakeven console, high added-value software in proprietary format), litigation included.Stephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03939472170439107513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-29725610963138216602010-08-03T16:01:25.266+01:002010-08-03T16:01:25.266+01:00"However, perhaps it would make sense for Nin..."However, perhaps it would make sense for Nintendo to market such a device for game systems for which games are no longer produced."<br /><br />No, the problem then for Nintendo would be a reduction in demand for new game systems for which new games are still being produced.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-90022064401661279742010-08-03T15:02:09.684+01:002010-08-03T15:02:09.684+01:00Says Merpel, judging by the amount of money that c...<i> Says Merpel, judging by the amount of money that can be made from game copiers, has Ninendo considered either licensing their manufacture, after the first surge of sales of a new game has subsided, or even making and selling its own? </i><br /><br />The problem is that these devices enable the copying and playback of <b> all </b> Nintendo DS titles. Permitting the sale of these devices would in effect undermine their efforts to sell all games - past, present, and future. <br /><br />However, perhaps it would make sense for Nintendo to market such a device for game systems for which games are no longer produced.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-37943381575286457002010-08-03T13:49:02.839+01:002010-08-03T13:49:02.839+01:00Nintendo has quite a veil of secrecy surrounding t...Nintendo has quite a veil of secrecy surrounding their agreements with third party developers, but I suspect that manufacturing their own devices would leave them open to compensation claims from those developers. I've spoken to a lot of politicians about the negative value to society of much loved games disappearing from sale along with the hardware needed to play them after a few years, and my impression is that there is increasing political will to 'do something' about copyright restrictions in cases where there is no legitimate way of obtaining working games. If copyright reform does come by chipping away at the life+70 rule, then out-of-print games are a prime candidate for early change.Andrew Robinsonhttp://www.pirateparty.org.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-573779680248694102010-08-03T12:42:50.227+01:002010-08-03T12:42:50.227+01:00My daughter will hopefully now stop whinging that ...My daughter will hopefully now stop whinging that she hasn't been allowed one of these chips...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com