Nintendo FINALLY cracks down on those NES units...

[Guest DVD Spree]

From http://www.gamespress.com:

 

PRESS RELEASE

NINTENDO CRACKS DOWN ON MAJOR U.S. PIRACY OPERATION

 

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 1, 2004 – The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington has issued a temporary restraining order against the import and sale of video game systems containing counterfeit versions of Nintendo games being sold at numerous shopping malls.

 

In a major first step in its efforts to stop the sale of infringing products throughout the United States, Nintendo of America Inc. filed the action against two companies, its officers and employees after receiving tips from more than 400 of its loyal fans. In response to the specific court order, U.S. marshals will seize the counterfeit systems at shopping mall kiosks in the western Washington area. In addition, Nintendo is supporting numerous federal criminal investigations and U.S. Customs has seized tens of thousands of the infringing devices upon their entry into the country, all of which are assumed to be headed to malls across the United States for illegal sale.

 

The hundreds of thousands of products in question look identical to Nintendo® 64 controllers and plug directly into televisions, allowing users to play dozens of illegally pirated Nintendo games from the original Nintendo Entertainment System®, such as Donkey Kong® and Mario Bros.® Nintendo re-released many of these popular games, currently being pirated, as part of its Classic NES® Series, which allows its fans to play their favorite classic games on their Game Boy® Advance SP units. The bootleg products sell under the names "Power Player," "Super Joystick," "Superjoy" and "Powerjoy." As a result of the federal court order, Nintendo is urging all mall management companies around the country to immediately close the kiosks selling the illegal products.

 

"This action is one of many steps Nintendo is taking to protect its creative rights and to combat the growing international problem of product piracy," explains Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America's director of anti-piracy. "Nintendo won't tolerate these illegal products, and is grateful to its devoted customers. We'll aggressively protect the quality and integrity of the video game products our fans are so loyal to."

 

Daugherty added, "We're confident that mall management companies around the nation will provide their complete cooperation upon being informed of the court's decision."

 

Nintendo has information identifying kiosks distributing the illegal devices in malls in more than 40 states. They are often set up outside of Nintendo's legitimate retailers' stores. This is the largest piracy problem Nintendo has faced in the United States. Nintendo is still calculating the extent of its losses, but expects it to be in the millions of dollars, once the damage to both its reputation and the harm to relationships with its established business partners have been quantified.

 

The worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home and portable video game systems. Each year, hundreds of all-new titles for the best-selling Game Boy® Advance, Nintendo DSTM and Nintendo GameCubeTM systems extend Nintendo's vast game library and continue the tradition of delivering a rich, diverse mix of quality video games for players of all ages. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 1.9 billion video games and more than 170 million hardware units globally, creating enduring industry icons such as MarioTM and Donkey Kong® and launching popular culture franchise phenomena such as Metroid®, ZeldaTM and Pokémon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere.

 

For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at www.nintendo.com.

[syxx2001 0]

My brother has one of those.

[yankovic fan 0]

Seen them selling some here in Louisiana today.

 

 

I thought instantly of the thread that was here a few months back. I think I'll inform Nintendo of this.

 

 

 

And by the way,

 

Doesn't it seem silly to be playing an 8bit game with a N64 controller anyway?

 

 

That has got to be the worst case of video game controller design I have ever seen. I loved my 64, but the controller frustrated me at times. And it was even worse when I had to babysit and parked the kid in front of the TV with the system. (I'm so responsible)

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

The Dreamcast controller was a million times worse than the N64 controller.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Opps double post.

[AndrewTS 0]

The Dreamcast controller was a million times worse than the N64 controller.

I completely disagree. I even found the DC controller surprisingly accessible for fighters. It LOOKED weird but I thought it felt great.

 

The N64's C buttons and d-pad were way too small, and it felt extremely cheap for a 1st party controller.

 

If Nintendo actually made an NES TV games set with a nice selection of games, I'd get it. The bootleg units were so poorly made they weren't worth the money, though.

[yankovic fan 0]

The Dreamcast controller was a million times worse than the N64 controller.

Very true, I just never owned a Dreamcast, but when a friend would bring one by, or I'd go visit, and we'd play one, it was just as frustrating, if not more so.

 

I just called Nintendo and reported what I saw in my mall, and they were very thankful to me.

 

I should have seen if I could get a free Gamecube out of it.

[El Psycho Diablo 0]

If Nintendo actually made an NES TV games set with a nice selection of games, I'd get it. The bootleg units were so poorly made they weren't worth the money, though.

Nah, Nintendo is more interested in putting straight ports out for full price on the GBA..

[Renegade 0]

Good job nintendo, can't wait for more overblown ports which I already own.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I completely disagree. I even found the DC controller surprisingly accessible for fighters. It LOOKED weird but I thought it felt great.

 

It was the worst for the fact that the cord was on the wrong end of the controller. I also hated the memory cards because the LCD broke within days of getting it.

[Ced 0]

I'm just going to sit here and not care about the pirated games until Nintendo gives me an awfully good reason to buy Ice Climbers for $20.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I have a lot of the classic NES games through Animal Crossing, including Ice Climbers, so I don't care too much about those pirated games.

[Youth N Asia 0]

You'd think they would have done this years ago when the damn things poped up in the first place.

 

And the Dreamcast controller was excelent to play with.

[Guest Coffey]

...and here I thought the Dreamcast controller sucked simply because of fighting games.

[Guest Smues]

The bootleg units were so poorly made they weren't worth the money, though.

The fact that they were so poorly made is what made them so great, and why I own one. I get a laugh out of the stupid thing everytime I turn it on. It's fun finding all the games that won't load, or have errors. My favorite I think is duckhunt have the option of shooting 2 ducks, or '1 dwck'.