Nintendo suits allege allowing illegal downloading

Nintendo on Tuesday filed lawsuits in Japan against five companies it said are allowing the illegal downloading of games from the Internet and the subsequent playing of those games on the company's hit DS handheld device.

The video game giant filed its suit along with 54 game development companies, all in the hopes of stopping the defendants--which it did not name in a press release--from enabling the downloading.

Nintendo "filed a legal action with the Tokyo District Court regarding game copying devices such as the 'R4 Revolution for DS' seeking to stop the importing and selling of those devices based on Japanese Unfair Competition Prevention Act," Nintendo wrote in its release. "Nintendo and its game software developers report that the spread of game copying devices in Japan hinder the growth/development of the entire video game industry. Nintendo and the software developers will continue to be aggressive in taking legal measures in Japan against any game copying devices that operate like the R4."

[thabassman]

Good for them, I hope they pull through.

[illegal_mario]

They appear to be wasting endless amounts of money chasing people across the globe in the pursuit of what is in reality only a tiny percentage of lost revenue.

It seems these people try everything except one thing:

"cutting the price!"

It's the reason people copy games in the first place. When your kids are nagging you to death for the latest game, most people have no choice but to copy. In fact they would never have bought the game anyway.

Games are just so expensive and especially at this time of economic crisis people can't afford them.

Unfortunately the games industry just can't see it and they live on a different planet.

[TonyPolo27]

Sorry, I can see stealing bread if you are starving. Stealing games just to shut your kids up is no different than robbing a bank to buy yourself a BMW. I agree games are expensive, but when you say they are too expensive express your opinion by not buying them, that's how you send a message to the game companies.
There is no gray area, stealing is WRONG.

[chrisrodney]

You could always ... um ... say NO to your kids. Teach them that money doesn't "grow on trees", and teach them the value of a dollar by having them save up for the games they want (or buy used). Teach them patience by having them realize that they don't need the newest game as soon as it comes out.

I know it's hard to say no, but people always have a choice when it comes to breaking the law. The question is, what choice will they make?

[ackmondual]

DS games are expensive, but at least they're still cheaper than PSP games. Besides, it's not Nintendo's fault that these people had kids

[Blaess]

Learn to read. The lawsuit isnt "chasing people across the globe", just Japan.

Stop talking out of your butt and speculating tiny losses of revenue, because you don't know what you're talking about, do you? Just making it up as you go, right?

[Juic3]

I think Nintendo should use this situation to it's advantage and shift it's game distro. Nintendo should sell their own pimped out version of R4 with crazy media features and sell their games online for easy download and transfer.

They should crush the companies that allow piracy through the R4 and turn it around and make it legit. Who wouldn't want to carry around lots of games and videos and mp3s on their ds? I personally think the advantage of tech like R4 isn't the ability to get "free" games, but the convenience and added features.

[ackmondual]

Nintendo decided on the cartridges and mini-discs for the N64 and GC respectively to make piracy more difficult, not because it was the "all the rage media" at the times. CDs and DVDs were too easily copied. If they went with a pure download scheme, piracy would be EVEN EASIER. Furthermore, the copyrighting and Fair Use woes would be similar to Apple and iTUnes. It's easier for them with physical media b/c if you lose it, tough luck. If you take good care of it, then you can use it across other DS devices.

Besides, the DS is a handheld gaming system. I'm sure they wanted to avoid the likes of hardrives or flash memory like the Wii, PS3, and 360

[Lerianis]

I have to agree with Juic3. They should make their own method for downloading games over the internet for the DS. That way, people wouldn't have to have MOUNDS of CD's or carts lying around their rooms, but only a few memory sticks or memory cards.

[cpopken]

You don't have to have every game that comes out. The reason people steal games, movies, and music isn't because game prices are too high, it's because they have a feeling of entitlement and think they have to have everything they want. Piracy is a much bigger problem than some people think, especially overseas. If kids steal games and music now, what are they going to be stealing when they are older.

Good for Nintendo in going after these companies. Things are getting out of hand with piracy lately.

[Grifter02]

When I was a kid I would download games from the internet illegally because I couldn't afford to buy all the games I wanted. Now that I'm older and I have a job, I buy the games I want. So what's your point about "If kids steal games and music now, what are they going to be stealing when they are older." In most cases, I believe the answer is "nothing".

[talker29]

you used to be able to copy PlayStation disks with nothing more than a CD burner. That didn't seem to hurt sony any. I remember I was trying to decide weather to get a PlayStation or an N64, I ended up buying the PlayStation because I could get games for free. I bought about four games and copied about 30 from my friends. If I couldn't have copied games, that money would've either went to nintendo, or being only able to afford a couple games I probably wouldn't have bought any video game system at all so either way they wouldn't have gotten any money out of me. At least this way they got four games worth of money out of me.

Sony fixed the problem of easily pirating games, but by then I was hooked and ended up with a PS2 and PS3. Lots more money for sony.

So nintentendo gets lots of people who will buy the DS because they can get free games, all these people realize how fun the DS is, then nintendo makes the next gen DS with some new anti priacy technology in it, all the people buy the new system because its better than the old one, nintendo makes lots of money.

[Peanut128]

I would like to see Nintendo responding by coming up with a similar device like the R4 like a previous person mentioned too. It would be very convenient to be able to have all your games in one cart and be able to backup and transfer save files through standard devices like microSD cards. Also, I think a subscription service for games would do well for a portable like the DS and maybe PSP, people can try games out without risk and play multiple cart games without the investment of multiple copies.

If Nintendo is going after R4 users because they're loosing money, I'm surprised I don't see them trying to limit used game sales. I get most of my games used and rarely buy brand new. Does this mean I'm not supporting Nintendo with my $? I don't see how N sees any of the money I spent on a used game, which is completely legal to buy.

[chrisrodney]

Nintendo is making money hand over fist. But as a publicly traded corporation, they've gotta do what they've gotta do to try to nip this in the bud.

[ackmondual]

somebody buys games from a retailer who bought it from Nin. Nin makes $$ off the retailer. The retailer makes $$ off that "somebody", so the retailer will buy more Nin games, which makes more $$ for both NIn and the retailer. When u buy that game used from "somebody", that somebody now has $$ to buy more Nin games.

As I replied to that guy above, it's about anti-piracy, not convenience. Release pure download verisons and piracy will be even more rampant

[danielszabo1981]

Here's the main problem with paying for this stuff up front. Like Hollywood movies, 90% of the time you spend money on their products, you feel completely ripped off. Out of the last 50 movies i've been to, I can honesty say that 47 of them were filed in the "I can't believe I just paid to watch that crap" folder. Henceforth, I download them first before blowing (at minimum) $50 on a date to the movies.

Video games are no different. Every time you go out to blow another $50 - $70 on one of these titles, you are rolling the dice with a lot of money. It truly is a gamble. Sure, you can learn your lessons along the way (for instance, any game that is heavily advertised is sure to suck), but there is no recompense for the feeling of stupidity and the echo that is left in your wallet after buying a title that sucks.

Until the game studios can guarantee a title worthy of your money, EVERY TIME YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY, they should embrace the idea that piracy actually helps to move their products forward by offering a true filtering system outside of their own "paid testers" and advertisers.

I say bravo to the people that choose to do the responsible thing with their money and "try before they buy".

PS - the second response from illegal_mario was dead-on. They are spending more money trying to impossibly prevent piracy than they are losing on it. This either stems from ignorance in the CEO ranks of these companies, or inexperience and an unfamiliarity with the outlying culture of their demographic. Seriously, now -- video games sales are through the roof (GTA4, one of many titles with huge numbers, proves this with its daily sales figures), and these retards are worried about the 1 in 10,000 players that have figured out how to copy games. To them, I say glorify that 1 person in 10,000 and either offer him a job with the company or pick his brain and figure out what they can do to make their games worthy of purchase instead of download.

Blatant, hand-rubbing, money grubbing executives. Screw 'em.

[caeruleus--2008]

Well -Yeah tip for Nintendo =P One thing that did deter me was the threat of bricking, especially with the 'rarity' of wiis. I still free-loaded mine, because it seemed like a safe option. And I like buying japanese games to play. However I never got it modded because to me the risk > benefits.
One thing to the poster who said 95% of the games are not worth the money, that's why I research first. There are loads of sites that review games. Why anoyne would put $50 down for something they have no idea about is beyond me. For movies I go on imdb, rottentomatoes etc. For games, ign.