tetsuoxb said:
You disagree because you are computer literate and game savvy.
The general public is neither. General public = jury.
These guys are going down. Either because they can't afford to defend themselves or because they really did something that is against the law. The EFF can claim fair use all it wants.... but it isnt fair use.
I think part of the outrage from the gaming community is that this action is a step that companies seldom use. I remember back in the day people going apeshit when TCs for Quake or Quake 2 would get taken down.
Same shit. Different day.
You're misinterpreting me. I'm not saying this is legal. I'm not even saying they'll win either. In fact, I'm not sure what you're arguing.
You said "The nude patches completely misappropriate the image of the characters, and makes Tecmo a huge target for all kinds of bad things."
But it doesn't make it a target. The nude patches are simply not Tecmo created content. Look at Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. She was nude patched and edited all over the place and that didn't have any sort of backlash. Instead, it helped create some "sexy" momentum and buzz for the Lara Croft character and general public got wind of it and we got 2 (dismal) movies. And hell, Tecmo is creating borderline offensive imagery outside of these mods anyway, but I digress.
Point is, THIS particular example is not creating a problem to anyone. Tecmo is too worried/frightened about the implications of a misappropriated IP that it doesn't see that this sort of modding has never created any sort of major backlash.
And, even when this sort of thing does hit mainstream media, it usually creates a buzz and sells the product even more, despite the quality of the game and ESPECIALLY when the quality of games in question are great to begin with (which IMO DOA:XBV is not, but arguably NG and DOA are).
Hell, do I even need to mention the Rockstar effect with GTA and Manhunt? We're talking stuff that Rockstar itself created and are liable for and the worst they got nailed with was a picketing and a few texture changes. I may be wrong here, but even if they had to pay a fine, again, there's a distinction because Tecmo hasn't created the offensive content.
Tecmo isn't even in a position to be attacked if you compare their titles to the rest of the market. You can't get sued for something you didn't create to beginwith.
For example, I can't go on OprahWinfrey.com, modify the site with nude photographs, print it out, and sue Oprah for it, it doesn't work that way. I mean technically I could, but I wouldn't win!
That and the fact that these mods can only exist on modified Xboxes and burned DVDs or hard drives proves my point; that no one can possibly mistake this for the real game and if they did, egg would be on their face when they found out that their own children put these evil boobies onscreen, not Tecmo. It probably wouldn't even make it to trial as the original content is correctly rated T.
To sum up, I agree that the mods are probably illegal. I agree that it is a misappropriation of IP. I also agree that it is within their legal right to protect their IPs to the fullest extent of the law.
However, what I don't agree with is the fact that Tecmo is exercising that right in this particular case. That they're deciding to attack a few hacks for something that will have no negative impact on them, outside of creating a (very small) buzz around them, and maybe helped sell a few copies.
And perhaps they wouldn't be the target of such hacks if they didn't put watermelon sized balloons in their games to begin with, but that's another topic entirely.
