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[SantaC]

I remember that guy who was working on a 2D Zelda OoT. His site http://www.oot2d.com does not work anymore, and it hasn't been working for weeks. a few months ago he said that his first playable demo (included great deku tree) was 99% done, and needed just a few more days.

I am wondering if he just quit or moved to another adress. Some people even donated money for this project.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Well, eventually it was going to go to Nintendo Shut My Ass Down Land.

 

[dark10x]

Well, eventually it was going to go to Nintendo Shut My Ass Down Land.

Which sucks...

It's a shame companies can be so hard on those things. I believe someone from TriAce actually stated that they were impressed and flattered by the work done on that fan made Valkyrie Profile fighting game. That's the kind of attitude I'd like to see.

A fan project, that isn't being created for making money, doesn't seem dangerous...

 

[SantaC]

I am not so sure that Nintendo shut it down because he said earlier that he got green light from them. Maybe he just did quit.

 

[Kobun Heat]

A fan project, that isn't being created for making money, doesn't seem dangerous...

It's actually quite dangerous. If you don't protect your IP you run the risk of losing it.

 

[dark10x]

It's actually quite dangerous. If you don't protect your IP you run the risk of losing it.

Explain...

If a fan was to make a Zelda-based game...what damage would that really cause? If they were to SELL it, I could see a problem...but there is no way that someone would have enough time or money to make something that even begins to rival Nintendo's own games, so I can't imagine people downloading a free game over buying a new Zelda title.

How would they "lose" the IP? It isn't as if there is a huge line-up of people waiting to make new Zelda games. It isn't exactly easy to pull off with no money involved (and none expected). What damage would this guys project do to Nintendo?

 

[Kobun Heat]

Well, first off there's the common sense logic that if a "Zelda game" is available for free, people will play that instead of Nintendo's. You can argue how much this actually affects them, but there is an effect.

Another potentially more damaging situation is this: if a company doesn't protect its IP, it could get to the point where it is percieved as being in the public domain. If Nintendo didn't go after every use of its characters in a game, then they set themselves up for a situation like this years down the line:

-A company uses Nintendo characters in a game, and sells it.
-Nintendo sues.
-Said company's legal defense is to point to all the times when Nintendo DIDN'T protect the copyright on their characters, allowing other such companies/individuals to use the characters in games.
-Company wins, and Mario/Zelda/what have you becomes de facto in the public domain.

 

[dark10x]

Well, first off there's the common sense logic that if a "Zelda game" is available for free, people will play that instead of Nintendo's. You can argue how much this actually affects them, but there is an effect.

Another potentially more damaging situation is this: if a company doesn't protect its IP, it could get to the point where it is percieved as being in the public domain. If Nintendo didn't go after every use of its characters in a game, then they set themselves up for a situation like this years down the line:

-A company uses Nintendo characters in a game, and sells it.
-Nintendo sues.
-Said company's legal defense is to point to all the times when Nintendo DIDN'T protect the copyright on their characters, allowing other such companies/individuals to use the characters in games.
-Company wins, and Mario/Zelda/what have you becomes de facto in the public domain.

Yeah, I suppose you are right...but it is still bothersome.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Yeah, I suppose you are right...but it is still bothersome.

Blame liberal copyright laws. As I understand it (and please correct me if I am wrong), Japan has so many dojinshi and dojin games because the laws are stricter - since the companies know they can't possibly lose their copyrights, they don't need to go after them.