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‘Nintendo Power’ Scans Disappeared from the Internet Archive – Techdirt

63 points by raybb 4y ago

hobbitstan 4y ago
Nintendo used to be synonymous with ‘fun’ but heavy-handed lawyers sure are ruining that. Likely the only people reading these old magazines were once kids who owned them. Reminiscing on the past, when games were fun and new, when Nintendo was exciting, sure doesn’t seem like a threat. Hell, it may even spark some purchases in Nintendos favor.
- solarmist 4y ago
  Here. "Nintendo used to be synonymous with ‘fun’ but heavy-handed lawyers." Fixed it for you. This has always been true for Nintendo.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
nirvgorilla 4y ago
Still on retromags. Go grab them before they possibly disappear. https://www.retromags.com/magazines/usa/nintendo-power/ https://www.retromags.com/magazines/usa/nintendo-power/
- deafpolygon 4y ago
  Thumbing through their catalogue, I notice #208 and #285 are missing.
  - nirvgorilla 4y ago
    Thumbing through myself, I don't know why any self-respecting gamer would read past issue 114 - November 1998. That's the last issue I would look at because that's around the time Nintendo starting blowing. Pokemon? Come on. No. Just no. Ocarina of Time was the last Nintendo game I'd be proud of owning.
    - deafpolygon 4y ago
      Funny you say that. Ocarina of Time was indeed the last Nintendo game I owned up until a few years ago when I was gifted a Switch. After the N64 I went to -> PS1 -> PS2 -> Xbox360 -> PS4. I skipped the GameCube, Wii, handhelds, etc.
anthk 4y ago
Nintendo is dumb. Old magazines are the perfect marketing tool to create nostalgia for old gamers which today are... parents with children!!!
- gs17 4y ago
  And it's another case of something that makes fans happy, requires no expense from the company, and isn't something they have any plans to offer themselves paid or free, but they need it taken down immediately instead of just giving it their blessing at least temporarily.
autoexec 4y ago
I really don't understand Nintendo sometimes. For a company that depends so much on the loyal and devoted fans of a small handful of franchisees they sure do a lot to piss that very same fanbase off. Now that they have some real competition in the handheld/portable gaming space you'd think they'd be more careful than ever about the bridges that they set fire too.
whateveracct 4y ago
Nintendo also continues to completely be a pain in the ass for the competitive Melee community. There's a constant threat of takedown, and whenever they do "sponsor" an event it is complete nonsense (play a Splatoon ad and don't use the slightly-modded Melee that fixes bugs or else we will take you down). Never forget when Melee got to be at Evo because the community raised the most money for cancer. And Nintendo almost shut it down. Thankfully they couldn't handle that level of bad PR, and Evo 2013 is now a historic moment in Melee history and one big reason the game is still going strong today. Despite Nintendo entirely. Dunno why they won't let people keep playing and pushing the envelope of a 21 year old game. Maybe it's because of how much better modern Melee is than any of their subsequent attempts? For instance, Melee has better online play than Smash Ultimate (rollback netcode!) despite being implemented by patching the assembly.
psychphysic 4y ago
I recently happened on a bunch of sega Saturn magazines. I couldn't believe how quickly I handed over the cash and even as I was walking hope I was chuffed. Usually buyers remorse hits before my Google pay shows my amex tx. I say down to a nice beer and just read the first one cover to cover.
kderbyma 4y ago
Nintendo has been possessed by Oracle apparently....:/ -- They stopped being competitive game company and turned into lawyer straddled litigation machines.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- naikrovek 4y ago
  they have always been a lawyer-driven litigation machines, it's just that not everyone is aware of it. they have been like this since they started making video games, at the latest.
deafpolygon 4y ago
IANAL For those who are saying that Nintendo is dumb, copyright/trademark laws compel you to defend your copyrights/trademarks in most places - especially the US, and especially when said copyright is older (Mario is going on 41 years). Yes, I am aware that copyright != trademark and vice versa, but they overlap in many places. Not doing so, makes it harder to protect your trademarks in the future. While copyrights never truly expire (they can after some time, around 70 years?).
- DoItToMe81 4y ago
  You don't lose your copyright for not taking down every copy of something online. That's absurd.
  - deafpolygon 4y ago
    It is not that you lose your copyright, but your trademark (sometimes your copyright) becomes harder to defend if you don't actively protect it. Sometimes the terminology is blurry and it's not clear when someone means copyright or trademark. Nintendo is doing this to protect their trademark (Nintendo, et. al.).

63 points by raybb 4y ago

Nintendo used to be synonymous with ‘fun’ but heavy-handed lawyers sure are ruining that. Likely the only people reading these old magazines were once kids who owned them. Reminiscing on the past, when games were fun and new, when Nintendo was exciting, sure doesn’t seem like a threat. Hell, it may even spark some purchases in Nintendos favor.

solarmist 4y ago
Here. "Nintendo used to be synonymous with ‘fun’ but heavy-handed lawyers." Fixed it for you. This has always been true for Nintendo.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

nirvgorilla 4y ago

Still on retromags. Go grab them before they possibly disappear. https://www.retromags.com/magazines/usa/nintendo-power/ https://www.retromags.com/magazines/usa/nintendo-power/

deafpolygon 4y ago
Thumbing through their catalogue, I notice #208 and #285 are missing.
- nirvgorilla 4y ago
  Thumbing through myself, I don't know why any self-respecting gamer would read past issue 114 - November 1998. That's the last issue I would look at because that's around the time Nintendo starting blowing. Pokemon? Come on. No. Just no. Ocarina of Time was the last Nintendo game I'd be proud of owning.
  - deafpolygon 4y ago
    Funny you say that. Ocarina of Time was indeed the last Nintendo game I owned up until a few years ago when I was gifted a Switch. After the N64 I went to -> PS1 -> PS2 -> Xbox360 -> PS4. I skipped the GameCube, Wii, handhelds, etc.

anthk 4y ago

Nintendo is dumb. Old magazines are the perfect marketing tool to create nostalgia for old gamers which today are... parents with children!!!

gs17 4y ago
And it's another case of something that makes fans happy, requires no expense from the company, and isn't something they have any plans to offer themselves paid or free, but they need it taken down immediately instead of just giving it their blessing at least temporarily.

autoexec 4y ago

I really don't understand Nintendo sometimes. For a company that depends so much on the loyal and devoted fans of a small handful of franchisees they sure do a lot to piss that very same fanbase off. Now that they have some real competition in the handheld/portable gaming space you'd think they'd be more careful than ever about the bridges that they set fire too.

whateveracct 4y ago

Nintendo also continues to completely be a pain in the ass for the competitive Melee community. There's a constant threat of takedown, and whenever they do "sponsor" an event it is complete nonsense (play a Splatoon ad and don't use the slightly-modded Melee that fixes bugs or else we will take you down). Never forget when Melee got to be at Evo because the community raised the most money for cancer. And Nintendo almost shut it down. Thankfully they couldn't handle that level of bad PR, and Evo 2013 is now a historic moment in Melee history and one big reason the game is still going strong today. Despite Nintendo entirely. Dunno why they won't let people keep playing and pushing the envelope of a 21 year old game. Maybe it's because of how much better modern Melee is than any of their subsequent attempts? For instance, Melee has better online play than Smash Ultimate (rollback netcode!) despite being implemented by patching the assembly.

psychphysic 4y ago

I recently happened on a bunch of sega Saturn magazines. I couldn't believe how quickly I handed over the cash and even as I was walking hope I was chuffed. Usually buyers remorse hits before my Google pay shows my amex tx. I say down to a nice beer and just read the first one cover to cover.

kderbyma 4y ago

Nintendo has been possessed by Oracle apparently....:/ -- They stopped being competitive game company and turned into lawyer straddled litigation machines.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
naikrovek 4y ago
they have always been a lawyer-driven litigation machines, it's just that not everyone is aware of it. they have been like this since they started making video games, at the latest.

deafpolygon 4y ago

IANAL For those who are saying that Nintendo is dumb, copyright/trademark laws compel you to defend your copyrights/trademarks in most places - especially the US, and especially when said copyright is older (Mario is going on 41 years). Yes, I am aware that copyright != trademark and vice versa, but they overlap in many places. Not doing so, makes it harder to protect your trademarks in the future. While copyrights never truly expire (they can after some time, around 70 years?).

DoItToMe81 4y ago
You don't lose your copyright for not taking down every copy of something online. That's absurd.
- deafpolygon 4y ago
  It is not that you lose your copyright, but your trademark (sometimes your copyright) becomes harder to defend if you don't actively protect it. Sometimes the terminology is blurry and it's not clear when someone means copyright or trademark. Nintendo is doing this to protect their trademark (Nintendo, et. al.).