will all this leaking screw us over

[randomspot555]

Those of you talking about fair use have to remember that IP law is very...complicated, there's lots of twists and turns and oddities, probably mostly because most people don't go to extra lengths to protect their properties. But any given IP case if it is taken to court is just as likely to go one way or another because of how foggy ip law tends to be.

Although I'm not sure how IP law is really related at all to a store breaking street date. Apparently Nintendo fined the store in Italy for each copy that wasn't returned, so obviously there is more to this in terms of legality than is overtly obvious to us as outsiders looking in. Nintendo isn't forcing people to give the games back (likely with a refund) but they are punishing the store for breaking the street date. And I say bravo to them for enforcing their release dates, even if it may not have been the greatest ideas to ship them in that early.

I don't know if this will "screw" anyone though as far as future releases...what are they going to do? Go back to the old way of doing things? For some reason that just doesn't bother me all that much, but that's just a personal thing.

IP law and the stores being fined are completely unrelated. The stores have contracts with distributors for stuff such as media and books and magazines and so on not to put them out until the proper release date. If sanctions are contained in the contract, that's a contractual issue and not an intellectual property issue.

If a reviewer leeks details ahead of his review, again, that's contractual and not IP.

Nintendo has absolutely no standing to legally force people who purchased a game legally from posting about it on their blogs, social media, etc... Sure, they can pressure individuals (or social media outlets themselves, who are often eager to avoid controversy) but that's about it.

 

[MasterJedi]

Those of you talking about fair use have to remember that IP law is very...complicated, there's lots of twists and turns and oddities, probably mostly because most people don't go to extra lengths to protect their properties. But any given IP case if it is taken to court is just as likely to go one way or another because of how foggy ip law tends to be.

Although I'm not sure how IP law is really related at all to a store breaking street date. Apparently Nintendo fined the store in Italy for each copy that wasn't returned, so obviously there is more to this in terms of legality than is overtly obvious to us as outsiders looking in. Nintendo isn't forcing people to give the games back (likely with a refund) but they are punishing the store for breaking the street date. And I say bravo to them for enforcing their release dates, even if it may not have been the greatest ideas to ship them in that early.

I don't know if this will "screw" anyone though as far as future releases...what are they going to do? Go back to the old way of doing things? For some reason that just doesn't bother me all that much, but that's just a personal thing.

IP law and the stores being fined are completely unrelated. The stores have contracts with distributors for stuff such as media and books and magazines and so on not to put them out until the proper release date. If sanctions are contained in the contract, that's a contractual issue and not an intellectual property issue.

If a reviewer leeks details ahead of his review, again, that's contractual and not IP.

Nintendo has absolutely no standing to legally force people who purchased a game legally from posting about it on their blogs, social media, etc... Sure, they can pressure individuals (or social media outlets themselves, who are often eager to avoid controversy) but that's about it.

Except they weren't legally bought. The store had no legal right to sell them before the release date so they can legally be taken back. Just like if something is stolen and I buy it from some store. If it's found out it's stolen the police can take it back from me because it wasn't legally purchased. Same situation here.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I wonder, who is the entity that struggles so hard to keep the secret? Nintendo, TPC, GameFreak?

It's funny how they try to fight against all of this, and the "dark side" (to give a name) always manages to get its goal. I don't understand, since they still sell high and earn zillions of money. Instead, I think they should use and play with all this hype.

You know the reason why breaking the street date was so tempting this time? Because of piracy. Or rather, the lack of it. (and at this point I beg mods not to edit/remove my post, because I'm not promoting illegal downloads at all; I'm just recognizing their existence and talking about their consequences)

In past generations, what leaked before street date weren't just some pokes or a little of game footage. Yes, I'm talking about the R word. However, breaking 3DS security has been hard as hell. To date, no reliable 3DS flashcard has been released. Let alone emulators; I'm not sure if somebody has even tried. So, if you want to play X/Y, the legal way is the only way, and many of us fans want to play it as soon as we can. And as many of you, including mods, admins and maybe Nintendo itself, will agree with me... that's how it should be.

So, Nintendo shouldn't be crying because some copies were purchased a couple of days before the release date. They should be happy these copies were sold and not downloaded.

Except they weren't legally bought. The store had no legal right to sell them before the release date so they can legally be taken back. Just like if something is stolen and I buy it from some store. If it's found out it's stolen the police can take it back from me because it wasn't legally purchased. Same situation here.

Nope. Not the same situation. There's not "steal" here. At best, it's a loophole. I don't know if there's such a contract that imposes the condition of not selling before release date, but even if this is the case, an intermediate distributor that sells some stock to an independent store is not breaking the contract, because it's not "selling to the public". That said, this small independent store that bought some copies from a distributor, has no firmed any contract with Nintendo, and as such, has no obligation of fulfill the street date clause. Thete's not steal here, Nintendo gets the money anyway.

 

[bluestarfish]

That said, this small independent store that bought some copies from a distributor, has no firmed any contract with Nintendo, and as such, has no obligation of fulfill the street date clause.

Nintendo is taking action against this store so I'm inclined to believe that you are wrong on this point.

Edit: At the very least Nintendo right now is saying "Pay the fine or we'll sanction you" I don't know if that falls under contractual obligations or whatever else, but it's what Nintendo is probably doing.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

That said, this small independent store that bought some copies from a distributor, has no firmed any contract with Nintendo, and as such, has no obligation of fulfill the street date clause.

Nintendo is taking action against this store so I'm inclined to believe that you are wrong on this point.

Edit: At the very least Nintendo right now is saying "Pay the fine or we'll sanction you" I don't know if that falls under contractual obligations or whatever else, but it's what Nintendo is probably doing.

Nintendo can try to take legal actions. And most microentrepreneurs will feel intimidated to a legal menace. But that doesn't mean they actually are breaking the law. They can go to the trial and go out free of any charge.

 

[bluestarfish]

Still won't stop Nintendo from sanctioning them.

And they can go to trial, but they'll be paying out their poor little bums for the legal fees.

If I was in their shoes I'd probably just take a sanctioning...but I live in a college town so all the game stores here sell alot more Xbox/PS3 games. I really of wonder how the whole whatever is going on for that poor little store will unfold. (I am feeling really nosy, if I could have access to all that information I would totally dredge though it out of pure curiosity. @_@)

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Still won't stop Nintendo from sanctioning them.

Unfortunately you're right. I'm just saying it shouldn't be that way. The big fish intimidates the small fish, though the clever fish just slips away.

Just today I reserved a copy of Pokémon Y at a small store. In my city, most videogame stores are concentrated around a couple of specific points, so the clerk commented me that some Nintendo agents have been walking around for irregularities. The store where I reserved announced to be delivering at October 11, but they said us to be constantly and discretely asking through Facebook inbox if the game arrived, because these could arrive up earlier and the store plans to deliver as soon as they get the copies. So I may get the game as soon as October 8th.

 

[randomspot555]

Those of you talking about fair use have to remember that IP law is very...complicated, there's lots of twists and turns and oddities, probably mostly because most people don't go to extra lengths to protect their properties. But any given IP case if it is taken to court is just as likely to go one way or another because of how foggy ip law tends to be.

Although I'm not sure how IP law is really related at all to a store breaking street date. Apparently Nintendo fined the store in Italy for each copy that wasn't returned, so obviously there is more to this in terms of legality than is overtly obvious to us as outsiders looking in. Nintendo isn't forcing people to give the games back (likely with a refund) but they are punishing the store for breaking the street date. And I say bravo to them for enforcing their release dates, even if it may not have been the greatest ideas to ship them in that early.

I don't know if this will "screw" anyone though as far as future releases...what are they going to do? Go back to the old way of doing things? For some reason that just doesn't bother me all that much, but that's just a personal thing.

IP law and the stores being fined are completely unrelated. The stores have contracts with distributors for stuff such as media and books and magazines and so on not to put them out until the proper release date. If sanctions are contained in the contract, that's a contractual issue and not an intellectual property issue.

If a reviewer leeks details ahead of his review, again, that's contractual and not IP.

Nintendo has absolutely no standing to legally force people who purchased a game legally from posting about it on their blogs, social media, etc... Sure, they can pressure individuals (or social media outlets themselves, who are often eager to avoid controversy) but that's about it.

Except they weren't legally bought. The store had no legal right to sell them before the release date so they can legally be taken back. Just like if something is stolen and I buy it from some store. If it's found out it's stolen the police can take it back from me because it wasn't legally purchased. Same situation here.

The games were legally purchased. Nintendo is going after retailers and sanctioning them through a contract. No one, store or customers, are even accused of breaking criminal law.

 

[Araragi-hakase]

When BW2 came out, there was a Target around here that was selling them a week early. I don't know what happened with that, but a handful of my friends got their copies a week early. They didn't get in any trouble, because they were buying what was made available to them. Target probably got in trouble though I heard it was pulled after 20 minutes. (So...someone probably fucked up somewhere.)

But I don't think leaks will have any effect on getting another world wide release date in the future. The stores are held accountable, and they'll get in trouble for it. The dude that was leaking the game on Instagram got a C&D order, but not his game taken off of him or anything as far as I know. If it was someone that had it for review purposes, they probably won't be allowed to review games in the future

When I preordered my games at GameStop a few weeks ago, I had asked the kid about the Timeline poster, and he said to go in a few days before the game comes out for the poster because they get the posters the same times the games arrive; he said depending on the game it's a week-twoish weeks before release to make sure they have enough for preorders and if they might need to order more and idk. I really want that poster but I'm just going to (hopefully) get it when GameStop opens that Saturday They probably hate me there because I'm always waiting in the parking lot 10 minutes before they open on Pokemon game days

 

[The Outrage]

When BW2 came out, there was a Target around here that was selling them a week early. I don't know what happened with that, but a handful of my friends got their copies a week early. They didn't get in any trouble, because they were buying what was made available to them. Target probably got in trouble though I heard it was pulled after 20 minutes. (So...someone probably fucked up somewhere.)

But that wasn't ruining what Game Freak had planned in terms of a world-wide release. Their issue apparently wasn't the games being sold early but information being leaked online.

 

[Stratelier]

It's funny how they try to fight against all of this, and the "dark side" (to give a name) always manages to get its goal. I don't understand, since they still sell high and earn zillions of money. Instead, I think they should use and play with all this hype.

Principle. One of the people sold to chose to leak images and videos onto the Internet from their copy. Y'know, to millions of anxious players a good week-plus before anyone is supposed to be able to have their hands on it. Almost like boasting how "I have it and YOU don't!"

To date, no reliable 3DS flashcard has been released. Let alone emulators; I'm not sure if somebody has even tried.

Just the other day there was (with special emphasis on the past tense) a post claiming to have an emulator and ROM in hand, but that was probably just a bot account. Nothing to see here, move along.

The dude that was leaking the game on Instagram got a C&D order, but not his game taken off of him or anything as far as I know.

Unless there were ninja involved.

 

[Silverwynde]

Uh, guys,

https://twitter.com/TamashiiHiroka/status/385187314407723008

Anyone heard anything about that?

(Note to mods: I know this should ~technically~ be in the rumors thread, but I wanted to avoid spoilers of the leaks, so is it ok if I post this here? Thanks!)

Who the Hell is Tamashii Hiroka? Until we hear anything from the horses mouth, treat anything but as false.

Dude, Tamashi is a YouTuber and a pretty popular one in regards to her Pokemon videos. I'd trust her. You guys need to get out from under your rocks and find out more about the Pokemon community and the popular individuals within it!

Just because someone is popular doesn't mean that what they say should be taken at face value. We have plenty of people like that in the Transformers fandom and plenty of them pass off inaccurate information. I'm willing to bet if Masuda was upset, he'd be more than willing to Tweet about it.

Just my two cents.

The problem is, it wasn't just that one store in Canada that was leaking (and that guy was an absolute moron) but people with review copies too. It's not just retailers breaking the street date, but reviewers outright breaking the NDAs they signed. That puts a lot of doubt in more than one sector of the industry and with a company as traditional as Nintendo, this could have a significant impact. It is worth noting that every single leak we have had so far has come from English language games.

Honestly, if it's coming from English speaking beta testers/reviewers, then they need to be punished. Take their copies, shut down their social media, what have you. If they broke an NDA then they need to learn that yes, bad things will happen to you. You violated a contract, so you're officially done. I wouldn't go so far as saying that they should be blacklisted but if I was working for Nintendo, I wouldn't give them the time of day, let alone an unreleased game to test.

I am forced to wonder: what does it take to be a beta tester for a Pokemon game? I've been telling my husband that I'd love to do it...and no one around here would know about it as I would say absolutely nothing.

 

[Genwunner]

I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo/Game Freak decided not to do a worldwide release again, they are known for throwing their toys out of the pram. Whether it's the cartoon where they ban episodes permanently, or features of games that they try and ignore, like the GS Ball, Apricorn balls in Gen 5.

Come along my fellow Europeans back to being mistreated by Nintendo/Game Freak and waiting years for a release, even months behind the US as we used to be.

 

[NoirGrimoir]

It is worth noting that every single leak we have had so far has come from English language games.

Not true, there are quite a few Spanish language videos on YouTube with in-game footage. Bulbapedia is just predominately an English language board, so of course we get our leaks from English language game users. And our first leaker, Kosthedin (or whatever it was), was playing an Italian game, even if it was in the English language. Every game has the ability to be played in all seven languages, any one from anywhere can play it in any of the languages, regardless of where they purchased it. Also, English is the obvious language to leak in, English is arguably 'the language' of the internet. We have users from all over the world here, plenty from countries that don't have English as a first language,

 

[Stratelier]

I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo/Game Freak decided not to do a worldwide release again, they are known for throwing their toys out of the pram. Whether it's the cartoon where they ban episodes permanently, or features of games that they try and ignore, like the GS Ball, Apricorn balls in Gen 5.

Come along my fellow Europeans back to being mistreated by Nintendo/Game Freak and waiting years for a release, even months behind the US as we used to be.

In terms of Pokemon's actual production strategy, going back to staggered releases after so much work spent in a worldwide release would be like trying to make your Pokemon de-evolve.

 

[UnovaCastaway]

I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo/Game Freak decided not to do a worldwide release again, they are known for throwing their toys out of the pram.

This is not a worldwide release issue, it's about when distributors ship the games to stores and the integrity of those retailers saving them until their street date.

Back when the games used to come out in Japan months before everywhere else, some people always leaked copies early, either as video game store employees or their online orders came early. The only thing that makes the X and Y leaks stand out is how early they started. The countries they happened in probably aren't that much of an issue.

 

[NoirGrimoir]

Logistically it's impossible to keep something like this 100% under wraps and they never have been, the internet and popular sites like instagram and youtube have just made it that much easier to get the info out there and validated immediately. If something like this happened years ago it would take a week to get around and make sure it's legit and now it happens in five seconds or less. Kosthedin had over 7,000 subscribers on his instagram literally a few hours after he started leaking pics.

 

[Seba]

Yeah, I'm way too spoiled already.