Nintendo Apologizes to SuicideGirls 423
As a follow up to the unfortunate incident on Wednesday, thanks to emfra (and others) who pointed out that BoingBoing has Nintendo's Apology Letter to the SuicideGirls site up. They even went so far as to offer up a free game system and game to the site owner. So alls well that end's well...but not before Penny Arcade had a chance to comment.
Re:Can someone repost? (Score:5, Informative)
We would like to apologize to you and to those who frequent the suicidegirls.com website for inadvertently contacting you about a fan posting on the website.
We know that many of our fans are old enough to make their own choice about what they want to view on the Internet. We value the support of our fans and we respect their decisions. The letter was sent as part of an ongoing Nintendo program to aggressively protect our younger consumers from the hundreds of sexually-explicit sites each year that use Nintendo properties to attract children. We are proud of our efforts in this area. Unfortunately, the site posting identified in our letter was targeted by mistake.
As a gesture of goodwill, we would like to offer you (and RuneLateralus) a free Nintendo video game system and game of your choice. (...)
In addition, we would appreciate it if you could provide us with contact information for RuneLateralus, or have him contact us directly, so that we may apologize to him. We would be glad to send him a game and system of his choice through you as well, since we do not have his contact information.
Sincerely,
Christie Hamilton
Nintendo of America Inc.
Consumer Service Department
Re:Can someone repost? (Score:5, Informative)
Penny Arcade Comment (Score:5, Informative)
Fri, October 29 2004 - 4:30 AM
by: Tycho
I'd say it's better than even odds you've seen the story, either at VE or Slashdot. The long and short of it is that someone said they liked a couple Nintendo games in their SuicideGirls profile - and, in a parody of the reasonable universe, lawyers bared their teeth. I have a hunch we're talking about some kind of perverted spider application, an automated process with a bottomless appetite for filth, but it's funny to think tracking down meaningless infractions like this is some guy's fucking job.
I guess I should say a few things in advance of this discussion. SuicideGirls is a site where, among other things, girls take off their clothes. I'm not saying you should go there or not go there. They've asked to advertise here before, and while I don't have any great qualm with titillating media I didn't know if it was the best match for the site. It may be that my scheme for rating pornography has been damaged by the Internet, but the site is actually pretty tasteful compared to other sites I have subscribed to, many of which are filmed in barns.
Now, with the caveat out of the way, I am not without reason: I can understand why Nintendo as a corporate entity might not want their juggernaut brands associated with teen coochie. And indeed, if we were talking about photosets with explicit connections to their brands I would be less likely to ridicule them for it. I can even envision a scenario where a girl might have a Mario tattoo or something, and they might have something legitimate to say in that case, but honestly now I'm just indulging some kind of fantasy.
At this point, I don't care if it was a spider or some asshole at a terminal somewhere. When we did our Strawberry Shortcake comic, I was able to come to terms with the fact that there was an interpretation of my country's laws that prohibited what we had done. I didn't like it, but I could connect the dots and we relented. This, on the other hand, is merely stupid and evil. For better or worse, their company is built on these ancient, perennial brands that sprout up again on each new system. The reason it works is only partially because they tend to make excellent games - they deal gently with those classics, modernizing what they need, and somehow manage to retain a sense of wonder. But Nintendo's success hinges on the fact that their characters have become cultural icons - and being cultural icons means that we as gamers take an ownership in those franchises. They're a part of our language and, if you're the sort of person who reads Penny arcade, your culture.
It's not legal ownership, no - but we're heavily invested in those characters. Which I guess is a crime.
Update: Or, maybe it's not. Someone at Nintendo figured out this was stupid - BoingBoing has the letter they sent out.
(CW)TB out.
Re:Can someone repost? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:WARNING NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!! (Score:5, Informative)
That is because this whole story from beginning to end is fake. The whole of slashdot goes "WTF is wrong with Nintendo" and surf to suicidegirls or another pornographic site. This results in suicidegirls getting loads of free advertising... The whole thing is a ploy and they have done it before, just look at these:
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/11/26/1
and http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/27/1
Re:WARNING NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!! (Score:1, Informative)
Be careful when you assume, you just make an ass out of you.
Unbelievable (Score:2, Informative)
Anywhere but Slashdot, I mean.
Well, if they didn't have a Cease and Desist from Nintendo before, I'm damn sure they'll get one now. How about we don't report on that?
Honestly, the adage about replacing people with very small shell scripts has never been more apt. Would it be possible to write an 'editor' script for Slashdot that performed worse than the 'editors' who currently draw a salary for 'doing' that 'job'?
Re:Can someone repost? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, there are. Two examples:
My wife opened a URL that once belonged to Toys-R-Us. She bookmarked it a few years ago, but now it's a porn site. I TRU didn't renew it's domain registration for that particular domain, and the porn guys grabbed it.
Also, see my
Here's the HOWTO (Score:4, Informative)
There's even a tool for automating the process.
Re:Can someone repost? (Score:3, Informative)
I believe the parent post is right, although I'm not entirely sure. I heard Nintendo commissioned Sony to help them build a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES after the "success" of the Mega-CD (or Sega-CD as it's known in America), then changed their mind. Sony weren't too pleased about this so went ahead with the system anyway, improved it quite a bit, and released it as the PlayStation.