I smell lawsuit

[Archaic]

http://www.playstation.jp/scej/title/bh2000/

Not only is it a Wario Ware ripoff....but they just happen to use obvious (and insulting) Mario and Luigi clones for their apparent mascots as well. It's not even a 3rd party title, it's a flipping Sony 1st party! I can see why they'd want a game like this, with lagging sales for the PSP in Japan, but this is just asking to be sued.

 

[Zeta]

When was the last lawsuit over videogame concepts, anyways? I dont' really remember a lot of them.

 

[Archaic]

Well....I'm not sure if any lawsuits were ever made in Japan, now that I think about it, but I think there were some in the US. I know there's been at least one before over copying Mario.

 

[Geodude]

The makers of City of Heroes (the company name escapes me) got sued by Marvel because with the create-a-player mode in that game, it was possible to create characters that looked, acted, and fought like actual Marvel superheroes.

 

[Nekusagi]

The makers of City of Heroes (the company name escapes me) got sued by Marvel because with the create-a-player mode in that game, it was possible to create characters that looked, acted, and fought like actual Marvel superheroes.

NC Soft, Geodude.
And the suit got thrown out because it turned out Marvel was making those superheroes itself.
..Holy friggin crap.
If Nintendo doesn't sue, it's a bunch of idiots.
Though it's surprising Nintendo didn't sue after all the umpteen Game Boy games came out that were blatant Pokemon ripoffs (Robopon, DemiKids,those Shaman King games, etc.)

 

[Doctor Oak]

Yeah, but they didn't make disparaging 'levels' of the game they're ripping off. This does and doesn't do it as satire as it's ripping off one of their games in the process.

Nintendo could sue for it as slanderous but it'd probably be NOA taking action than NOJ - more of a precedent in America for it.

 

[Misty]

I hear that copyright laws are less stringent in Japan than in America, so it's likely that we'll never see an American release for this...

 

[Archaic]

It's not that they're less stringent (trust me, I've actually read them), but rather that companies don't tend to enforce them quite so heavily. I'd imagine something like this though might be an exception.

 

[Kadabra]

Archaic is correct. There are many fan-made games of popular professional video game and anime titles. Those fan-made games are sold for money, but the companies do not care.

 

[Zeta]

The makers of City of Heroes (the company name escapes me) got sued by Marvel because with the create-a-player mode in that game, it was possible to create characters that looked, acted, and fought like actual Marvel superheroes.

Which was a ridiculous accusation or basis for a lawsuit. That's like suing the manufacturer of art supplies when the people who use them do drawings of copywrited characters.

 

[Doctor Oak]

Which is why they failed miserably.

Although there ARE too many Marvel Clones in City of Heroes. No-one, it seems, has an actual spark of originality in their heads at all.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

The problem is that Marvel's being run by a bunch of idiots right now, who are sue happy, while openly ripping off ideas from DC. But don't be surprised if you don't see that lawsuit renewed when Marvel releases its OWN MMORPG in 2007 (or maybe it's 2006). Especially if City of Heroes/Villains expands anymore.

 

[Zeta]

The problem is that Marvel's being run by a bunch of idiots right now, who are sue happy, while openly ripping off ideas from DC.

While DC, ironically is desperately trying to make their characters darker, angsty, and more grey in an attempt to rip off Marvel.

Funny.