'Bob's Game' dev confines self in Nintendo protest

[Shrygue]

via Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/22/bobs-game-dev-confines-self-in-nintendo-protest/)


You've got to feel for Bob Pelloni. The guy sinks 15,000 hours over five years into making a DS RPG -- completely by himself -- called Bob's Game. Now, when his labor of love is finally ready to be shown to the world, the poor guy can't wrestle the last thing he needs, a disc containing the development kit (or SDK), away from Nintendo. After 17 weeks of trying, Bob's getting serious and locking himself in solitary confinement for 100 days in protest.

Bob's got no internet, no television, just the tools he needs to work and a phone to check his email (in the hopes that Nintendo tries to get a hold of him). If you'd like to pitch in and help out, Bob's asking that you drop a line (http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/webform.jsp) to Big N. We'll do the same, and let you know what we hear.

[carlitx]

I for him man. go BOB!

[Justinistheman]

i heard about this guys game a while back on here and i feel for him and maybe he will become a game maker for nintendo so i am pulling for him to get his game developed cause i wanna play it

[mr game porter]

i got a baaaad feeling about this...

[Smurph]

Maybe we should mail him a copy of devkitPro?

[ethd]

Only one problem:
You can't publish a game on devkitPro :P

[spinal_cord]

What's stopping him getting a copy? I though al he would need is a big pile of money and if he hasn't got that, then no amount of protesting is going to get him it.

[Sonny_Jim]

It's not just about 'a big pile of money'. For years Nintendo have controlled who can publish games for their consoles so they can control 'the image' of their consoles.

I could walk up to Ninty with a million in my back pocket and they still could turn me away:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo#Content_guidelines

[krazedkat1]

Yeah. But how would and RPG NEGATIVELY reflect the DS?

[JDvorak]

This is stupid, you're telling me that the little guy making a game can't get published because of the guidelines of Nintendo? So how did any of these companies get started putting out games for Nintendo back in the days of the NES. I remember Tengen put them out without a Nintendo Seal of Aproval. Remember the Tengen Ms. Pac-Man and Tetris that Nintendo also put out. Tengen's games were better made but Nintendo bitched about it then and now won't let the little guy succeed. I think this guy should just go find a publisher for his game and forget putting it out himself. It may be that it is a good game and a publishing company who publishes for DS might want to put it on other platforms as well. That is how Jordan Mechner started out with Prince of Persia (after doing Karateka for Broderbund) and now look at the franchise. A million day protest will get you nowhere fast! Let alone a 100 day. Take his game to Konami and some of the other companies and see what they think of it. Sega would be an awesome publisher to work with as well!

[LDAsh]

Exactly, he needs to find a publisher, and not try to contact Nintendo directly, because everyone knows that Nintendo only publishes a few select games like Marios and Metroids. There's a lot more to it than sending an e-mail to some Nintendo executive, there's a whole system of firey hoops to leap through, especially in a legal sense. A developer needs to make sure they have all the documentation that states what software they've used and where all their content comes from, with evidence. Get it all copyrighted, scrape together funds, and pitch it to them in a neat little package. Maybe the whole issue is about approach, and nothing to do with the project at all.

[Epic Pie]

Hmm, someone should call someone before this goes in the opposite direction of what 'Bob' anticipated.