Nintendo shuts down fan-made Pokemon MMO

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.c.../pokenet42.jpg

Another fan project based on a beloved game series has fallen. Nintendo has issued a cease-and-desist notice to the creators of the open source Pokémon MMO Pokenet (Google cache of the site here), requiring that they take down their website and surrender the pokedev.org domain name used for the game, claiming unauthorized use of Nintendo trademarks.

Pokenet was a work in progress, with the "Valiant Venonat" version of the beta nearing release, but it was already operating online at the time of shutdown. "Nushio," one of the programmers on the project, told us that over 7,000 players had logged time in the game, which set every player as a Pokémon trainer in the regions of Kanto and Johto (with more coming later). "You could even catch, evolve, trade," Nushio told Joystiq.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/02/ni...e-pokemon-mmo/