Nintendo Legal shuts down Smash Brothers at Evo 2013

Nintendo of America has stated that the EVO 2013 fighting game tournament may not stream any footage from Smash Brothers Melee.

[majiebeast]

Unbelievable is Nintendo just run by idiots nowadays? The entire Smash tournament is free publicity for Smash 4 and they shut it down what a way to spit in the face of your fans. Nintendo is looking more like EA everyday first with the youtube video's and now this.

[Pandamobile]

Even EA doesn't do this.

[Abash]

I guess since Nintendo wasn't getting any money from it they made sure it wasn't going to be used.

[mattdillahunty]

i'm 28 years old, and i've been a fan and supporter of Nintendo since my childhood. i haven't owned all of their handhelds, and i still don't own a Wii U, but i've always respected the company for what they've stood for and the timeless games and icons they've produced.

but now, though...this just really disappoints me and makes me look at Nintendo in a different light. i don't even play Smash Bros competitively, and i've only ever owned the original and Brawl and wasn't hardcore into them (although i enjoyed both). but Smash Bros players have always had to play second fiddle in the fighting game community. Smash was always that game that "wasn't really a true fighting game," the game that never got the shine that Street Fighter or Marvel or Tekken, etc. the game that never made it on streams.

now, though, they worked hard and made it not only to the biggest fighting game tournament in the world, but they were going to be on stream. and the players and fans worked so hard for it:

"The rather awkward twist to all this is that the Smash Bros. Melee community raised nearly $95,000 in Evo's official charity fundraiser for breast cancer research earlier this year, a total surpassed by fans of no other fighting game. Raising that money earned Melee an inclusion in this year's tournament. And yet, now, because of an edict from Nintendo, footage of the competition in the game won't be streamed for fans to see."
http://kotaku.com/nintendo-...

but Nintendo just shuts it down for no good reason. for the life of me, i cannot think of a SINGLE justifiable reason why Nintendo should do this. yes, they are legally allowed to, but that doesn't mean they should. one Smash player tweeted that he would have to miss the finals because the tournament organizers had to reschedule Smash times and now his plane will be leaving before the finals start on Sunday (they were going to be on Saturday before this). what Nintendo did is just breaking down a community that worked hard to get where it is. and Nintendo is wrong for it.

if you're on twitter, use the #freemelee and #meleestream4evo hashtags and tweet @NintendoAmerica to let them know what you think of this. it might not change anything, but then again...it might. but these players, fans, and supporters deserve better than this.

[Kryptix]

lol Nintendo, I remember getting the N64 when I was a kid and loving Nintendo for their incredible catalogue of games I can never forget about. I actually owned every Nintendo system except the Virtual Boy and the Wii U. And my earliest memory was Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES. It's sad that they slowly started to become this, like they're trying to self destruct, not knowing what's best for themselves or anyone. Always hoped they would make a comeback but with this new face, I think they're going to hit rock bottom very soon and they'll turn into another Sega. Sorry Nintendo, but you all are a bunch of assholes now and lost the little respect I still had for you.

[SilentNegotiator]

What's this? My loyal fanbase giving me free advertisement? I'll FIX THIS!

[adorie]

SMMFH@Ninty

[Mounce]

It's like that news article that stated Microsoft/X1 is 'free advertisement' for good publicity on PS4

Nintendo seems to be doing the same....like, doing all the wrong moves just to make Sony and PS4 look golden. The competition should be striving to be loved and appreciated, not look like money-grubbing assholes who want to stop at nothing but hinder your gaming sessions in any way :/

[MEsoJD]

It's nonsensical actions like this that makes me think Nintendo needs new blood/leadership.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

iwata they doing??

[Baka-akaB]

What kind of sheep even disagreed with the first post ?

[Mr_Nuts]

The ones who defend the crap out of Nintendo in all the Nintendo articles, the same ones who think that people are hating on them if you say one thing about.

Honestly they won't change unless people will admit it

They are not the same Nintendo we grew up with

[dumahim]

Probably the same people who agreed with the first reply.

[maniacmayhem]

Probably the ones who now know that Nintendo reversed their decision. But I guess it's too late because the over reacting folks here at N4G are too quick to put down "We hate Nintendo fanboys" and other hate spewing comments at the drop of a dime.

Fanboys indeed.

Smash Bros has been around EVO for a long time there was no way I was going to believe Nintendo would shut down streaming for the game.

[Baka-akaB]

Unlikely the decision was reversed way after most of those disagrees .

Fighting game centric sites are usually serious about the genre and dont give a sh*t about little console warfare .

[hakesterman]

They are almost completely Broke, they will likely be Bankrupt before the end of the year.

[Flipgeneral]

This is terrible

what a way to cross your passionate gamers. And giving less than a week's notice to boot!

So classy!

[maniacmayhem]

Calm the hell down, they are streaming Smash now.

[Phil32]

I'm really close to getting Nintendo games used. I can't justify giving this company my money if this is what they think of their fans.

[Ashlen]

I love Nintendo, my whole childhood was Nintendo. But recently they have really been making choices I can not support.

[gamer42]

This game is ten years old! Cut them some slack nintendo!

[NovusTerminus]

What the hell?! EVO is a big event and Smash Bros has alway beens a big part of it, why do this?

Also, EVO needs BlazBlue added in.

[majiebeast]

No this is the first time its in Evo since early 2000s. The biggest FU is that fans donated over 100k to the cancer foundation to get it into EVO just for Nintendo to go, no fun allowed.

[Convas]

Something odd is afoot with Nintendo nowadays ...

[0pie]

nintedo being nintendo....

[matrixman92]

scumbag Nintendo

[Nolando]

I just dont get the reasoning for this other than unbridled greed. I havent been following this line of news about Nintendo but this just seems contrary to what ive always thought they stood for.

[gamer42]

What i dont get is how are they getting any money from this? I don't think they aren't losing or gaining anything by letting them use the game, so I can't see why they aren't letting them.

[DecoyOctopus]

WTF, nintendo is doing everything wrong these days

[FoxHound_]

This honestly shocks me. This would've been free promotion for the new smash bros and it would've definitely helped appeal to the much more harccore fighting game fans.

[JD_Shadow]

This is Nintendo shooting itself in the foot here, and it seems like they seem to be somewhat scared of disastrous results because of the WiiU's troubles. They first decided to piggyback let's plays that are on YouTube (that have a ton of legal gray area around if they can actually monetize what they say they can), and now this.

I don't know. I think this is more of Nintendo taking desperate measures during desperate times. Sad thing is, I don't want to see Nintendo doing things like this, or HAVE to do things like this. They should not only know better, but they should be making us WANT to buy a WiiU, not alienating the loyalists they still have.

[Dasteru]

This has always been typical of Nintendo, Blind copyright protection without logical assessment. They screw themselfs more than the people they are shutting down.

Most other companies would have been excited about an event like that and may have even helped support it, Nintendo just runs in half cocked and shuts it down without even knowing fully what it is.

[jairusmonillas]

Just another ordinary day for Nintendo, ever heard how rude their 3rd party policy back in the NES, SNES days? it was so horrible that they pushed 3rd party support away to PS1. That's why games like MGS, FF7, Resident Evil all became PS1 exclusives and left N64.

Nintendo always sell overpriced systems and games.

Heck just months ago they want to have money from youtube lets play videos lol.

[PSjesus]

way to kill your loyal fan base Nintendo

[xActionBasturdx]

So they ban smash from the biggest fighting game tournament that will will be giving it international publicity and maybe increase sales? Smooth move nintendo

[Hicken]

Good Job, Nintendo!

Wait...

[BuffMordecai]

I don't get it, this is like free advertising.

[TongkatAli]

They aren't getting payed. That simple, greedy ass company. When you see a company making moves like that is cause they feel invincible, they got its fanbase by the balls. Bad publicity will do nothing to them.

It all sounds crazy but its true.

[XabiDaChosenOne]

I'm not sure which company is providing me with more entertainment with their failures nowadays, Nintendo or Microsoft. Either way these guys have lost the plot, it's like they want the return of 70% market share in favor of Sony to return.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

So, they do one thing like this, and everyone just turns on them...

It's one event. It's not the end of the world... and beside, they could just reverse this just like the Let's Play suit they had about 1-2 months ago.

[Faztkiller]

From what I gather they've been doing stuff like this for awhile.

[LAWSON72]

Things like this make me want to not buy the Wii U

[madara0sama]

Yeah. I was really liking Mario Kart and the new Smash Bros and thought about buying the WiiU but Nintendo is just being crap right now. Nintendo itself in it's current state doesn't deserve the Nintendo seal of quality.

[SonyPS4]

Something is fishy with Nintendo. I am losing respect for them.

[Kevlar009]

Nintendo recinded their ban on streaming the Smash Tourny

Read this for some Nintendo ownage: http://pastebin.com/Fu7JL6M...

[JasonXE]

Woooombooo Cooommmboooooo

[KontryBoy706]

seems like it's been reversed now. the article has been updated