• NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Anybody who’s played palworld knows the game is nothing like pokemon. What’s next, are they going to claim they are the only company who can make games with 4 legged animals?

    • PunchingWood@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I played it and I felt like it borrowed a lot of elements from Pokemon. It wasn’t Pokemon, but you can’t deny it took like 90% of their inspiration from Pokemon and then added guns to it.

      • towerful@programming.dev
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        2 months ago

        That’s like any FPS game ripping off any other FPS game.
        Fight, capture, tame, train, breed animals.
        Base building, research tree, enemy raids.
        Exploration, resource gathering, survival.

        I don’t think Nintendo has a monopoly on enslaving animals.

        I know what you mean, tho. It’s always described as “Pokémon with guns and 3xE gameplay”.
        But does Nintendo actually have a case that will hold up in courts?
        Pocketpair seems confident they can defend against it. So either they have done their research and are up for a fight. Or they (think they) are calling Nintendo’s bluff.
        But Nintendo has a whole pack of lawyers.

        Unfortunately there are no details on what the patents being infringemed upon are, just that they relate to “Pocket Monster”.

        • PunchingWood@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I don’t believe Nintendo will hold up in court.

          But it’s the combination of it all, aside from guns and concentration camp levels of slavery, that make it look like they straight up copied ideas from Pokemon.

          It’s true Nintendo doesn’t hold the specific style or gameplay mechanics, and that’s where I think they’ll fail to win a case, but just saying it’s just so blatantly obvious where the inspiration comes from.

          • Caveman@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I have a feeling that this is going to be the case. Palworld is not copying anything so it’s not copyright and doesn’t even need a “fair use” argument for it. The patents of gameplay mechanics don’t really hold up in court.

            Nintento’s legal battle chest is stuff of nightmares for smaller companies and they should be countersued for anti competitive behavior.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        2 months ago

        Which, incidentally, would probably past legal muster. You can get pretty close to the source material, and as long as it’s your own custom art, it’s not infringement.

        That said, lawyers can send a C&D letter for anything. Doesn’t mean it will hold up in court, but they’re betting the target won’t want to pay that kind of money to fight it.

    • Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I don’t understand. Everyone, literally EVERYONE was calling this game pokemon with guns when it released, so why are people mad that the makers of pokemon are suing? We all saw it from the start

      • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        The comparison is valid, but doesn’t mean it infringes on any patent.

        Otherwise, FromSoftware would sue the shit out of every soulslike out there.

          • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Palworld is an open world survival crafting factory/base building game, that happens to borrow the catching mechanic from Pokemon (who borrowed it from Shin Megami Tensei).

                  • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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                    2 months ago

                    K first of all, the mechanic you’re referencing was already an established mechanic before Pokemon Red/Blue came out. The Pokemon Company didn’t invent the “creature catcher” genre of video games.

                    Second of all, as I’ve said already, the catching mechanic in Palworld is absolutely distinct enough to be considered as drawing inspiration from Pokemon, and not copying. If you wanna get into the nitty gritty, I’ll meet you down there, but if you’re just gonna continue to spout meaningless contrarianisms I’ve got better things to do

                    Third of all, “cell shaded anime art style” describes hundreds if not thousands of video games, not just Pokemon games. You can’t realistically claim that Palworld copied Pokemon’s art style* just because it uses a cell-shaded anime style, especially because Pokemon has only used that art direction for the last two generations of games, and the style has been in use long before sword and shield came out.

              • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                Copying would imply a one to one duplication. The catching system in Palworld differs in multiple ways from the Pokemon system. I think that’s enough to call it borrowing and not copying.

      • PunchingWood@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I think it’s understandable why they sue them (I doubt it holds up in court though), it’s just horrible business practice because Nintendo is too lazy to actually innovate and do something creative for a change, instead of sitting on franchises like that and do fuck all with it, only releasing repetitive piss-poor games based on the exact same concept they invented like 30+ years ago.

        The problem is people will still buy Pokemon, even if they’re absolute garbage games. So Nintendo won’t change it either.

        • Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I think it’s an issue with Japanese game companies in general. I’ve been complaining about Capcom forever. Megaman 11 was a side scroller. I’m a massive mega man fan and I like the side scroll. But it’s 2024. Can we try something new? I would love a ratchet and Clank style, open world 3d mega man where you go to the different areas of the city and take down the bosses. Also games like monster hunter, are so janky and look 10 years out of date, and most Capcom games look outdated

    • Caveman@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Nintendo is making a case that the use of capsules to capture and carry creatures is their IP.

      • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Dragon Ball was using capsules to store things long before Pokemon did. And Dragon Ball Z, which ended in Japan in '96 had already done storing 'creatures in capsules. Saibamen for one. And after the Saiyan saga Bulma puts her dead friends in coffin capsules.

        So Akira Toriyama did it before Pokemon.

        • Caveman@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Yeah, they should absolutely argue that storing things, alive or not, in capsules has been used in numerous movies and shows and that the patent is invalid. Big corporations make tons of patents all the time just in case and then see if they hold up in court later, such as Nintendo with their pokeballs in this case. They still don’t know whether Palworld is an infringement or not