Games

People need to stop supporting Nintendo at all. They're lawsuit happy assholes who have been doing everything they can to piss away any good will they might have had. They're the only game company out there who refuses to make enough of many of their products, like their mini NES and SNES, to meet demand because then its "exclusive", they are the only company trying to destroy all type of emulation for Nintendo consoles, and they're the only company who seems to actually want their older games to disappear into the ether. Edit: Oh and they fucking refuse to put their games on sale or lower their prices years afterwards. BoTW is still 60 bucks even though it's 7 and a half years old. Fucking insane.

Fuck Nintendo.

Software patents shouldn't exist!

Fuck Nintendo. They get a pass so often from people when they really shouldn’t.

Obviously this depends on the exact details of the patents, which are all in Japanese, as well as the specifics of Japanese patent laws.

However, patents only last for 20 years, and they are undermined by public disclosure before filing. The first Pokemon game came out more than 20 years ago. However^2 not all of the features in the patents were present in the original games. All 3 patents were first filed in 2021, well after many of these features were established.

The first patent is about aiming something and entering into a fight mode. This wasn't in the original game. Aiming at enemies and entering a fight mode almost certainly existed before Pokemon (Final Fantasy perhaps). Furthermore, Palworld doesn't really have a fight mode - it isn't a turn based game but real time. Throwing a sphere is just one way to start a "battle" but there is no mode change between "explore" and "battle" modes because they are functionally the same in Palworld. Pokemon Go and Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, which were all around in 2018, would seem to amount to public disclosure that undermines this patent.

The second patent has more detail about catching Pokemon outside of battles. This might have some elements of Palworld gameplay in it. However, again we have prior art that predates the patent.

The third patent is about riding characters. This has certainly existed in other games before Pokemon and before this patent. Off the top of my head, World of Warcraft had you riding mounts, Final Fantasy had you riding Chocobos, and Mega Man let you ride Rush.

However the big issue with all of these is that these challenges are always better off done before the patent is granted. With the patents established it is a massive uphill struggle trying to get them withdrawn. Given that each charge is only for $33,000, so about $100,000 total, I expect a settlement will be reached instead of going on this fight.

So greed. Like everyone predicted.