The Fryer, Vol. 3

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10/2/2008 7:14 PM | 0 Comments | Page 4 of 4

Nintendo, Sega sue Media Molecule for facilitating copyright infringement

In an unprecedented move, Nintendo and Sega banded together today to file a joint suit in a London court to try prevent what they call "the willful and malicious facilitation of copyright infringement" by Media Molecule's upcoming customizable platformer LittleBigPlanet.

Calling the upcoming game "the worst example of infringing technology since the Xerox machine," the suit calls attention to "highly accurate, player-built recreations of levels from Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog" that have already appeared in the limited public beta for the game. "By allowing users to easily mimic and share levels from their favorite games, Media Molecule has done real and provable financial harm to the rights holders of these classics," the suit alleges.

In an accompanying press release, Nintendo and Sega warned their industry brethren that platform games are just the tip of the iceberg. "Today it's Mario and Sonic, but what's to stop a fan from using the robust, highly customizable tools in LittleBigPlanet to create a near-pixel-perfect recreation of Soul Calibur, or Halo, or even The Sims?" the statement reads, in part. "We've all seen what Napster did to the music industry. Join us and make sure the same thing doesn't happen to the videogame industry."

Perhaps fearing the combined legal might of the powerful publishers, Media Molecule issued a short statement indicating a willingness to settle out of court and proposing the establishment of a "content review board" to look for "any user-generated content that in any way resembles any existing or future game."

Editor's Note: If you got this far without figuring out these stories are 100 percent satire, you may have licked too much grease off the fryer.