Bob, and the Illusive Nintendo Dev Kit

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Socoder -> Nintendo Gaming -> Bob, and the Illusive Nintendo Dev Kit
Sat, 03 Jan 2009, 01:16
Jayenkai	OK, here's the story so far, for those who haven't been paying attention. 1) Homebrew dev'er decides to make a game. 2) Homebrew dev'er spends FIVE YEARS doing it. 3) "Bob's Game" gets a bit of publicity. 4) Bob asks Nintendo for a DevKit 5) Bob offers to pay for it.. 6) Bob waits 7) Bob waits... 8) Bob decides to lock himself in his bedroom until he gets some/any sort of reply from Nintendo. I cannot leave this crimson room. The door is locked and barricaded from the outside. I am sleeping behind the camera, and yes- I've got a shower. Food is delivered once a week by a friend. I have no internet access, television, or game consoles besides those I am developing on. I can receive and send email on my Android G1, so I can get Nintendo's reply and update my site with tether. The LED counter will be incremented once a day, and sometimes it will display hints and secret messages. 9) Day 21, Bob gets a bit pissed off with all the waiting, and threatens to release it as Homebrew, in an attempt to scare Nintendo a bit. 10) Day 22, didn't seem to work. 'tis a shame to see a developer go through all this, and I have serious doubts about his professionalism. It'll all come back to haunt him in the future. But you can't fault the guy for trying!! Bob's Game -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Sat, 03 Jan 2009, 02:29
Afr0	Wow. This is the single most awesome thing I have seen in... quite a while. 'tis a shame to see a developer go through all this, and I have serious doubts about his professionalism. It'll all come back to haunt him in the future. Who the fuck cares about his proffesionalism? He's willing to pay for the damn license! Give the guy a chance! Edit: I sent a mail to Nintendo. -=-=- Afr0 Games Project Dollhouse on Github - Please fork!
Sat, 03 Jan 2009, 06:12
spinal	What he should be doing, if he can't get a devket from Nintendo, is what everyone else does. He should be contacting a whole bunch of current third party developers and try to get one of them to pick up his game. Having seen the videos of this, it still LOOKS like a homebrew game. Don't get me wrong, anyone who can stick with a project for five years deserves credit, but he's acting like a spoiled child. I bet this game would get picked up by a bunch of current devs, but he wants to deal with Nintendo directly and they aren't interested, pulling this stunt will only make them ignore him even more. So what if they don't want to sell im the kit, that's their call, not his. He should be sending demo's off to all the big (and little) companies that already code for Nintendo and try to join a current team, this isne the 80's anymore, single coders do not get recognition for their work, only big professional teams. -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Sat, 03 Jan 2009, 08:49
steve_ancell	As usual Spinal, You're right
Sat, 03 Jan 2009, 09:41
spinal	I don't know, it seems like I started to go off a little and repeat myself... -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Sat, 03 Jan 2009, 09:53
Phoenix	I agree with Spinal. This is not a good way to deal with the problem at all. \|edit\| Removed since that was a pretty stupid comparison. \|edit\| To me, he comes across as rather arrogant and thinks that the game is the best thing since sliced bread. As Jay said, his professionalism could use some work. On the other hand, it looks like a nice game and I admire him for finishing such a game, completely by himself with code, art and music. Bravo!
Sat, 03 Jan 2009, 10:34
Afr0	Ok, in case noone bothered to look at the site; Bob's not the only one being unprofessional here! I met with Nintendo in February- almost a YEAR ago- to ask to purchase the SDK. I did teleconferencing. I flew to GDC and had a face-to-face meeting. I asked the WarioWorld division, and they sent me to marketing. I talked to marketing, and they said apply with WarioWorld division! The agreement on the application states I will receive a decision in 6-8 weeks. It has been 19 weeks! I fulfill all the requirements- I'm a financially stable registered company with a FEIN working from a commercial address. When Nintendo decides to approve my developer license application I will end my epic partying. (I'll party when I want to! Just try and stop me!) I worked on this project for five years because I wanted to make a "Nintendo game." I'm not about to give up just because some totally rockin' intern or mid-level marketing exec at NOA is deleting my emails! I want an answer, and I want to hear it from the top. Will the wonderful people at Nintendo- those with passion and ideas of their own- dismiss mine? In other words: Nintendo were/are extremely late in their processing of his application. They also redirected him to several different divisions of the company. Bob has a company, it fulfills all of Nintendo's requirements - yet Nintendo isn't doing anything! Edit: And this is in spite of this guy flying down for a face-to-face meeting in addition to doing teleconferencing. -=-=- Afr0 Games Project Dollhouse on Github - Please fork!
Sat, 03 Jan 2009, 12:40
spinal	BUT, it is still entirely up to Nintendo if he gets a devkit or not, just like when you go into a local store, they have every right in the world to stop you from buying anything there, the only reason they need, is that they don't want to sell you something. I read the site a few days ago, and I stick with my answer. I know for a fact, if I were refused service in a local store, be it a small independent, or a huge world wide chain, locking myself in my room would not make them sell me something they don't want to. -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Sat, 03 Jan 2009, 12:47
Afr0	The thing is though - as far as I can tell, he hasn't even received a reply from Nintendo yet! Just been told that his application will be processed and been shoveled to different divisions. The least they could do is give the guy a proper answer. -=-=- Afr0 Games Project Dollhouse on Github - Please fork!
Sun, 04 Jan 2009, 00:27
JL235	I agree that Nintendo could do more. At the very least they should have sent a 'thank you for your interest but no' kinda letter. However I fully agree he is really shooting himself in the foot. Image if he tries to get a job at games company: Employer: "How did your last project go?" Bob: "Not very well, I asked Nintendo for a dev kit but they never repied." Employer: "What did you do about it?" Bob: "I locked myself away in my room for 100 days." Employer: "o.O ???"
Sun, 04 Jan 2009, 01:15
steve_ancell	Just out of curiosity, how much does a Nintendo Dev-Kit cost ?.
Sun, 04 Jan 2009, 01:17
Afr0	Around 5k USD, according to Jay. Which doesn't sound unreasonable. -=-=- Afr0 Games Project Dollhouse on Github - Please fork!
Sun, 04 Jan 2009, 01:23
steve_ancell	If your game makes an astonishing amount of Dosh, then 5K is just pocket money