USGamer is reporting that Nintendo of America is clamping down on review copies. The company did this following last month’s leak of Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions on 3DS. The biggest impact of this change is in regards to which outlets and video influencers will receive advance copies for reviews and video content. According to their sources, “after the leak of Mario & Luigi, done by an influencer, [Nintendo of America] flipped out and changed their review policy. Plenty of outlets and influencers are without [Fire Emblem Warriors] and [Super Mario Odyssey]… Apparently, it will be [sent out] in tiers, but [I’m] not sure how they are set up”. The sources also reveal that Nintendo knows who leaked Superstar Saga. They say that “Nintendo knows who did it,” referring to the leaker. “[Nintendo] downloaded the leaked [ROM], checked the files and found the 3DS serial attached”, and they feel that “it’s a shame that Nintendo has decided to punish more than just those responsible”.
Another source, all of which are Nintendo employees, said “Normally review copies are out anywhere from [two] weeks out or within several days of release… I was expecting Mario Odyssey to be a given, for getting a review copy and being able to produce/prepare a bunch of content for launch day, now it looks like we’ll be starting on it when the public has access to it as well”. They said that some colleagues of theirs “haven’t received anything either, and that “lot of people are not sure what to think or do in regards to their content for the upcoming games.”
However, this policy change will not be a worldwide adjustment. USGamer’s sources say that It will only apply to America, as Europe’s review policy remains unchanged. In fact, another Nintendo source says that “I know 100 [percent] Europe has had [Super Mario Odyssey and Fire Emblem Warriors] for days… I also know no [North American] outlet has [Fire Emblem Warriors] and I’m pretty sure very few have gotten word on Odyssey,”
Seems like NOA is pissed over the Mario and Luigi leak. This is not the first time this has happened Sun and Moon been leaked, Smash 3DS, and Breath of the Wild on Wii U.
But the thing about Mario & Luigi is that it’s a remake of a classic and Nintendo gave one copy to an asshole who only wanted it to leak it online in roms and screw everyone over on getting a review copy of the game. Blame the idiot who will be getting sued by the big N in the future. lol
Mario & Luigi leak? You mean the exact same game from 14 years ago that everyone already knows about being ported over because the last game was a shit apology letter to fans who are pissed off about Sticker Star?
Pokemon Sun and Moon as well as Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire’s leaks was entirely Gamefreak and Nintendo’s Fault.
They released a demo that contained all the content from the actual games! As a result, all mega forms, alolan forms, Z-Moves, and even Pokemon stat adjustments were know before the games came out. They could have just put in the content relevant to the demo but nooooo, they had to put the entire game in with it for data miner to get their hands on.
Granted this doesn’t make the data miners anymore innocent in this, well unless they put it behind a spoiler warning, but Nintendo and Gamefreak should know better.
I can’t believe an employee would be bold enough to leak a game which they *have* to know has a serial number attached to it. This could very well be a breach of a legal agreement, thus a prosecutable offense. Definitely not worth throwing your career away over, not to mention a potential mark on your criminal record.
It says it was leaked by an influencer so it was most likely a streamer or YouTube personality that leaked it rather than an employee.
Actually some guy on 4chan bought it on Offer Up, and learned how to upload the ROM, he wasn’t even a reviewer just a random guy.
Don’t blame Nintendo. Blame the asshat that ruined it for everyone else.
Agreed
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As someone who is reviewing it for the site i work for… this annoys me to no end. I really hope Nintendo blacklist the site that did this. It’s no fair to the rest of us who kept the whole thing under wraps….
There always have to be the douchebags that ruin it for everyone else. Nice going jerks.
Nice! A static window!
“[Nintendo of America] flipped out and changed their review policy. Plenty of outlets and influencers are without [Fire Emblem Warriors] and [Super Mario Odyssey]… ”
““[Nintendo] downloaded the leaked [ROM],”
You know, I always try my best to make sure my grammar is correct when writing comments. But I never understand why these [ ] are around certain words in various articles. I know this one….( ). But I’m unfamiliar with this one…[ ]. That’s one I never use. But I see it so much.
This is used to pretty much paraphrase what they said. Let’s take another quote by someone like this one from Reggie.
“Nintendo DS is not standing still. As a tenth serious competitor decides to make a run at Game Boy, DS raises the bar on portable gaming, before they even get started.”
Now how could we change this?
“Nintendo DS is not standing still. As [Sony] decides to make a run at Game Boy, DS raises the bar on portable gaming, before [The PSP] even get started.”
Out of context it doesn’t sound right. Who is “they” and what is the tenth serious competitor? Sounds kind of weird unless you knew the situation. It also makes things simpler. Original quotes could have vague or lengthy details so changing it to something smaller, simpler, or blunt is used with brackets in most journalistic cases..
That’s VERY interesting. Thanks for the explanation. I hope I can remember that, because I’ve wondered about this for years. Also, thanks for calling them brackets. I didn’t know what they were called. ; )
Very helpful, Brodie. Bravo. Good neighbor.
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More privacy please. Nintendo knows what to do.
Fuck Nintendo and their idiotic secrecy. Glad it got leaked, asshats.
And fuck their defending fanboys.
You see Anerica? This is why we can’t have nice things.
“Tightening”? You mean embargo?
Leave it to NintenD’OH!! *facepalm* of America to overreact again! This reminds me of the Swapnote incident.