It sucks, sure, but really they are changing things that are Nintendo's property. Isn't that illegal? I mean, even though they aren't charging for it, they are still changing something that's copyrighted.
I dunno. Either way it sucks (3 guys doing all that themselves?!) but in the end that's what happens.
This post is a bit old, but like another poster mentioned, everyone is infringing on IP's nowadays. Nintendo probably went after these EE guys more because it was small, and was likely made by a bunch of bored high school/college students (And thus had no backing in terms of fighting it. And technically they could make a case for allowing the game to be modded, depending on how the EULA was written. Depending on the EULA, some don't have provisions for modding. Consoles are sometimes especially remiss when it comes to that, though it's happening less and less nowadays now that internet-ready consoles are on the market.) and had a lesser (But concentrated) following.
It also doesn't help that a total conversion mod is relatively recognizable, even if the project is changed/the makers try to cover up that they were working on a project that got a C&D before. If they went after homebrew app makers, the app makers could alter the source code, or the graphical layout and re-release it under a different alias. Not so much with a total conversion for a game. The graphics usually have to stay the same to maintain the fanbase.
More then likely these guys got a C&D because they either had some sort of content in the total conversion that was infringing on a future IP/idea that the developers thought they could take advantage of, or because someone was on someone else's ass at Nintendo about making progress on dealing with piracy, and they used them as a scapegoat to keep their own ass from being fired. Depending on the content, it's most likely the former, since most companies don't usually bother handing out C&D's unless the project in question could do some sort of financial harm to them in the future (See Halogen as an example.).
Though, the entire C&D thing could be a hoax, who knows. Though I believe Nintendo used to have a habit of cracking down on people who made third party content. In fact, I could have sworn that one of my old programmer friends told me a few years back that they were after artists for drawing their characters in a not-so-flattering fashion, in fact, which is mildly retarded from a legal standpoint.
Edit: And this is why I usually post immediately, instead of leaving a window open for a long time. PZT is probably going to find himself in court, soon. Multi-million dollar corporations tend to not give a damn about which nation you're in, so long as that nation has an acting law system that they can influence. Unless he's living in the depth's of the congo or something they can shut the project down, if they feel a need too. It's simply a matter of whether or not Nintendo wants to spend the money, and exert the effort to do it.
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This post is a bit old, but like another poster mentioned, everyone is infringing on IP's nowadays. Nintendo probably went after these EE guys more because it was small, and was likely made by a bunch of bored high school/college students (And thus had no backing in terms of fighting it. And technically they could make a case for allowing the game to be modded, depending on how the EULA was written. Depending on the EULA, some don't have provisions for modding. Consoles are sometimes especially remiss when it comes to that, though it's happening less and less nowadays now that internet-ready consoles are on the market.) and had a lesser (But concentrated) following.
It also doesn't help that a total conversion mod is relatively recognizable, even if the project is changed/the makers try to cover up that they were working on a project that got a C&D before. If they went after homebrew app makers, the app makers could alter the source code, or the graphical layout and re-release it under a different alias. Not so much with a total conversion for a game. The graphics usually have to stay the same to maintain the fanbase.
More then likely these guys got a C&D because they either had some sort of content in the total conversion that was infringing on a future IP/idea that the developers thought they could take advantage of, or because someone was on someone else's ass at Nintendo about making progress on dealing with piracy, and they used them as a scapegoat to keep their own ass from being fired. Depending on the content, it's most likely the former, since most companies don't usually bother handing out C&D's unless the project in question could do some sort of financial harm to them in the future (See Halogen as an example.).
Though, the entire C&D thing could be a hoax, who knows. Though I believe Nintendo used to have a habit of cracking down on people who made third party content. In fact, I could have sworn that one of my old programmer friends told me a few years back that they were after artists for drawing their characters in a not-so-flattering fashion, in fact, which is mildly retarded from a legal standpoint.
Edit: And this is why I usually post immediately, instead of leaving a window open for a long time. PZT is probably going to find himself in court, soon. Multi-million dollar corporations tend to not give a damn about which nation you're in, so long as that nation has an acting law system that they can influence. Unless he's living in the depth's of the congo or something they can shut the project down, if they feel a need too. It's simply a matter of whether or not Nintendo wants to spend the money, and exert the effort to do it.