Earlier this month, Nintendo became a YouTube partner and they’ve now begun filing “content ID match” claims on several Let’s Play and fan-produced videos featuring Nintendo games and franchises. The claims allow Nintendo to monetize these videos by inserting ads for the company before, next to or at the end of videos.

By doing this, Nintendo is preventing possible ad revenue for Let’s Players and the owners of Nintendo fan video, some of whom make a living producing these videos.

These content claims should only be for ad purposes, but according to sources speaking to Gamasutra, Nintendo has gone so far as to have certain videos removed from YouTube entirely.

“So far it’s mostly been affecting bigger channels and mostly videos posted recently,” said their source. “The main problem is that no one seems to know why they’re doing it or what their eventual goal is.”

In an official statement to the press, Nintendo denies the accusations of shutting down videos, even saying they do not want to block people using their intellectual properties.

“As part of our on-going push to ensure Nintendo content is shared across social media channels in an appropriate and safe way, we became a YouTube partner and as such in February 2013 we registered our copyright content in the YouTube database. For most fan videos this will not result in any changes, however, for those videos featuring Nintendo-owned content, such as images or audio of a certain length, adverts will now appear at the beginning, next to or at the end of the clips. We continually want our fans to enjoy sharing Nintendo content on YouTube, and that is why, unlike other entertainment companies, we have chosen not to block people using our intellectual property.

For more information please visit http://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/faq.html“

Many in the fan gaming community are seeing this as a very negative move from Nintendo. They feel that these videos are practically free advertising and praise for Nintendo and their games, and by going after them, the company is cutting off the nose to spite the face for no good reason.

Source: Gamasutra, Game Front

The Mother/Earthbound fanbase is a dedicated one. Back in 2008, fans worked together to translate and patch the Japan-only Mother 3 into English after it seemed as though Nintendo had no intention of bringing the game overseas.

With the recent announcement that Earthbound would be coming to the Virtual Console, hopes have been renewed that the company will consider bringing the GBA title overseas. In hopes of influencing a decision of some sort, Mato of the Mother 3 Fan Translation project has offered to give Nintendo the team’s translation files for free. He’s even offered to edit and re-translate whatever necessary if it means seeing the game officially localized.

Mato himself understands that the odds of the game coming stateside are as slim as they’ve ever been,

“I definitely realize this is a silly-sounding offer and all, but I figure it’s better to make the offer and seem silly than possibly miss an opportunity entirely.”

Source: Mother 3 Fan Translation

GameCube to Game Boy Advance connectivity was a very interesting feature for both systems. Unfortunately, due to the relatively high cost of getting all of the components together and a lack of games that actually made use of it, the idea of asymmetric gameplay never took off.

However, with the Wii U and it’s GamePad now out, Shigeru Miyamoto said that he may revisit some of the game ideas he didn’t have a chance to use back in the GameCube days.

In and interview with GamesMaster:

“I think it is very likely. I cannot tell specifically what ideas I used to have at the time which might be realized this time around. But as you might recall, at one of the E3 shows several years ago we showcased a game of Pac-Man Versus, which was a really interesting game. Unfortunately however it was rather hard for everyone to own four GBAs at the same time.

“But at that time still it was not very easy or accepted. [Now, with Wii U], it’s not just creators outside the company are finding fascinating possibilities to be able to realize a game dream come true.”

If you could get all the people and things together, Pac-Man Vs. was actually a really fun game. Apparently, the idea was so enamoring that Nintendo practically remade it as Animal Crossing: Sweet Days and Luigi’s Ghost Mansion in Nintendo Land.

Source: Nintendo Everything [via Nintendo Life]

Mobiclip, the company behind the video compression technology used in several GBA and DS games, is now a subsidiary of Nintendo.

The announcement of the acquisition only came out recently. However, Nintendo actually acquired the company last October.

Mobiclip’s middleware specializes in providing high quality video that requires minimal power draw.

Source: Gamasutra

In celebration of the series’ 10th anniversary, Capcom revealed the logo for the fifth Ace Attorney game and officially announced that development on the project is underway.

Suspiciously absent were announcements of a time frame for release and a specified platform.

The series has made its home on the Game Boy Advance and DS (with a Professor Layton crossover introducing the series to the 3DS), which suggests that Ace Attorney 5 will appear on the 3DS. However, early Ace Attorney games have been getting re-released in Apple’s App Store, which doesn’t rule out a possible jump in platform.

Speaking of re-releases, Capcom also announced Ace Attorney 123HD, a compilation of the first three Ace Attorney games featuring higher resolution artwork, for iOS and Android. The first two chapters of the game will be available for free, with additional chapters priced at ¥600. The full game will also be available for ¥1,200.

Anyone who previously purchased the Ace Attorney games in the App Store will be able to update their game with the new artwork at no additional cost.

Source: Famitsu.com, Andriasang

Despite eShop listings hinting at the possibility of GBA Ambassador games being sold to the public, an email from Nintendo Customer Service confirms those games will remain Ambassador exclusives:

Hello,

Thanks for contacting us.  I can certainly understand your interest in purchasing the games we made available to those eligible for the Ambassador Program.

We expect the NES games to be released for purchase at some point in the future. At this time, we have no further details about the release of these games to share.  I encourage you to keep checking the “News” section on your eShop for the latest release information.

That said, the Game Boy Advance games will remain exclusive to Ambassadors. We have no plans to make them available to purchase in the future.  I want you to know that I’ll make sure that your interest is documented and forwarded on for further review. We appreciate hearing what products interest our consumers.

Well, that’s a shame. Non-ambassadors will never get the opportunity to download The Minish Cap to their 3DSes.

Post Play surveys for the GBA Ambassador games are now available to Club Nintendo members.

At 10 coins a survey, it’s a pretty easy way to net 100 coins. That’s a free download of Super Mario Kart or 3D Classics: Xevious!

Source: GoNintendo

When Nintendo first outlined the Ambassador Program, they said they had no plans to make the 10 Game Boy Advance games available to the general public. However, the recently-added eShop listings for the GBA games appear to say the opposite.

Unlike the 10 NES Ambassador games, which appear in the eShop with the message “This software is currently unavailable,” the GBA games show up with the message “Coming to Nintendo eShop.”

This isn’t a confirmation that these GBA games are coming out in the future. At best, this is just wishful thinking. However, it is odd that Nintendo would use a different message than the one in the NES listings.

Source: NeoGAF

[Update: People are reporting that the games are now up in Europe and North America.]

3DS Ambassadors in Australia and Japan are reportedly able to download their 10 free Game Boy Advance games early.

The download process is just as convoluted as it was when Nintendo released the 10 NES games:

• In the eShop, go to the Settings/Other option on the main menu or use the icon in the upper left corner.
• Select “Your Downloads”
• Scroll through your previous downloads for the GBA games.

The games aren’t available in Europe just yet, but it’s still better than the situation in North America, where Nintendo hasn’t even announced a release date for the games.

Source: Vooks.net [via Nintendo Life], GoNintendo

The ten free Game Boy Advance games promised to 3DS Ambassadors, people who bought the system before the August price drop, will be available for download starting this Friday in Japan, Europe and Australia.

Ambassadors in those regions are starting to receive notifications on the 3DS informing them on when and how they can redeem their free games. The full list of GBA games have also been announced:

• Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones 
• F-Zero: Maximum Velocity 
• Kirby and The Amazing Mirror 
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap 
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit 
• Mario vs Donkey Kong 
• Metroid Fusion 
• Wario Land 4 
• WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgame$
• Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3

Nintendo of America still hasn’t announced a date for their region, but if the distribution is similar to how they handled the ten NES games, it’s possible that North America could get the GBA games as soon as tomorrow.

Source: Andriasang, Tiny Cartridge