Nintendo now allows Fan derivative works!

[Prof. Pine]

[urlmze]http://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-ips-can-officially-be-used-for-fan-projects-endorsement-scheme-announced-for-japan/[/urlmze]

This is pretty big-ish news. Nintendo has always been VERY against all sorts of fan works, whether it be fan fic, or fan art, or fan games, or even youtube videos. From people I've talked to on the inside, this is basically because of how the board members in Japan view the fans. They don't want to have to discriminate between the type of fan work they don't like (ie things not suitable for children) and things they do like (Nice fan art, and hopefully us). Someone has finally changed their minds.

NOW here are some things to know about:

Firstly, this doesn't mean ANY immediate change to how we should/will operate. The way it seems to be set up is for Nintendo to reach out to groups doing fan work to talk with them. So we just wait. But,
Secondly, we no longer have a fear of being shut down (which was always a possibility, but was very VERY unlikely).

Anyways, just thought I'd share this cool news with everyone. I'll update more as I read more, because this is something I'm likely to follow (for good reason).

~~Professor Pine.

[bmze]EDIT: upon reading a bit more into and around this issue, it looks like this is more narrow than previously thought. Regardless, it is a sign of Nintendo moving in a new direction, if even just a little bit. [/bmze]