After Fleaman’s article published on Thursday morning (13-6) it took a bit of time before the NWC90 35th Pro Edition controversy to finally kick in. But two days later, the retro game community kicked into gear to sling some shots towards this Kickstarter scam. YouTuber Mad Little Pixel posted a video jumping on it from the same angle as Fleaman’s:
Between our article and Mad Little Pixel’s assessment of the situation, apparently Mihara and his conspirators have remove any mentions of the games included in the campaign details. Clearly and indication the people responsible are prepping for things to come.
In the meanwhile RGT85 got in the conversation as well.
Kickstarter copyright claim dispute
Between the video and this article Kickstarter took down the campaign awaiting the results of this dispute
NWC 35th Edition: a new developed pro version for the NES [Submitted by Wildwood Law Group LLC]Date: 2024-06-13T20:44:32.000-04:00Sender[Private]Wildwood Law Group LLC3519 NE 15th Avenue, #362Portland, OR 97212USSent via online formRecipientKickstarter, PBC228 Park Ave S PMB 59430New York, New York 10003-1502 USUSARe: NWC 35th Edition: a new developed pro version for the NESit isn’t exactly clear to us who Wildwood Law Group represents. They are located in Oregon and are specialized in intellectual property cases. We can only assume Nintendo themselves got in action.
The dispute also indicates Kickstarter didn’t initiate the take down. After our first article we asked Kickstarter for an explanation and although a response was promised none were given.
Although apparently backers will be sour about the project taken down, like Mad Little Pixel mentions as well, an eventual takedown would have been inevitable. If that had took place after the project would have been green lit, once the campaign ended, these backers would’ve most likely be left to their own devices as Kickstarter has no obligation to force kickstarter campaigners to oblige to made pledges.
So, our take on this is that some backers are aware of the risks and others are naive about the dealings of Mihara and friends. Both will not be charged when the dispute inevitably gets called.
Update
it seems that all people involved are abandoning ship. John Hancock either removed his infomercial or set its status to ‘private’. John Higgs, who also posted a video to support his friend, removed it as well. Mihara is removing his Instagram posts. The C4videogames’ website, which is publishing the game, is still up, even if it’s SSL certificate is expired.
