8th January 2004, 4:51 PM
I don't care HOW they tell me to say Game's Boy, I'll spell it as I will!
Was there really a problem with the term becoming generic? I never heard anyone refer to the N-Gage or Game Gear as a Gameboy. Then again, I almost never hear anyone refer to those at all anyway. Is Nintendo just trying to make sure people are aware of this before some potential portable threat emerges beyond the horizon? The PSP MIGHT pose a potential threat of course, but I highly doubt anyone would be calling it a Gameboy if it managed to work it's way into a substantial part of the market.
For that matter, if that was their goal, they certainly could have been a bit less anal about it. Perhaps they could have left out the registered trade mark symbol (I have no idea how to type that in via ascii code) and the word "system" and just made a point that ONLY Nintendo's handhelds are called Game Boys (though I really have a hard time believing anyone would generically refer to them all as Gameboys).
The REAL threat to liscensed names is, well was, Nintendo itself as a term to refer to ALL console games. I remember shortly after the Genesis was released, everyone was still referring to ALL console games as "Nintendo games" instead of "video games". Only now is the term finally correct. I think it's because it wasn't everyone that said it, but rather old people alone who said it, and they all died or something. Or maybe Sony had a hand in it. I dunno, anyway that one trademark becoming a household name threat was snuffed out almost a decade ago. I really don't think Nintendo should be too concerned about this sort of thing. Band-Aid has something to worry about (and let's face it, they lost :D, no one even considers using the non-trademark term), as does Kleenex (sometimes people call them tissues, but a lot of people still call them Kleenex generically), but not Nintendo.
Was there really a problem with the term becoming generic? I never heard anyone refer to the N-Gage or Game Gear as a Gameboy. Then again, I almost never hear anyone refer to those at all anyway. Is Nintendo just trying to make sure people are aware of this before some potential portable threat emerges beyond the horizon? The PSP MIGHT pose a potential threat of course, but I highly doubt anyone would be calling it a Gameboy if it managed to work it's way into a substantial part of the market.
For that matter, if that was their goal, they certainly could have been a bit less anal about it. Perhaps they could have left out the registered trade mark symbol (I have no idea how to type that in via ascii code) and the word "system" and just made a point that ONLY Nintendo's handhelds are called Game Boys (though I really have a hard time believing anyone would generically refer to them all as Gameboys).
The REAL threat to liscensed names is, well was, Nintendo itself as a term to refer to ALL console games. I remember shortly after the Genesis was released, everyone was still referring to ALL console games as "Nintendo games" instead of "video games". Only now is the term finally correct. I think it's because it wasn't everyone that said it, but rather old people alone who said it, and they all died or something. Or maybe Sony had a hand in it. I dunno, anyway that one trademark becoming a household name threat was snuffed out almost a decade ago. I really don't think Nintendo should be too concerned about this sort of thing. Band-Aid has something to worry about (and let's face it, they lost :D, no one even considers using the non-trademark term), as does Kleenex (sometimes people call them tissues, but a lot of people still call them Kleenex generically), but not Nintendo.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)