Full FeedHelp save Bob’s Game!
Bob is upset.
He just spent 5 years creating a game to be played on the Nintendo DS, and Nintendo won’t sell him the hardware he needs to actually market the game. So what is he doing?
Sitting in his basement for 100 days to protest.
Robert “Bob” Pelloni is a 25-year-old man who spent the last 5 years (more than 15 thousand hours) making a role-playing type game called Bob’s Game, to be played on the DS.
He finished the game and even has publishers who want to it but the only problem is he needs to purchase a DVD with the software needed to create the game for play on the DS.
Bob contacted Nintendo about it several times but his emails are being ignored. He even met with Tom Prata, Senior Director of Project Development at Nintendo of America, who said he wanted to see the game and would help him get a publishers license. He was suppose to hear back from him in 6-8 weeks but it’s been almost a year.
Bob has decided that there is nothing he can do to be hear, and is at his wit’s end which is why he decided to hold a personal 100-or-more-day sit-in in his basement. He locked and barricaded the door of his basement from the outside and is left alone with no access to the internet, TV or video games. The only communication he has is his Android G1 which he can receive and send email from so he can hear back from Nintendo.
For those of you worried about his health and hygiene, his basement does have a shower and his friend will be delivering him food once a week.
You may think that Nintendo is ignoring him because he is some guy who made a game in his basement and now he wants to make money off it but this isn’t the case. Bob is by no means a novice game maker. He painstakingly fine-tuned his creation until it was a high quality, 20+ hour RPG game. He drew out every pixel and created the entire game on his own, he even trained himself.
Bob’s Game is not just some user-made fan game that you can beat in a few hours. It is a full scale, complete RPG game. He even has a development studio, Robert Pelloni LC.
Bob assures us that Nintendo is aware of his protest because dozens of magazine, TV studios, and such has reported on his protest, plus several Nintendo employees have emailed him. He is positive this will get his message across, and hopefully it will in less than 100 days!
Bob gave very little information on his new game Bob’s Game ‘cept that it will be less about fighting thousands of enemies and more about talking to people and using items (adventure style). From the screenshots, however, the game looks pretty sweet and he seems to boast about it plenty.
Help out Bob by visiting his site and learning more about his ordeal. Also, while your there you can view screenshots of the game and newsfeed, plus a live webcam of Bob sitting at his computer.
Here’s Bob’s trailer for Bob’s Game:
Site [Bob’s Game] Read [DS Fanboy]
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Is this post a joke? I really can’t tell…
I don’t think Bob has done anything to deserve our support. Declaring himself the greatest game developer that ever lived and insulting/threatening Nintendo in order to get what he wants? My impression from his site is that he is a complete jerk and more than a little pathetic. He thinks he’s too good to take the usual routes to break into the games industry. He’s an egomaniac and all of the news coverage just feeds his delusions. I would call him crazy but honestly, there are a lot of good people out there with serious mental problems that don’t deserve to be tainted by any sort of psychological association with him.
on January 7, 2009 at 07:55 AM - LINKBased upon everything he has said on his website (and the fact that this game is known as “Bob’s Game”), I’d say Bob does not deserve any support. I’m sorry, but one person having produced a game all on his or her own does not speak absolute greatness and means that the game should be published no matter what.
This would probably be better off being published as a PC game; talking to people and using items all on the Nintendo DS? Yeah, that really sounds like a lot of fun…
on January 7, 2009 at 01:46 PM - LINKWhy did he make such a generic game? He could have made that game in an RPG maker in a month. I’ve seen games with less content get published. Why would Nintendo not want it? Maybe because it doesn’t meet their standards. I hope he wises up and uses the 100 days do make a really groundbreaking game that is current gen.
on January 7, 2009 at 01:49 PM - LINKno this is not a joke olie
and for what it’s worth, i think he deserves a shot at publishing his game. He put a lot of effort into it and cares about his product, how is he any different then any other publisher?
How often have games been shunned because we never heard of the publisher, then it turned out to be great?
No one said you had to buy the game! Just help the guy accomplish his dream that’s all….
on January 7, 2009 at 02:57 PM - LINKi think he deserves a shot at publishing his game.
If he really wanted to get his game out there to the public, he could do it. Release it for free online and, if it really is as good as he claims, make a name for himself that way. Have he never heard of N+? But he is more concerned with having things happen on his terms exactly how he wants them (reality be damned) when, as every rational human being knows, doesn’t happen when you’re at the bottom rung of any industry. You start with scraps and work your way up by proving your worth. But Bob thinks he’s too good for that.
He put a lot of effort into it and cares about his product, how is he any different then any other publisher?
Well, most game developers don’t stage high profile temper tantrums when they don’t get their way, declare themselves the greatest developer that has ever lived, threaten and bully Nintendo CEOs, declare that they are a genius above and beyond the likes of Miyamoto and Wright or publicly announce that they will use illegal means to destroy Nintendo if they don’t get their way. So those are a few key differences, from my point of view.
Also? He goes on and on about how he has devoted so many hours to this game and has worked so hard to build it from scratch all by himself, and the conclusion is that he therefore deserves to have his game published? Quantity does not equal quality, and it’s not like anyone forced him to do this. He invested the time and energy to make this game of his own free will. I could spend five years writing a 5, 000 page novel that I think is the greatest thing ever written and tell people that I am a better author than Neil Gaiman could ever dream of being—does that mean HarperCollins owes me a publishing contract? Um, no.
How often have games been shunned because we never heard of the publisher, then it turned out to be great?
*shrug* Beats me. Like I said, if his game is really that fantastic, he should just put it out there online and let it stand on its own merits. If it’s good enough, it will take him somewhere and he might even pick up a publisher. It’s because he thinks his greatness is such that he deserves special treatment that it has come to this. Why should Bob get a free pass to skip all of the obstacles to legitimate game development that others have had to work hard to overcome? Just because he says he has the greatest game ever made (and why would anyone take him at his word on that for that matter)? Bob is not a special snowflake and he does not deserve special treatment. He needs to grow up and learn how to function like a mature, responsible and reasonable adult.
Just help the guy accomplish his dream that’s all….
But why? He hasn’t done anything but insult and threaten others while egotistically blowing his own horn. He’s not based in reality and I actively do not want to support his childish antics. If Nintendo were to capitulate to his ridiculous demands that would send a bad message to other would-be game developers and set a standard that would be harmful to the industry.
Though to be honest, Bob is just so ridiculous that I am starting to wonder if this is all just an elaborate ARG…
on January 8, 2009 at 12:32 AM - LINKhaha ok Olie I see you point!!
a lot of people (including everyone who posted here) think it’s ridiculous, maybe he’ll end up sititng in his basement for 100 days before it dawns on him that he should settle for making it a computer game.
on January 8, 2009 at 03:41 AM - LINK