News – NES Visual Compendium Returns
You may remember that we previously reported on both the announcement of the NES Visual Compendium, and it being pulled in copyright dispute with Nintendo. Well thankfully I can now announcement that the NES Visual Compendium is back! This announcement came by the way of both Kickstarter and Bitmap Books’ founder Sam Dyer.
In fact, when issues like this occur, on many occasions the backers remain silent. However, this wasn’t the case when it came to Dyer, as even before the campaign returned, he took to Kickstarter to reassure backers. Within this initial announcement he stated that:
Nintendo have filed a copyright claim against the campaign. I have taken lots of legal advice prior to launching the campaign plus I also spoke to Nintendo UK. The use of game imagery is completely legal under FAIR USE’ law. I have now made some little tweaks to the campaign to make it even more watertight but I wholeheartedly believe that the book is 100% above board. Don’t panic! The campaign is under review whilst I talk to Nintendo. Your pledge is safe and in the unlikely case I’m unsuccessful, it will go right back to you as it would with any stopped campaign. There’s no need to panic and cancel your funding as your money is not at risk.
And well, it turns out he was right. You see, only a matter of days later the NES Visual Compendium, which incidentally had already secured more than its target, was now back on Kickstarter. This was something Dyer once again took to the Kickstarter to happily announce by stating:
If you haven’t received a message from Kickstarter, the good news is that WE’RE LIVE AGAIN!I’ve had some very productive conversations with Nintendo about the book and I’m so pleased that it can continue.
Dyer has though noted that there have had to be a few modifications to the book in order to measure Nintendo. These include adding the term “Unofficial” to the cover, doubling the amount of text on each page, and finally removing the mock Nintendo Seal of Quality. Nevertheless, the NES Visual Compendium is back, and successful backers and NES / Famicom fans alike can look forward to the compendium’s arrival in February 2017.