Bayonetta and Corrin, the final two DLC fighters for Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, will finally be available on Wednesday, February 3rd.
Corrin hails from Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS game Fire Emblem Fates. Just like Wii Fit Trainer, Robin and the Villager, players can choose to play as a male or female version of the character. Corrin has the blood of a dragon in his veins, allowing him to transform and pull off attacks like no other fighter.
Bayonetta, whose Wii U exclusive title Bayonetta 2 is getting a solo release on February 19th, joins Smash as well. Her addition is the result of the worldwide Fighter Ballot. Just like in her action games, Bayonetta is a combo fighter in Super Smash Bros., chaining different kinds of attacks together. Her signature move is Witch Time, which slows down opponents if they are within range.
Bayonetta will come with a brand new stage as well, which is called Umbra Clock Tower and is filled with moving platforms and even an alternate world. Both the fighter and stage are available for both Wii U and 3DS.
I always thought it was odd that Nintendo.com seemed to randomly show prices for their games, while the website seemed to hide them at other times. I could never really make sense of why it seemed to change from one day to the next. Initially I thought it had something to do with sales starting and ending on Thursdays, but I noticed that today on a Sunday the prices were mysteriously absent again. And then I figured it out.
It’s because I’m from Canada.
No this isn’t a slight or some other cry, but it seems to be from the way that I access the site.
You see Nintendo of Canada falls under Nintendo of America (NOA). We’re in the same region. At one time there were two distinct and separate sites between the two arms, the Canadian of which was somewhat underwhelming. Some time ago the websites were merged into one singular website, but there are some modest differences.
On October 28th, 2015, Sony quietly filed a trademark application for the term “Let’s Play” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Approval of the application would give Sony the power to remove any “Let’s Play” branded content that they disapproved of, including reviews of games of their competitors and criticisms of their own console games, and, potentially, follow the route of Nintendo and take ad revenue from content creators.
Sony’s “Let’s Play” trademark application.
Luckily, one law firm stepped up and took action to stop Sony’s trademark application.
“The McArthur Law Firm has filed a Letter of Protest with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) on behalf of all members of the gaming community against Sony’s attempt to trademark the term “Let’s Play”. We became concerned about Sony’s shameless attempt to monopolize a generic term used by gamers throughout the world when it was reported earlier this week that the USPTO had issued an Office Action assessing Sony’s application. The USPTO’s Office Action failed to even raise genericism as a possible issue with the trademark.”
The McArthur Law Firm specializes in supporting “companies in the digital industry and especially… software companies, app developers, video game companies, medium sized companies trying to protect their brand”. They appear to be the perfect fit for taking on Sony’s trademark application. And it seems that they were.
Two weeks after the McArthur Law Firm filed their Letter of Protest, the United States Patent and Trademark Office agreed that “Let’s Play” is a generic term and refused Sony’s trademark application.
Part of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s argument for rejecting Sony’s “Let’s Play” trademark application.
The McArthur Law Firm noted that the two sources used in the refusal by the United States Patent and Trademark office were the first two of 50 that they provided in their Letter of Protest, suggesting that the refusal was based on the Letter of Protest. They have also confirmed that rejection is “far more lethal” to Sony’s application than the previous response by the USPTO that several sites erroneously claimed was a rejection previously. The McArthur Law Firm has stated that, with the newest refusal, “the term “Let’s Play” is now forever in the public domain.”
