Robert Pelloni, a self taught game developer who single-handedly created a self described twenty-hour long “retail quality” DS game, recently locked himself in his office in a sit-down protest in hopes of getting Nintendo’s attention. However, what started as a passive and polite protest is turning ugly. Recently, Pelloni started to update his website with paranoid theories: conspiracy, sabotage, nefarious plots designed by Nintendo to silence Bob’s Game. Earlier this week Pelloni made vague threats that he would release Bob’s Game into the homebrew community if Nintendo didn’t issue him the SDK he needed to finish the game for licensed publication.
When the protest started, Pelloni seemed set on creating a licensed DS game, even praising Nintendo as a great gaming company, but as of Tueday 1/6/09, Robert Pelloni declared war. Now he aims to destroy Nintendo!
If it sounds crazy, its because it is – 25 days in solitary confinement would put anyone on edge, but it’s hard to imagine how Pelloni’s new attitude could do anything but hurt his case. In his most recent update, he writes:
I am the GREATEST GAME DEVELOPER THAT EVER LIVED.
I am a GENIUS, and I will be around for the next 40 years- eating away at your company until it exists no longer.
I will find way after way to slowly destroy your bottom line, and your business will fail.
The name NINTENDO will be forgotten, a discarded husk like so many others.
“bob’s game” will live on FOREVER.
It’s only a snippet of a harshly worded rant directly insulting the likes of Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Koijima, and even Doom creator John Carmack. Pelloni paints himself as a god among game developers and accuses Nintendo of cowering in fear and humiliation. These strong words harshly contrast an update he made only a week earlier:
I like Nintendo.
The last thing I want to do is release my game in a way that might damage them.
Why do you think I spent five years making a “Nintendo game?”
It’s hard to read, not only because of it’s harsh and delusional tone, but because it ultimately spells doom for what appeared to be an interesting and unique game. Unless Pelloni changes his tune, it’s hard to imagine any respectable publisher willing to deal with this kind of unruly behavior. Check out the Bob’s Game website for the full rant.
