bobs-gameRobert Pelloni is a games developer who, for the past five years, worked hard creating a Nintendo DS homebrew title, Bob’s Game. The game is done now, but there’s a little problem: since it was a homebrew project the game is ineligible for publisher support. The solution? Nintendo has to approve his application for licensed developer status and a DS Nitro software development kit. Not that easy, though.

At least so it seems, since Pelloni is waiting for four months now for the Nitro SDK from Nintendo (who apparently sort out these problems in 6-8 weeks) and there are no signs of his long awaited package to arrive too soon. Therefore, the game’s developer decided to start a 100 day-long protest against Nintendo. Here’s how it works, in his own words:

“I cannot leave this room. The door is locked and barricaded from the outside. My bed is behind the camera, and I’ve got a shower. Food is delivered when necessary. I have no internet access, television, or game consoles besides those I am developing on. I can receive and send email on my Android G1, so I can get Nintendo’s reply- and update my site.”

Yes, in order to prove that he means it and everything is for real, Pelloni has a website where he broadcasts from his cellphone 24/7 so you can check him out and press the “work harder, bob!” button and wonder if that has any effect on things. It apparently does not. But I still worry about the guy’s health – spending 100 days locked in a room can seriously damage your health… or at least so I believe.

And it also seems strange why Nintendo does not want to give Pelloni what he wants: Bob’s Game, even though it has a horrendous name, appears to be a very solid, complex and well done DS title (you can check a few videos on YouTube) – and it clearly is better than many other big name titles released over the year. And since offering the guy the developer status does not mean that Nintendo actually has to publish his title… I can’t see why they don’t do it.

“I’m working 16 hour days with no human contact,” Pelloni writes. “Usually that sort of thing is reserved for unruly prisoners, not game developers. I’m not about to give up just because some stubborn intern or mid-level marketing exec is deleting my emails,” he adds and we truly wish him good luck. He clearly needs it!

1 COMMENT

  1. While it may be pretty rough, I don’t really see how this could seriously damage his health at all… He’s getting food when he needs it and whatnot, so the only thing he has to do is live without people for 100 days.

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