TotalBiscuit just uploaded his own analysis on the matter. I must say, he did an absolutely fantastic job of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yX4io2O4EI

Yes, but that's a much worse analogy. These people aren't taking games and releasing them as their own. If that's what they were doing, your analogy would fit. Watching a video of someone playing a game is not the same as playing it yourself, it just isn't.

Also, do you really think that Let's Plays are lowering the number of game sales? I'm pretty sure it's raising it. It's free advertising for the games, unless of course the game sucks, but in that case chances are that not many people want to either make or watch Let's Plays of it.

They are using someone else's material though. The LPer for the most part only takes the material and adds very little to it. Most LPs are just raw footage with terrible commentary added, and if the owners of the intellectual property want to complain OR prevent the LPer from profiting form it that's their prerogative. There are exceptions, though, where the footage acquired from the games is barely just half of what makes that particular LP special (Docfuture's Sonic 2 Special which has a shitload of editing and altering of things, it is a really interesting watch, Research Indicates's Jurassic Park Trespasser which is professionally edited and cut very well, Geop's Assassin's Creed 1 and 2 LPs which are half Ass Creed footage, half REALLY good history lesson). Strangely though, as far as I know they have not monetized those videos.

I for one have caused a couple of extra sales of some Atlus games with my captures, but that had to do more with showing off the base mechanics AND a basic guide than me being a good read or a good narrator, LPing does work as a showcase, but it should be more about the game and WAY LESS about the goddamn LPer.

Certainly. They are legally entitled to do it, I'm just questioning whether it is wise to do so.
Well, I'd say it depends a lot on both the game and the LPer. I'm a big fan of several members of the Yogscast, and I enjoy their videos more for them as LPers than for the games they play.

True. Yogscast does interesting stuff. But then again that also comes from them doing interesting shit with a wide open sandbox.
Personally I don't care at all for Minecraft LPS but I've enjoyed a couple of the yogscast vids.

I said they were covering the songs, not claiming they were their own. I didn't suggest Let's Plays were lowering the number of game sales, I was just trying to fix your analogy.

Yes, but covering a song means putting the same material out in the same medium as the original, giving a similar experience. Watching a video of someone playing a game is not the same experience as playing the game yourself, not by a long shot.

I get that, again I was just trying to improve your analogy. The flaws you're noting were present in your analogy.

No they were not. Your analogy was about delivering the same material in the same medium, leading to a similar experience. My analogy was about using the same material in a different medium, leading to a different experience. A guitar is not the same thing as a piece of music. A game is not the same thing as a video. A song however, is the same thing as a song.

You're right, I was misunderstanding the purpose of your analogy. However, a guitar is a machine. It's simply not comparable to a game or a song.

Another flaw in your analogy is that the same song could be played on any number of different guitars. A Let's Play is very specific to the game it is about. It wouldn't be anything like the same thing with a different game.

I'm sorry, but it's just a terrible analogy.

So even as they pull their heads out of their ass to quit fucking small/indie/3rd party devs they keep pulling their other same old shenanigans. Yeah I don't expect Nintendo to change over night, they are a big ship, after all. But when a lot of your main IPs are coming up stale, your major living room console is coming up DOA (seriously, they'd have to pull a Pokemon MMO out of their asses to save the Wii U by now) you'd think they maybe could think twice before pissing off gamers.

Even EA feels free to give them the big "fuck you and shove your Wii U up your ass!"

So now they're left with old IPs that most of their teams are failing to leverage into anything that isn't unpleasantly tired... umm "oops".


But hey, we'll be able to play our iOS games on Wii U soon, I'm sure that will balance it all out!

Personally, I spend a fair amount of time watching LP's on YouTube.
I've bought several games because I watched someone play them and upload it to YouTube.

Going after LP'ers ad revenue is silly imho, since it'll lead to LESS exposure since the LP'ers will just move on to games they can monetize.

Two other blog posts about this matter I'd like to link here are the following:

Mike Bithell (creator of Thomas Was Alone) on how Let's plays helped boost his sales

Dinnerbone (Minecraft developer) with his opinion on the value of LP's for game developers

Your personal experience doesn't change the fact that some people might watch the Let's Play video instead of buying the game, especially the ones that are heavily story driven such as Heavy Rain and MGS4.
It really depends on the game. Watching a Let's Play of Fahrenheit or Heavy Rain would probably spoil the whole game since these are not as interactive as other games. Adventure games in general are so scripted that watching a Let's Play video spoils the experience completely.

Wow, he nailed that, thanks for posting!

Terrible analogy.
As far as i'm aware Nintendo's move affects Let's Play videos only, not reviews or videos showing gameplay sections. You really don't have to watch an entire Let's Play to get to know an "obscure" game.
But that's the point: you can find out about a game just by watcing small sections of it, you don't need to watch the whole game, which is what LPers do.