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INTEREST: MariCar Go-Kart Company Throws a Petty Shell at Nintendo




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samuelp
Industry Insider


Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 2231
Location: San Antonio, USA
PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 3:51 pm Reply with quote
Okay so when lived in Tokyo these guys were a nuisance and a road hazard (even if the tourists seemed like they were having a blast), and I kind of wish that Nintendo could have sued them into non-existence, but I've got to hand it to them for taking this and turning it into a marketing campaign.
Clever (and with just the right amount of "screw you big company")
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meruru



Joined: 16 Jun 2009
Posts: 471
PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 4:32 pm Reply with quote
It's amazing the number of maricar go carts you'll see driving around Akiba, especially knowing that 90 percent of their customers are foreigners, and that you have to get an international driver's license in order to drive. They'd happen to go by multiple times a day, when I must have missed many more trips just by not being outside when they went by. Akiba has really changed, the number of foreigners there is extremely high, when even just 10 or 15 years ago, they were scarce.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 5:12 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
It was an especially popular service with foreigners, who made up about 90% of its clientele and only needed an international driver's license to participate.

At last, a motorised equivalent of an urban bicycle hire scheme! (It has the characteristics thereof, at least.)
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gloverrandal



Joined: 20 May 2014
Posts: 406
Location: Oita
PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 5:24 pm Reply with quote
samuelp wrote:
Okay so when lived in Tokyo these guys were a nuisance and a road hazard (even if the tourists seemed like they were having a blast), and I kind of wish that Nintendo could have sued them into non-existence, but I've got to hand it to them for taking this and turning it into a marketing campaign.
Clever (and with just the right amount of "screw you big company")


I agree 100%. I'm sad MariCar is still able to stay open.
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nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 924
PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 5:35 pm Reply with quote
They're in osaka too, or a clone thereof: nearly got barrelled over by some of these wankers near tsutenkaku when I was over there back in october.

Honestly I don't see the point: doing it in real-life strips out the fantastic elements that are the appeal of the game. But if you're not banking on repeat business then I guess that's sustainable.
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RegSuzaku



Joined: 08 Jul 2018
Posts: 267
Location: Ikebukuro
PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 9:34 am Reply with quote
Quote:
copy-writing the phrase


. . . . . . . .

.....

I'm... sort of surprised to see this sort of thing from ANN?
Copy writing vs. Copyright vs. Trademark etc...

But yeah, they are a nuisance to traffic, and this is also just really childish of them (that is to say, par for them). But I don't drive, so I'm not getting all worked up over it.

They still use character costumes, just not Mario. Sanrio, SanX, Dragonball, Disney, Minions... *sigh* Minions...
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