Discovery Channel is hosting a pretty good documentary about one of my guilty pleasure, that is, videogame history. The last part covers Tetris' history. Nothing new if you already saw Tetris: from Russia with love (they even took some still shots from it). There's no mentions of the legal battle, only that "the USSR sold the game around the world, and made million from Alexey's creation". A youtube video is covering this segment. Ah and more importantly, what is that japanese multiplayer Tetris on 3:18 and 3:21 ?
Nice find! As for the game, I think it may be this one: I'm pretty sure it wasn't TTC-endorsed. Sure does resemble Tetris Online in structure.
If NHN made an unlicensed game, blatantly ripping off not just the gameplay but also the name of Rogers' crown jewel - not even a "xxxris" name but a verbatim copy - , it sounds pretty incredulous that NHN Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of the same company, would then team up with Tetris Online Japan to run the TOJ service on their gaming service (Hangame Japan).
What's the bootleg keychain game that Henk liked it so much he teamed up with the company? I guess it could've been TTC-endorsed, but I remember looking very closely at the website and couldn't find any "authentic tetris" game or logo or TTC/Elorg copyright, etc.
I don't know. I know that Gametech Inc. struck a hit in 1996 with Tetrin 55 (Left one - pictured side by side with Tetris Jr.), the first keychain game, going on to being awarded Digital DIME Magazine's Trend Awards of that year alongside the Nintendo 64 console. I know that a lawsuit ensued, making Gametech to change the name of its product to Picorin, but still allowing them to continue producing the games under the new name, as the Japanese court ruled that the rules of the game were not protected under copyright. I know that around the same time, a whole bunch of companies cashed in on the fad by releasing their own versions of the keychain games. I also know that among those companies was Hiro Inc., which released a licensed keychain game, Tetris Jr., and that nowadays Epoch Inc. produces the keychain games such as the same Tetris Jr. and the newer Tetris 3 minutes. But I don't know of one single company that all sold an unlicensed keychain game, was liked by Henk, and had then teamed up to produce a licensed game. Perhaps kbr might know?
I do know that the tetromino game in the "Pro 200" LCD block game system (the one with the calculator) had sound effects like those of Tetris Jr.
i swear that was the best tetris game ever! hangame (NHN corp) knew what they were doing. there were some really good korean tetris players.
