Cookie's Bustle - Someone is trying to remove all evidence that this obscure Japanese game from the 90's existed

[Jade]

Very interesting! With how interconnected media is and how easy it is to preserve every single aspect of media these days, the notion of someone trying to completely erase something as large as a game, even an old obscure one, from the internet for no discernible reason is a fascinating prospect. It's got a real urban legend type of feel.

 

[alix (dead account)]

My inner conspiracy theorist says that there's something hidden in this game that somebody really wants covered up.

Same, there is something weird in all of this

 

[Some_porcupine]

maybe the way it was produced...

they know...
(and i am stupid, didnt read the 1st paragraph...
"Cookie's Bustle: Mysterious Bombo World[a] is a 1999 Japanese point-and-click adventure game created by Keisuke Harigai and published by Rodik[2] on Windows and Mac OS.[3] The game has had a resurgence in 2022 for having a copyright troll claiming copyright over the game and using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to remove traces of the game's existence off of the internet.[4]")

(4) https://www.timeextension.com/news/...obscure-japanese-video-game-from-the-internet

 

[alix (dead account)]

View attachment 64456

It's either the creators starting all of this as a way to give the game more popularity, or (what I think it's happening) something weirder or even darker.

 

[Some_porcupine]

It's either the creators starting all of this as a way to give the game more popularity, or (what I think it's happening) something weirder or even darker.

View: https://twitter.com/shodanon/status/1616733883952660480?s=20
reading thread now (twitter, where the fuss comes from)

 

[alix (dead account)]

reading thread now (twitter, where the fuss comes from)

After reading it, I'm now 100% sure that there is something deeper going on

 

[Taleisin]

What a surreal situation. Why would anyone want this game to disappear so badly? The crazy game collector/copyright troll explanation makes sense, but I also have a hard time believing that a single person would be able to do all this. Did they create Graceware just to claim ownership of Cookie's Bustle? How were they able to file copyright claims under the names of Nintendo and Ukie? It's too weird. My inner conspiracy theorist says that there's something hidden in this game that somebody really wants covered up. The fact that the developers got their start making new age fortune telling software is suspicious.

this is some John Titor IBM 5100 shit

 

[Taleisin]

My inner conspiracy theorist says that there's something hidden in this game that somebody really wants covered up. The fact that the developers got their start making new age fortune telling software is suspicious.

Rodik, Inc - MobyGames

Rodik was founded in 1994 as a software and multimedia production house, working both on their own projects and for other companies. Between 1994 and 1997 it developed and published two multimedia CD-ROM divination programs, To-Gen-Kiko and Kanetaka...

www.mobygames.com

Their two fortune telling games use Seimei Handan, a kind of numerology based on the strokes in a person's name. They frame this as based on the knowledge of a "fictional" expert, Shinichiro Kanetaka, who's biography was used as marketing for the games.

If we want to dig into the possible conspiracy here, then analysing that biography and the names of characters in cookie's bustle is probably the way to go first.

 

[alix (dead account)]

If we want to dig into the possible conspiracy here, then analysing that biography and the names of characters in cookie's bustle is probably the way to go first.

Time to do some research then

 

[alix (dead account)]

They frame this as based on the knowledge of a "fictional" expert, Shinichiro Kanetaka, who's biography was used as marketing for the games.

He might not be real, but the guy in the cover surely is.

 

[alix (dead account)]

View: https://youtube.com/watch?v=u3snws20MnY&feature=share9

The only guy who has posted a video about the To-Gen-Kiko game. Maybe the channel's owner and their Discord server could know something about this whole thing.

 

[Some_porcupine]

View attachment 64459
He might not be real, but the guy in the cover surely is.

is it you classmate? XD

 

[alix (dead account)]

View attachment 64461

That image quality is surely great

 

[Some_porcupine]

That image quality is surely great

sorry dont have better
also, whatever will happen if he found out XD

 

[SolidStateSurvivor]

View: https://twitter.com/shodanon/status/1616733883952660480?s=20
reading thread now (twitter, where the fuss comes from)

This Rare Game Mafia thing is intriguing, another sought after/once lost Japanese PC game "Roly Polys World Tour" was just recently released after years of searching, wonder if that had something to do with it.
The scene for lost media trading/collecting is pretty crazy. To an extent I get needing to preserve an item's exclusivity for trade value, but it's equally frustrating when stuff gets hoarded with no intention to share or archive it.

 

[Orlando Smooth]

To an extent I get needing to preserve an item's exclusivity for trade value

I actually have never understood this thought process. The number of people that 1) want to play an obscure 20+ year old Japanese PC game, 2) are not interested in collecting physical copies, just playing it, 3) but would spend large amounts of money to get a physical copy that they otherwise wouldn't buy, just to be able to play it, must be vanishingly small. It's hard to imagine that this hypothetical group of people could have any significant impact on demand. To the extent that they would impact demand it would seem as though allowing the game to be played as a ROM hack or something would only make it more popular and actually increase the number of aspiring physical collectors and therefore the value of the copy you hold in your possession.

 

[Some_porcupine]

This Rare Game Mafia thing is intriguing, another sought after/once lost Japanese PC game "Roly Polys World Tour" was just recently released after years of searching, wonder if that had something to do with it.
The scene for lost media trading/collecting is pretty crazy. To an extent I get needing to preserve an item's exclusivity for trade value, but it's equally frustrating when stuff gets hoarded with no intention to share or archive it.

maybe they try to "make value" of it. rent it, or, to use it as bitcoin, holder of value, - rare commodity: if you get me

 

[alix (dead account)]

They frame this as based on the knowledge of a "fictional" expert, Shinichiro Kanetaka, who's biography was used as marketing for the games.

Do you have his biography?

 

[Taleisin]

Do you have his biography?

Haven't found it yet, would probably take a search of JP sites

 

[alix (dead account)]

Haven't found it yet, would probably take a search of JP sites

Honestly, the best option rn is talking with the Channel I mentioned earlier. I might be looking too much into this but I need to find the true reason of this. It's impossible a troll is doing that much for a simple Japanese obscure game.