Nintendo's (sometimes sordid) past now available on Google news archives
Google just unwrapped "news archive search," a new feature that allows users to search years and years of old news accounts. The company says the ability to search through a comprehensive database of old news will "make it possible for users to read about historical events as they happened."
Just to give the service a whirl, we asked the search engine to dredge up Nintendo's past from its archive of newspapers past. Most of what comes up is trivia (did you know that Universal sued Nintendo for infringing on King Kong with Donkey Kong?), but some of it's more interesting.
For instance, there's plenty on Nintendo's alleged monopoly, the subsequent Nintendo price-fixing settlement, and the fight between Nintendo and Game Genie.
What's really striking about this historical survey of Nintendo news is how the company's public image has swung from big, bad, litigious monopolist to underdog over the last 17+ years. Flipping through historical news accounts provides a sense of perspective that's sometimes lacking from the day-to-day tussle of the sixth console war now underway.
