Tinker with a classic game and the fans get angry. Take Nintendo's new Tetris DS, for instance. Some people are upset that the game includes the controversial "infinite spin" technique allowing players to continue rotating tetrads even after the tetrad in question has touched down on the stack. Then there are the equally griped-about issues of ghost pieces, the ability to hold a tetrad in reserve, extended preview windows, and hard drops. "Nintendo has broken Tetris!", they cry. Nintendo did no such thing. These additions to the game have been around for a while and are mandated by Tetris's rights holder, The Tetris Company.
Infinite spin first appeared in Tetris Worlds, a multiconsole release for this generation's home consoles and the Game Boy Advance. Then there's the extended preview windows that officially originated in The New Tetris and The Next Tetris. Holding a tetrad for later is from The New Tetris, too. Ghost pieces are nothing new either, and neither are hard drops. The fact is that if you're angry over the "new" changes in Tetris DS, then your scorn lies with The Tetris Company. Nintendo can only produce Tetris as mandated by The Tetris Company. If the company wants Nintendo to include these additional features, then Nintendo has to comply if it wants to produce the game. Angry fans should save their ire for the company that is responsible for changes to the traditional gameplay formula.
