Originally Posted by greevar

To call a video game, which is just an arrangement of 1's and 0's a product, means you're committing a misnomer. A video game is no more a product than calculus. They are both a collection of executed ideas, but neither is a product. The disc, on the other hand, is a product. It's made of finite, scarce resources that are required to produce it.

Originally Posted by greevar

True. But the mere fact that neither are compatible does add to the issue that it's hard to port games to other platforms. MS doesn't want the PS3 SDK to create 360 games and vice versa. It's a colossal pain in the ass to make a game for three consoles and Windows, but it doesn't have to be. Actually, if the PS3 and the 360 could run each other's games, that would be big for the consumer. Consumers want cross-platform compatibility. Why deny them what they're willing to pay for? Oh wait, because MS, Nintendo, and Sony want their cut of your earnings.

...wow. My mind has been blown. You mean to tell me that MS/Sony/Nintendo DON'T want to make it easy for their business rivals to cannibalize their software library? Not only that, but they want a return on the billions of $ spent on R&D while developing their consoles? Those greedy bastards!

;)

greevar stop the trollin

ontopic: i don't get how they can release such a poor ripoff , i'd expect this from a fan that tried to make a flashclone out of it (i bet it would look the same) but not from a mayor company that tries to make money out of it.

I think it was a mistake on Twisted Pixel's part to even acknowledge the game at all. It's barely worth mentioning because it's a steaming pile of tripe. The worst thing you can do if you want something like this to go away is to not give it any attention at all. Even if the Capcom guys did a better job than TP, the whole thing just boils down to plagiarism. There's nothing in that game they can reasonably claim copyright on. After all, how many versions of Tetris are out there? The same goes for other games like BigJohn mentioned. I'd agree with TP if Capcom used actual 'Splosion Man assets, but it doesn't. In truth, if nobody made a fuss about it, then the game would probably have just fallen off the radar altogether.

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."


Edit: Those posts are several days old. The issue has been dropped. Let it go.

Originally Posted by greevar

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

Originally Posted by TortillaChips

I was referring to Capcom, not me.

Aw, well that's no fun.

Originally Posted by Bigjohn

That was funny to see all those side by side.

The only one that felt weird though is the Starcraft/Starfront comparison. Not because it's off-mark, but because nobody ever seems to give Blizzard a hard time for a title that's basically a rehash of Warhammer.

That their humans are basically War40k's Space Marines, their Zerg are essentially the same as the Tyranids, and Protoss are a combination of Tau/Eldars, all seems to go under the radar.

Warcraft I think is better done. The Orcs aren't directly the Warhammer Orks, but more like a generic combination of fantasy Orc, with a bit of Klingon mixed in. Their Elves actually feel unique, with the druids and whatnot, etc. But Starcraft is a pretty clear parallel to War40k.

To be fair, blizzard did ape after a bunch of the aesthetics, but they have always been good at doing their own thing with it, people usually don't go that far with just a ripoff.

terrans are descendants of prison colonies and are mostly a bunch of criminals, hillbillies and cowboys in exosuits.

humans in wh40k are religious fanatics, and their marines are way more special than their starcraft counterpart, almost being cyborgs and way more powerful and rare.

not to mention the whole overarching xelnaga thing in which they created both the protoss and zerg, does this have a counterpart in wh40k?

etc..

There's a difference between clear inspiration (which can be rooted back to tolkien) and a clear ripoff, heck arthas doesn't stop being awesome even though his clear inspirational source from LOTR.

I would be much more impressed with gameloft if they actually created something that was an inspiration but clearly had something of its own going with it.

I dunno, I remember back in 1995-1998 people DID give blizzard a hard time for their visual copying. Both for Warcraft and Starcraft. Maybe the internet just wasn't the big 'callout' place back then, but everyone I know who knew of both saw Warcraft in particular as a direct style ripoff. Maybe if Blizzard had made crappier games they'd still be getting flack, but they've proven themselves as developers, and in the mid 90s, Warhammer had no real digital presence. Also, I'm pretty sure the first Warcraft itself WAS supposed to be Warhammer game.

Regardless, even to assume the worst about Blizzard, there's a difference between a visual juvenile imitation of your inspirations (from a different medium no less) and swiping the exact same game mechanics, level layout, puzzle layout, and characters.

Originally Posted by eld

not to mention the whole overarching xelnaga thing in which they created both the protoss and zerg, does this have a counterpart in wh40k?

I'm not familiar with Star Craft lore but that sounds like The Old Ones

Did I hear some Sonic SFX in Capcom's version?

Not going to read back through all this stuff but Twisted Pixel does have legitimate grounds to sue Capcom but I'm sure they don't have the funds for a legal battle. I'm sure Capcom would have Twisted Pixel in court the next day if they put out Maxsonic the Hedgehog.

I was referring more to the visual style. You know Space Marines -> Space Marines, Giant Intelligent Bugs (Zerg) -> Giant Intelligent Bugs (Tyranids), etc. But I don't see it as a crime as much as just showing how far inspiration can actually go. Especially when it comes to Warcraft itself, which I think is now in a league of its own. Tauren are probably the most unique thing I've seen in a fantasy world, with their infusion of native-american themes and everything. Not to mention the Druids, which I think are damn awesome, and not really done in anything else that I'm aware of.

And yeah, Blizzard does deserve a lot of credit for actually making great games.

Originally Posted by Justin_Meisse

Not going to read back through all this stuff but Twisted Pixel does have legitimate grounds to sue Capcom but I'm sure they don't have the funds for a legal battle. I'm sure Capcom would have Twisted Pixel in court the next day if they put out Maxsonic the Hedgehog.

I don't think they do. Capcom used TP's ideas, but if that was illegal, Burger King and McDonald's would be going at it on every similarity. They would have to prove that Capcom used Twisted Pixel assets to make the game, which they didn't. Nevertheless, it's not a battle worth fighting as Capcom has more expensive lawyers and more of them. And even if they had equal or better legal defense against Capcom, it's still not worth it. The more they fuss about it, the more people hear about the game and check it out. So it's a win-win for Capcom.