games list
Ok, I''ve been checking out some of the games and I''ll post
a complete review of each eventually. Here is what I''ve
found:
1. Some games are very close to clones (Macman). I had
to go to a friend''s house to see it, but it''s close.
2. Some look like they used the original game for the
gameplay idea very closely, but art etc. is very
much improved, so much that they can''t qualify as
clones. Only clones in game rules. Should they
be called ''semi'' clones? But definately not clones.
3. Some look like they only used the original as a
loose inspiration. Gameplay and the whole game
is very improved, and there are many new gameplay
rules and new things. Sometimes a character is
obviously based on the original character, but much
improved and original art for them. Can the idea
of a spaceship or ghost in a maze be copyrighted?
The characters are obviously completely re-designed,
but we still have spaceships and ghosts.
I guess I don''t see the need for exact clones, unless of
course they were made at a time when they were the FIRST
one on the Mac. So if Macman was the only way Mac users
could get pacman for the past 10 years, I say Mac users
deserve to be able to play this great game.
If however, there are 100 Pac Man clones for the Mac, that''s
just a waste of programming effort. On the other hand, I
guess if people learn to program by making these simple
games, then it''s not a wasted effort, but a useful
educational exercise. Now you would think Hasbro wouldn''t
pick on ''freeware'' games, but in the case of Tetris, that''s
not true. A student can make a JAVA tetris game for
educational purposes, but god have mercy on his soul if he
posts it as an applet on his student web page! :-( In this
case Hasbro is definately going too far.
And here lies the problem:
I think someone touched on this earlier. The original
Pac Man, Tetris, Asteroids, etc. games are SO DAMN SIMPLE
that if you re-make it completely, you can capture every
element of it in your remake. How can you improve eating
dots in a maze? Well, it looks like one of the 3D Pac Man
games did a good job of adding all kinds of new stuff
like areas on the floor that you have to jump over or die,
escalator like floors, jumping over stuff, all kinds of
stuff. Still, they got sued probably because of the yellow
ball. Actually, the new yellow ball looks nothing like the
old yellow circle, one is 2D the new one is 3D and has
eyes and different characteristics. Is a yellow round
thing copyrightable? That''s a tough call, because it seems
the rest of that game is so completely different I''m
surprised to see it in the games list.
Oh yes, some of the Tetris games are dangerously close to
''clones'', some are not.
Why these games in the list and not the hundreds/thousands
of others out there? How does Hasbro pick them? I''ve
heard of JAVA Tetris games getting cease and desist
letters from Hasbro, and there other commercial CLONES
that are not in this lawsuit. How can that be?
This whole matter is very unsettling because it almost
seems as if any retro game is in some kind of ''random''
danger of being sued at any time.
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