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Ultima Revived
Sierpinski writes: "Wired.com has an article about a group of people who are trying to bring back some of the classic (older) games. I don't know what a lot of you gamers are into now... personally I'm into Max Payne and the like, but I still remember those old favorites. Thought some of you slashdotters would like to know." We've mentioned one of these games already, but I see The Bard's Tale is coming back from the dead too.
I think what appeals to me about these updates is the reduction in associated stress. These chaps wouldn't be half as popular if they tried to recreate the 'fun' of loading from tape, LensLock security, broken keyboard membranes/joysticks, etc etc?
A disgruntled Spectrum user. Bring back YS. And Crash.
http://twitter.com/onion2k
Origin doesn't own the rights to anything... they aren't even a seperate company anymore.. (And really haven't been for 10 years or so)
All ip for all licenses/products/properties for any game produced by any company owned by EA is owned by EA directly..
Richard Garriott retains the rights to Lord British, but sold the rights to Ultima and everything else Origin had produced when the company was sold in the early 90's..
Which makes the quote from the article even more amusing :
""EA owns the rights to Ultima and all of its characters, and in this case, no permission was requested or granted," said Jeff Brown, an Electronic Arts spokesman. "As for Richard Garriott's approval, that's like getting permission from Toto to remake The Wizard of Oz.""
I'd love to see the rereleases(and maybe one for M.U.L.E. but I get the feeling EA will fox them pretty quickly.. (Fox is the term coined after the shutdown of Aliens Doom by the fox movie studio)
"EA owns the rights to Ultima and all of its characters, and in this case, no permission was requested or granted," said Jeff Brown, an Electronic Arts spokesman. "As for Richard Garriott's approval, that's like getting permission from Toto to remake The Wizard of Oz."
Richard Garriott was a minor character with no lines in Ultima? I think that L. Frank Baum (were he still alive) might be a better example. It would still not be legal, since MGM owns the movie rights, but comparing Garriott to Toto is bizarre...
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Do ya feel happy-go-lucky, punk?
"EA owns the rights to Ultima and all of its characters, and in this case, no permission was requested or granted," said Jeff Brown, an Electronic Arts spokesman. "As for Richard Garriott's approval, that's like getting permission from Toto to remake The Wizard of Oz."
Nice quote. What's the deal with publishers these days being hostile to everyone including developers? Look at Bioware and Interplay.
Heh. Yeah a first person version would rule. You would just see your feet, some dirt, and a shovel.
Dig. Dig. Dig.
After actually reading the article, I notice a few things in passing.
One of the companies demanded contact from the developers because, in some way, shape, or form the game resembled one of "theirs". A passing resemblance is enough to trigger a lawyer.
The companies seemed to think that a non-profit independent venture using some of "their" ideas is under their purvue -- ie, no Fair Use for anyone. No parody or tribute allowed.
These companies did not create these franchises (mostly) -- they didn't design them, or write the code, or even have the original developers on hand. They just bought the "property". Lord British was referred to as "Toto" to their lordly Frank Baum.
Kicker: they have refused to do anything with these "properties" for years. Even though fans begged them to. There was not enough profit, and they let them lie fallow.
That is an ample demostration of why current copyright and IP is a perversion of what Jefferson et al created copyright for -- to encourage the creation of new art for the good of all, not to only profit the holder of the mark. By converting "Bard's Tale" and other games to the status of paperclip inventory on a shelf, the art it engendered lies dead, hostage to greed for property.
As for my opinion, if the mark holders are letting it lie in an intellectual property grave, a non-profit knock-off is an expression of democratic disapproval. The PROPER course of action for these IP holders is to hire these people and release the new games, and sheepishly admit that they should have done it long ago.
Fortunately, since the copyright laws hadn't been extended to ridiculous lengths, you don't need Toto's, or anyone's, permission to distribute or rewrite L. F. Baum's Oz stories, as they started going into the public domain in the 1950's.
While IP laws are intended to protect the holder, there is a good arguement for changes to protect the consumers interests.
Wherever a significant consumer group is NOT being served by an IP holder there should be a legal process by which the IP defaults AWAY from the holder following a period of non-exploitation.
Scenario: Publisher X withdraws GameX from the market, and stops supporting players. A player registers this fact with a register for a small fee (call it $30, just to stop the jokers, to make sure it matters). Following a period, perhaps 2 years, if the company has made no significant moves to make the IP available to the paying public it defaults out to the public domain. Simple.
Company X will argue that it could be working on the new version during those 2 years and this sucks. But, any decent games company will continue to support its user base while the new game is coming along - drip feeding us patches, upgrade packs, new terrains.
Similarly, any other software that starts to die could be openned up after a couple of years of non-exploitation or when the company went bust. Doesn't mean they have to release the code - just that they cant sue your arse if you copy them / take inspiration.
Star Control 2 is another all-time great computer game, and it too has a community trying to bring the game back (it never died in my opinion). These guys are making a sequal to the Star Control 2 universe... the game that Star Control should have been. There is also Freeciv, an open source Civilization clone. Anyway, the early Ultimas are classics, but I had to throw in a link about Star Con revival efforts. Its slightly on topic ;-)
Old-fashioned Ultima-style games with a more modern interface and look-&-feel are being produced right now! Check out Spiderweb Software. The games are all shareware -- crippleware, actually -- that let you get through about 1/3 of the way through play before you're forced to register to continue. But at $25, it's not all that painful to register.
And the brethren went away edified.