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FreeCraft Forks Offer RTS Alternatives
TekPolitik writes "Blizzard's attempt to shut down the multi-platform freeware RTS, FreeCraft appears to have backfired. There are now two replacement projects - Project Inferno and Stratagus. The new sites are making some effort to catalog all the games that use the new engine. Stratagus lists Wargus, Aleona's Tales and RoboVasion. Project Inferno lists ShadowConflict." The Stratagus FAQ page constructively explains: "Stratagus aims at being a generic realtime strategy engine, with no special focus on Warcraft2."
It wasn't illegal, the project was a game that played like Warcraft 2, but was rewritten 100% from scratch, with new graphics (you could load the WC2 graphics from your WC2 CD if you bought it). There was no infringment then and there is not now (the C&D letter was about the name?!)
Blizzard almost certainly has a trademark on RTS games with names in the format of "XCraft". So when people are making a game that "plays like WC2", and furthermore has a title in the same format as Blizzard's games, they are entirely within their rights to say "Stop that, or we'll sue your bitch ass."
Are the new projects illegal? Probably not, though they want to be careful about trumpeting their connection to Freecraft. But the fact of the matter is that making new versions of WC2 is not exactly useful or productive...
Philip Sandifer's academic website
"Freecraft" got in trouble because of the similarity to the names "Warcraft" and "Starcraft" - and because they were offering compatibility with Warcraft 2.
(Rant: What the hell were they thinking? That's like making a shooter called "Dooom" and not expecting to get sued - and were they that short on talent that they didn't have an original game idea?)
It's not like Blizzard has a monopoly on strategy games and anyone can make them. Just not blatant clones of other people's ideas and content.
So the headline that screams "BlIzZArD'z PL4Nz B4CKF1R3 - LOL1!!!!" is stupid, and I'm pleased to see that people's efforts are going in a unique direction.
Dude you broke the first commandment of /. "thou shalt not speak ill of linux or open source ever"
You are going down as a troll, but you are dead right, too many people champion things just because they are Linux or open source without ever considering why.