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RTS Halo Mod Stopped by Microsoft
Headcase88 writes "Microsoft has officially asked the creators of Halogen to stop development at once. Halogen was an RTS mod being developed by Halo fans for the past three years. From the website: ' I was going to write a big sappy letter here, but what's the point. So..that's it then, I guess. The forums, site, and Moddb profile will all be shut down within the week. I can't say it hasn't been fun. It's a shame it has to end like this, but I suppose that's how it goes. Thanks, guys, for all the time you've spent supporting us. It's been a pleasure. We hate this as much as you do.' "
Or maybe they just hadn't heard of it until now. I certainly hadn't.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
This reminds me of when EA put a stop to Peroxide's Ultima I remake. Peroxide never intended to make any money off of their work, and I doubt these guys did either... Yet these companies squash the project. If I were in their positions, I would be flattered that people enjoyed their product so much they decided to make a tribute to it.
probably not, but Microsoft doesn't want the Halo name to be tainted by some halfassed game that people will think is the real thing from bungie.
Yes that was ment to be taken sarcastically...well the halfassed part.
Why invest three years in a mod when you know the environment is hostile?
Isn't modding a game simply legal? While selling it without permission would be iffy at best, making a mod should not be. Distributing it can be tricky, if you need to distribute copyrighted files along with your modded files.
Maybe get some legal advice? Stopping development on a pet project just 'cause someone says you can't do it seems overkill.
The mod community has aware of the risks of this type of mod since the infamous 'Foxing' of the Aliens vs. Predator mod in 94. If you use someones elses IP and they get wind of it, you have a 90% chance of getting shut down. Best case scenario, you get to finish the product but they own it/have massive say in what happens.
To be fair, these mods do undercut the future marketability of franchise products. Lets say they did pull off an extremely popular, successful Halo RTS game - now Bungie just has more competition. Going the other route, if make a notorious bomb of a mod, Halo could end up with a black mark in the RTS arena.
The ironic thing is, chances are decent that the people who actually work on the game day to day probably don't care, as devs aren't typically focused on the long term/5-10 year value of the IP.
Yes, damn them for making the most successful console fps ever!
Except they weren't modding Halo, they were modifying a completely different game using Halo assets.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
Great. And then when you want to put the project on your C.V. for employment in the game industry, you can't because it was pursued while known to be unauthorized. Also in addition to putting in lots of work during your free time, now you are putting yourself at risk of being sued, all for no personal benefit. Put yourself in their shoes a little.
This is just Microsoft being arrogant about the fact that a small, "unprofessional" team of people can create something that millions of people want and they, with all their billions and teams of "professionals" can't
That's right, because Halo and Halo 2 were both complete flops, weren't they? Hardly shifted a dozen units between them, right?
I say they reprogram the whole thing on a Quake 3 engine or something
I'm now fairly sure you never read the article, but, to give you the benifit of the doubt for a second and assume you did, could you explain what you mean by this comment? Because, as you are no doubt aware, this was a mod for Command and Conquer using Halo IP, not a mod for Halo. Could you explain (A) why microsoft would give a flying fuck which non-MS game these guys wrote a mod for and (B) exactly why you think it would be good idea for these guys to start over again with their RTS mod by dumping the RTS game they were trying to modify and attempting make an RTS using an FPS game engine? Just curious.
minus any actual mention of the word Halo of course.
And of course they're free to do that. As I have said eleswhere in this discussion, if these devs had just, I don't know, maybe come up with an original idea, instead of ripping off MS's IP, then maybe they wouldn't have just had to watch three years work disapear down the drain.
Oh I know, it's MS and they're evil and yes, they suck. But I just can't see what they've done wrong here. The Halo IP is a huge asset for MS, and the law of the land as currently written alows them to defend it. I cannot for the life of me see why anyone would expect them to do anything different. If you are making a game using someone elses IP then you are relying entirely on their good will. These devs never even asked permission. If I was about to embark on three years of hard work, I think I might ask the copyright holders permission first.
"I realise this is not a very popular opinion but it's the truth, and there for needs to be said" -Bill Hicks