The Simpsons Game Tweaks Gaming Companies

While some companies have embraced their games' parodies (like SOE and NeverQuest), others are less pleased by the sincerest form of flattery. Specifically, some of the folks at Rockstar were less than pleased by the 'Grand Theft Scratchy: Blood Island' portion of the game. "'I was always under the impression that when you do parody, it's a sign of respect... If we make fun of Grand Theft Auto, we're not going to hurt the sales of Grand Theft Auto... But yeah, we've definitely had some reactions - we've had to pull stuff from the game', The Simpsons lead designer Greg Rizzer revealed to us in an interview earlier this week. 'But that's cool to me', Rizzer continued. 'It's cool to still know, I feel, that the industry's been waiting for a game like this to come along. It's been too long since we really had one, and of course [there's] The Simpsons being the perfect vehicle to poke fun at the games industry.'"

Comments

Typical

[MyLongNickName]

The folks who scream the most about their "art" being protected by the First Amendment are the first to scream when someone uses that First Amendment to make fun of them.

Re:Typical

[XenoPhage]

The folks who scream the most about their "art" being protected by the First Amendment are the first to scream when someone uses that First Amendment to make fun of them. From TFA : " At this year's Games Convention in Leipzig, someone took offence at a poster for 'Grand Theft Scratchy', one of the levels in the game, and asked that it be taken down. "

So it looks like it was a poster that got taken down? I know they say they had to take stuff out of the game as well, but I'd like to see more info on what was removed and who requested it before I jump to conclusions..

Again, from TFA : " "I don't know who specifically at Rockstar", Rizzer said. "I'm guessing probably more than anyone it was a lawyer. The people who work on that product, I doubt they were like, 'Stop that!'". "

So I guess they don't even know who it was that asked for the content to be removed ... Odd... He does state that it *was* Rockstar, though... Sounds like a case of someone jumping to conclusions at Rockstar.....

Re:Typical

[moderatorrater]

I can think of five other games off the top of my head that stole their gameplay and storylines from GTA, and that's without trying. Since there have been other games that Rockstar hasn't made a fuss about, it looks like the parody is what they can't stand.

Can't wait for Sitar Hero

[SpeedyDX]

FTA:

"I don't know if you've seen Sitar Hero? We did Apu playing this 60-button controller and songs like Pour Some Curry On Me - we made this wonderful parody poster and the guys from Harmonix loved it and we sent them 20 copies of the poster. They just loved it so much." Nice to see Harmonix embraced the parody. I hope they release the "Pour Some Curry On Me" track as part of their marketing campaign.

Anyway, this might be the first time since Jack Thompson came on the scene that anyone's going to have anything bad to say about Rockstar! They shunned the Simpsons! THE SIMPSONS! That's worse than blasphemy around here!

huh?

[wellingtonsteve]

"we've had to pull stuff from the game"

Are parodies not protected under USA law?

Or that only apply to music.. Weird Al seems to do OK..

Re:huh?

[Hatta]

Parodies are protected by law, but your life will be a whole lot easier if you don't have to defend yourself in court. So most people who do parodies professionally try to get permission. If you look around a bit you'll find a number of people who have even refused Weird Al permission to parody them. Coolio springs to mind. I can't imagine why they'd object though, it would be an honor to be ripped on by Al.

Re:huh?

[MyLongNickName]

Al gets permission first even though he doesn't need it. Eminem, also known for his "my stuff is protected by free speech so bite me" has refused Al the right to make videos spoofing him and his appearance. this despite Eminem spoofing many other famous folks in his videos.

Coolio once refused Al a video, but it somehow got mixed up in the translation, and Al got an "okay".

Prince also refused Al, shortly before he baceme known as the "artist formerly known".

Re:huh?

[hedwards]

Coolio springs to mind. I can't imagine why they'd object though, it would be an honor to be ripped on by Al. Sometimes an artist will be touchy about a single track being parodied, especially if it is some sort of tribute.

Coolio and Weird Al are normally on good terms, Coolio was just upset that that particular song was parodied. Mostly because it was a tribute to all those that have fallen due to inner city violence.

That isn't always the case, some artists will object just because they aren't being paid for it.

Hot donut

[joaeri]

I wonder if they are going all the way in this so we will get a 'Hot donut' section in The Simpsons game? Homer getting freaky with his favorit donut and a good 'adult only' rating.

Pot vs Kettle

[Rob T Firefly]

For those unfamiliar with Rockstar, they're the company that make those GTA games featuring mass quantities of pop-culture parody in the background of just about every scene.

Re:Pot vs Kettle

[masticina]

I agree I mean why should rockstar, who self parodies realities on their radio and in their missions. And pretty much whole of the game actually has to have troubles with something that parodies merily a minor part out of the what they self do.

I mean listen to the radio in GTA games..it is not only cracking but in ways it is horribly accurate of the feelings of the time the game plays in!

Re:Rockstar, I thought you were cool

[Shadowmist]

.... As long as it's not ours."

I finished your quote. :)

Rockstar vs EA

[Floritard]

I don't think it's necessarily that the Simpsons are doing the parody. I think it has more to do with the game's publisher. EA is quite the behemoth, and if I were Rockstar I wouldn't want them anywhere near my IP either. I'm pretty sure anyone at Rockstar with human blood coursing through their veins (read: everyone sans legal/corporate) is honored to have the Simpsons pay tribute, and everyone knows there's plenty of parody in the GTA games themselves of all sorts of pop culture. I'd almost think they wouldn't mind such a thing from a lesser company, but you certainly don't want something as big a competitor as EA thinking they have free reign.

Re:Simpsons: Hit And Run

[wpegden]

Perhaps the issue is that The Simpsons: Hit And Run already ripped off the core GTA gameplay and satirized it, and Rockstar think it's time for The Simpsons to do something different.

Sure. Except that the whole point of the freedom of speech is that other people don't get to decide for you what you should be saying.

Take2 nd Rockstar are very litigious

[cliffski]

I know this to my cost. take this game:
http://www.rocklegendgame.com/
originally it was called Kudos : Rock Star. This is because it was a game about rock stars. Hence the name. It was always going to be a small budget indie turn-based family friendly strategy game. hardly anything that people might confuse with a game made by RockStar games.
That wasn't good enough for Take 2, who basically threatened to sue me into oblivion, after apparently reading a blog post of mine when I mentioned that I had bought rockstargame.com in preparation for my new game.

**Take 2's lawyers have time to read the blogs of indie game devs to look for potential targets.**

Amazingly they thought I could cause 'serious financial harm' to their billion dollar company, yet had not spent the $25 to buy the domain name themselves.
Even more amazingly, they didn't realise that take 2 actually had an existing biz deal with me for one of my previous games. Rather than phone me, or get the relevant dev relations guy to email me and ask me if I would change the name, their lawyers sent me a threatening letter.
I sold them the domain at cost. As a small company, I had no choice. I renamed the game, as I had no choice.
Good old take 2!

Sitar Hero Images - Found

[JoshDM]

Can be found in this video.