Slashdot Mirror
Facebook Scrabble Rip-off Capitalizes on Mattel's Lethargy
mlimber writes "The Facebook app Scrabulous was written by two Scrabble-loving brothers in India, has over 700,000 users, brings in about $25,000 per month in advertising revenue, and is in flagrant violation of copyright law. The corporate owners of Scrabble, Hasbro and Mattel, have threatened legal action against the creators and have made deals with Electronic Arts and RealNetworks to release official online versions of the game. But according to an NYTimes article, 'Scrabulous has already brought Scrabble a newfound virtual popularity that none of the game companies could have anticipated,' and according to one consultant to the entertainment industry, 'If you're Hasbro or Mattel, it isn't in your interest to shut this down.' Hasbro's partner RealNetworks is 'working closely' with the piratical brothers, but Mattel says that 'settling with the [brothers] would set a bad precedent' for other board games going online."
firstpost
From the summary:
Hasbro's partner RealNetworks is 'working closely' with the piratical brothers, but some douchebag lawyers at Mattel says that 'settling with the [brothers] would set a bad precedent' for other board games going online."
Not everybody at Mattel is a strategic idiot. But why should some douchebag lawyer let increased profits stand in the way of a good old fashioned pointless lawsuit?
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
Not to mention the famous 'Batman's belt' case.
"Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
Sorry, Trouble is a Milton Bradley game!
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
I count seven:
* black (sometimes Asian) cop, white cop
* family man has crisis, family is there for him, or he discovers he doesn't need them
* quest to kill bad guy
* boy learns he has special gift, and then goes to avenge his parents/guardians
* some tragedy strikes a town (such as monster attack), and a small group of people must kill monster, etc, or maybe leave.
* hunted man must escape to freedom and kill his hunters
* some guy must solve a series of obscure puzzles to find treasure/kidnapped girlfriend or family member/save world
There's actually probably a few dozen movie plots. But I'm pretty none of them are copyrightable.
Write your own Choose Your Own Adventure. http://www.freegameengines.org/gamebook-engine/
Sorry! is a Parker Brothers game.