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Register, Others Call Plagiarism in "Limbo of the Lost" Game

Posted by timothy on from the hey-man-poetic-license dept.

Fallen Andy writes "'The Register' has an article describing 'Limbo of the Lost' (developed by Majestic and sold in the U.S by Tri Synergy) which seems to have 'borrowed' copiously graphics assets from other games. Over at the GamesRadar forum there is a thread with some screenshots. Finally, this game has its own Wikipedia entry. Warning to all — move the soft drink away from the keyboard and monitor before you look at those screenshots. Blatant this is, very blatant indeed."

39 of 400 comments (clear)

  1. I don't see what the big deal is by k_187 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The original creators of that stuff didn't lose anything, its all bits man.

    --
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    1111 Race
    12112
    1. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by NiceGeek · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I know you were going for humor, but even people who download music, etc. aren't taking credit for creating said music.

    2. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by Ferzerp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem with your analogy is that they are making a profit on it (well, they won't now). The people who use the argument you are talking about for copying music/games/etc don't turn around and make mixed CDs, package them, and sell them as their own work (except puff daddy).

    3. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But, based on my understanding of several recent different but similar situations involving movies and music, we can all safely assume that those people would not have bought the game to begin with.

      We can also take comfort in knowing that the companies from whom the graphics were lifted probably keep the lion's share of the profit from game sales and the graphic artists make almost nothing, by comparison.

      Also, if the guy at 'Limbo of the Lost' bought the game it is his to do with what he wishes because he didn't agree to any stupid 'don't lift graphics' clause and shrinkwrap licenses have never been proven in court anyway so no one has any legal standing to complain about anything. This includes if he wants to make a mashup of the game's graphics and his own cool gaming idea and call it 'Limbo of the Lost'.

      And furthermore copyright law has been subverted by corporate interests and is just a shadow of what the found fathers wanted it to be. Copyright is OUR rights not theirs it makes sure WE get the copyrightable content but it has been changed around to give CORPORATIONS all the control. Do I want DRM on my hard drive so I can play a game but keep me from taking screenshots? No! I'll never install Vista. If this was available in WINE I would play it but it isn't. I don't even run NDISWRAPPER!

      So, in conclusion, no. I don't think anyone has stolen anything. Information wants to be free.

      As in I don't pay anything for it.

    4. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by inviolet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      And furthermore copyright law has been subverted by corporate interests and is just a shadow of what the found fathers wanted it to be. Copyright is OUR rights not theirs it makes sure WE get the copyrightable content but it has been changed around to give CORPORATIONS all the control.

      Guess what? The CORPORATIONS that own this stuff are composed of people and owned by people. You can become one of those people for about $50 a share. A corporation is the modern expression of the Right of Free Assembly, and is used to administer cooperative division-of-labor and ownership of property.

      Would you prefer that property can only be owned whole, by single individuals? Do you realize that it would be impossible to undertake any large, capital-intensive project in that environment?

      --
      FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
    5. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 4, Funny

      Except one's breath.

      Hey, as long as you were getting philosphical...

      --
      Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
    6. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by Broken+scope · · Score: 4, Funny

      That wasn't thunder you just heard, that was something breaking the sound barrier as it went over your head.

      --
      You mad
    7. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by cliffski · · Score: 5, Insightful

      so all corporations are teh evil incarnate eh?

      Am I an evil corporate scumbag because I own a limited liability company? Am I magically less evil if I make the same games as a sole proprietor? Or is all commerce evil and only working for free in a hippy commune an acceptable way to live?

      These guys were scum who took other peoples hard work and tried to profit from it. They should be sued to death. If you tolerate this, then that means you would prefer all modern games to just be re-mixes of the 8 bit textures from games of twenty years ago. After all, why the hell put any effort into creating original stuff when you can just rip off people who can do better work than you.

      --
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    8. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by GroeFaZ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most important they don't try to make any money off of it.

      --
      The grass is always greener on the other side of the light cone.
    9. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by PitaBred · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This should be modded "Insightful", not "Funny". Even if he did make some clever jokes, he's right. We'd all go play the game on a lark to see what we could find if it were free. The fact that the guy is charging for it when someone else did all the heavy graphic and design lifting is what's causing the furor here.

      --
      My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
    10. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Am I an evil corporate scumbag because I own a limited liability company? Am I magically less evil if I make the same games as a sole proprietor? Or is all commerce evil and only working for free in a hippy commune an acceptable way to live?

      I don't actually agree with the OP, but he's not advocating communism. He's railing against corporations, because they absolve people of all personal responsibility and liability. So, yes, he probably thinks you're a scumbag of sorts because you own a LLC. If you truly believe that you're not doing anything wrong, then you should have a sole proprietorship, and accept all the liability that goes along with that. If you're not doing anything wrong, why aren't you willing to risk your own personal fortune and home?

      Personally, I disagree with this view partly. He makes a good point, in that people involved in corporations are too shielded from liability, so that, for instance, people like Ken Lay get to walk free after doing criminal things and just letting their corporation take the fall by collapsing, leaving all the actual people in charge without any consequences, but with plenty of money. However, if I were to start a business of my own, I would certainly form an LLC as well, because while big corporations like Enron and their executives certainly get off too easy, in today's overly-litigious society, it is simply too risky to allow your personal assets be tied up with your business, because one lawsuit gone bad (because of some stupid jury) means your home and other assets can be seized. While I personally don't believe myself to be doing any wrong, I simply don't trust the court system to render correct verdicts, and worse, it's simply too easy to be driven out of business by excessive litigation even if you're completely innocent due to our lack of "loser pays" laws, so it makes perfect sense to protect your assets by shielding yourself behind an LLC.

    11. Re:I don't see what the big deal is by Tehrasha · · Score: 5, Funny

      If they dont get sued for lifting the content, someone should at least sue them for false advertising... How can they call the game 'Limbo of the Lost' when the players are going to recognize all the rooms and know where they are? Should be called 'Limbo of the Strikingly Familiar' or maybe just 'Deja vu'

  2. Screenshots by Lord+Lode · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's all screenshots from Oblivion, Thief 3, Unreal Tournament series, Diablo, and other games. Limbo Of The Lost doesn't render those things in 3D but uses it as background image for the adventure game. Really lame that the developers of that game thought they were going to get away with it. I wonder what was going on there, they couldn't find a graphics artist to draw the backgrounds so they just photoshopped screenshots from other games together. Still a bit of a shame for the (if there were any) good points of the game, that are now gone down together with the whole game due to this plagiarism.

  3. Re:Oblivion by Cathoderoytube · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm guessing the company that made this game will be sued into oblivion

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    I have nothing compelling to say
  4. If you steal from one or two it's plagiarism by symbolset · · Score: 5, Funny

    Three or more, it's research.

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    1. Re:If you steal from one or two it's plagiarism by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 4, Funny

      Does anybody have this game? Maybe they have a "References" screen!

      --
      My blog
  5. It isn't "borrowing"... by chill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...it is sampling, just like in the music industry.

    For example, listen to the opening sequence of Queen's Under Pressure featuring David Bowie. Then, after having your stomach pumped as a precaution, the opening bits of Vanilla Ice's Ice, Ice Baby.

    For the Google impaired, here is a YouTube link doing a comparison.

    Just equate Limbo of the Lost with Ice, Ice Baby and you will understand. Of course, that would mean Majestic Studios is really Vanilla Ice...

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    1. Re:It isn't "borrowing"... by AioKits · · Score: 4, Funny

      I dunno... It would require listening to Vanilla Ice... Is it okay if I just take your word for it?

      --
      "Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
    2. Re:It isn't "borrowing"... by AllIGotWasThisNick · · Score: 5, Informative

      For example... You are aware that Vanilla Ice reached an out-of-court settlement with the copyright holders of "Under Pressure" for using the material?
  6. The worst part is ... by wylderide · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... The scene where the protagonist is leaping over barrels thrown by a large orangutan. It's a dead giveaway.

    --
    This is the best restaurant I ever eat in
  7. Hard work, though... by Notquitecajun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Heh, that's some of the hardest work I've seen gone into plagiarism. That is, outside of academia and Hollywood and politicians where everyone pretty much copies everyone else...

  8. The next step by Kingston · · Score: 4, Funny

    What they need to do now is spend all the money they saved on the artwork on a really good lawyer. One that can stand up in court and say "A layman might think he sees a superficial resemblance" while keeping a straight face.

  9. Limbo of the Lost Graphics by thewils · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's about an adventurer who wanders from game to game to solve the mystery of the plagiarised graphics.

    --
    Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
  10. Interview with the designers by Xelios · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Our hope, if everything goes well with the sales, is that within a year we will all be stopping the day jobs and doing this full time."

    Epic

    --
    Murphey's fighting Occam, and we're in the stands.
  11. Bits from interview with the game creators by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    "everything was re-written from the ground up, everything apart from the initial concept and some character design ...and the rest is history."

    "The project is more influenced by film and literature rather than other games, we want the experience to be as original as possible and as such we have made a calculated effort to keep away from other games in the genre."

    "All of the game (apart from initial background story and some character designs) had to be re-written, all the characters had to be created in 3D and animated, all the background scenes re-created, all the sounds, coding and music?..basically everything had to be redone or newly created for the PC version. This is not an old game that has been dressed up. This is the original concept, dusted off and re-created."

    Also, the game has been in production for 10 years and rewritten few times. I think these guys deserve a "Hard core audacity" award...

    Full Article

  12. Re:Sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are no 'Devs'. This was done by 3 con-men who apparently met a pub. If you dig though some of the links and other forums about this mess you can get more of the pathetic details.

    They used an out-of-the-box-create-your-own-2.5D-adventure software and just imported in screenshots from other games. I don't think any of them know a lick about coding whatsoever.

    It's amazing that these guys got published when some real independent shops with real talent can't get anything going.

  13. So I guess... by thewils · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...it's OK to pirate this one then??

    --
    Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
  14. Re:Oblivion by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Informative

    FWIW, "Limbo of the Lost" is a 1990s-era point-and-click adventure game with static backdrops, and those backdrops just happen to be screenshots of other games.

    Even if they hadn't plagiarized other games, I can't see anyone buying the piece of crap. Everything about it - plot, graphics, audio, game engine - reeks of amateurism.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  15. I can see how this could happen... by WeirdJohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not that I approve. Some people can write code, design game concepts etc but be incapable of drawing pictures. When I look at the photo of the 3 main developers I don't see a picture that looks like three guys that would play typical cutting edge games. They come up with game logic that kinda works but is butt ugly. They hire someone who claims they are a shit hot CG artist, complete with examples of "their" work. This person then proceeds to rip other peoples' work.

    The developers are of course stoked by the amazing art "developed" for their game, and give lots of bonuses. Then they discover that they've been sounded robbed, as their game (and their reputations) are soundly denounced.

    I'm not saying this has happened in this case, but I've seen scenarios like this before (when I did work in the games industry).

    I'm also not saying that this justifies it. If anything it reveals "technology blindness" where the developers are so in love with their own product that they don't bother looking at what else is on the market.

    1. Re:I can see how this could happen... by king-manic · · Score: 4, Informative

      You may actually look into the story before you invent a situation where it was right. These guys are just amateurs who took a run at the shovelware market using plagiarism to fill in where they lacked talent. Much of the coding was done on the winter mute forums as these three douches don't know much about coding. The graphics where screenshots that were badly photoshopped together because this group lacked graphic talent. Apparently from people who played it, they also lacked story telling talent as well as voice acting talent. These guys really shouldn't have tried to market their dreck shovelware and should have kept it as a amateur project.

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
  16. Re:Oblivion by darkhitman · · Score: 4, Funny

    But it's already got Oblivion in it... that's going to be a nasty feedback loop.

    --
    Tell me something...it's still "We, the people"... right?
  17. Re:Instant legend by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Funny

    Antiques Road Show - 2085 AD

    Expert: I say, that's a jolly good thing, a shrink-wrapped copy of the infamous "Limbo of the Lost" game!

    Owner: Why? Is it famous?

    Expert: Well, you see, the creators of the game (and I use the term "creator" generously here) basically stolen static screen shots from a number of other games, and using a crappy adventure game generator, produced this wonder, which they actually managed to get published and distributed.

    Owner: So how much is it worth?

    Expert: A top-notch undamaged shrink wrapped copy like this would go at auction for at least three million dollars!

    Owner: Wow! I mean wow wow wow!

    Expert: Indeed...

    Owner: So what about this shrink-wrapped copy of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?

    Expert: I'll give you twelve bucks.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  18. Re:Sad by TheLostSamurai · · Score: 4, Informative

    As an example, I am a Game Programmer that doesn't play video games, I just don't have time. I just bought a PlayStation 3 last week for the blu-ray, and it is the first gaming machine I've owned since the SNES.

    I'm not saying the developers weren't in on it, I'm just saying the artists at my company could rip off the most famous games ever made and I probably wouldn't know about it.

    --
    I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
  19. What about the engine? by lantastik · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I started to wonder how they got rips of all of those games in to their engine. Then I started to wonder if they just stole the engine. I did a search and came up with this page:
    http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:GTYHJgCqVCYJ:www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl%3Faction%3Dviewthread%26threadid%3D88482+%22Limbo+of+the+Lost%22+engine&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

    I'm still wondering how they were able to import all those assets and levels so flawlessly into their own engine?

    That must have been a tremendous job just to write the different converters but then again I don't understand why Steve Bovis, was not able to code a simple CD check into the main menu??? ...this was the follow-up to that question:

    They didn't.

    "Wintermute Engine Development Kit is a set of tools for creating and running graphical âoepoint&clickâ adventure games, both traditional 2D ones and modern 2.5D games (3D characters on 2D backgrounds). The kit includes the runtime interpreter (Wintermute Engine, or WME) and GUI editors for managing and creating the game content (WME tools) as well as the documentation, demonstrational data and prefabricated templates." - http://dead-code.org/home/

    All the backgrounds they stole are screenshots from other games. They made a 3D character to move (with scaling) on 2D backgrounds.
  20. Limbo of the Lost Contest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Contest to create "screenshots" from Limbo of the Lost: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?page_id=1909

    Contest is over, but the entries are hilarious.

  21. Re:From Wikipedia by aurasdoom · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually the game images are static. They are not 3D models, they are screenshots.

  22. Re:Shakespeare was a Plagarist by edraven · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Bonus points for referencing a plot that Kurosawa borrowed and a plot that was borrowed from Kurosawa.

  23. All they need to do.. by brkello · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...is call it a parody and its all legal! Brilliant!

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  24. Re:Sad by ludomancer · · Score: 4, Informative

    The trick was that they completed the game before seeking a publisher. If you seek out a publisher with a completed product, chances are you will find a deal there. The reason more developers don't do this is because the operating costs of funding the development of a game are so high. Not many people can fund a number of full-time employees out of their own pocket for the duration of a games construction.
    These guys didn't have to worry about operating costs because they stole all their art assets and used a free-ware engine.