Is it legal to release a video game that's a complete and direct parody of another single video game? I know companies have run into legal troubles with "rip-off" games such as the Great Giana Sisters. Where is the line drawn?
Is it legal to release a video game that's a complete and direct parody of another single video game? I know companies have run into legal troubles with "rip-off" games such as the Great Giana Sisters. Where is the line drawn?
Parody, as defined as "a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation", is covered under fair use. Some 30 second research indicates parodists get a lot of leeway, so this would be fine, but most of the respected ones go out of their way to get permission from the original copyright owners as a courtesy. I'm not sure where the "line" is, but it's one of those grey areas you really need a judge for...something like I Wanna Be The Guy probably falls under parody, but a direct recreation of Super Mario Bros with a girl instead of Mario? I'm not sure if that's parody.
As for the copyright issue...in general, you can't copyright a computer program's output, just the code. If you can somehow reverse engineer Super Mario Brothers while using completely different code, it's legal to do so (this is what tripped Tengen up. They got around the lockup chip by getting the code from the patent office). You can copyright Mario, and his image, and the images of the other sprites in the game. So you can get into trouble there.
I'm not sure about directly ripping off level design.
I want to parody Bubble Bobble. I was trying to work out a name for it at work. Something along the lines of Barfy Buddies, Burping Bastards, Pukey Dinosaurs, or Vomiting DinoZ. The sprites would be all new, the level designs would be all new, and the power-ups would be similar but different.
I want to parody Bubble Bobble. I was trying to work out a name for it at work. Something along the lines of Barfy Buddies, Burping Bastards, Pukey Dinosaurs, or Vomiting DinoZ. The sprites would be all new, the level designs would be all new, and the power-ups would be similar but different.
3D Dot Game Heroes, hitting the PlayStation 3 on May 11th, clearly emulates the look, style and gameplay of The Legend of Zelda. A squat, pixilated protagonist with a sword, shield and an assortment of useful gadgets swats at foes, talks to strangers and pushes around blocks.
The PS3 exclusive offers some of the best Zelda-style gameplay on a non-Nintendo system ever, implementing many of the beloved series' signature items, locations and puzzles in its own way. While the Zelda series has evolved over the years, 3D Dot Game Heroes digs deep into the series' past for inspiration.
I don't really understand why this is a PS3 exclusive.
"If we use Blu-Ray, we can really make the blocks blockier than anyone ever thought possible! The pixels will even more pixelier too! We are going to PUSH THE LIMITS OF HD TO THE MAX!"
I don't really understand why this is a PS3 exclusive.
"If we use Blu-Ray, we can really make the blocks blockier than anyone ever thought possible! The pixels will even more pixelier too! We are going to PUSH THE LIMITS OF HD TO THE MAX!"
Exclusives are stupid, they create purposeless fanboyism when people should be focusing on the games themselves in the first place, and not whatever platform they were designed for.
When the game makes no money it's sequel will be multi platform
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24887
Posted:
Apr 13 2010 01:04 pm
Not necessarily.
When a big company like Capcom makes a console exclusive game that's well-received but makes no money, either it loses exclusive status or the sequel is non-exclusive.
This game is made by a company called Silicon Studios. They probably did not have the resources to release the game for more than one console. If it does well, they will be able to afford to release the next for other consoles or to port this one to other consoles.
I don't really understand why this is a PS3 exclusive.
"If we use Blu-Ray, we can really make the blocks blockier than anyone ever thought possible! The pixels will even more pixelier too! We are going to PUSH THE LIMITS OF HD TO THE MAX!"
Exclusives are stupid, they create purposeless fanboyism when people should be focusing on the games themselves in the first place, and not whatever platform they were designed for.
Then what's the point of different systems? If every game came out for every system, then there wouldn't be three different consoles to buy. There would just be one, and innovation would die.
If there was only a Playstation, then why worry about making a new system? Everyone has to buy our systems, and games for out system, why waste all that time and money designing a new one?
If there were only Fords, then why create new models? People have to buy from us anyway!
If there was only Intel, then why create new core architectures? Everyone has to use our chips, so who cares about making them faster?
Your's is a very narrow view.
Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
Posts: 24887
Posted:
Apr 13 2010 01:58 pm
If a game takes unique advantage of hardware, or if the game is made by a production house owned by a consoe then by all means, make it an exclusive. But something like this which is put out by a third party company and is overly simple in both style and gameplay has no business being an exclusive.
I think we've seen bunch of games, that could be considered a parody, but nobody got sued (at least to my knowledge). And copyright-issues always need (again, to my knowledge) a plaintiff, so if nobody get's sued & sentenced, it's legal.
Take Singles: Flirt up your life, which basicly takes The Sims, and ads the sex-part. Isn't this a kind of parody of a game, which deals with normal relationships, but is pretty shy after dark? Even if we don't consider Singles as a parody, it's still a clear rip-off.
Andrew Man
Title: Is a Funklord
Joined: Jan 30 2007
Location: Annandale, VA
Posts: 5603
Posted:
Apr 13 2010 02:20 pm
Knyte wrote:
Andrew Man wrote:
Syd Lexia wrote:
I don't really understand why this is a PS3 exclusive.
"If we use Blu-Ray, we can really make the blocks blockier than anyone ever thought possible! The pixels will even more pixelier too! We are going to PUSH THE LIMITS OF HD TO THE MAX!"
Exclusives are stupid, they create purposeless fanboyism when people should be focusing on the games themselves in the first place, and not whatever platform they were designed for.
Then what's the point of different systems? If every game came out for every system, then there wouldn't be three different consoles to buy. There would just be one, and innovation would die.
If there was only a Playstation, then why worry about making a new system? Everyone has to buy our systems, and games for out system, why waste all that time and money designing a new one?
If there were only Fords, then why create new models? People have to buy from us anyway!
If there was only Intel, then why create new core architectures? Everyone has to use our chips, so who cares about making them faster?
Your's is a very narrow view.
Your right, I was being a bit brash.
I just hate how immature people can be about their console. Gloating about it to extreme degrees and belittling other consoles for not being able to play their games.
Sometimes I think games should be more judged based upon gameplay and not what platform has exclusive rights, simply because a game is exclusive does not make it good by any means.
Also, there would most certainly be innovation within the games if there happened to be some sort of uni-platform. Games would not be able to hide behind the moniker of being "exclusive" and would have to sell themselves on their own merits, gameplay, re-playability, etc. I dunno, I feel like sometimes the concept of exclusivity can blind people to what is important about games.
