--- Dan Knapp <dankna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> NO, dammit, it isn't. The original designers knew
> that their employers, not they, would have the
rights
> to the games. I don't expect any of you to agree
> with me, of course.
Well, thank God for that, because I don't agree. If
my memory serves me correctly, Hasbro/Atari does not
own the rights to a couple of the games mentioned in
the article. I believe Namco owns the rights to
Pac-Man, and if anyone should be suing over a game
like Mac-Man (I'm on Windows, so I'm assuming what
this game is supposed to be), it's them, not
Hasbro/Atari.
You're probably thinking, "That may be true, but Atari
owns Missile Command, Centipede, and Breakout among
others. They have the right to protect their
property." Yes, but they didn't establish they wanted
to maintain that right. Vectrex had a couple of games
for its stand alone unit that were Asteroids copies
(the freebie hardwired in the system) or rip-offs with
a couple of twists (Bedlam reminded me of Tempest
inside-out). I seem to recall a Breakout clone for my
old Timex/Sinclair 1000 (anyone else out there still
have their first computer?). It has been said that
one cannot swing one's dead cat without hitting a game
on an early generation system that wasn't a Breakout
clone (Microvision had Blockbuster, I think, and the
TRS-80 not only had a Breakout clone, but a Warlords
rip-off as well). The point I'm trying to make is,
these designs and derivations were around long before
the phrase "intellectual property" became championed
by NBC against David Letterman (and if you get right
down to it, how many different kinds of games are
there, really?) Pac-Man rip-offs, Q-Bert rip-offs,
every game that made any kind of successful splash has
been ripped off, and with the exception of K.C.
Munchkin, I am unaware of anyone successfully stopping
a game from being manufactured because it resembled
someone else's product. Otherwise, flight sim makers
are sunk.
Two other points.
One: I do disagree about people designing games for a
company and they should expect no reward. I
understand that's how the world works, but it strikes
me as unfair that they can't share the fruits of their
labors and I don't have to like it.
Two: Anytime Hasbro/Atari wants to dim its halo, fine
by me. Anyone play "Kangaroo"? Anybody notice a
passing resemblence to "Donkey Kong?" How about
"Return Of The Jedi" in the arcades and having
"Zaxxon" flashbacks? And "Alien Vs. Predator" was
cool, but it was still a "Doom" clone. Hasbro/Atari
is just as guilty as the company it is suing.
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