http://www.chronocompendium.com/
Sorry, Chrono Trigger fans. Here's to hoping that SquareEnix is actually doing something with their IP.
http://www.chronocompendium.com/
Sorry, Chrono Trigger fans. Here's to hoping that SquareEnix is actually doing something with their IP.
It's always puzzled me on the strictness entertainment (movies, music, games, etc,)companies impose on IP property. Square has every legal right to bring up this lawsuit threat but what is the REAL long term cost to them? Just because it's not legal does not imply that it's bad for Square. I will absolutely side with Square if it's a bootleg operation using the IP to make $$$ but this is just a free fan game. If anything, it will bring more fans into the series. I would like to see the boardroom meetings that comes up with decisions like this.
Example:
CEO: What is the news for today.
Manager: Somebody is making a fan game with our IP.
CEO: Fan game or not it's OUR IP and it will stay that way......END OF DISCUSSION!
Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much. Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes not divine, but demonic.
Pope Benedict XVI
There are a few thought patterns going on here.
One is that if these people actually put out a good game, will fans move toward it and possibly ignore other products that SE has on the market right now? You can't stop another competitor from putting out an original RPG and possibly drawing away fans, but if you can just send a letter and stop someone from using your own IP to do so, even if it is free, then why not? Hey, if that person gets really good feedback, tons of downloads and people offering to pay money for him to make more games, then SE just gave a blessing for a new potential competitor to rise.
The other is that some people might get confused and think that it's an actual SE product. If the product is no good, then that could reflect badly on SE as people still associate the IP with SE. If SE does decide to put out another Chrono game, then it will have the black mark of a game that they didn't even create.
Either way, I think the C&D should have come SO much sooner than this. Receiving a letter like that when you're less than a month away from completion must have been heartbreaking. The actions almost say that it's not enough for SE to stop the action, but that SE intended to utterly crush the spirits of anyone involved with the project.
Last edited by kaedesdisciple; 05-12-2009 at 12:57 PM.
And if they have already gotten that far, they could just replace the Chrono characters' sprites with their own characters and names. They don't have to cancel the whole thing.
If it was designed to be good then it should be ok without Chrono and the other popular characters in it.
That's actually a really good idea.
Square-Enix could still hit them with a lawsuit if they were feeling particularly over-zealous, as these big companies sometimes do, saying that it was originally based off of their intellectual property, or that it bears too much of a resemblance to their intellectual property etc. But at least then they (the fan-team) would have an actual case to argue, and probably win, provided that they weren't too careless, i.e. not doing much more than turning Chrono's hair from red to orange and changing his name to "Krono" or something like that.
If the game is good enough why wouldn't Square consider buying it from the creator, polish it a bit, and release it for the DS or PSP? It won't happen but Square (and other companies in the same position) will miss out on some well developed games. How much love do you think was put into this game as opposed to a programming slave at Square with 5 other jobs on his schedule. Hmmm....
Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much. Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes not divine, but demonic.
Pope Benedict XVI
Fuck copyrights. that's all I have to say.
Fuck Square, too. They abandon things such as Virtual Console in favor of overpriced "ports" with little new content to justify the costs. Oh sure, FFVII got on PSN... in Japan. Don't think the USA will get that. We'll have to wait for the overpriced, barely-enhanced PSP or PS3 port. This also isn't the only thing they send C&Ds over- they shut down companies maning Cloud Strife swords. WHY?
It's their property, fine. But if they don't want the FANS doing something, then maybe they should do it themselves! Oh, right, they did... they put Chrono Trigger on the DS with a quickie extra dungeon tossed in, a new translation which doesn't enhance anything, and charged a fortune for an old game. And god forbig anyone ever badmouth a Japanese company for being outright lazy.
Id software encourages fan stuff. Running With Scissors and Valve do, too.
Epic Games, however, are also a bunch of motherfucking dicks. They send a C&D letter to a guy who made a CUSTOM TOY of a GeOW character. Seriously, Mike Capps, go fuck yourself.
Square was screaming "piracy hurt sales" 2 days BEFORE Chrono Trigger DS was released in the USA. A company that does that deserves to have their games pirated. Yes, I pirated CTDS, and I did so gladly. I will never buy a copy. Seriously, fuck you Square, I just admitted to STEALING from you. What are you going to do about it?
Nintendo certainly didn't shut down the Mother 3 fan translation. Which they could have, but as they have ZIPPO intention of releasing the game in the US, what would be the point? Well, aside from totally denying the US players the chance to play the game.
I'd like to see a group that gets these C&D letters ignore it. Time to test if big bad gredy Square has the balls to actually take it to court.
You can whine about how businesses only care about profit and not the fans all you want, but if they want the fans to like them, they can show some fuckign respect. If they spit on their own customers then they deserve to go out of business.
All I have to say is: "ha ha!"
Seriously, everyone's seen how hardcore SquareEnix is with protecting the Chrono Trigger copyright when they C&D'd the fuck out of the 3d remake of Chrono Trigger, what made these guys think that they were so special that they'd get a free pass?
If they were smart, they wouldn't have announced a damn thing until it was done. Instead, they just wasted a few years of their life on a project they'll never be able to finish. Good job!
Open Game Lister | Partial Game Collection
Games Completed in: 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | Unknown
Oklahoma DP Roll Call!
I've been following this for the past few days. While the news doesn't really affect me, not that big on Chrono Trigger, it just validates my dislike for Square in general. It's a dick move and a big fuck-you to obviously hard-core fans of the series.
I just find it funny that Square-Enix does this to a fan game, but Nintendo couldn't care less about the MOTHER 3 translation.
wow,
I haven't heard of this fan game, but I agree, why would they wait until the game was 98% complete before putting a stop to it? I used to be a big square fan in the nes/snes days, but not anymore.
I was not impressed with the ff7 phenominon nor anything after it the company produced.
When I saw that they had re-released Chrono Trigger it was obvious that they were looking for a cash grab. I paid my $80 for the snes cart when it first came out and it still works fine.
maybe I'm just old and crusty?
Closet Monsters: Custom and Retro Game Plushies Obesolete.etsy.com
The stupid thing about trademarks and such, is that if the company doesn't actively "protect" its IP, then it can harm them in a future case where the infringement actually does hurt the company.
Copyright law is so messed up right now. The WHOLE POINT of copyright law is to protect and encourage creativity and innovation. But the "don't zealously guard your IP with a chastity belt and you lose it" rule and how hard it is to make derivative works (see sample music) without infringing actually stifle both of those things.
Here's my feedback thread: http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...ht=FantasiaWHT
There are other Chrono Trigger hacks still out there. One that adds a Coliseum to Chrono Trigger itself. Another that starts after the battle with Magus showing what happens to Magus after that point. Crimson Echoes is made by the one who made the Magus one.
How many Final Fantasy hacks are there?
It's not really that they even bother with most hacks. It's the ones that cover everything they're doing Square ends up sending the cease and desist letters to.
Chrono Trigger Resurrection made CT look anything but bad with how much effort they were regularly putting into the remake. Now, yes it wasn't a full remake, but it was specific parts in the game that you could go through and view those parts in 3d. The game was almost completed when Square sent the cease and desist letter. I personally think Square thinking this project would make the company look like some sortof joke, what with these people doing this for free and Square doing nothing for the series. Same thing with the most recent CT fan game, where as Square rereleases CT with hardly anything added to it, and fans getting no pay whatsoever putting alot of effort into developing a fan made game. How bad would that make Square look?
It's really a lose lose situation for Square with the cease and desist letter as their only option, but if these people wanted to get away with it, they wouldn't have sent Square a personal invitation of introduction showing every detail of the game. If they waited until the release, then what would Square really have been able to do?
*edit*
I think the creator should just comply with "fuck you Square" and take the 150,000 fine. If every Chrono Trigger fan paid a dollar towards that fine, then well over 150,000 could be paid. Fans wouldn't be paying for the game, they'd be paying the fine.
It sucks, but unless you're defending your copyrights you can lose claim to them - the devs would have been better of developing this in secret or behind closed doors rather than putting it out there before release. At least people would have gotten to play it. Now they're too much of a target for SE.