Imitation is the Sincerest Form

[Woe Is You]

Here's the thing people are getting wrong: they wouldn't have distributed the game itself, but merely the changes they've made to it. I'm not sure how that changes the letter of the law about it (in the US anyway), but you'd think that falls under fair use (in our courts it does).

This is really just Squeenix pissing into their own cereal here. I mean, think of it: if a new Chrono sequel came out, the guys so fanatic to put a huge bunch of work and/or wait for a fan-made sequel are the first ones buying the new Chrono game. Nobody's going to think "hey, there's a fan sequel out, I'm not going to get the real sequel".

 

[JesterRaiin]

Chrono trigger - chrono-my a**.

What with TEARDOWN ?
Fans from Sweden are trying to recreate SPACE HULK, and they can't release it since GW threatened them, and to this day refuse to form any sort of agreement.

That's much more tragic thing than future of one of countless jrpgs.

 

[Ryan Sumo]

What I don't understand here is the difference between this fan made game and the hentai/manga made by fans of a genre extending the the IP's fiction. For example, I'm almost sure there has been a manga made at some point since the release of Chrono Trigger that has Chrono and Lucca doing the nasty, and said manga was probably sold at a small stall in a Japanese comic con. Does Square beat up on those folks as well, especially considering they made some money of an established property? To push the idea further, why haven't they cracked down on anyone that's ever released Chrono Trigger fanfic?

For the most part, I can only wrap my head around the idea that maybe Square is pissed that they ripped the sprites straight out of Chrono Trigger. But Chrono Trigger Resurrection remade the CT world in full 3d, and they were still shut down, but then they were using the same story as Chrono Trigger, so in this case it's a matter of the story being copyrighted perhaps.

Whatever Square's reasons for doing this, and I won't argue that they have every right to do it, it just seems kind of pointless. Would the release of this game have affected their sales any? Would this hacked ROM have reached enough people to matter anyway, aside from the requisite hardcore 16-bit Square nerds? Probably not. And this ruckus would have probably been avoided if all those Square nerds had kept a tight lip on the project. My suspicion is that once the project was nearing release a critical mass of square nerds started tweeting their excitement, it reached the far reaches of the gaming "press", and finally was brought to the attention of the Square Enix Empire, which promptly emailed one of their lawyers to send a standardized cease and desist letter without even glancing at what the project was about. They weren't being douchebags, they just didn't have any idea the project was even in development till then.

In the end, while I believe they had every right to do what they did, it was still kind of a douchey move by Square Enix. Let your fans do what they want Square, as long as they don't make money off of it. Revel in the fact that you have fans devoted enough to a game you made more than two decades ago try to extend the fiction in a way that you never could. Keep this dark, camp corner of the internet happy so that when FFXX and Chrono Cross Trigger come out they'll still be eating out of hand, instead of being disenfranchised.

 

[Gindil]

Imitation is the Sincerest Form

The guys who made Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes should've seen Square Enix's cease and desist letter coming a mile away.

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It's been close to a year since this incident. In that time, I read everything that the developers did for the game, creating new tilesets, adding new music, and creating a story that is coherent with both Crono Trigger as well as Crono Cross, to the point that I've actually wanted to play this PS1 game.

First, the law. We understand that the C&D could come and destroy all of their work, which it did. It's unfortunate but there is one key thing that we don't have. Permission. The one thing that these three developers wanted in order to create something brand new. So, my question is this, how are they supposed to GET permission? How is it that they were supposed to create a dialogue with a company that is unreachable except for a job offering in their newest games? Why not have a special license for fans of a work, who aren't showing that they want to compete with a work, merely show a new side to the story?

In all of this last year, we have heard nothing of a new Crono Break. We have heard nothing of a redux of Cross. Merely the same game, Trigger, with a few extra cutscenes. All these cutscenes do is try to segueway Trigger into Cross with nothing substantial to say this series will continue.

And yet, when someone successfully does exactly that, Square threatens them with $150000, for monetary damages. Yes, I went to Youtube and looked up Crimson Echoes. The story, was done exceptionally well and for a fan effort, it was fairly polished. I would recommend anyone interested in it to look it up.

Sadly, this argument doesn't age well. "It's the law" equates to heavy handed bias against new ideas and looking only at what worked in the past to try to milk it for what it's worth.

How ironic that Activision is doing the same to Infinity Ward. Even funnier is the fact that Activision destroyed another fan work that had an even longer cycle who HAD a license and at least dialogue.

What I'm finding is that a lot of bureaucrats in the big chairs aren't seeing the entire picture. The laws are changing to stifle the very thing needed in gaming right now. Innovation no matter where it comes. No matter how great the pro-IP touts the law, in the end, it comes at a price. It comes at turning our entertainment into nothing more than Big Gaming. Hmmm... I should make that a site. See how long it stays up.