Outrun's Days Are Numbered

vansau

Mortician of Love
May 25, 2010
6,107
0
0
Outrun's Days Are Numbered



It's the end of an era: Outrun Online Arcade is in the process of disappearing from online services thanks to the Sega's licensing deal with Ferrari expiring.

Sega's Outrun was one of the defining games for the arcade generation that grew up in the 1980s and early 90s. However, thanks to the fact that the licensing agreement between Sega and Ferrari has expired, Outrun Online Arcade has now been pulled from the PlayStation Network and will be removed from Xbox Live Arcade in December 2011.

The PSN version's removal is apparently tied to the fact that System 3 released Ferrari: The Race Experience on the European PSN last week. According to Gamasutra, "those that have already downloaded the game will still be able to play it, though it's unclear whether existing owners will be able to re-download their purchase after the removal."

The Outrun series has been closely tied to the Ferrari brand ever since the first game arrived in arcades back in 1986. Back then, the game featured a red car that looked an awful lot like the Ferrari Testarossa convertible; it wasn't until the 2003 release of Outrun 2 that Sega officially licensed Ferrari automobiles for the series. Meanwhile, Outrun Online Arcade featured ten different Ferrari automobiles when it hit PSN and XBLA last April.

Source: <a href=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30919/End_Of_Ferrari_Deal_Pulls_Segas_OutRun_Online_Arcade_From_XBLA_PSN.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GamasutraNews+(Gamasutra+News)&utm_content=Google+Reader>Gamasutra

Permalink
 

JRCB

New member
Jan 11, 2009
4,387
0
0
Will this affect arcades where the game is located? Because there were some good times with this at Escapism Toronto, and I'd hate to lose it.

In other news, man this sucks.
 

Unrulyhandbag

New member
Oct 21, 2009
462
0
0
um..what? It's not like they are making new product based on Ferrari's, just reprinting old games.

Why is it any book publisher can have books about Ferrari so long as it's not pronounced official; any TV program can have Ferrari's in them without consequence or even get paid to have them in; however only games publishers with a multi-mullion dollar licence can have a game about Ferrari official or not?
 

WilliamRLBaker

New member
Jan 8, 2010
537
0
0
The_root_of_all_evil said:
Wait...so consoles get their back catalogs combed now?

Christ. That's just atrocious.
it would happen on steam, good old games and any other source for games so please don't claim its console only.
 

Jamash

Top Todger
Jun 25, 2008
3,641
0
0
Unrulyhandbag said:
Why is it any book publisher can have books about Ferrari so long as it's not pronounced official; any TV program can have Ferrari's in them without consequence or even get paid to have them in; however only games publishers with a multi-mullion dollar licence can have a game about Ferrari official or not?
I'm guessing that it's something to do with the interactive nature of games that allows players to violate traffic laws in a Ferrari, crash them and in some cases also deform the car, all of which can have a potentially negative impact on the brand's image.

"If you don't continue to pay, then you no longer have permission to use out cars in such a reckless manner".

Even if the game publishers are only reprinting old games, they're still re-using a licensed car and therefore have to renew their license.

On a related note, did you see the news piece about that cop car smashing Bumblebee?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104323-Washington-Police-Does-a-Megatron-on-Bumblebee

Did you notice how quickly they had to cover up the smashed Corvette? I'm sure that's related to licensing and has something to do with the film makers not having permission to show their licensed Corvette in such a deformed state (as it was in public and not a closed set).

Car licensing in videogames in a complicated and pedantic beast with very strict limits about what you can allow the cars to be shown doing, which is why none of the Gran Turismo games so far have featured visible damage, and why in games that do have visible damage like Forza, it's still unrealistically limited to what you'd see in a Touring Car race, i.e. body panels deforming or falling off and other superficial damage.

If Grand Theft Auto featured licensed vehicles, there's no way you'd be able to deform and explode them like you can with Rockstar's own creations, whereas the damage modelling in Midnight Club: LA is still largely unrealistic compared to GTA.
 

RowdyRodimus

New member
Apr 24, 2010
1,154
0
0
Jamash said:
Unrulyhandbag said:
Why is it any book publisher can have books about Ferrari so long as it's not pronounced official; any TV program can have Ferrari's in them without consequence or even get paid to have them in; however only games publishers with a multi-mullion dollar licence can have a game about Ferrari official or not?
I'm guessing that it's something to do with the interactive nature of games that allows players to violate traffic laws in a Ferrari, crash them and in some cases also deform the car, all of which can have a potentially negative impact on the brand's image.

"If you don't continue to pay, then you no longer have permission to use out cars in such a reckless manner".

Even if the game publishers are only reprinting old games, they're still re-using a licensed car and therefore have to renew their license.

On a related note, did you see the news piece about that cop car smashing Bumblebee?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104323-Washington-Police-Does-a-Megatron-on-Bumblebee

Did you notice how quickly they had to cover up the smashed Corvette? I'm sure that's related to licensing and has something to do with the film makers not having permission to show their licensed Corvette in such a deformed state (as it was in public and not a closed set).

Car licensing in videogames in a complicated and pedantic beast with very strict limits about what you can allow the cars to be shown doing, which is why none of the Gran Turismo games so far have featured visible damage, and why in games that do have visible damage like Forza, it's still unrealistically limited to what you'd see in a Touring Car race, i.e. body panels deforming or falling off and other superficial damage.

If Grand Theft Auto featured licensed vehicles, there's no way you'd be able to deform and explode them like you can with Rockstar's own creations, whereas the damage modelling in Midnight Club: LA is still largely unrealistic compared to GTA.
With the Bumblebee Corvette I think it had more to do with the studio not wanting people to see the car before the movie since there are some minor changes to it and keep it a surprise (for whatever reason two new lines on the paint job is a surprise to them). When they were filming Revenge of the Fallen, the rruck carrying the Optimus Prime truck came through our town and stopped to get lunch and actually had police there keeping people away from the truck so they couldn't see it. Luckily I bought the guy a coke and chatted him up and got to go in the trailer with the truck in it (that sounds surreal or at least a " 'Sup Dawg Iheard you like..." joke" and got some cool pics and got to sit in Optimus Prime, so there was one more childhood fantasy fufilled.
 

Unrulyhandbag

New member
Oct 21, 2009
462
0
0
Jamash said:
Unrulyhandbag said:
Why is it any book publisher can have books about Ferrari so long as it's not pronounced official; any TV program can have Ferrari's in them without consequence or even get paid to have them in; however only games publishers with a multi-mullion dollar licence can have a game about Ferrari official or not?
I'm guessing that it's something to do with the interactive nature of games that allows players to violate traffic laws in a Ferrari, crash them and in some cases also deform the car, all of which can have a potentially negative impact on the brand's image.

"If you don't continue to pay, then you no longer have permission to use out cars in such a reckless manner".

Even if the game publishers are only reprinting old games, they're still re-using a licensed car and therefore have to renew their license.

On a related note, did you see the news piece about that cop car smashing Bumblebee?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104323-Washington-Police-Does-a-Megatron-on-Bumblebee

Did you notice how quickly they had to cover up the smashed Corvette? I'm sure that's related to licensing and has something to do with the film makers not having permission to show their licensed Corvette in such a deformed state (as it was in public and not a closed set).

Car licensing in videogames in a complicated and pedantic beast with very strict limits about what you can allow the cars to be shown doing, which is why none of the Gran Turismo games so far have featured visible damage, and why in games that do have visible damage like Forza, it's still unrealistically limited to what you'd see in a Touring Car race, i.e. body panels deforming or falling off and other superficial damage.

If Grand Theft Auto featured licensed vehicles, there's no way you'd be able to deform and explode them like you can with Rockstar's own creations, whereas the damage modelling in Midnight Club: LA is still largely unrealistic compared to GTA.
Licensing sucks. We all know Ferrari's crumple up to nothing with enough force, just like every other car, why pretend otherwise.

Burnout:paradise city style crashing in every car game? No wheels, body everywhere, engine a compressed lump sticking out the side next to the drivers protective cage? yes please.
 

RheynbowDash

New member
Jan 26, 2009
1,386
0
0
Ugh, this makes me sad. I LOVED Outrun.

Hopefully they can get this mess sorted out so we all can enjoy Outrun.
 

Omeene

New member
Oct 14, 2009
18
0
0
AC10 said:
Why not just remove the Ferrari logo from the game then?
It would, unfortunately, probably be harder than that. They would most likely have to redesign all the cars so they don't look like any Ferrari models (Which might not sound hard, but would probably be time consuming to do it for all Outrun games still available) and also remove any references.
 

The Rascal King

New member
Aug 13, 2009
782
0
0
AC10 said:
Why not just remove the Ferrari logo from the game then?
That's what I was thinking while reading the article. I mean shit, does it really matter that much that you have to take the game off the market completely?
 

Jamash

Top Todger
Jun 25, 2008
3,641
0
0
Unrulyhandbag said:
Jamash said:
Unrulyhandbag said:
Why is it any book publisher can have books about Ferrari so long as it's not pronounced official; any TV program can have Ferrari's in them without consequence or even get paid to have them in; however only games publishers with a multi-mullion dollar licence can have a game about Ferrari official or not?
I'm guessing that it's something to do with the interactive nature of games that allows players to violate traffic laws in a Ferrari, crash them and in some cases also deform the car, all of which can have a potentially negative impact on the brand's image.

"If you don't continue to pay, then you no longer have permission to use out cars in such a reckless manner".

Even if the game publishers are only reprinting old games, they're still re-using a licensed car and therefore have to renew their license.

On a related note, did you see the news piece about that cop car smashing Bumblebee?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104323-Washington-Police-Does-a-Megatron-on-Bumblebee

Did you notice how quickly they had to cover up the smashed Corvette? I'm sure that's related to licensing and has something to do with the film makers not having permission to show their licensed Corvette in such a deformed state (as it was in public and not a closed set).

Car licensing in videogames in a complicated and pedantic beast with very strict limits about what you can allow the cars to be shown doing, which is why none of the Gran Turismo games so far have featured visible damage, and why in games that do have visible damage like Forza, it's still unrealistically limited to what you'd see in a Touring Car race, i.e. body panels deforming or falling off and other superficial damage.

If Grand Theft Auto featured licensed vehicles, there's no way you'd be able to deform and explode them like you can with Rockstar's own creations, whereas the damage modelling in Midnight Club: LA is still largely unrealistic compared to GTA.

Licensing sucks. We all know Ferrari's crumple up to nothing with enough force, just like every other car, why pretend otherwise.
The same situation exists with firearms. In Kane & Lynch 2 there's a gun called a KL Viper, that looks like a Colt Python, sounds like a Colt Python, but they can't call it a Colt Python because that would be saying that Colt products are used by criminals to commit murders, where in reality we all know that Colt guns are exclusively used by law abiding citizens for target shooting.
 

Quiet Stranger

New member
Feb 4, 2006
4,409
0
0
So I should probably buy it now huh? Actually in all my time on XBA I have never once seen this game for purchase
 

Jimmyjames

New member
Jan 4, 2008
725
0
0
Ah, bummer. I kept meaning to download this but kept forgetting. Not going to take the risk I won't be able to re download if it gets erased.
 

The Rockerfly

New member
Dec 31, 2008
4,649
0
0
Why not just take the logo off. If I could be bothered, I could do that in paint in less than a few minutes

Why not do that instead and change the name of the company in the game?
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
1,846
0
0
Unrulyhandbag said:
Jamash said:
Unrulyhandbag said:
Why is it any book publisher can have books about Ferrari so long as it's not pronounced official; any TV program can have Ferrari's in them without consequence or even get paid to have them in; however only games publishers with a multi-mullion dollar licence can have a game about Ferrari official or not?
I'm guessing that it's something to do with the interactive nature of games that allows players to violate traffic laws in a Ferrari, crash them and in some cases also deform the car, all of which can have a potentially negative impact on the brand's image.

"If you don't continue to pay, then you no longer have permission to use out cars in such a reckless manner".

Even if the game publishers are only reprinting old games, they're still re-using a licensed car and therefore have to renew their license.

On a related note, did you see the news piece about that cop car smashing Bumblebee?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104323-Washington-Police-Does-a-Megatron-on-Bumblebee

Did you notice how quickly they had to cover up the smashed Corvette? I'm sure that's related to licensing and has something to do with the film makers not having permission to show their licensed Corvette in such a deformed state (as it was in public and not a closed set).

Car licensing in videogames in a complicated and pedantic beast with very strict limits about what you can allow the cars to be shown doing, which is why none of the Gran Turismo games so far have featured visible damage, and why in games that do have visible damage like Forza, it's still unrealistically limited to what you'd see in a Touring Car race, i.e. body panels deforming or falling off and other superficial damage.

If Grand Theft Auto featured licensed vehicles, there's no way you'd be able to deform and explode them like you can with Rockstar's own creations, whereas the damage modelling in Midnight Club: LA is still largely unrealistic compared to GTA.
Licensing sucks. We all know Ferrari's crumple up to nothing with enough force, just like every other car, why pretend otherwise.

Burnout:paradise city style crashing in every car game? No wheels, body everywhere, engine a compressed lump sticking out the side next to the drivers protective cage? yes please.
Ah, this explains why Burnout games never use licensed cars. I'd always wondered about that...
 

Unrulyhandbag

New member
Oct 21, 2009
462
0
0
The Rockerfly said:
Why not just take the logo off. If I could be bothered, I could do that in paint in less than a few minutes

Why not do that instead and change the name of the company in the game?
You have to change the dimensions or add\remove some details or they'll get you for using a clear representation of their work. Because there is precedent of license use in the industry they'd have a case. You can make it look very similar but just different enough to not violate their property.
So not really an easy fix.
 

Terramax

New member
Jan 11, 2008
3,747
0
0
So, uh, they can't just edit the game so it no longer has the word 'Ferrari' with a black horse on the vehicle?