Sega Puts a Stop to Streets of Rage Fan Game

Iglock

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Mar 23, 2009
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JoJoDeathunter said:
In my opinion it's Sega's IP and it's their right to protect their copyright and products, it would be nice if they let fan projects exist alongside their own products but they are business and they've got to do what brings in profit. Shame they didn't pick this up, touch it up a bit and then release it properly as some others have suggested, that would have been a worthwhile solution for all though maybe the legal stuff would be too complicated.
Also true, but I don't really see it as copyright infringement (although I'm sure legally it probably would be).

If they were making money from the game and/or they didn't acknowledge that the games characters and content are owned by Sega- then yes, it'd be fair of Sega to take legal action. However, the game is free and they have clearly acknowledged that the content is owned by Sega.

Hence why I don't personally think there's anything wrong with it.
 

yourbeliefs

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Jan 30, 2009
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Glad I downloaded this before Sega came down on it.

JoJoDeathunter said:
Iglock said:
True, but that's not really a valid argument.

If people prefer a low-budget fan-made game over Sega's high-budget official games- don't you think maybe Sega should work on making their own games better instead of shutting down fan-games?
In my opinion it's Sega's IP and it's their right to protect their copyright and products, it would be nice if they let fan projects exist alongside their own products but they are business and they've got to do what brings in profit. Shame they didn't pick this up, touch it up a bit and then release it properly as some others have suggested, that would have been a worthwhile solution for all though maybe the legal stuff would be too complicated.
I agree with this. I love when people ***** when companies come down on independent developers who make games based on copyrighted properties of other companies. It's easy to just yell, "Way to kill creativity! What are YOU doing with your IP?! EPIC FAIL! This is better than what the company could make anyway!"

Imagine if it happened to you. It's easy to take the poor developer's side versus the Juggernauts like Activision, Sega, and EA. But imagine you're an independent developer who makes an insanely popular game, and then some guy comes around and uses your title, characters, and plot in their own game and pays you no royalties for it. Odds are you are going to lose money in this endeavor. These laws aren't any less valid based on how much money your company makes.
 

manythings

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Did they actually can it or did Sega ask them to come to the table quietly to hammer out an agreement over usage?
 

MurderousToaster

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Well, at least someone is making something decent out of Sega's IPs these days. All Sega do nowadays is release old games on XBL and make those terrible new Sonic games, seemingly.

I can't help but think that surely they saw this coming, though. If you use a company's coprighted stuff without their legal permission, you can quite easily expect them to come down on you pretty damn hard.
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
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Man, that sucks.

Now it's going to completely disappear.

There is absolutely no chance whatsoever of it turning up on torrent sites. Nuh uh. Won't happen. Never. Ever.
 

Iglock

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Mar 23, 2009
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yourbeliefs said:
I agree with this. I love when people ***** when companies come down on independent developers who make games based on copyrighted properties of other companies. It's easy to just yell, "Way to kill creativity! What are YOU doing with your IP?! EPIC FAIL! This is better than what the company could make anyway!"

Imagine if it happened to you. It's easy to take the poor developer's side versus the Juggernauts like Activision, Sega, and EA. But imagine you're an independent developer who makes an insanely popular game, and then some guy comes around and uses your title, characters, and plot in their own game and pays you no royalties for it. Odds are you are going to lose money in this endeavor. These laws aren't any less valid based on how much money your company makes.
Fair points, but it's a free game.

My point is that they're not losing any actual money from it (you could argue that they're losing potential sales, but then how do you measure potential sales?).

Like I said, if they were selling it or stating that they owned the rights, then legal action (IMO) would be justified- but they're not.
 

Darks63

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Mar 8, 2010
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Sega Could work with these guys to make a better SoR but instead go the typical dick route.
 

gellert1984

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Logan Westbrook said:
...all the information about the original Streets of Rage games was gathered by visual comparisons, and all the code in the game is original.
If true rename it 'public thoroughfare of angry' change a coupl of the chars outfit colours and republish, with a title page that says 'f*ck sony in the ass with a (blue) hedgehog'
 

Iglock

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gellert1984 said:
Logan Westbrook said:
...all the information about the original Streets of Rage games was gathered by visual comparisons, and all the code in the game is original.
If true rename it 'public thoroughfare of angry' change a coupl of the chars outfit colours and republish, with a title page that says 'f*ck sony in the ass with a (blue) hedgehog'
Heh. You mean Sega. :p

Though Sony may well deserve it too.
 

Toeys

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Mar 30, 2010
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yourbeliefs said:
Glad I downloaded this before Sega came down on it.

JoJoDeathunter said:
Iglock said:
True, but that's not really a valid argument.

If people prefer a low-budget fan-made game over Sega's high-budget official games- don't you think maybe Sega should work on making their own games better instead of shutting down fan-games?
In my opinion it's Sega's IP and it's their right to protect their copyright and products, it would be nice if they let fan projects exist alongside their own products but they are business and they've got to do what brings in profit. Shame they didn't pick this up, touch it up a bit and then release it properly as some others have suggested, that would have been a worthwhile solution for all though maybe the legal stuff would be too complicated.
I agree with this. I love when people ***** when companies come down on independent developers who make games based on copyrighted properties of other companies. It's easy to just yell, "Way to kill creativity! What are YOU doing with your IP?! EPIC FAIL! This is better than what the company could make anyway!"

Imagine if it happened to you. It's easy to take the poor developer's side versus the Juggernauts like Activision, Sega, and EA. But imagine you're an independent developer who makes an insanely popular game, and then some guy comes around and uses your title, characters, and plot in their own game and pays you no royalties for it. Odds are you are going to lose money in this endeavor. These laws aren't any less valid based on how much money your company makes.
Having the law on their side doesn't mean that what they are doing is fair or right. I agree with the law and its purpose. I don't think that's what everyone are getting fussed up about either.

People are annoyed with Sega going to battle cause of principle against this non-profit developer which doesn't try to hide the fact that it's a remake of a Sega original.
No one are showing anger towards the laws or that they are allowed to do this.

Sega doesn't have to do this. They've lost more by doing it.
 

Sixties Spidey

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Jan 24, 2008
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Wow. Sorry, Sega. I didn't know you were still butthurt about the fact that fans are still capable of doing much better work your franchises than you ever were to begin with. Apparently, they're still in denial about the fact that all they were ever capable of post-Dreamcast is dry-humping their franchises to death and re-releasing old Dreamcast games on the Xbox Live Arcade.

Grow the fuck up, Sega.
 

Mr C

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May 8, 2008
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SenseOfTumour said:
If SEGA had a clue, they'd HIRE the team involved and get SoR 5 a PSP/Steam/XBL/PSN release for $10 instead.
This is what I was going to say.

This is really depressing for me, as a crusty old gamer I remember Sega when they were awesome. I still play and cherish my old Sega Megadrive and the Dreamcast was the best system nobody ever bought.
 

LawlessSquirrel

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Jun 9, 2010
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SEGA seems to be very...unfriendly to their fanbase. One of the worst of the big companies, I'd say. I look back with nostalgia at the old SEGA, but the current one is like a grumpy old man telling the kids to get off his lawn.

I hope these guys take a legal sidestep, rename the game and throw in a pallete swap or something to keep SEGA away. It's a real shame when loyalty is rewarded by destroying years of your fan's work on a tribute.
 

UberNoodle

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Apr 6, 2010
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This remake looks fantastic. And the Sonic game looks better than any Sonic produced by Sega themselves. It will killed soon, sure of it.

Sorry that this is long, but what I have to say, can't be said quickly. If you want to read it, click below.

In all fairness, these fan projects are using Sega's IP, but they are not for profit and are soley for the LOVE of these Sega games. These remakes aren't examples of theft. They are declarations of LOVE. Can't Sega see that? Who issued the cease and desist letters anyway? A number cruncher or Yuji Naka himself? There is a big difference between ripping off an idea for self serving purposes (as described earlier in this thread) and making something out of love FOR the IP holders.

I've been waiting with baited breath for Black Mesa to be finished, which is a total conversion for Half-Life 2 which remakes from the ground up the original game. It looks amazing and faithful like only a devoted fan project can be. Valve, Epic, etc know that fans remake games and use their IPs not for theft but out of love.

We are in the middle of a revolution in communication technology. The advent of the Smartphone is the beginning of what will be, for our grandchildren, constant Internet integration in our lives, augmented reality, digital duality becoming unified. Already there is fervent debate on dealing with 'protecting' IP in cases where logos are photographed or recorded in blogs, trademarks are spoken or shown without license, etc.

As we move towards this life-Internet integrated future, powered by portable devices and matured social Networking, features seen in sights like Youtube will be standard everywhere. It will open the door to mass expression of personal creativity on a global level. But it will also be a world founded on brands, consumerism and consumption, where there will be no cultural definition between owned IP and cultural iconography.

I don't know where I'm going here, but what I'm trying to describe is a future that is a nightmare for overprotective IP holders. They can either embrace this change in culture and find new ways to define IP theft, thus using the rabid creativity of the Internet community, OR they can litigate and threaten these people who only want to rejoice and celebrate the pop-culture which they love. The designation of 'art' allows the use of IP for artistic purposes, but getting the 'art' label is very difficult. Games are products. Videos are products. Etc.

I believe that we as fans should be allowed to celebrate what we love by making fan games and art, and so forth. The IP holders can't eat their cake and have it too. If they want to make their characters part of the cultural heritage of the age, they have to accept that it will be reappropriated by the culture. It will no longer soley belong to them. George Lucas gets it. He doesn't threaten legal action to the thousands of fan films being made. Valve and Epic get it. Does Sega get it - that Sonic and SOR are icons for a multiple generations?

Anyway, is this too heavy? Sorry for the flood of text. I hope I have explained what I'm talking about. IP law is to protect a profit when threatened by a theft of ideas. Copyright is to protect the physical manifestations of those ideas. I can understand legal threats about theft of code and pixels, but when the only 'stolen' thing is the IDEA, or concept, and everything else is newly generated, it is an abuse. User generated content is the new buzzword in the console world, but on PC it has been a foundation of gaming for many many years.

For inspiration, and it is a great site to read, check out Orion's Arm (http://www.orionsarm.com/). It is an encyclopedia of the next few thousand years of human evolution. It is entirely community generated and controlled. Pretty amazing. And what about Metro 2033? The novel was released for free in Russia. It became a community, multimedia project, before finally becoming a killer PC game and a newly edited, published version of the novel is now being sold. That's amazing as well.

Can you imagine when user generated gaming is not just mods and conversions, but if a community like at Orion's Arm got together and made the most ambitious and intricate space opera RPG ever attempted? If we are talking about IP, every single contributer has their own claim to their own IP, but if they all sought to 'protect' it, very little of the magnitude done already would be possible.

That's the power of community creativity, and they are the next waves of star game designers - the next Miyamotos or Syd Meads! Killing fan projects is the wrong way to go. They are part of a spectrum that includes indie, experimental, and the next hardcore blockbusters. Sega should have the confidence to nuture these fan projects, because they only exist out of love for the brand and what it stands for. But what does it stand for now?

SO yes, Sega have a right to keep their IP to themselves, but by the same token, their classic IP is now so much more than product. It is culture and part of so many people's lives. I'm sure that Sega could have found a way to support this remake and also be happy it was getting what it 'deserved'. In all, the remake says a resounding THANK YOU to Sega, so Sega should give a resounding thank you back by not treating devoted fans as criminals trying to steal a buck.
 

Cliff_m85

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Feb 6, 2009
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I completely understand and have to side with Sega. I mean, do they really want to sully their reputation by having a good game tied to them? They worked hard to turn to shit, and I'd be damned if some interweb nerd tried to take that away from them.

ofst ficled
 

FarleShadow

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Oct 31, 2008
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They're prolly D&C'ing it until someone in their programming department can go through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure it doesn't have like, a secret sex game built in, then they'll prolly just ask for a % cut of the sales and release it.

Well, that's what I'd do.
 

MrJoyless

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May 26, 2010
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Why couldnt they just make a different game with different characters and a different name and market it as the spiritual successor to Streets of Rage...attaching ones self to an unlicensed IP is just asking for someone to butthurt...

On that topic off to make a remake of General Chaos....fuck that game was awesome....
 

ace_of_something

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Sep 19, 2008
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As cool as it is to do fan tributes and remakes. I can see why companies don't like that. Just because they haven't touched an IP in some years doesn't give people the right to use it.
[a href=http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm]Public Domain does not work that way![/a]