Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: The E on June 07, 2013, 12:18:22 am
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Interplay has, for the stunning price of 7500 USD, purchased the rights to the FS IP that were left at Volition and THQ (http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/6/4403602/interplay-repurchases-freespace-ip-thq-volition).
So they basically own the source now, if I read the court documents right.
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Wow. I wonder what they actually got. Obviously, they had some rights prior to this, but the low price implies that [V] really had relatively little after all.
That said, at $7500, I don't think this means much to Interplay - certainly not in the short term. If [V] thought for a second that they were going to develop a new game, they'd've asked for more. They were probably just sick of splitting the GoG royalties. The most we're likely to see is an ad blitz or some kind of anniversary re-release again I reckon.
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More then likely what :v: had wasn't worth that much without what Interplay has. Probably went for such a low price becaue it was useless to most other companies and if they wanted to see how anything worked they could just grab a copy of the source and see how it was done anyway.
On a side note this means phase 1 of my get rich off of FS3 scheme is now complete. Now all I need is for it to be made, released, and skyrocket my Interplay stock. <insert organ music and diabolical laughter>
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Whoa, that was seriously low price. Considering Interplay's current state and that Volition & THQ let the IP sold for such ridiculously low price, I don't really see a bright future for the IP. I suppose that's just fine really. FS3 is not something I want to see anyway, although a spiritual successor would be nice. But I suppose there's always Star Citizen, of which I am still not entirely convinced is what the doctor ordered.
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Ha at one of the comments:
I’d pay for a HD releases of the first 2 games and of course buy Freespace 3 in a heartbeat.
What the devil have we been doing if not making it HD? :P
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It's not like volition had any say in this. This sale was part of the THQ liquidation proceedings, and given that the remaining rights V had were useless to anyone but Interplay, there really wasn't any other outcome that was feasible.
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They were up for auction right ? Couldn't :V: buy them themselves ?
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Probably, but it would have been hard to justify from a pure business POV. The price suggests that there was no active revenue associated with those rights.
In addition, remember that V is not actually able to make those decisions, it would have to go through Koch Media/Egosoft first.
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Any chance interplay will reel in the source code project and declare it closed anytime soon?
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Brace yourselves, a ****y FPS reboot that has nothing to do with the original games is coming.
ED: Forkin' Grammar.
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Chance, yes. Likelihood, no.
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Brace yourselves, a ****y FPS reboot that has nothing to do with the original games is comming.
Well if it's about the marines which is only shown once in FS1 then i don't mind it being added in.
Who owns :v: again?
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Koch Media (AKA Egosoft).
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Any chance interplay will reel in the source code project and declare it closed anytime soon?
I'm not sure that they have the legal right to do this, even if they wanted to. When [V] released it, the source code became a new "product" of sorts, existing under whatever license that they used (I don't remember off the top of my head). In doing so, they relinquished their rights beyond what they specified were limited in the original release (i.e. no commercial releases). Since they didn't have those rights any more, then they presumably couldn't have sold them to Interplay.
That said, IANAL, and I suppose there's nothing stopping them making a bad decision and trying to scare us into submission with (possibly unenforceable) C&D letters. But like E said, it's very, very unlikely. We're one of the major reasons they're still making a little revenue of FS through GoG - probably enough to justify the $7500 anyway - and we don't in any way compete with them - we unquestionably enhance their product. They'd be silly to shut us down.
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I think i've been out of the loop for ages. How much did :v: cost? and could Interplay have afforded that if they were the least bit interested?
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I don't know why, but I tend to share An4ximandros' thought... and I kind of expect a FPS. :nervous:
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I think i've been out of the loop for ages. How much did :v: cost? and could Interplay have afforded that?
Volition sold for 22.3 Million USD (Saint's Row IP rights included). I don't think Interplay has that kind of money.
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Christ, WE could have bought them for that price.
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Yep, we sure could have (And given that we're the only ones beside Interplay who would have a legit use for it, we probably should have).
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Is it possible to buy it now?
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Ask Interplay, I guess?
Personally, I am kinda astonished that they actually did anything given that their site has been as good as dead (and lacking in updates) since last November.
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I could have maxed out two of my credit cards and used a bit of my savings and the license would have been ours. OURS! :(
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Ask Interplay, I guess?
Personally, I am kinda astonished that they actually did anything given that their site has been as good as dead (and lacking in updates) since last November.
Maybe they bought it so they would have the whole FS package so they could sell it to keep from going bankrupt.
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So... re-release on steam just in time for the super summer sales?
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Why steam when it's on gog already, to raise the price tag?
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Same story on gaming site Kotaku, complete with interesting pic choice (http://kotaku.com/classic-pc-franchise-quietly-purchased-for-7500-511803988?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow). :lol: Diaspora gets a mention too!
I doubt they'd try to shut down HLP or anything; with social media nowadays attempting to go against such a large fan base would be company suicide. Could even be some kind of protection tactic; I remember hearing about some scientists once patenting a piece of technology they were going to give away, simply to prevent others from patenting it for money. Could be wrong there and know very little about all this, but I shall have faith (urgh, famous last words :lol:). *taps wooden desk a few times*
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It's kind of derpy to me when people talk about Freespace 1/2 HD when we already provide an HD edition. :\
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Well, we don't have millions $ marketting. Obviously a lot of people are going to not have heard/not care about our work here. If we were going to let that discourage us, we'd have given up a decade ago :p
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What if they release an HD version in Steam (or whatever) that becomes incompatible with SCP? Is that even possible? (probably not, they would mostly tweak the executable and not mess up with tables and so on, but still)
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To release an HD version, they'd first have to rewrite the engine to support modern resolutions, modern texture formats, modern APIs.... Really, what are the odds of someone going to all that effort for such an old game....
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Does Interplay even has any kind of skillset to do that ? Can they do anything else other than hoarding IPs ?
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This is the same Interplay that released a new version of Battle Chess, or MDK2 HD (http://"http://www.interplay.com/about/article.php?id=66) or other silly crazy things. JFYI.
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To release an HD version, they'd first have to rewrite the engine to support modern resolutions, modern texture formats, modern APIs.... Really, what are the odds of someone going to all that effort for such an old game....
I see what you did thar... :lol:
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omg you guys
*ahem*
It seems that the inability to read the court documents and analyze them for their contents is spread far and wide. None of the reporters involved have picked up on these things being residual rights, not the full IP package.
Also, check out the gamasutra article about this (http://gamasutra.com/view/news/193840/Interplay_acquired_THQs_FreeSpace_IP_for_just_7500.php) and its comment section :D
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:lol: Oh Derek...
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Why steam when it's on gog already, to raise the price tag?
The game price, or the IP price? Don't see the former happening, though the only comparable case is SS2, which is the same on both sites. The latter, well, kinda hard not to improve the value of a long-lost IP if it gets put up on the largest PC gaming client-thingie (and sells).
& lawl @ the Smart-feller: Not sure if he thinks 250k is a serious offer, or that he wants people to think it was one... :doubt:
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250k was a serious offer at the time he made it (which was several years after FS2 had run its commercial course, and long before GOG appeared on the scene).
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I should point out (before anyone posts anything) that technically Derek Smart is a board member. So be nice. :p
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Ah, guess so (though Interplay didn't sell for that, so...). I had thought that the offer was made between three and four very polite and considerate years ago, rather than the eight years it was. :oops:
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Well all the same, I guess it's a good thing we didn't have to compete with him for the residual rights in an auction. He seems the type not willing to let go of a grudge and of his stay here wasn't exactly the best. :nervous:
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Actually the last time he visited he was fairly reasonable.
The first time was a complete cluster**** of course.
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If Squadron 42 and Elite:Dangerous are successful Interplay may relaunch Freespace... just to get a slice of the market for Space Sim Games.
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If Squadron 42 and Elite:Dangerous are successful Interplay may relaunch Freespace... just to get a slice of the market for Space Sim Games.
Possibly if they have the resources to do so which is far from a guarantee
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I remember the day D Smart showed up. That was fun.
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I remember the day D Smart showed up. That was fun.
This is a curiosity. What did he call himself, and how did you know he was the real deal?
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http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=25162.0
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Ooooh, that's a big thread.
Thank you.
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Ah the Classics. If only I had not forgotten about Freespace for a whole decade.
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I remember that, I didn't check the boards for a couple of days and came back to see the biggest **** storm in HLP history. That one thread still has the record for the most post in such a short time and I don't think it will ever be topped.
As for the IP being sold to Interplay I really don't see them doing much of any thing with it.
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Thanks for the link to that thread, very interesting reading all of it. My eyes hurt though...
Will be interesting to see what news develops on this front, you don't normally buy things not to use them. But that all depends.
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*Checks Derek Smart's post history*
Oh, his second visit was in 2009, when I was already a member. Should have paid more attention back then.
On a more related note, will this thread get an announcement? It's pretty big news given what this forum's for.
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I wouldn't waste the space for that. Problem is the whole issue includes the freespace trademark expiring, it being sold, THQ going bankrupt and selling its assets including volition and finally this.
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If all they bought is the residual rights, it's barely news at all. All it means is that money from GoG sales now goes to Interplay instead of going to Interplay and :v: or :v: alone (depending on how it worked before).
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News or not, it does heavily suck for :v:
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Breaking news from the front:
It seems that Interplay has bought the Freespace intellectual property from the now defunct THQ, basically bringing the game home again. Since the original games were published by Interplay, this is exciting news. THQ bought the IP along with Volition Software back in 2000 but never followed up on Freespace 2.
Fun fact: It seems that Interplay payed no less that 7500 US dollars to the insolvent company, a sum that we fans here at HLP could probably have raised as well without major problems.
Current list of sources confirming the story: (will be updated as more information is available)
- Gamestar (http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/freespace-2/news/freespace,36568,3012989.html) (german)
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uhh, Vidmaster, we've been discussing this in GenFS (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=84774.0) and deemed it not Announcementworthy.
Also, It's been reported in a lot of placed. Kotaku, Polygon, Eurogamer, RPS.....
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depends how you look at it, now there is no way they can work on it again, also should interplay go down the IP is in one nice bundle to sell on.
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Mm, so at this point by buying the game off GoG you're paying a publisher who have done nothing for the last decade but squat on promising IPs that they're too incompetent to actually use?
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oh well
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Why is Interplay still alive? Ever since the French takeover, it has done nothing but release a few mobile games and use those assets to go into lawsuits with larger developers/publishers. Is its life support being funded by some mysterious Rothschild money that we don't know about?
Anyway, my concern is that since they now own the IP, will our operations here will be threatened by Interplay in the future?
R
EDIT
It seems that the inability to read the court documents and analyze them for their contents is spread far and wide. None of the reporters involved have picked up on these things being residual rights, not the full IP package.
Nevermind.
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This is interesting:
Interplay apparently reserved a Steam ID for FS2 (http://steamdb.info/app/41620/#section_history).
Wonder if that's gonna come to anything.
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Hmm..
Steam Version HD maybe for the Steambox with a release in 2014 with a new engine?
BUY IT! :D
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Probably just a contingency action.
...but it would be awesome to finally have Steam UI compatibility for FS2!
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could you imagine them integrating achievements into it lol
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could you imagine them integrating achievements into it lol
:D
I don't normally pay attention to achievements, but it could be a fun sub-topic imagining Freespace Achievements.
Stuff like:
Declaw The Beast
Destroy all 4 beams on the Sathanas Juggernaut
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There needs to be a nonlethal achievement imo
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There needs to be a nonlethal achievement imo
What do you mean? Winning levels by not killing things? How would it work?
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There needs to be a nonlethal achievement imo
Even if you Akheton fighters they'll self-destruct :(
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I just thought of a great idea. It's all pie in the sky, but has anyone played Star Wars Rogue Squadron on N64? The medal system? That kept me coming back for more to the levels over and over and over and over again. That would be great in Freespace.
There needs to be a nonlethal achievement imo
Even if you Akheton fighters they'll self-destruct :(
And even if you clean all the turrets off a capship, the game will still want it's destruction.
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There needs to be a nonlethal achievement imo
Even if you Akheton fighters they'll self-destruct :(
Well that's their problem!
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You've been targetted by a AAA beam. Mash E to jam.
No wait... that's something else.
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Achievements would be trivial(-ish) to set up through lua. You need various icons, a text file containing the various achiev's, another file containing the data for the achievs and voila.
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Not sure how the legality of the source code works - but let me take a whack at finding out.
Since they own the IP and licensing rights, would that mean they could simply take the work HLP has done and release that as an HD package for sale?
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QTE: Shivan on a fighter > Press "afterburn" to not die.
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Hey, that doesn't quite count. Nobody told you to hit the afterburner. ;)
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Hey, that doesn't quite count. Nobody told you to hit the afterburner. ;)
Indeed. "Hey, what's goi..." Death was the result of that the first time... :(
I figured it out the second time though :D
That would be one for an achievement.
"No Hitch Hikers"
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FSO has already had a QTE modded in complete with on-screen cues and timed button presses. Spoon did one for Wings of Dawn, the rat bastard. :P
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Not only Freespace 2
http://steamdb.info/app/41620/
http://steamdb.info/app/41610/
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Achievements would be trivial(-ish) to set up through lua. You need various icons, a text file containing the various achiev's, another file containing the data for the achievs and voila.
All this talk about the achievement, it seems like none of you have earned a single campaign medal... :) FS already does have an achievement system in place, you can get badges for kills, completing mission objectives... Pretty much achievements, only better integrated into the setting. Steam could track of those (like it does with Tropico 4, for example) in it's own achievement system, but that's it.
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But almost all are campaign specific.
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Not sure how the legality of the source code works - but let me take a whack at finding out.
Since they own the IP and licensing rights, would that mean they could simply take the work HLP has done and release that as an HD package for sale?
Considering how heavily modified it is at this point, I doubt highly that they could even be considered one of the same at this point.
It'd be similar to how some developers have taken an existing engine, revamped it, and called it their own (points at Infinity Ward)
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Who knows...maybe they'll do what Valve did to the Team Fortress and Counter-Strike teams? ;)
All this talk about the achievement, it seems like none of you have earned a single campaign medal... :) FS already does have an achievement system in place, you can get badges for kills, completing mission objectives... Pretty much achievements, only better integrated into the setting. Steam could track of those (like it does with Tropico 4, for example) in it's own achievement system, but that's it.
It'd still be nice to get achievements for specific things in the game, like finding Dravis' Diary.
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But almost all are campaign specific.
Beat me to it. I just had to say it, because look at the time difference between the two posts then we both come in at once.
It's a good point by Dragon. But achievements would widen the scope. I'd be particularly interested in achievements based around the difficulty level. With the pinnacle being a "GTVA's Finest" kind of achievement for beating every level on Insane.
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again, already done in retail (a little) where FS1 required a minimum difficulty level of medium for at least two of the medals.
i don't get the big deal with achievements. i have no desire to see a popup flash on my screen every time i rack up 10 more kills. i know i beat a level. a little badge telling me that i did is just dumb. and if it's for an easter egg, better off NOT advertised through an "achievement".
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Achievement unlocked: "It's too late, oh god!" - Watched the intro.
Achievement unlocked: "Destroying the Destroyers' Destroyer" - Destroyed the Eva.
Achievement unlocked: "My god! It's full of star!'" - Finished the first nebula mission.
Achievement unlocked: "Subspace blues" - Defeated the Lucifer in subspace.
Achievement unlocked: "Walk in the corridor" - Defeated the Lucifer using ONLY squadron members.
Achievement unlocked: "Sa-Vasuda" - Complete the evacuation of the Vasuda system.
Achievement unlocked: "Killing and diving are what I do best" - Survived the trip through the second Knossos portal.
Achievement unlocked: "Capellan BBQ" - Stayed behind during the supernova event.
Achievement unlocked: "It's been fun, but I have to go" - Survived the supernova event.
Achievement unlocked: "Shivan Slayer" - Kill 1'000 Shivans.
Achievement unlocked: "The Great Destroyer" - Kill 1'000'000 Shivans.
Achievement unlocked: "A piece of junk" - Hijacked Bosch's project.
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You forgot the "Saviour of Capella" Achievement. :p
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How about: "Ray-Gun Avenger" - Succeed in killing the Sathanas that destroys the Colossus.
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again, already done in retail (a little) where FS1 required a minimum difficulty level of medium for at least two of the medals.
i don't get the big deal with achievements. i have no desire to see a popup flash on my screen every time i rack up 10 more kills. i know i beat a level. a little badge telling me that i did is just dumb. and if it's for an easter egg, better off NOT advertised through an "achievement".
Achievements just for playing the game normally are kind of pointless, but the completionist in me likes hunting all of them down, especially when they involve playing through the game in an unusual manner. There was a fun one from HL2: Episode 1 that involved firing only a single shot throughout the entire game, and relying almost solely on the Gravity Gun to kill things. (And then there was the gnome one from Episode 2...*shudder*) You could do something like that in FS by tying achievements to some of the more difficult bonus objectives, like the aforementioned perfect run on "Bearbaiting," or saving all four escape pods on "A Failure to Communicate." Hell, you could even set things up for speedruns on certain missions, or for completing a mission without using your primaries once.
All this is hypothetical, as I sincerely doubt that Interplay has the resources to do more than just plop FS on Steam as-is. Even that would be great, though, since as much as I love GOG.com, Steam obviously reaches a much bigger audience by default.
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Achievement unlocked: "It's too late, oh god!" - Watched the intro.
Achievement unlocked: "Destroying the Destroyers' Destroyer" - Destroyed the Eva.
Achievement unlocked: "My god! It's full of star!'" - Finished the first nebula mission.
Achievement unlocked: "Subspace blues" - Defeated the Lucifer in subspace.
Achievement unlocked: "Walk in the corridor" - Defeated the Lucifer using ONLY squadron members.
Achievement unlocked: "Sa-Vasuda" - Complete the evacuation of the Vasuda system.
Achievement unlocked: "Killing and diving are what I do best" - Survived the trip through the second Knossos portal.
Achievement unlocked: "Capellan BBQ" - Stayed behind during the supernova event.
Achievement unlocked: "It's been fun, but I have to go" - Survived the supernova event.
Achievement unlocked: "Shivan Slayer" - Kill 1'000 Shivans.
Achievement unlocked: "The Great Destroyer" - Kill 1'000'000 Shivans.
Achievement unlocked: "A piece of junk" - Hijacked Bosch's project.
Nice.
Achievement unlocked: "Great Defender" - Protect all of the escape pods in A Failure to Communicate.
Achievement unlocked: "That wasn't in the script" - Escort the Plato to the jump point.
Achievement unlocked: "You were saying?" - Shut Delta Wing up by protecting the Oberon well.
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Achievement unlocked: "Saviour of Capella" - Prevented the supernova.
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Yes, yes. We got the reference to that post about (not killing?) that Cain(?) the first time. :p
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Achievement Unlocked: "Game over man!" - Discovered what lurked in the Nebula
Achievement Unlocked: "Traitor-ception" - Complete the first SOC Loop
Achievement Unlocked: "I'm Alpha 1. I can't die!" - Don't die throughout the Campaign
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Achievement Unlocked: "Shiny new hood ornament." - Get rammed by the departing Sathanas in "Into the Lion's Den".
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i for one will be the first to upload the game, the most recent source code and every mod that ive downloaded (all 3 of them) to the pirate bay, should they decide to **** with us.
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Right now, this is the only thing that concerns me. Freespace is only still worth 2 f***s because of FSO. I hope they don't pull some bone headed decision like clamping down FSO and demanding all wrok be turned over or some BS like that.
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A quick and honest question:
Exactly what rights to Freespace does Interplay own now?
What rights to Freespace 3 does Interplay own? or is it still with Volition?
Are Interplay based in Europe? Someone mentioned france earlier, I think.
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Exactly what rights to Freespace does Interplay own now?
All of them.
What rights to Freespace 3 does Interplay own? or is it still with Volition?
There are no rights to FreeSpace 3 that anyone can own (Because it's not a title that exists). There's the right to use the franchise (which, as above, Interplay owns, and has owned since they started publishing the series), which can be used to create a new title in the series named FreeSpace 3.
Are Interplay based in Europe? Someone mentioned france earlier, I think.
Interplay is an american company owned by a french person.
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Exactly what rights to Freespace does Interplay own now?
All of them.
What rights to Freespace 3 does Interplay own? or is it still with Volition?
There are no rights to FreeSpace 3 that anyone can own (Because it's not a title that exists). There's the right to use the franchise (which, as above, Interplay owns, and has owned since they started publishing the series), which can be used to create a new title in the series named FreeSpace 3.
Are Interplay based in Europe? Someone mentioned france earlier, I think.
Interplay is an american company owned by a french person.
I see - that clears up a fair bit. Many thanks.
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Holy crap, it's a Singh! *waves*
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Hmm.
So if Interplay puts this on Steam (as it looks like they will), would we be able to distribute all of the community upgrades/mods through the Steam Workshop?
Freespace itself would be able to reach a large audience, in vanilla or upgraded form if that were the case.
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something tells me interplay doesn't care a whit for community support
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They do care about selling games. And the MVPs, if nothing else, will help sell games.
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I suspect there'd be a licensing nightmare that'd keep both them and us from seriously considering that.
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I doubt it. Licensing nightmares only happen when the license holders decide to let them.
They must know we're their best asset for selling games, and now that they're the sole rights holders, there's nobody but them who'd be able to complain. Historically, they've not had a problem with us, so there's no reason to assume they'd start now.
This is exciting! Getting onto steam might be a whole new level of exposure for us. It's good news. :nod:
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Sounds kinda bad for mods like Blue Planet, which have copious amounts of copyrighted music. Fair use or not, they will most certainly get in trouble.
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None of this will alter the probability that mods using copyrighted music will get in trouble.
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The exposure will make sure lawyers hear about it sooner rather than later.
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We've already been discussed in front page articles on Eurogamer. Exposure isn't a concern. It happens or it doesn't.
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given the exposure from BP, Diaspora and WCS over the last year and a bit I have to agree with Battuta.
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In principle yeah, I guess? Depends on how the steam workshop works, or can be made to work.
The thing is though, mod support (as we understand it) requires the use of the launcher and the executable we're producing here, which would require them to actually talk to us.
EDIT: It would mean that they'd have to actually spend some dev time on this thing, and I don't know if that's a ressource Interplay has available.
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In principle yeah, I guess? Depends on how the steam workshop works, or can be made to work.
The thing is though, mod support (as we understand it) requires the use of the launcher and the executable we're producing here, which would require them to actually talk to us.
EDIT: It would mean that they'd have to actually spend some dev time on this thing, and I don't know if that's a ressource Interplay has available.
Could we adjust OUR material to work with the workshop if the workshop is available? I'm not familiar enough with coding, (which means I know nothing at all) to know if that's the case.
Or could we simply load up the launcher/mods onto the workshop and have people download the whole package there? I'm just thinking from a distribution perspective the Steam Workshop is a much more powerful tool then having people swing by HLP, as much as I love HLP. I feel like if the work wasn't excessive (Again, no knowledge base so I will defer to your judgement) it would be more then worth the time spent in terms of the extra reach everyone's work would get.
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I don't know enough about the workshop and how it is integrated into the games it supports (i.e. how much work is needed to make sure your game can play nice with workshop stuff) to really answer that question.
In addition, this all presupposes that a) Interplay is going to put FS2 on steam (a possibility we have only the slightest of hints to), and that b) they're enabling Workshop things. Neither of those is in any way confirmed.
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Somehow I feel - unless Interplay actually feels like doing something with their sad little company - the steam reservation is just there for contingency.
But of course, I am a cynic.
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In this case I'd say "realist," honestly. :p
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From my (admittedly somewhat outdated) knowledge of Steam, I strongly doubt FS2 would get Workshop support even if it got on Steam (a pretty far-off prospect in its own right.) The Workshop is typically for smaller stuff that can be downloaded quickly (like small models for Garry's Mod or Team Fortress 2 weapon skins) not entire executable files or 200+ MB VP files like we have here. And usually, games that get Workshop support have quite a bit of support from both Valve and the publisher, not likely to be seen for a 14 year old game that's supported completely by its community. I don't think the community has anything to worry about :) Not to mention that many FS2 mods won't even work without the FSO executables, which as I said would likely not be put on the hypothetical FS2 workshop.
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Holy crap, it's a Singh! *waves*
Don't wave! Get in the car!
In other news, Singh, are you going to finish Journey of the Forgotten?
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I am honestly tempted to give Interplay a call and ask how much would a license for FS3 would be just for the heck of it XD
Anyone know their number, or have a contact in Interplay?
Holy crap, it's a Singh! *waves*
Don't wave! Get in the car!
In other news, Singh, are you going to finish Journey of the Forgotten?
I honestly dont know. It's been what? 7? 8 years almost? Things have changed...I'm not quiet sure I can get back in that writing paradigm after so long. It still hangs heavy on my mind though. I may pick it up, but leave on Bosch's adventures to focus more on the GTVA. Its about time I started writing regularly anyway.
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This is what Volition told me at FB
Salvador, we had no say in the matter. We had been told that someone outside of THQ owned the license, so that was a surprise to us. We hope that someone resurrects the franchise and does a good job with it.
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they didn't know they didn't have the rights? :wtf:
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*sigh*
y u no read court documents
Seriously, it's easy. One, we know :V: held the rights to the source (cos it was them who released it to us). Two, we also know that the documents speak of "any and all residual rights and interests" (paraphrased) THQ/:V: still had. In other words, it's not a transfer of any specific rights, it's a transfer of anything THQ might have still owned that Interplay did not know about. It's basically an insurance against the possibility of the remnants of THQ or :V: suing Interplay for damages if and when Interplay decides to actually do something with the license again.
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So are you saying that anything THQ/Volition owned that Interplay did know about wasn't transferred? Or, alternatively, what part of the FS IP, if any, does Volition still own?
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as The_E says its probably more of a legal ass covering exercise so that if they did do something like try and dev the IP or sell it on there is no possible comeback on them, in that case 7,500 is a tiny cost compared to a potentially 7 figure+ law suit.
edit.
it also means that with the FS IP's convoluted history, if a potential partner/customer raises questions about the ownership Interplay can show this legally enforced document saying that the only other rights holder(s) have transferred any and all rights to them thus they have the complete IP package which is theirs to do with as they wish.
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Achievement unlocked: "It's too late, oh god!" - Watched the intro.
Achievement unlocked: "Destroying the Destroyers' Destroyer" - Destroyed the Eva.
Achievement unlocked: "My god! It's full of star!'" - Finished the first nebula mission.
Achievement unlocked: "Subspace blues" - Defeated the Lucifer in subspace.
Achievement unlocked: "Walk in the corridor" - Defeated the Lucifer using ONLY squadron members.
Achievement unlocked: "Sa-Vasuda" - Complete the evacuation of the Vasuda system.
Achievement unlocked: "Killing and diving are what I do best" - Survived the trip through the second Knossos portal.
Achievement unlocked: "Capellan BBQ" - Stayed behind during the supernova event.
Achievement unlocked: "It's been fun, but I have to go" - Survived the supernova event.
Achievement unlocked: "Shivan Slayer" - Kill 1'000 Shivans.
Achievement unlocked: "The Great Destroyer" - Kill 1'000'000 Shivans.
Achievement unlocked: "A piece of junk" - Hijacked Bosch's project.
The list can be really loooong.... these are some i can think of...
-The Waiting game - Keep the Trinity alive for 15 minutes (and nothing will happen)
-Jump Dammit! - Save the Nebtuu
-The hard way - Destroy the Tiamat
-Scraching the paint - Get the Belisarius kill
-Scraching the paint 2 - Get the 1st Sathanas kill
-Natural Leader - Dont loose a single squad mate in the whole campaing (Crash of Titans 2 has to be excluded)
There could be easily 1 or 2 per mission plus some global ones.
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as The_E says its probably more of a legal ass covering exercise so that if they did do something like try and dev the IP or sell it on there is no possible comeback on them, in that case 7,500 is a tiny cost compared to a potentially 7 figure+ law suit.
That's plainly apparent, but it doesn't answer my question.
edit.
it also means that with the FS IP's convoluted history, if a potential partner/customer raises questions about the ownership Interplay can show this legally enforced document saying that the only other rights holder(s) have transferred any and all rights to them thus they have the complete IP package which is theirs to do with as they wish.
This is closer to an answer, but it's not clear from a simple reading of the announcement. What I want to know is whether "residual rights" means "all remaining rights" or "all rights not otherwise held". If it's the latter, then Volition could still have certain IP rights, e.g. the right of first refusal to develop any sequel.
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(http://blueplanet.fsmods.net/E/court.png)
Do note subsections a and c.
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Do note subsections a and c.
So with section C in there, does that mean the previous license to FS2's open source code is rendered defunct? From a legal standpoint, what does that mean for the SCP?
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IANAL, but I don't think so. You can't retroactively change the license the original source was released under.
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I think in this case to render the source code licence void you would need to either
1) gain consent from the rights holders to void the licence (Not likely as the licence is held by the global public)
2) prove :v: had no right or authority to release the code under the terms of the licence
as it is with the release of the source code under licence with no time restriction :v: or its parent organisation(s) didnt have the rights in order for them to be passed on in this negotiation
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Who bought the trademark and for how much?
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Reading that document this is actually a quite substantial transfer of rights as V did actually hold quite a few of the IP rights previously. From the look of the document published, those now belong to Interplay.
a) for instance means that Interplay could now sell the rights to make Freespace 3 to anyone they wish to. This was previously not the case.
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Angry joe asked about FS3 in E3 to Volition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f8zi4ZJMto
11:00
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Angry joe asked about FS3 in E3 to Volition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f8zi4ZJMto
11:00
Kickstart the funds to buy the IP off of Interplay
That'd get my funds
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Yeah, but at this point I trust exactly ZERO people to write FS3. But respect to Joe on his question and how he did it.
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Interplay is a pack of Lawyers? Jesus, how are they staying afloat
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Waving their IP rights at people to make them fork over some cash, I think.
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I hate to think what the revenue turnover is on the legacy IPs that GoG is selling, also looking at their site they are doing some Wii ports of their old titles, http://www.interplay.com/games/wiiware.php with Descent in the works. also they doing some mobile gaming stuff http://www.interplay.com/games/comingsoon.php
nothing significant like but I bet it helps balance the books
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Freespace! Now coming to your mobile and ios devices! ... mmyah not looking forward to that announcement.
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has there ever been a space sim for ios?
I figure from experience that flight sims are severely flawed on them.
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....Descent? On the Wii?
I'm...not sure how to feel about that. It could be good. But after some practical thought, probably not.
They just damn well better have the original MIDI-sounding music in there, and not some remixed bull****.
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has there ever been a space sim for ios?
I figure from experience that flight sims are severely flawed on them.
How do you cram so many commands onto a touchscreen anyway? FreeSpace has enough commands to fill out almost an entire keyboard.
....Descent? On the Wii?
I'm...not sure how to feel about that. It could be good. But after some practical thought, probably not.
They just damn well better have the original MIDI-sounding music in there, and not some remixed bull****.
It might actually work, given that Duke Nukem 3D was ported to the iPhone years ago, but the controls will probably be a bit clunky.
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Freespace needs a ****ton of buttons (half a keyboard), so no.
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Selecting the target of my target's target of the target it is looking at while shooting a missile at the target it previously selected while targeting the target of the target's target of the mission objective is a superfluous command.
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Despite ShivanSpS' efforts, I am throroughly convinced that translating FS' formula into iOS or Android is basically impossible. You can make games set in that universe, but they won't be spacesims.
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Freespace needs a ****ton of buttons (half a keyboard), so no.
It does not need a ****ton of buttons. It just so happens to use a ****ton, but you can easily play the game without a whole crapton of those
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Yeah, but at least like twenty or so, already without counting basic maneuver skills (like roll!)
Like, 6 just for energy/shield/engine, Target nearest enemy, friendly, target, turret, etc., primary and secondary shooting, primary and secondary cycles, thrust, match speed, accelerate, decelerate, F4 for conversation, and so on and so on and so on.
Yeah, it's perfectly possible to design a game with a lot less buttons. But here's my point: That's not Freespace. That's a new game.
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The only way I could see Freespace work on a mobile device with would be to simplify the heck out of the controls and make it a rail shooter. The result would most likely be terrible but hey, we get deus ex: the fall on a mobile device and that was a first person shooter. :1 (And I predict it would be awful, just like the mass effect spin off on ios.)
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Yeah so why bother at all?
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Despite ShivanSpS' efforts, I am throroughly convinced that translating FS' formula into iOS or Android is basically impossible. You can make games set in that universe, but they won't be spacesims.
My intention was to play FS2 on Android with keyboard, and later on figure out if a touch UI can even be viable... i do use my tablet with some chinese $10 later case + Keyboard, my HTPC is also a android based device.
There is also a few cheap 10" and 13" ARM laptops around, as long they can run linux, i can use them.
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It does not need a ****ton of buttons. It just so happens to use a ****ton, but you can easily play the game without a whole crapton of those
Indeed. I only used a few when I only had a joystick and a keyboard (for instance, I hardly even switched weapons). Later, when I got a better stick, I put some stuff there and started using it. Still, stuff like shield management wasn't needed (just mashing "Q" when things got hot). Now that I own a full CH HOTAS, I've got almost everything right under my fingers, and somehow, naturally, came to use all this keys. I don't know about the others, but I have a feeling that you only use as many keys as you can comfortably access, and a well designed control scheme (FS2 defaults do it quite well) will allow you to play with just that.
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Except in those sets you would not have that flexibility. You would just not have those commands.
Many mods, for instance, would not work. Again, it's a different game. And it's alright that it's a different game. Call it FS version iOS, or Wii Freespace or etc. You'd have to redesign not only the UI, but also gameplay and all the levels to recalibrate gameplay, difficulty, etc.
Personally speaking, I think FS belongs to the PC. Any ports to a different console would be a spin-off. Could be fun, not saying otherwise!
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Any spinoffs that can lead more players to PC FreeSpace might be a great thing! I imagine that any port would be simplified as well (maybe even a demo with a few missions ending with an encouragement to buy the "authentic" PC version), and that could garner interest in the franchise.
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a demo that convinces people to buy a DIFFERENT game would be a colossal failure in its intended purpose. especially when the other game brings in $6 instead of the full price of a new game.
when was the last time a demo was offered anyway? a proper demo, not an alpha/beta release.
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Yes, exactly, might as well build an entire different IP with its own distinct awesomeness mythical story, etc. Of course, anything that has come after FS2 pales in comparison mythically wise, and it feels that if someone would just catch this IP again, then the magic would re-emerge. But I'm way more sceptical than that. FS2 is much deeper, intricate and richer than a cursory examination of it would suggest, and because its riches are ingrained in subtlety rather than obviousness, I am afraid I trust exactly zero people to catch this IP and do something worthwhile of it.
And if somehow such developers do understand FS2, then why wouldn't they just be able to do their own distinct IP anyway? Mass Effect was something interesting in its own right, for example.
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We should just get a Kickstarter going and buy Freespace from Interplay.
With enough promoting on Reddit and other social media, we could easily give them double what they paid.
And then once we have the IP we give it to a competent developer or develop here like the SCP was. Maybe we could sell the a finished product through Kickstarter but not screw up like Ouya did.
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What's the point? The FS universe is in a pretty good place right now from modding efforts, I don't really see what there is to gain from buying the IP and making an 'official' FS3 beyond a kind of childish wish fulfilment.
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Question. Since the SCP is technically using Freespace 2's source code, could Interplay claim copyright and "steal" the SCP to re-sell as a modern re-release?
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Volition Copyright (applies to original FreeSpace2 source code
developed and released by Volition):
"Copyright (C) Volition, Inc. 1999. All rights reserved.
All source code herein is the property of Volition, Inc. You may not
sell or otherwise commercially exploit the source or things you
created based on the source."
Modifications by members of the FreeSpace Source Code Project are
released under whatever terms the individual authors choose, but the
above notice continues to apply to all fs2_open code.
I don't think so, unless we let them.
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From multi_sexp.h
/*
* Created by Hassan "Karajorma" Kazmi for the FreeSpace2 Source Code Project.
* You may not sell or otherwise commercially exploit the source or things you
* create based on the source.
*/
Right back at you source thieves. :p
I know Goober uses pretty much the same wording for any files he created himself. IIRC Kazan's stuff also did something similar. So they'd need to work hard to remove all that stuff first.