[Dragon]

Besides, it's not like Mediavps would disappear. Even now, they are probably quite a few unauthorized mirrors. I'm sure that there would be at least one person defiant enough to reupload everything important to some Russian server where Interplay couldn't touch it (Russians usually don't give a frak for US copyright claims). Maintaining it would be another story, but patching things in this engine is easy, and they certainly don't have any sort of moral right to stop this project. BP could be threatened, since it's big and depends heavily on FS2, but if "Fifty Shades of Gray" could take a Twilight fanfic, change names and sell it, then I'm sure the BP team could come up with something similar that would keep the story together (indeed, they'd likely end up improving it. TBH, I'd actually like it if they had to replace the Deimos with something interesting-looking...).

[Hellzed]

Off-topic : the Deimos is actually my favourite looking ship, along with the Iceni (but they could both use an enhanced model...)

[rubixcube]

Interplay hasn't touched FS open yet, still not sure why they're trying to shut down Sol contingency. They have nothing to gain from any of this, aside from some bad publicity (which I guess they don't care about).

[deathspeed]

Since an Interplay subsidiary initially reached out to Sol Contingency developers, there was apparently some corporate interest somewhere in potentially monetizing the Descent IP.  Then when Interplay stepped on it, it made me wonder if decided to cash in by creating their own Descent reboot/sequel without having to share with those pesky indie developers/fans.

Following that reasoning, they are not currently considering doing anything with Freespace, so they are leaving FSU alone.  I also wonder though if that will change if Star Citizen or Elite: Dangerous take off and they perceive a renewed market for 1st person space combat games.

[Aardwolf]

They have nothing to gain from any of this, aside from some bad publicity (which I guess they don't care about).

See my earlier post:

I think the only rationale for this sort of thing is that in our current, flawed system of intellectual property law, if an IP-holder fails to shut down a derivative work, the creator of another later derivative work can point to that as precedent that the IP has been forfeit.

[SypheDMar]

I think the 10+ years of work that went into MediaVPs should be protected.

It shouldn't. It's easy to say so now because we see Interplay as a lame duck company. But if Interplay were making a FreeSpace 3 using an next-gen engine with revamped models, and the Mediavps are using similarly updated models, I as Interplay would CnD the MVPs.

[Flipside]

The fuzzy ground for me are the obvious derivative works, such as ships that are designed to be upgraded versions of canon ships, rather than Hi-Poly ones.

It could be argued that they fall under the IP because of the ship they are openly based upon, but I have no legal knowledge of where those ships would stand.

[Phantom Hoover]

They have nothing to gain from any of this, aside from some bad publicity (which I guess they don't care about).

See my earlier post:

I think the only rationale for this sort of thing is that in our current, flawed system of intellectual property law, if an IP-holder fails to shut down a derivative work, the creator of another later derivative work can point to that as precedent that the IP has been forfeit.

This is the case in trademark law, not copyright. One of the things that makes copyright so incredibly ****ty is that it exists on all works by default, and for an incredibly long time.

[Hellzed]

I think the 10+ years of work that went into MediaVPs should be protected.

It shouldn't. It's easy to say so now because we see Interplay as a lame duck company. But if Interplay were making a FreeSpace 3 using an next-gen engine with revamped models, and the Mediavps are using similarly updated models, I as Interplay would CnD the MVPs.

To me, games are not disposable goods bound to be replaced by the next.

[headdie]

except that is how it has always worked

[Hellzed]

It worked this way because video games were not considered an art form, and no authority had any interest in video games conservation.
Among cultural productions video games are an exception.

[headdie]

Careful.  you do know that its is akin to heresy to update an art work? repair and maintenance is fine but improvements upon art work is simply not done to preserve the work.  MediaVps in the context of art or culture is akin to taking a Grecian statue and reworking it akin to modern ideals, views and techniques, you can make a new one taking queues from the original, but it will never be considered the original thus you have replaced it with the "next one".

[Hellzed]

That's where the modern idea of "derivative work" is useful.
And since we are talking about digital copies (by definition non-rival goods), and mods (even MediaVPs) that do not claim to be the original game, it can't be compared to "reworking a Grecian statue". It would be more like what currently happens with opera and theatre : old plays keep the same text and booklet, with new costumes and set.
Mods do not take anything from anyone, since they are non-commercial and every last penny generated goes to the IP owner.

If FS2+MediaVPs takes queues from an hypothetical FS3, which I doubt (these types of products have a tendency to boost each other's sales), it would only mean that FS3 is not good enough.
If you believe that shutting down FS2 or any older game (directly or indirectly via a massive mod take down) is a good solution to promote sales for a newer game, that's your choice and I can't argue.

(That would only mean we'll never have true "public libraries" of games, and every game will disappear forever once out of the market. I think that's an awful vision of what culture should be, and I'll always strongly oppose it.)

[starlord]

I for one completely agree with that statement.

[Scourge of Ages]

... you can make a new one taking queues from the original...

Vocabulary derail: I believe you mean "cue" there; queue being a line like you wait in. Carry on.