Posted by Strider on 5/31/2009, 3:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Square-Enix shuts down fan modification"
--Previous Message--
: Yeah, I agree with this. #### you, Square.
:
: And why don't those Crimson Skies people
: just move somewhere underground and
: distribute the game via IRC or something?
:
: --Previous Message--
: Yeah, there's been an uproar over this whole
: mess on IRC... basically, for many of us,
: it's that final nail in the coffin against
: Square. We've all been questioning their...
: well, questionable decisions of late. And
: this just takes the cake.
:
: Though I have to say, despite that the hack
: looked pretty good, and I'd likely have
: played it... what ticks me off the most
: about all this is how long Square *waited*
: before pulling this stunt. The creator of
: Crimson Echoes listed his home address in
: the readme from the beginning, so Square had
: every opportunity to shut it down in early
: stages of development. But no. They were
: quiet, let other hacks come and go, and let
: the programmers work for *five years*.
: Everyone assumed they didn't really care; in
: fact, many companies have actually given the
: OK to ROM hacks, usage of their
: graphics/characters/whatever in fan
: projects, so long as no money traded hands.
: And then, mere weeks before the game's
: release, wham. They pull a move that's
: basically tantamount to, as BK would say,
: "waving one's e-penis". Within
: their legal rights or no, this is a low
: blow, even for them, and just smacks of
: straight-up cyber bullying.
:
: On the whole, there's really nothing
: whatsoever to be gained by Square by doing
: something like this, but plenty to *lose*...
: namely, even *more* business. (Not that I
: figure this'll hurt them much overall, as
: there're enough Square sheep and corporate
: brown-nosers in general who'll side with
: them regardless, but I digress.) The only
: logical justification behind it is if
: they're truly afraid a fan hack could cut
: into their sales... which, frankly, is a bit
: sad. Instead of working to improve the
: quality of their games (which, regardless of
: how neutral one attempts to be, has been
: slipping gradually since the FF:TSW fiasco),
: they now feel it necessary to go after
: harmless online hobbyists? Honestly, it's
: hard to find where any laws were broken,
: short of the whole nonsense about ROMs being
: illegal (of which nobody can really come up
: with a good reason *why* they are, short of
: semantics stemming from draconian American
: copyright laws). It wasn't gonna be sold. It
: was a total non-profit for-fun deal.
:
: So, way to go, Square. You just showed the
: world what big men you are! I mean, wow, you
: can successfully bully the little guy (who
: in this case, happen to be *your own loyal
: fans*) into doing as you say with hollow
: legal action. Just threaten people with
: ludicrously unreasonable fines if they don't
: bow down and do your bidding, and you wins!
:
: Bravo, Square. Bravo.
:
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