Oblivion got xeroxed?

[naddicott]

This is why game purchases are a legitimate tax writeoff for anyone working at a publisher. Pretty much a guarantee that nobody at Trysynergy has picked up a controller at home (or used mouse/keyboard for anything but word processing) since the days of the Amiga. If anyone at that publisher had actually been a gamer, they could have saved the company from this obvious self-destruction.

edit: the Amiga version pulled assets too!

 

[pmv]

Originally posted by: TehMac


That's still messed up. If those guys actually did come up with the game, but blatantly stealing work like that from other people's property is theft.

Well we disagree on that. Its not theft its copyright violation. Still illegal and somewhat immoral I agree. But for it to be a serious crime rather than a funny one you'd have to show that the companies it rips off actually suffered a real loss because of it, i.e. some poor saps bought this game instead of buying Oblivion, say. I suspect it hardly sold any copies anyway.

From what I've seen its bizarre. They just took screenshots of a zillion different games. The result presumably is a Frankenstein's monster of a game, full of bits that don't remotely fit together.

And how on earth did they think they would get away with it? I wonder if the guy who made it just used the screenshots as 'placeholder' art, with the intention of later finding an artist to redo it, and then it all got out of control and someone found a publisher and the guy responsible didn't have the nerve to explain the problem to his associates. Perhaps he's been lying awake every night since waiting for the inevitable crapstorm to break.

I just can't help but see this as an episode of the 70's TV show, Minder.

"Oh my Lord Tel, Ive been dropped right in it this time"
"Eh? I thought you were all set to be the new Bill Gates, Arfur"
"That speccy toe rag only went and half-inched the entire thing from other people's games - he even ripped off Walt Bleedin' Disney, I'm gonna be sued for every penny I've got.'

 

[Modelworks]

I work in 3d making lots of content like those that were stolen.
Its a sad day when your artist have to steal content.

If they could not create the content then they should have used public domain artwork.
There is tons of it out there.

This is one of the reasons I use a digital watermark on anything I produce.
That way I can confirm its mine before calling the lawyers.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
I work in 3d making lots of content like those that were stolen.
Its a sad day when your artist have to steal content.

If they could not create the content then they should have used public domain artwork.
There is tons of it out there.

This is one of the reasons I use a digital watermark on anything I produce.
That way I can confirm its mine before calling the lawyers.

Your assumption is that they actually had an artist

 

[uli2000]

Originally posted by: pmv
This is pretty funny. So they just took screenshots of other games and then used some generic 2d point-and-clicker making program? Doing their own voice acting (and perhaps also nicking Patrick Stewart from Oblivion also?)

Following the trail of links from those given above leads to this article in a local Kent newspaper....

http://www.kentmessenger.co.uk...lt.asp?article_id=9644

Kent does have a little bit of a reputation in UK for having more than its share of 'geezers' engaging in less than 100% legit business practices. And um, well, not to stereotype, but the picture of the guys in that article does bring to mind Arthur Daley (non Brits - google it, but there must be a US equivalent) rather than John Carmack. I don't know, I'm almost tempted to hope they did make a bit of money out of it. Not a lot, mind, I mean a few rounds down the pub. Its just that the sheer brazenness of it is impressive. I'm guessing they don't really know much about computers, but reckoned they could make some dosh out of this 'ere 'video game racket'.

That may be true of Kentish men, but not true of Men of Kent (Lived in Canternbury/Margate/Ramsgate for a while).