- GameJunkieJim
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- Exalted Mythic Member
Posted by: Achronos
You can be pissed all you want, but the fact of the matter is that Halogen was shut down because of the way copyright law works. If we don't defend our intellectual property, then we lose the right to defend it in the future. I agree the lawyers were a bit slow in that particular case, but lawyers are not exactly known for working fast.
While you may think this was an "evil" thing to do, it was nothing of the kind. When one's entire business is based on intellectual property, co-opting it, especially for doing something in the same space as the original IP (as in, making a game), is simply wrong.
But, if defending our own control over Halo is "evil", then feel free to stay pissed. A better plan might be to move on (as the guys who made Halogen have done), but I'm not one to tell you how to use your time.
I don't debate on the copyright law, and the pure and simple about it is that the lawyers didn't charge after the warthog launch game (Thanks BOLL), or even the little side scrollers that used Halo in the title (Halo: Blood Covenant, for example). I submit that it's because of one simple reason - they weren't similar genre. I submit that it's because Microsoft saw the interest it was generating and decided to cash in. I really hope Ensemble makes a great game, the franchise deserves it, as do your others (it certainly deserves a better treatment than Myth III got) , but regardless of what Microsoft or even you say, it's going to look REALLY bad for a while. It wasn't even a direct competitor, they're on different formats, different scales, and one would have the advantage of being totally designed from the ground up, and one was a simple mod made for an aging game.
The franchise is well established. Very well. It is not as if you are going to have an issue in court were it to come about where someone tried to put something out as an original work or a new game using your IP. I see no difference in the wallpaper that the fans make using your characters and a mod, to be quite frank, since in both cases is just Window dressing, if you'll pardon the pun.
I don't begrudge you protection, I simply think a little care could be taken to establish what actually requires protection. I doubt you could convince me that Halogen was, or would ever have been, a threat.