40k vs. Starcraft

[PrinceOfShapeir]

*Snort*

Warhammer 40k isn't at all derivative, is it?

Oh, wait. Necrons are basically Undead crossed with Terminators, Tau are basically mecha anime guys, Eldar and Dark Eldar are just Elves and Dark Elves with extra GRIMDARK...hell, 40k is basically a standard fantasy setting with advanced technology and GRIMDARK. And I love it for that, but it's not like it's a work of art. Jesus.

 

[KingmanHighborn]

Nothing new here. This observation was made years ago... back when starcraft was initially released actually.

Many a conspiracy over this.

Starcraft is the reason GW high-ups are still slamming their heads into the wall. As mentioned before, SC was supposed to be a 40k game but GW got scared and pulled the plug at the last moment. Blizzard changed enough to avoid copyright issues, released it anyway, and ended up with possibly the most popular RTS franchise there is.
I never really saw the Eldar = Protoss connection though. Protoss are way tougher than flimsy space elves.

Yeah the conspiracy theory I heard came from Blizzard actually stealing some 'leaked' pre designs for the Tau, as the army's regular foot soliders were going to be power weapon wielding no guns close quarters army backed by 'drones' and 'carriers' as well as a lot of other design features, but once Starcraft unveiled the supposed near 1 for 1 Protoss they cancelled thier intial Tau idea and revamped it and years later they got turned into a firepower army afraid of getting thier hands bloody.

My personal opinion is Starcraft AND Warcraft are blantant rip offs, but have a name and following to make a court battle to big of a headache for either side to care. As time as went on though it's clear that while Games Workshop's universes are dark, terror inducing, gritty, and interesting, Blizzard's universes are comical, cheesy, and shallow, but do have some decent RTS elements. Though I prefer Dawn of War well and above over both SC 1 & 2 in terms of gameplay and replay ability and I prefer tabletop over video game I do have some bias.

I haven't played Diablo but looking at it, it seems like they just ripped off D&D so I add that to the mix as well.

The biggest mistake GW has made in my mind is chargeing monthly fees for thier MMOs. WoW offers nothing worth paying for, and adds nothing to the universe.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well I wouldn't go slapping the rip-off card around because these are both extremely old franchises and neither is all that innovative, they just took the D&D formula and set it in space... and that's the full extent of their idea.

Not saying they didn't spin it into some awesome shit, but the basic formula is very crude.

 

[Shio]

I think Protoss are more like the Tau but otherwise your spot on.
There is alot of similarity, because of reasons mentioned by others in the thread.
Its also the same reason why Warhammer and warcraft are so similair.

If it weren't for the cheesy mechs, the Tau would be the sexiest race ever.

Just sayin'.

 

[Asehujiko]

I find it both hilarious and sad that many raging warhams don't seem to realize that
1. It isn't Blizzard's fault that the settings look alike but GW's, due to aforementioned contract dickery.
2. The entire thing is basically a ripoff of various Heinlein works anyway.
3. The Tau were created in 2000, the Protoss in 1998.
4. The entire idea behind DoW2 is basically the Rexxar Campaign with more Steve Blum.
5. The Tyranids received a major overhaul in 1999, changing from being almost exclusively gene-stealer cults and reptilian, into the space bugs they are now.
6. That only leaves the Terrans vs Imperium, who's only similarity is that they both have marines in power armor that fill completely different roles(invented by E. E. Smith, 1937).
7. They don't have a good story. Ravenor, Gaunt's Ghosts and Caiphas Cain are good but they are a tiny oasis of quality in a desert of shit that everybody conveniently ignores when attacking another IP. "hurr Richard A. Knaak is terrible, therefor the entire setting is!" Newsflash: So is C. S. Goto and every other HH book is about a random guy doing nothing significant and then getting killed at Istvvan III or V, depending on the color of his armor.

 

[Cavan]

Gamers have this weird thing about games where being the 1st to do something is for some reason really important, whereas being a copy, even if a BETTER copy is somehow inferior.

Gamers also have a weird thing whereby whichever one they happen to like most/is most popular becomes THE GAME WHICH DID EVERYTHING FIRST, I call it WoW syndrome.

As in "wow that's a shiny coin you have there" "WoW DID SHINY COINS FIRST"

It's often backed up by "yeah well x made it good/popular so they're still the first"

 

[veloper]

Now I know that I'll get quite a bit of flak for this but I believe that Starcraft is a near carbon copy of Warhammer 40k. Just take a look.

Terrans and Space Marines

Little similarity.
Both wear power armor (NOT a GW invention) but that goes with the sci-fi.

Tyranids and Zerg

They look similar enough. Not enough to condemn Blizzard by itself thouhg.

Eldar and Protoss

Eldar look like fantasy elves underneath their armor. No similarity.


Major difference: no orcs, drow, demons, chaos marines, etc. WH40K is FANTASY with some SF elements, while SC is still soft sci-fi.

 

[Nouw]

Starship Troopers spits on you all.

but it's not like it's a work of art. Jesus.

By definition, I'm pretty sure it is.

Also,

 

[Raddra]

Yeah, people have known Blizzard pretty much ripped off Games Workshop. 40k to Starcraft, Warhammer to World of Warcraft.

Didn't read the thread since blizzard fanboys defend their pet company with rapid gnashing teeth.

GW could have taken the to the cleaners for plagiarism in the early days, but they didnt because they're gamers who enjoy the genre and like to see more of it out there. At least that's what I was told.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Yeah, I know that this has been brought up a lot but it really bothers me, and yes I am a Warhammer fanboy but I respect both parties and this is a neutral arguement in the way I'm presenting it.

Yeah, me too. It's unfortunate, isn't it? Consider the possibility that Starcraft was meant to be a Warhammer 40K game, but Blizzard couldn't get the license at the time.

I'm serious, that's the only rational explanation I have for them to do what they did. Either that or Metzen really thinks he's brilliant for ripping off 40K in like, every possible way.

Well it depends, are you comparing Starcraft to the tabletop game or to the "video" games. Because from a video game perspective Starcraft was first to appear.

As if. The first 40k game was Space Crusade, released in 1992. How about Vengeance of the Blood Angels, 1995? Or Final Liberation, 1997?
StarCraft was released in 1998.

Have you tried the remake of the board game they made? Despite being on a board, it's actually terrifying. You can imagine the terminators marching through to hulk, stopping when they here a Genestealer scratching. There, something down the corridor! They fire, only to see nothing. They turn around to look down another corridor. When they turn back, one of their squad is missing...

Ohohoho.

You forgot to mention Space Hulk [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Hulk_%28video_game%29]. It scared the shit out of me when I was playing it when I was like 6 years old, lol.

 

[AlternatePFG]

I would say that neither series is particularly original. 40k seems to take alot of elements from different sci-fi and mix them together and fit them into their universe. That's what makes it awesome. I don't think you could really call Starcraft a direct rip-off simply because the parts of 40k that people say Starcraft ripped off are pretty common sci-fi tropes.

 

[Nomanslander]

You know, I'm not even going to go there. The only NERD arguments that are more classic and done to death are; Captain Picard vs. Captain Kirk, Star Wars vs Star Trek, and Lord of the Rings vs. Dune...0o

Just end it before we find another means of beating a head horse that died DECADES ago.

-_-

 

[Emurlahn]

Blizzard actually paid Games Workshop to be allowed to use the ideas for both warcraft and starcraft.

 

[Tax_Document]

Oh I see starcraft demolishes Dawn of war in every aspect thanks.

Except, you know, gameplay, because DoWII is the best RTS to come out since Red Alert 2 in 2000.

Reviews, Player-Base and General Entertainment Factor say otherwise, they threw out a finely crafted and interesting game concept, DoW 1, and used CoH which wasn't amazing and use it instead.

It is no-where in hell better than SC2, DoW hasn't produced many GOOD games.


However, Lore-Wise, DoW is amazing, Originality, DoW again, but game-wise? DoW is fecal matter and SC2 is ice-cream.

 

[Tax_Document]

Yeah, people have known Blizzard pretty much ripped off Games Workshop. 40k to Starcraft, Warhammer to World of Warcraft.

Didn't read the thread since blizzard fanboys defend their pet company with rapid gnashing teeth.

GW could have taken the to the cleaners for plagiarism in the early days, but they didnt because they're gamers who enjoy the genre and like to see more of it out there. At least that's what I was told.

But isn't it funny when DoW fan-boys storm out to defend their terrible line-up of forgotten games and terrible lore? While trying to make it sound like Warhammer 40k is an original idea, but instead uses common SCI-FI tropes?

Back to games however.

Sc2 has an active base of 1 million + players, a day, perhaps more, DoW 2 Retribution has around 200.

Problem...?

 

[repeating integers]

What the fuck. What the fuck has happened to this thread. What have you fools done.

Why. Why. Whyyyyy?

OT: I generally stopped criticising Starcraft for ripping off 40k when I realised how hypocritical it was. 40k is not very original either, after all - it's a mishmash of all sorts of sci-fi concepts from all over the place. Even Chaos isn't original, IIRC having been lifted out of a novel that predates any of GW's games.

 

[Drizzitdude]

Warhammer lore pwns Starcraft.