Critical Miss: The Sega Guide

[RaikuFA]

didnt square do this with chrono trigger

Yeah pretty much. Which is really sad
I was looking forward to the 3D Fan Remake.. then I was looking forward to the Fan-Made Sequel... now I'm looking forward to the day that Square dies and loses copyright on the franchise so that both of those can be released.

azure dreams(the sequel) is available for viewing but not for playing

 

[Plucky]

Think the problem with Sonic that it was beloved when his games were 2D, Adventure was kinda meh but Adventure 2 was just awesome....then Heroes were 'Ughhh'..not sure how Shadow, '06, Secret Rings...Werehog...Dark Knight...seriouly lost interest eventhough i probally never played past Shadow.

The Rush and Advance games were alright during a period where the 3D games started to put a dent on him.



I think the world needs the return of Shenmue, Alex Kidd and perhaps Ristar more than ever!

 

[A Curious Fellow]

The truth in this comic makes me angry enough to strip the flesh off my arm with my own teeth and mail it to Sonicteam's headquarters with a picture of a puppy being punched in the face by Vince McMahon.

Yes.

 

[Toriver]

Or you can do the same comic this way:

Panel One: Show people playing a game and really digging it
Panel Two: Show those same people working on a game, talking about all the features they want to put in it making it awesome.
Panel Three: (Caption: Eight years later)Have those people ***** because they wasted time creating a new version of an IP they don't own instead of changing up characters designs and names and making their own game.

It doesn't matter how long they worked on the game or how good it is, they don't own the IP and if SEGA didn't do make them take it down, then it opens the floodgates for people to make games based on any of their properties and devalue them.

The problem is Sega usually doesn't act against those who make Sonic fan games (At least I don't think so considering there' so many Sonic fan games on the net that are well publicized), so it was kinda surprising they would take this fan game down. Also, I think Sega has done more than their fair share to devalue the Sonic IP.

I was going to point that out myself. From what I understand, Sega took a lot of care and had a lot of input during development to ensure that Sonic 4 met the "approval" of the 2-D Sonic fan-game community. I'm pretty sure that Sega is well aware of one particular well-known Sonic fan game (which will remain un-named just in case), and it's been around for a good few years now and hasn't been pulled. In fact, I know that during the development of another fan game, some of the people who were working on it contacted former Sega of America developers for information on certain stages that were pulled from Sonic 2. Sonic 4 still didn't meet all of the fandom's expectations because the fanbase is broken into a million pieces by now, but the fact that Sega tried to listen to the Sonic fanbase, who were out there doing new and innovative things with their most valuable IP that Sonic Team itself wasn't doing, shows that Sega doesn't always get incredibly protective of those IPs.

 

[Super Toast]

In my eyes, Sega is a joke. If it wasn't for Platinum Games, I wouldn't have bought a damn thing with their logo stamped on it.

 

[Calvar Draveir]

Technically the Sonic 4 game had the dodge jump feature, which is actually a pretty radical change for a sonic game.

 

[internetzealot1]

I think I missed something. When exactly did an 8-year fanmade Sonic game get shut down?

 

[ArmorArmadillo]

Legally the situation is black and white; Sega has every right to shutdown a fan project. That doesn't mean we have to agree with their decision; nor does it mean we can't view it in a negative light. Since by all outward appearances they let the game go through the full 8 years (maybe less) of development and shut it down only when it was released. If they didn't want them making it they should have shut them down long before now.

It's slightly more complex than that. A sad feature (and big flaw IMO) of copyright law is that if you are aware of something that violates your IP, you are OBLIGATED to shut it down, and if you don't you will be seen to have waived your right to enforce your IP and will lose claim to it in the future.

Now a lot of the apologists for Sega (and Square when they shut down that sweet looking Chrono Trigger Remake) cite this particular law and the biggest counter point is, yet again, Valve. There are countless mods/remakes/adaptations of Half Life and it's code yet somehow no shadowy forces have swept in and stolen the Half Life IP from under them.

If everyone in the world was Valve we'd live in a world without war or poverty and cars would run on carbon dioxide and have cupcakes for exhaust.

I'm not trying to be an 'apologist' for Sega, but I am suggesting that there is a legal reason for them to do so other than they're desire to be jerks.

As for Valve, if there was ever a legal fight over the Half-Life IP they may have a real problem on their hands. Of course, the reason they can take these risks is because Valve is in such a secure position, currently controlling the best digital distribution medium, games that Yahtzee can't criticize, and a fanbase that would gladly leap into a volcano to unlock a Portal 2 teaser trailer.

At this point, all Sega has is its old IPs. Which, again, their fault for not making better more recent games, but still, a reason to be more protective.

(As a side note, none of this should stand in your way of making funny comics like this one)

 

[Zer0Saber]

didnt square do this with chrono trigger

Yep, and it was looking really good too...shame.

 

[Gindil]

Legally the situation is black and white; Sega has every right to shutdown a fan project. That doesn't mean we have to agree with their decision; nor does it mean we can't view it in a negative light. Since by all outward appearances they let the game go through the full 8 years (maybe less) of development and shut it down only when it was released. If they didn't want them making it they should have shut them down long before now.

It's slightly more complex than that. A sad feature (and big flaw IMO) of copyright law is that if you are aware of something that violates your IP, you are OBLIGATED to shut it down, and if you don't you will be seen to have waived your right to enforce your IP and will lose claim to it in the future.

The smarter move though: Find great fan projects, and then convince the fan devs to come make it into an official project that they can release.

Also, why pick on Sega when other people are doing the same thing and yet still fanatically praised by fans. Star Fox 64 on the DS? An 'update' of Kirby Superstar where the only new level was a palatte swap?

No, you're thinking of trademark law. There's no obligation to shut down a project by any means in US copyright law.

 

[toapat]

It's slightly more complex than that. A sad feature (and big flaw IMO) of copyright law is that if you are aware of something that violates your IP, you are OBLIGATED to shut it down, and if you don't you will be seen to have waived your right to enforce your IP and will lose claim to it in the future.

The smarter move though: Find great fan projects, and then convince the fan devs to come make it into an official project that they can release.

you apparently dont understand how copyright law works then. Copyright law applies only to the country where the business is founded, and so in the US, this is a simply black and white issue, in Japan, this is nowhere near as obvious of a solution, because they do not have the same laws as we do.

 

[Echo136]

Sega has the right to do this. Did the fans ever bother to contact sega in the EIGHT FRIGGGIN years it took to make that game and ask for permision to use their IP, (no seriously a group of guys spent 10 years making a kings quest game, and they were allowed to release because they asked for permision from Activision). I know 8 years is a lot of work, but most fan games (except mario games) are shut down so you should have seen this comming.

Seriously, it was mentioned just 2 posts above you that they got permission to do this multiple times, and yet they got shut down probably because the fan remake would interfere with their actual game.

 

[Gindil]

It's slightly more complex than that. A sad feature (and big flaw IMO) of copyright law is that if you are aware of something that violates your IP, you are OBLIGATED to shut it down, and if you don't you will be seen to have waived your right to enforce your IP and will lose claim to it in the future.

The smarter move though: Find great fan projects, and then convince the fan devs to come make it into an official project that they can release.

you apparently dont understand how copyright law works then. Copyright law applies only to the country where the business is founded, and so in the US, this is a simply black and white issue, in Japan, this is nowhere near as obvious of a solution, because they do not have the same laws as we do.

Uhm... I could go into TRIPS and the various treaties that tell most high income nations that the copyright law of the US is respected in another country.

Yes, there's some differences, but the law is still pretty similar in most of the G8 countries.

 

[Arkitext]

Sonic Sucks. It are fact.

 

[archvile93]

Oh for the love of god people. The 2d sonic games were great, yes, but the sonic adventure games were great as well. The first sonic adventure had it's flaws yes and sega realized these said flaws and completely fixed them in the next game Sonic adventure 2. And the sonic advance games weren't that bad either especially sonic advance 3. I can't speak for the other games because they did seem bollocks. There was one more sonic game that was actually quite good that i can think of since the old 2d style ones and that was sonic rush. It was the first time they introduced a new character we were actually interested in and you have to admit that fight between blaze and sonic dragon ball z style was pretty sweet. Sonic Team isn't all bad they have a few good games it's just they don't know what to do with themselves.

Adventure 2 was okay, better than one, but certainly had its own share of problems, the main thing being the horrible camera. Summed up perfectly in the fight with the Biolizard, where the camera shifts to showing what's behind you at the points where it chases you so you can see it trying to rip your spine out, neglecting the more important, what's in front of you, like that death drop (okay fast moving current, but the end result is the same). A particularly annoying example considering that it was clearl a concious design choice, whereas at other times it's just poorly done but unintentional coding rearing it's ugly head. I felt like a cartoon villian that runs into a wall as he flees from the heroes because he was too stupid to pay attention to anything but them. I've played (rented) other sonic games after that and I assure you they haven't fixed this at all.

 

[ArmorArmadillo]

It's slightly more complex than that. A sad feature (and big flaw IMO) of copyright law is that if you are aware of something that violates your IP, you are OBLIGATED to shut it down, and if you don't you will be seen to have waived your right to enforce your IP and will lose claim to it in the future.

The smarter move though: Find great fan projects, and then convince the fan devs to come make it into an official project that they can release.

you apparently dont understand how copyright law works then. Copyright law applies only to the country where the business is founded, and so in the US, this is a simply black and white issue, in Japan, this is nowhere near as obvious of a solution, because they do not have the same laws as we do.

Unless they want to do business internationally and are dealing with a US fan remake of a game.

 

[Twad]

There are days like that i just dont understand the hate some corps have for fan-made content, spin-off fangames or mods or whatever. In the end it just give visibility to their own product and make people interestted in it... plus they can hire the team who made it if they are good.

 

[thatstheguy]

To be fair, any fan who spends 8 years making a Sonic game instead of their own is doing it wrong.

 

[The Wooster]

I googled it, and I can only find stories of Sega shutting down a Streets of Rage remake, not Sonic. Is that what you meant? Can I get a link to what the comic refers to in the second panel?

Streets of Rage Remix. Sonic is a representation of Sega in this case.