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Fenixp: Well they have all they would need to make a better game: Big budget, bigger team... So it really all comes down to laziness and sure profits. Which is evil. No surprise there, since it's activision we're talking about...

Not really. Let's say Activision did make a massively big-budget game with production values approaching Modern Warfare 2.
Activision are not the original devs/publisher. And even if they "got the band back together", people would argue that Activision "ruined the series" or "made it console-ready" and the like.
People would complain that it wasn't what they were envisioning. Take a look at UFO:ET. That game's only real complaint (from the target-demographic, since every other demographic cringed at the sight of an XCOM-clone :p) was that it wasn't the dream game we were all expecting.
Nah, this is the smart move if they ever want to release a game of their own, or at least don't want to have to forecast all their releases in advance. Because even if the game they made was better in every single category, people would complain and refuse to play it, if only because there was a free alternative.
It sucks, but them's the breaks.
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Gundato: ...

And yet, I still want to beat them with a stick. May I beat them with a stick?
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Fenixp:

Heck, I'd rather shove it somewhere warm and tight rather than beat them; maybe we could do a mass stone throwing session. :D
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Fenixp: I will never, ever understand this behavior. Don't wanna lose the sales? Just make a better game than amateur studio for crying out loud!

Activision really fails at PR.
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Lehti: http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/03/01/0546238/8-Year-Fan-Made-Game-Project-Shut-Down-By-Activision
What a great way to show how much you care about gamers, the people who are, you know, pira^H^H^H^H your consumers.
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DosFreak: Fixed.

*watches as the point whooshes by*
Sorry, don't get it. A consumer != a customer?
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Faithful: It is still my view that if customers stop purchasing from any company that is not user friendly and politely let them know why they are not buying, things would change in a flash.
If too many sales are lost and the company knows why, they would change the way they did things.
After all, it is all about the bottom line and not the customer.

the company is worth 18.9 billion dollars. do you honestly think that a minor percentage of their users not buying their stuff anymore matters to them?
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DosFreak: Fixed.
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Lehti: *watches as the point whooshes by*
Sorry, don't get it. A consumer != a customer?

http://mattbg.blogspot.com/2006/02/customer-vs-consumer.html
What an incredibly petty move by Activision.
As an act of defiance i think i'll go pirate some kings quest games , shutting down 8years worth of hard work is just plain nasty!.
[url]http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/games.html[/url]
[url]http://www.infamous-adventures.com/kq3/[/url]
Quick Grab the previous remakes before activision shut them down too !
That includes quest for glory !!
Post edited March 01, 2010 by PirateNeilsouth
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Arkose: The only way to safely make a fan work is for it to be a mod of one of the originating games or otherwise require some data files. Any project that requires an original game--no matter how major a revamp/sequel/etc. it is or how little it uses of the original data--gets a free pass because it isn't an independent work. I have never heard of any fan project that requires base data being shut down, but there are many, many cases of standalone projects being shut down.
If the project doesn't require some official base it is basically only alive for as long as the copyright holder wills it, unless you are lucky enough to get an official blessing (not many ask, however, because they want to get as little official attention as much as possible to avoid being shut down).

Lies.
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PirateNeilsouth: As an act of defiance i think i'll go pirate some kings quest games , shutting down 8years worth of hard work is just plain nasty!.

Putting 8 years of work into a project like this is just plain crazy!
I do appreciate all kind of fandom and fan activity in general, but if I were an owner of any IP, I would sure close down all kinds of fan projects for sure. There is just too much to lose with unauthorized use of IP's, (for instance, many people don't have a slightest idea of the difference between SCUMM and ScummVM, even if that's not really comparable to this case).
An even better example would be the King's Quest remakes. There are comments on GOG forums too, that there's no point of purchasing original KQ1-3, as fan remakes offer better graphics, better sound, more flexible controls, and are available for free. So from business point of view, it's better to shut down all such activity.
As much as I appreciate certain fan stuff [url=www.startreknewvoyages.com/]Star Trek Phase II[/url] being one of my favorites in that area, often those leave me feeling somewhat troubled too.
If some people are talented enough to create quality content, why bother to borrow or steal (depending on one's POV) something that is not your own creation? Is it just a matter of trying to get some free publicity based on the success of originals?
There are fine examples of how you can come up with something clearly original, while still being clearly fan stuff too. To mention just a couple of these:
[url=www.starwreck.com/]Star Wreck[/url] is a good fan movie, which is influenced by mainstream science fiction (Star Trek/Wars, Babylon 5), but is still unique and original as such.
In games, [url=www.bugfactory.fi/?page=bingwood]The Tales of Bingwood[/url] is obviously a Monkey Island (and a bit of Sierra too) fan game, but still at least 99,9% original creation.
Projects like these give much to fans of the original franchise, but don't violate any IP's, and can safely exist as their own selves.
The only surprising thing about The Silver Lining is how that project was able to live as long as it did. Too bad that I probably won't ever be able to play that game, but they should have seen that coming even before they started the project. Had they created something original, which is only strongly influenced by King's Quest, they wouldn't have any legal problems, and could sell the game commercially to cover whatever developing costs there may be.
Hopefully they can still revive the project somehow, change all features which are taken from King's Quest into something they created by themselves. I would buy a copy of that game, if they could do that.
But I really don't understand the crying and whining that's going on on the net over this. They knew what they were doing, so they should have realized that this can happen any day. After so many previous examples (and their own legal problems earlier), it's easy but misplaced to blame Activision for this. Better to ask question: why didn't anyone come up with legally safe content for the game during the last 8 years?
Post edited March 01, 2010 by PixelBoy
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PixelBoy:

They did have a non-commercial fan license with Vivendi. However when Activision obtained the rights to the game they told them to stop production.
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Faithful: It is still my view that if customers stop purchasing from any company that is not user friendly and politely let them know why they are not buying, things would change in a flash.
If too many sales are lost and the company knows why, they would change the way they did things.
After all, it is all about the bottom line and not the customer.
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TheCowSaysMoo: the company is worth 18.9 billion dollars. do you honestly think that a minor percentage of their users not buying their stuff anymore matters to them?

What I believe is if millions of gamers stopped buying there would take notice and alter their ways. However, I know it will never happen as gamers have to play the latest and greatest game no matter what.
Didnt activision allow a fan made kings quest game to be released?
Edit. Ah, it was this game. Sorry, i forgot about Vivendi selling out to Activision some years back. This goes to show, Bobby Kotick's not your friend. Not yours, not anyone that uses a computer to play games.
Post edited March 01, 2010 by drmlessgames
I'd think that allowing this project would have given ActiBlizz a very good PR-boost nearly for free, and would help ensure that this currently disused franchises stay alive so it can be exploited in the future. Win-win for ActiBlizz, in other words.
Just goes to show how little I know.