I have to say, I am excited about the idea of a new SC, but seriously i have zero faith in stardock at this point. Has anyone opted in that can give us anything?

I'm a recent founder (at the cheaper tier) and don't have much experience with Stardock in the past. That said, I think it'll be good. They are listening to player feedback and want to do right by the series. Gameplaywise, it's sticking pretty close to a modern take on SC2. I know Brad Wardell is a controversial figure, but whatever his other faults he is a genuine Star Control fan and has shown respect to fans and the original creators, especially compared to how Accolade and Atari treated the IP.

Storywise, as you may already know, it's in a new universe and will not be using SC2's aliens and loreThis may seem disappointing at first, but is actually out of respect for the original creators. Back in 2013, they wanted to get Fred Ford and Paul Reiche on board but they were too busy with Activision. So Stdecided not to meddle with the Ur-quan universe (as SC3 notoriously did, which is now officially retconned to a parallel but separate universe from SC1/2) to leave an opening for them to revisit it later. What I know about their new storyline sounds like it has potential, but it's really too early to know how it'll turn out.

And as you may know, FF and PR3 recently announced their own sequel to SC2. So we're getting both Stardock's SC2-inspired game in a new universe and an official separate continuation of the SC2 storyline. Far as I know, Stardock and Fred/Paul each approve of what the other is doing.

No one else can quite capture SC2's unique style of writing, I think. But Origins will probably be a good game inspired by it.

http://lawfulmasses.com/stardock-star-control-part-1/#more-590
It is pretty much summed up on this page. Stardock does not have any copyright to Star Control 1, 2, and 3. Its worth a read.

That link is a virus. I am less than amused.

From those links and videos being thrown around, it's pretty clear the person sharing them isn't really looking into what they're linking. Especially since the consensus in those suggests that the legal issues are a murky mess that could potentially flop one way or the other but that Stardock could more than easily end up coming out in the right on this and truly, clearly, officially, without a doubt owning the whole thing.

Stardock had apparently gone through all the proper procedures to acquire and use Star Control, regardless of whether Atari made any mistakes in how they sold it off or not, and the original developers have only relatively recently decided to make a public relations fuss over it despite knowing that Stardock had openly laid claim to Star Control after purchasing it from Atari for some time now. Stardock was well into developing Star Control Origins and had continuously approached the original developers about it, in the hopes they'd get involved, but they were turned down and, for all intents and purposes, allowed to continue unimpeded, even encouraged to going by some of the emails released. Stardock even offered to sell them Star Control at least at one point, but they were turned down then, as well.

They only seemed to get upset after Stardock tried to get them to tone down their own unofficial use of the "Star Control" name, at least in terms of how the news media references them or is encouraged to reference them, as Stardock wanted to have a clear line of separation between the two potentially competing titles (the original developers' new game having only been suddenly announced after buzz began to build over Stardock's game, of course, interesting timing there for a game that they've put off doing for so many years and have nothing to show for except a title). Otherwise, Stardock both openly, to the public, and privately, in emails to the developers that were released as part of the legal battle, encouraged them to make their own "Star Control" sequel to their original games, under a new title.

Honestly, when the original developers start using Brad Wardell's hero worship of them against him via his emails where he's writing about how much he loves their games so much that he, for his own personal gaming, recreates Star Control species/factions in Stardock's Galactic Civilization games (which you can easily do with that game series, in addition to adding portraits or other minor forms of modding) as part of their legal campaign to suggest he's actively "stealing" from them, that turns me off right quick to their arguments. How many of us have either used a game's built-in custom creation mechanics to recreate things from other franchises or stories we enjoy for personal amusement? Those kinds of arguments they use are detrimental to us fans of works such as theirs.

I originally was happy enough to have two Star Control games, if not in name, be announced and made by two groups of developers I have enjoyed games from. But the original developers really aren't helping their case any, in my opinion, and even if they win the legal battle, I just find the timing of everything they've done to be more than a little disingenuous. I'm not even sure they really intended to make a proper game, at this point. It just feels like another one of those "never meet your heroes" situations, regarding the original developers of the first two games.

Regardless, we'll see what happens, if anything. I've personally not have had many negative experiences when it comes to Stardock's sci-fi games, and Star Control Origins is apparently coming out this Fall, which I'm looking forward to. Videos so far seem to suggest it's very much like the classic games with a new coat of paint and additional features, so I'd like to think it'll be fun. The only playable part in the beta for pre-orders right now is the melee combat, which is very much like the classic games' melee, and the ship designing, which is like Galactic Civilizations II and III's ship designing feature, allowing for quite a bit of personal customization of your ships to use in melee.

Exactly. And without its story/lore/writing/voiceacting SC2 is nothing but a queer arcade game from a bygone millennium. Pretty short, linear and with gameplay full of chores which I think I can safely assume we're all would be good without.

they may make SC:O horrible to avoid paying royalties to FF and PR