Tales from ELEKTRONITE Labs: Ms Pac Man & Galaga

[vprette]

The second and third dismissed projects I want to mention are the official porting of Namco classics:

Ms Pac Man and Galaga!

 

Having a prototype of Ms Pac Man already in place, we tried hard to find the good point of contact in Bandai Namco to buy the license, and possibly extend the agreement to Galaga.

 

After contacting several Namco sites around Europe and US from September 2012 to January 2013, we end up to discuss with licensing department in Japan.

We have been told that Namco is licensing copyrights for several classic games to themself! In fact they have a dedicated development department and do not give licence to external companies.

 

Being very much determinated to give Ms Pac Man to INTV community, we tried a desperate solution: we offered to develop the game and give it for free to Bandai Namco in exchange of permission to distribute!!

 

Not even this proposal was succesfull, and Ms Pac Man is now in the GTW (games that werent) universe...

Edited August 8, 2013 by vprette

[vprette]

This is an actual screenshot of Ms Pac Man on Intellivision

 

Edited August 8, 2013 by vprette

[+Gemintronic]

You went pretty deep with this one. I don't think anyone doesn't appreciate what you've gone through for this.

 

I've been trying to reach the guys from Intellivisionlives.com since 2011 about permission for Aquarius related things. They've not responded even once. Getting permission is not a happy or usually successful endevour.

[+intvsteve]

It's truly sad that these won't happen.

[slab0meat]

I won't type it out, but I cursed in my head reading that story, then seeing the screenshot. Quite a shame this won't happen.

 

 

[+Gemintronic]

Of course, gameplay cannot be copyrighted. Just needs a title screen and sprite swap. Call the new game Ms. Pock Blocked.

[Certifiable]

Of course, gameplay cannot be copyrighted. Just needs a title screen and sprite swap. Call the new game Ms. Pock Blocked.

 

 

Sounds good to me!

 

That screenshot looks waayyy better than Pac Man...

[Aquaman]

 

I've been trying to reach the guys from Intellivisionlives.com since 2011 about permission for Aquarius related things. They've not responded even once. Getting permission is not a happy or usually successful endevour.

Maybe they want to do something Aquarius related themselves, but at least they should have the courtesy to answer your question! PS do these guys even have the license of the Aquarius or just of some software titles?

[Games For Your Intellivision]

I think that we should re-jig it to be a Jawbreaker (original, not the replacement) clone, with candy and toothbrush :-)

 

Yes, it is a bit disappointing, but there are a lot of things that we CAN still do, and not enough resources (programmers, finances etc)

[+intvsteve]

I've been trying to reach the guys from Intellivisionlives.com since 2011 about permission for Aquarius related things. They've not responded even once. Getting permission is not a happy or usually successful endevour.

Seems to be par for the course. I tried contacting them back in 2001 about something and never got a reply either.

[Games For Your Intellivision]

The Aquarius rights were sold to "Radofin" by Mattel in 1983. I have no idea what rights transferred to Intellivision Inc. and later to INTV Corp. and ultimately to Intellivision Productions, Inc. but my guess is that they have NO rights to Aquarius.

[mdoerty]

One thing that strikes me is how many "remakes" get released on various consoles.

 

I wonder if asking for permission for a hobby batch run is really something that anybody does.

[Games For Your Intellivision]

Some companies are more reasonable than others.

[+Gemintronic]

The Aquarius rights were sold to "Radofin" by Mattel in 1983. I have no idea what rights transferred to Intellivision Inc. and later to INTV Corp. and ultimately to Intellivision Productions, Inc. but my guess is that they have NO rights to Aquarius.

 

The Radofin trademark can be bought right now. My suspicion is that Intellivision Productions, Inc has a very weak position on Aquarius related things and thus can only refuse to respond. Anything more would weaken their position by admitting they got nothin'

 

If I knew anything more about the consequences of owning a trademark I'd think we could buy Radofin and give it to Jaybird3rd

[+intvsteve]

Some companies are more reasonable than others.

That's the rub. Once I got what was basically a cease and desist for using the term 'solder *ick' on a repair tips page. I won't say what letter it was -- don't want to get busted again. I tried to explain that (a) their action was stupid and (b) why turn down inadvertant free advertising but whatever troll read it didn't care.

 

So all it would take to really make our happy little community miserable would be some entity deciding it needed to drop the hammer. Would probably backfire in terms of community outrage, but is it worth the risks?

[Rick Reynolds]

My thoughts were pretty much the same as what others have posted. For some reason, a nostalgic part of me still wants arcade ports on my Intellivision. I don't really know why - I have a MAME cab and can play the originals. Back in the day it's all I wanted and I guess I'm still holding onto that desire.

[Aquaman]

What is the worst case scenario if a company actually bothers to start legal procedures for making a port to a vintage system? Only losing (part) of the revenue or worse?

[+Gemintronic]

What is the worst case scenario if a company actually bothers to start legal procedures for making a port to a vintage system? Only losing (part) of the revenue or worse?

 

The cost of litigation. Period. This is what killed Connectrix when they made the Sony Playstation emulator.

[Aquaman]

The cost of litigation. Period. This is what killed Connectrix when they made the Sony Playstation emulator.

Just plead guilty and save the costs of an expensive lawyer Edited August 8, 2013 by Aquaman

[+Gemintronic]

Just plead guilty and save the costs of an expensive lawyer

 

That's just it. They will sue you for damaging their brand. No lawyer means you must pay big bucks. Have a lawyer and they will drag the case out and you must pay big bucks.

[Aquaman]

By the way does this only give a problem when selling the game or also if you make it PD?

[+Gemintronic]

By the way does this only give a problem when selling the game or also if you make it PD?

 

It only has to be "confusingly similar" to a brand that a company owns. Even if you never make a red cent you've diluted their IP and thus caused them harm.

[Aquaman]

It only has to be "confusingly similar" to a brand that a company owns. Even if you never make a red cent you've diluted their IP and thus caused them harm.

I understand, but when there is no blood to be squeezed out of water, they probably wouldn't bother too much. Also this kind of Lawsuit would probably do them more harm than good!

[+Gemintronic]

I understand, but when there is no blood to be squeezed out of water, they probably wouldn't bother too much. Also this kind of Lawsuit would probably do them more harm than good!

 

Here is the stupid part: if they don't go after you the legal system takes note and makes them more vulnerable to copyright/trademark infringement in the future. The next guy trying to make Ms. Pac Man for big bucks may get away with it because they let some homebrewer on a long dead system pass.

[Games For Your Intellivision]

Even if you 'win' a lawsuit, you lose.

 

A small company like mine, even if 100 percent in the right, can't afford to defend itself.