Shadowrun
Off-topic => General Gaming => Topic started by: Kylen on <01-14-12/0032:19>
-
http://fireflyuniverseonline.com/
I just squeed my pants.
Yes, you read that right.
I'm trying not to be TOO hopeful, but lets face it: Either we Browncoats will have awesome times, or be crushed by a bad game. Or it will go the way of SWG.
-
*Looks up from cleaning my Moses Bros. Self-Defense Engine Frontier Model B* Whut?
-
Ahh... FastJack Ident card is now active.
-
Ahh... FastJack Ident card is now active.
Trying to replace Mr. Universe?
-
Interesting. I give it one chance in ten of ever seeing the far side of beta. Hope it does, however.
-
Ahh... FastJack Ident card is now active.
Trying to replace Mr. Universe?
Would that be so bad? ;)
-
Ahh... FastJack Ident card is now active.
Trying to replace Mr. Universe?
Would that be so bad? ;)
Aside from being a camper in an MMO, no. :P
I'm going to give it a bit afore I sign up, see if they get official recognition.
-
"Is Firefly Universe Online a licensed title?
No, Firefly Universe Online is not affiliated with 20th Century Fox or Mutant Enemy Inc at this time. Until Firefly Universe Online receives official endorsement by parent copyright holders, we will proceed under fair use as a tribute to the fans, the beloved cast, and creator Joss Whedon."
Sadly, this alone is likely to kill the project.
Most rights holders in the media world do not look kindly on people engaging "do it first and ask permission later" antics. Doubly sad in that it's often not all THAT hard to obtain a limited fan license for a lot of works, especially ones that haven't been in active production for a while.
-k
-
Aw no fun.
-
Well, given that this site has been up for..well...at least a year it seems, and that Fox and their parent company tend to jump on this kind of stuff hard core, I do believe that they have SOME kind of permission, or have obtained it recently, or are in the process of such. Otherwise, I doubt the site would even BE here.
-
Well its not based out of the US. Panama, China, and Netherlands. I don't know about the copyright laws there, but if they're different enough it may still go off, especially being a download game from servers there. Of course if SOPA or PIPA get passed in the coming months that will kill any US people from having fun with it.
-
That quote I posted earlier?
That's straight off their website.
-k
-
Right, which states that they don't have a license and are still planning to launch beta before too long under the fair use act (which really doesn't cover what they're doing). If the operation isn't based in the US though, breaking US copyright laws doesn't actually mean anything. Its actually extremely common for people in the US to start companies in other, less strict countries, in order to circumvent US copyright laws. That's how many MMO botting and gold selling services are able to stay in business. The US ones that get big get shut down hard (see MDY vs Blizzard). While this is used to circumvent some good laws, its also used often to circumvent many laws that are just flat out wrong.
For instance, MDY vs Blizzard actually set the precedent that if you design a piece of software (lets say a word processing suite for example) designed to be used in conjunction with another piece or other specific pieces of software (lets say any Windows OS) and that the other company decides at a later date to change its End User License Agreement to disallow the use of your program, you will be guilty for any contributory copyright infringement even if you immediately (or already have) stop all support for your software.
It also clarified that breaking your EULA makes you immediately guilty of copyright infringement despite whether their was any intent of EULA breach or to what degree it was breached. In addition, even if you purchase a separate license, every time you load the program is another count of copyright infringement. To top it off, the holder of the copyright is under no obligation to pursue charges in a timely manner. Combined with often ambiguous wording (an good example is with World of Warcraft. Breaking the essence of World of Warcraft is a EULA breach) this means that a company can technically put forth a claim (leveling more than once a day is breaking its essence) and sue its license holders that have broken this claim for copyright infringement for every time they have loaded the game since the EULA breach (every time you've loaded WoW after the initial time you leveled more than once in a day). While it sounds ridiculously absurd, that is exactly how the law works right now if they wanted to pursue it. In MDY vs Blizzard, Blizzard actually had to admit on record that naming your character Einstein (or anything in breach of their naming rules) technically would make you subject to copyright infringement immediately and an additional count every time you load the game (regardless of what account is being loaded) after, if they chose to pursue it.
Many companies (especially small ones that can't afford a legal nightmare) are operating in the US while maintaining their business overseas just to avoid this crap.
-
copy right , permission to do this aside, i agree it would be nice to go into the 'verse and se what mal and the crew have been up to since serenity. i also ran a serenity rpg for a while.
-
copy right , permission to do this aside, i agree it would be nice to go into the 'verse and se what mal and the crew have been up to since serenity. i also ran a serenity rpg for a while.
I'm trying to get copies of that RPG right now. Seems like an interesting rule set, but I may use D20 Future so I don't have to teach how to play.
-
It's not the best system in the world, but it's playable and fairly easy to learn. It feels very similar to savage worlds with a few improvements. It's very much a players tell the story system though. The hardest part to teach will be getting them to understand and use the plot point system (it's a movie and you use the plot points to change the story playing out).
-
It's not the best system in the world, but it's playable and fairly easy to learn. It feels very similar to savage worlds with a few improvements. It's very much a players tell the story system though. The hardest part to teach will be getting them to understand and use the plot point system (it's a movie and you use the plot points to change the story playing out).
Similar to how Fate Points work in FATE-based systems, where you can spend one to declare something about a scene that hasn't been brought up yet?
-
Pretty similar.
-
As much as I'd love to see this happen...I really dont think it will.
The promo clip they have is a middle-finger short of "fuck you" to FOX and the graphics they present in the promo are...a little sad.
http://fireflyuniverseonline.com/game.php
-
The fact that they'll likely get rofl-stomped into the ground by Fox Legal aside...
What is up with that name? Either use 'Firefly Online' or 'Firefly Universe'. Mashing it all together sounds just stupid.
And yeah, the graphics are just sad.
-k
-
Multiverse actually had the official license to do a Friefly MMO, which had been announced years ago. It was supposed to be a 2D browser-based gamer that would ultimately be transformed into a 3D MMO. Upon hearing that last bit, I kind of wrote the project off. After some time, I herard some more news about Multiverse: They had stopped what little work they had done on the Firefly MMOG, so that they could start production on a Buffy the Vampire Slayer MMOG. The new game would start as a 2D browser-based game, and then eventually become a 3D MMO...At that point I pretty much wrote the company off, and unfortunately, their projects. Seems I was correct, as they went under due to lack of financing. The Multiverse Foundation is still hoping to somehow make the Firtefly game. You can find links to the various news articles about it on TenTon Hammer's website http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/221 (http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/221)
I would really, really love for someone else to get their hands on the license (and proper funding!), but only if they are going to do it correctly. The last batch didn't have a frikkin' clue what they were doing. Here's to hoping this attempt will actually have a Firefly MMO see the light of day!
-
There is a weird message now at the site. Something about at the request of Fox entertainment, the game formerly known as Firefly universe is undergoing radical transformation to become the most ground-breaking infinite mmo experience. Whatever that is supposed to mean.
-
There is a weird message now at the site. Something about at the request of Fox entertainment, the game formerly known as Firefly universe is undergoing radical transformation to become the most ground-breaking infinite mmo experience. Whatever that is supposed to mean.
Bets on if they got a C&D or not?
-
There is a weird message now at the site. Something about at the request of Fox entertainment, the game formerly known as Firefly universe is undergoing radical transformation to become the most ground-breaking infinite mmo experience. Whatever that is supposed to mean.
Bets on if they got a C&D or not?
No bet. You know they did... despite the fact that Fox killed Firefly deader than dead.
-
There is a weird message now at the site. Something about at the request of Fox entertainment, the game formerly known as Firefly universe is undergoing radical transformation to become the most ground-breaking infinite mmo experience. Whatever that is supposed to mean.
Bets on if they got a C&D or not?
No bet. You know they did... despite the fact that Fox killed Firefly deader than dead.
Fox kills just about any SciFi series they get their hands on (anyone remember Earth 2?), and then continue to act stupidly when presented with ways to make money off the now dead series. A case in point was the Serenity RPG; Fox wouldn't allow them to use the name Firefly, and if I remember correctly, there was also a ban on the game using a lot of things that had been specific to just the show and not the movie.
-
Earth 2 was NBC, not Fox.
The issue with the rpg had to do with licensing. Fox owns the rights to Firefly (not entirely sure what it all entails.) Joss Wheedon owns some other rights. He made Serenity for Universal. The RPG was licensed from Universal. It just doesn't make business sense for Fox to allow an RPG to use its property without compensation especially when Universal is making money off of it. I don't really think it matters for the RPG.
Maybe now that MWP doesn't have the license for Serenity, Fox will allow someone to make a Firefly rpg.
-
One of my characters had an Earth 2 signed poster.
Yes, he was that much of a SciFi nerd.
-
Earth 2 was NBC, not Fox.
The issue with the rpg had to do with licensing. Fox owns the rights to Firefly (not entirely sure what it all entails.) Joss Wheedon owns some other rights. He made Serenity for Universal. The RPG was licensed from Universal. It just doesn't make business sense for Fox to allow an RPG to use its property without compensation especially when Universal is making money off of it. I don't really think it matters for the RPG.
Maybe now that MWP doesn't have the license for Serenity, Fox will allow someone to make a Firefly rpg.
My bad, NBC was the other network SciFi shows need to avoid.
Fox killed off Firefly, John Doe, Dollhouse, Werewolf, Brimstone, Millineum, Terminator, and also Tru Calling.
NBC killed Earth 2, The Original Star Trek, and The Bionic Woman.
There were other shows that were cancelled by both networks, as well as some others, that I don't ncessary think of as SciFi (though others might): The Tick, Jeremiah, Jericho, The Lone Gunmen, etc. I'm probably forgetting a lot more as well.
As for Fox and compensation, it was my understanding that they were approached and had the chance to do a license deal from MWP, and turned them down. Could be their rivalry with Universal, but they did have the chance to make money off of it.
-
Don't forget NBC also had Knight Rider.
-
Fox is now getting a remake of sorts of carl sagan's cosmos with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson hosting and Seth MacFarlane as exec producer...
Will be interesting to see how that goes over..