Cyde Weys Musings

Joystiq is using (and has possibly coined) a clever new term: lawyer bait. They use it in reference to a fan-created Pokemon MMORPG currently under development. This game is lawyer bait, of course, because as soon as Nintendo gets word of it they’re going to issue a flurry of Cease & Desist orders and Pokemon Online is going to go under faster than a tugboat with a Titanic-sized hole punched in its bow. Pokemon Online is even ripping all of the graphics off of the Pokemon games, and basically only changing the gameplay mechanics to make it multiplayer.

It’s a shame. Pokemon Online could be a great game. Hell, I remember how much I enjoyed playing those games back in middle school (and I won’t confirm it completely, but possibly more recently). But Pokemon Online needs a name change and it needs its own graphics. It’ll still be a lot of fun even if it doesn’t use all of the official Pokemon images, moves, etc. I can’t imagine spending my programming time on a project with a huge bullseye painted on it and I hope the devs on Pokemon Online realize the futility of the project.

As for lawyer bait, another project that immediately comes to mind is Goldeneye Source. Goldeneye Source is a remake of the classic Nintendo64 game Goldeneye using Half-Life 2’s Source engine. Unfortunately, it uses all of the same weapons and levels as the original and its graphics are close recreations of the original game. I’ve played it and it’s a lot of fun, but unfortunately, it’s just one C&D letter away from totally being shut down. It’s lawyer bait.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 4th, 2007 at 20:10 and is filed under Gaming. Keywords: Tags: cease and desist, copyright infringement, Goldeneye, Goldeneye Source, Joystiq, lawyer bait, Pokemon, Pokemon Online. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.