Hi Michael, For the record I do agree with you and Liam that great care and thought should be taken before using copyrighted material. However, we in the blind comunity are at a sad crossroads when we talk about accessible games. When I was sighted I played Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, Dark Forces and Dark Forces II, Rebel Assault I and II, Jedi Knight, and so on. Suddenly, I am blind and there are absolutely nowaccessible Star Wars games. What is the solution here? I can't simply go to Wal-mart and pick up the latest Star Wars titles even though I might want to with all my heart and desire. Sure there are other games out there, but I'd really like to play Star Wars. Well, I have the skills to write a game, but there is this thing called copyright issues like can't use the sounds, characters, or logos. Oops, friends all of us in the blind comunity are screwed again by the sighted comunity. I would love to be fair, and not use copyrighted material if I can avoid it. I doubt I will do much with copyrighted material, but the fact remains what do I do when I can not legally use Star Wars games and can not legally create one. Short answer is nothing, and frankly that downright sucks lemons. With games like Montezuma's Revenge Packman you are probably right no one really cares. There are hundreds of clones out there, and the copyright holders aren't saying much. Why do developers break copyright laws. I think short answer is they can't get an accessible game any other way but to use copyrighted sounds and logos. If you put any old laser sound in a Star Wars game it will sound terrible. The Star Wars effects are very unique and no matter how much a dev tries to emulate it it won't be the same without the authentic sounds. I'll get down from the soap box.
michael feir wrote: > I've never understood why some developers are so keen to needlessly break > copyright laws and risk prosecution. When you're dealing with classic arcade > games which have been cloned a million times over, I can certainly > understand. It would surprise me tremendously if Pacman Talks or Dynaman > incurred anybody's letigious wrath. I think there's a good argument to be > made that making an accessible version of a classic game is certainly not > robbing anybody of potential derived profits. When you're dealing with such > specific licenses like Star Wars and such, it's a whole different story. > People have been sued by Paramount for making Star Trek based games. I have > no doubt that Lucas Arts is equally defensive of the Star Wars franchise. > Also, taking sounds that are not only directly tied to a game as well as a > major entertainment franchise substantially increases the risks of being > taken to court. Certainly, there's the "can't squeeze blood from a stone" > argument. Nobody producing accessible games has exactly struck gold. > _______________________________________________ Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
