You're always free to exercise the option to simply not use Valve's products. Nobody forced you to install Steam, and nobody's forcing you to keep it installed.
"Today Valve disabled more than 30,000 Steam accounts which had been used to try to illegally gain access to Valve games without a valid purchase.
"Valve takes such activities seriously and reserves the right to disable Steam accounts engaging in piracy, cheating, illegal activities, or any...
And sorry I called you guys "idiots". It's just I hate seeing projects with such potential run legally afoul (I was particularly disappointed when the Middle-earth Mod closed up shop).
Please get the copyright stuff straightened out, though my advice is better safe than sorry. Save...
From your site:
Isn't "unofficial sequel" just another way of saying "derivative work"?
I ask again, have you guys even bothered consulting a lawyer, or do you assume your own (limited) understanding of the relevant laws is enough?
"Fair use" is specifically defined as follows:
"...the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for...
The Middle-earth Mod, a total conversion for Morrowind, is one relevant example that I know of. Now they weren't sued, but they did voluntarily cease production because they didn't have permission to use the IP.
Here's another one: The Chrono Resurrection Project, a Chrono Trigger remake...
Releasing work for free is not a loophole for getting around copyright and intellectual property laws. This has been proven countless times with similiar projects. If Square comes after them, the "free release" defense will offer no legal protection.
This really, really sucks. Now I know...
Sorry, but you're not quite as unbiased as you think you are. Sounds to me like you simply prefer console games to PC (your rant about Half-Life 2's control scheme was the primary tip-off).
I think it looks great. The only thing that worries me is that this appears to be based on an existing property. I'd really hate to see such a promising mod get shut down because the developers infringed intellectual property rights.
Maybe they'll rip-off Half-Life 2's quality gameplay while they're at it. That would make it all worthwhile. But knowing id, they'll figure out some way of turning the manipulator into a dull and uninteresting gimmick.