Yeah, the video I watched very clearly told me they were Not The Avengers.
Less than a day into 2024 and we already have our first Steamboat Willie horror game - Infestation 88 [UP: Devs will change name]
- Thread starter AlexFlame116
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Yeah, the video I watched very clearly told me they were Not The Avengers.
This is a really bad take and really short sighted. Even ignoring that as many people in this thread have pointed out, copyright never stopped porn existing or being created in the droves; you do realize how much of that original stuff your talking about wouldn't exist or would have to be heavily altered if their was no public domain right? Like so much of fantasy just as an example wouldn't exist because of how much those works borrow, adapt or are inspired by others, many centuries old. Same with Sci-Fi, Horror, Romance etc. And that's literature and moves, you'd be surprised how much common music and iconography wouldn't be allowed to use if their was no public domain, if we allowed corporations to just own everything indefinitely
Like Disney itself heavily abuses the public domain to make billions only to then use it's power to make sure others can't with "there" work (just look at the opening credits of early Disney movies and see how many of them have Charles Perrault's name, which many of his works themselves wouldn't exist if their was no public domain) then bully and exploit smaller creators. Same with DC comics, look up the shit they pulled with Fawcett Publications for example; same with Universal with it's Classic horror movies of the 30s-50s. And that's not even getting into These corporations horde original IPs while screwing over the actual creators of it or just copyright trolling in general. The Public Domain, even in its neutered form as it is now at least makes sure these works eventually see the light of day.
Because the actual important part of the public domain, not the idea people can make new shit, but that these works have the chance to be preserved, restored and is accessible to people, many works such as Nosferatu (and work that nearly didn't exist today), It's a Wonderful Life and Night of the Living Dead wouldn't be as remembered as fondly as they are without it. Very little actually gets re-released by corps, so much of it never sees the light again until it enters the public domain.
As as gaming fan, you should damn well know how we shouldn't be trusting corporations in preserving media given how much of gaming history has been lost due to lack of care and incompetence. For every Nintendo (which issue isn't preservation, just public access) which preserves vastly, you get a Konami or a Square Enix who have lost the source code for so many games, The Legend of Mana only be spared that fate thanks to Nintendo. How much of gaming's earliest games like the first fighting game are lost because the corps just did not care.
But hey, none of that matters because some edgelord made a shit game or movie no one will remember in 10 years, not like that happens with everything from Santa, Fairytales and Dracula anyway and no one cares, suddenly it's Mickey and were demanding corperations have more control which... Wouldn't actually change much since this shit would exist regardless just unofficially And officially as we've seen with Scooby Doo, Looney Tunes, Transformers etc but It's different when the the corps do it because... Because nothing I guess.
Copyright as is broken, not been updated for a digital age and giving corporations too much power and needs to be changed. The public domain is one of the few things that gives us some power over corps and need more power not less along with others thing like unions and pushing for better laws against not just copyright, but trademark and patent abuse as well.
For those saying that people need to come up with original stories instead of using public domain concepts, there's a lot of power in using characters and concepts that people already know that aren't owned by some corporation. Using Sherlock Holmes in your story can instantly create familiarity and evoke emotions. People react more to a named Lovecraft creature showing up than something that just evokes it. Just because the people have been denied this power for more recent things for ages doesn't mean it's morally superior to not use it.
In any case, bad things are still bad and the boomer shooter looks more promising as a use of Public Domain Mickey; though I expect Mouse will leave the player character unnamed.
In any case, bad things are still bad and the boomer shooter looks more promising as a use of Public Domain Mickey; though I expect Mouse will leave the player character unnamed.
well of course it is. part of the reason that there are so many lazy asset store horror games is that the audience don't expect much on the gameplay front. just get a few jumpscares and a vaguely creepy setting and you'll sell some copies. and when an IP like this comes into public domain, of course people are going to cash in. they'll get plenty of attention via streamers and threads like this one, and make some cash.
can't say I blame 'em
sure but anything that releases with the next year or two should get automatic side eye
Perfectly put 👏
This forum is all for public domain until it involves a property they like (or made by a corporation they like). Then suddenly it's "public domain is bad for art"
Someone took a look on the discord and it was about what you expect
JfcSomeone took a look on the discord and it was about what you expect
Alright guess this actually is shit to be avoided
Anime and South Park avatars check out too
PREACH
Thank you for being well spoken, because this is such a perfect write up
I imagine it's such a slippery slope to create something that doesn't inadvertently use copyrighted material that it isn't worth it at this point. Once more works become available to the public is when I imagine we will see more creative and interesting projects using Mickey.
That, and I imagine the Cuphead devs are perfectly fine with their game maintaining its own sense of identity.
When will these people learn that these stupid projects aren't making them look creative, they're only making the idea of public domain look worse?
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I'm not big on coincidence chains either...
View: https://x.com/MagitekDad/status/1742196163258745280?s=20
So we have:
- A game about a rat invasion (anyone who's read Art Spiegelman's Maus should already know where this is headed);
- Where one plays as exterminators using gas masks, who coincidentally use poison gas as their weapon;
- On a game titled "Infestation 88" (which, as another user pointed out, has 14 characters, besides the obvious 88 dog-whistle);
- Which also happens to supposedly reference the StG 44 German WWII assault rifle;
- And if you want to add my original dog-whistly speculation, it wouldn't be a stretch to be suspicious of that "SS" at this point.
We either hit the motherload of coincidences here, or there's something majorly fucked up going on.
All while the game's announcement gets spread around everywhere by the likes of IGN, Eurogamer and Destructoid, who I won't blame for not noticing, since I also didn't make the association at first glance.
Nah, I ain't touching that shit with a 10-mile pole.
View: https://x.com/MagitekDad/status/1742196163258745280?s=20
So we have:
- A game about a rat invasion (anyone who's read Art Spiegelman's Maus should already know where this is headed);
- Where one plays as exterminators using gas masks, who coincidentally use poison gas as their weapon;
- On a game titled "Infestation 88" (which, as another user pointed out, has 14 characters, besides the obvious 88 dog-whistle);
- Which also happens to supposedly reference the StG 44 German WWII assault rifle;
- And if you want to add my original dog-whistly speculation, it wouldn't be a stretch to be suspicious of that "SS" at this point.
We either hit the motherload of coincidences here, or there's something majorly fucked up going on.
All while the game's announcement gets spread around everywhere by the likes of IGN, Eurogamer and Destructoid, who I won't blame for not noticing, since I also didn't make the association at first glance.
Nah, I ain't touching that shit with a 10-mile pole.
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I think it's still free, but you can read through my law professor's great book on intellectual property/ public domain here. I think the above is a pretty good write-up, but also would like to point out that taxpayers bear a financial burden for defending short-term monopolies through copyright/trademark which is usually fine (given the tradeoff of encouraging creation of IP) but we don't have any obligation to do so in perpetuity.
They wouldn't win with that argument. Copyright is an exclusive right to create and distribute copies within a timeframe. It's based on release date, both of the original work and what it protects.
No, absolutely not. Copyright cannot be unilaterally extended under any conditions. The only way it gets increased is if a government does it.
Disney's use of that scene from Steamboat Willie in title cards would offer it trademark protection (potentially indefinitely). Trademarks are a much narrower protection. They prevent competing use of the mark to brand or sell something. They don't affect copyright and they don't stop anything falling into public domain.
I had to think for a bit to be sure that I understood this question and had interpreted it correctly. I think you're looking at this the wrong way. The ability for people to use Mickey Mouse, now that he's in the public domain, isn't contingent on some allowable level of iteration or variation. People can do essentially whatever they want, as long as it doesn't infringe on the very specific ways Disney creatively evolved and changed the character over the years.
Big changes don't make it any less allowable.
Big changes, however, do mean that the new design isn't actually a public domain one. This shit is its own copyrighted work (unless they've waived that).
EDIT: Dev Response to Name & Discord Members
View: https://youtu.be/Qe85jZhSflk?si=BrWt7le0ok4YVXNl
View: https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/1741854132737339778?t=TwOcd6HLDo1UHEQX4iWbCw&s=19
People really be wanting horror I guess.
Anyways check THIS awesome game out instead!
View: https://youtu.be/BZAVznVPMh8?si=9xIjvQQ829C3yDP9
regarding the name update. nope, bullshit
Lol yeah I was gonna say I can believe the "88" being an unfortunate mistake but not with all of this on top. Fuck that.
Yeah way too many "coincidences" here. I didn't really think about it at first but in hindsight, a game about seeking to gas an "infestation of rats" lead by the mascot of Disney has a pretty obvious double meaning.
I also saw this:
Interesting that they've apparently been making games since 2010 despite this being their first release. Gee, I wonder how many years it's been since then.
Are these the developers or just the fans?Someone took a look on the discord and it was about what you expect
Not that it's a good sign when this is the fanbase you're building, but
It can't get more transparent than thisYeah way too many "coincidences" here. I didn't really think about it at first but in hindsight, a game about seeking to gas an "infestation of rats" lead by the mascot of Disney has a pretty obvious double meaning.
I also saw this:
Interesting that they've apparently been making games since 2010 despite this being their first release. Gee, I wonder how many years it's been since then.
That's Fourt- OH COME ON.Yeah way too many "coincidences" here. I didn't really think about it at first but in hindsight, a game about seeking to gas an "infestation of rats" lead by the mascot of Disney has a pretty obvious double meaning.
I also saw this:
Interesting that they've apparently been making games since 2010 despite this being their first release. Gee, I wonder how many years it's been since then.
I would've given them the benefit of the doubt if they actually had at least accented 88 as '88. But nah, they knew who they were appealing to.
I was willing to maybe consider that the story would involve Nazi scientists making the evil mickey.
But nah, if they're changing the name and claiming not to have realized then they 100% knew what they were doing.
But nah, if they're changing the name and claiming not to have realized then they 100% knew what they were doing.
TIL, I did not know 14 was a Nazi number. Excuse my ignorance, but what does the logo signify? Is it the hood that's bad? Or the anvil, or both?Yeah way too many "coincidences" here. I didn't really think about it at first but in hindsight, a game about seeking to gas an "infestation of rats" lead by the mascot of Disney has a pretty obvious double meaning.
I also saw this:
Interesting that they've apparently been making games since 2010 despite this being their first release. Gee, I wonder how many years it's been since then.
I found that, that's how I found out about 14. Does that have something to do with the anvil? Or is the logo not the issue?
I always find projects like these so desperate it's embarrassing. Reminds me of the Winnie the Pooh horror movie that came out last year and was universally panned. Just create your own ideas, how desperate are you that you're waiting on someone else's IP rights to expire.
Founded in 2010 despite this being their first and only project. 2024 -2010 = 14. Combine with the original name of the game
Edit: nevermind, I totally misread your post
14 years, 88 in the title. Cesspool of Discord users and moderators, apparently using gas as a weapon.
This is 100% Nazi shit.
This is 100% Nazi shit.
Devs changing the name doesnt change the devs being nazis. I wont give them the benefit of the doubt.
A tale as old as time, infamy makes far more money than obscurity so of course people lean into it.
Im contributing right now by posting this.
Im contributing right now by posting this.
I for one am shocked that the game made for reactionary edgelords, is also made by reactionary edgelords.
That's not saying they've been making games at this studio since 2010, but that their team is made up of people who've been in the industry making horror games since 2010.Yeah way too many "coincidences" here. I didn't really think about it at first but in hindsight, a game about seeking to gas an "infestation of rats" lead by the mascot of Disney has a pretty obvious double meaning.
I also saw this:
Interesting that they've apparently been making games since 2010 despite this being their first release. Gee, I wonder how many years it's been since then.
They could be all from one company or they could be individuals who worked at different companies and made different games, it doesn't say. But this company, Nightmare Forge in itself was only created a few months ago.
The cuphead people won't touch this. It's too fraught with peril, trying to only use stuff from the shorts released in 1929, and unlike the no-names making this, they're an actual studio that Disney could, and would sue if they accidentally infringed on something copyrighted. There's nothing in it for them.
I'm not sure the thread title update to include "[UP: Devs will change name]" really paints the whole picture when there's so much evidence of this being thinly veiled nazi propaganda.
Don't buy their bullshit for a second.
Don't buy their bullshit for a second.