News S.T.A.L.K.E.R ripping off Half-Life 2?

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/04/11/STALKER_ripping_off_doom_3/

 

Honestly, how would someone have found this in the first place? Why would they have been randomly looking through files? And as if they'd be able to memorise filenames from other games.

Kinda sad in my opinion...

 

Heh, oops!

- H.

 

Seriously, I hope that the both (especially Valve) just give the guys who made STALKER a ticking off and ask them to make some changes for future versions. If this ends up in a big law suit I will lose respect for Valve and THQ / GSC.

Yes, they did wrong copying (if its true) the textures, and in the future, they should be given a bill and told to pay up or else, but I hate this "You sue me I sue you" culture we seem to have adopted world over and I'm sure it can be settled out of court.

 

I found the address quite interesting, I never knew Doom 3 and HL2 were the the same thing? I agree with the above post.

 

Having played S.T.A.L.K.E.R for a few hours, I thought it reminded me of Half Life 2 in many ways, but not in a "wow those light textures look awfully familiar" kinda way.

 

I wouldn't say it's an example of a legitious culture myself. After all, THQ are taking something that someone else did and using it to generate profit. If it's the case of only two textures then I agree, a slap on the wrist for THQ and leave it at that. If however we later find out that they've stolen A.I from Far Cry, sounds from F.E.A.R and animations from Prince of Persia as well (for example) then I'd expect to see THQ get financially bitch-slapped.

Imagine if you wrote a book and someone stole a chapter or two from it to use in theirs.

That said, I massively support games like THQ and games that are free-roaming or innovative and therefore don't want them to go under because of this. Hopefully it'll all be proved to unfounded nonsense.

 

Wuh oh!

 

Dindn't early versions of Stalker (and some early trailers) get lambasted because they used Half Life sound effects? Could be wrong on that, it's been a while...

 

Maybe it's just because I'm a law student specialising in Intellectual Property... but I'd love to see a lawsuit over this!

It's absolutely shocking to steal property in this way, especially for companies that are such big players in the industry. It doesn't set much of an example for the smaller ones. Moreover, a lawsuit for this type of action would not provide "punishment" - it would give measured damages that compensate for the actual loss - as closely as can be calculated. The problem obviously is that the company that makes STALKER is Russian, and will therefore be hard to sue, due to jurisdictional issues. The most likely outcome therefore would be for Valve and Id to seek an injunction preventing sale of STALKER until things have been sorted out... That's tough for gamers though.

On an unrelated note, I am sincerely unimpressed with STALKER as a game. The performance is abysmal, and it has a distinctly unfinished feel. There are large sections of the game where I will have to look at the ground, as the weather conditions make the framerate drop off to an unplayable level if i can see the sky - this is regardless of gfx quality settings, and I have a decent system. Furthermore, I have found missions where the objective has been forgotten to actually be placed on the map - very frustrating. The game will also periodically "lose" my mouse. The most recent patch apparently breaks savegames. Slight problem on an RPG....

 

Not true, the files could've been purchased, if not free already.

And honestly, who even cares?

Regardless of the graphics settings? Dude, performance in this game is all about its graphical settings.

Your pc is clearly not fast enough to run this game, and you can't blame the game for that.

 

2GB Ram, 7800 GTX 512MB, AMD 3500+ (OK the processor isn't _new_, but it can do this, and I said that the performance is irrespective of gfx settings i.e. those areas run like crap if i turn everythign off...and most of the time I can run with everything on full, it's just random when it slows down.)

Also, on occasion rain will artifact horribly. Sometimes savegames are inexplicably unplayable, and I have to go to the previous quicksave. That's not hardware related.

 

I have a lower system than that and run it beautifully. There are some tweaks out there on the nets that fix hidden settings I found useful initially. Try looking on the NMA forums.

My major gripe with STALKER has been the story, it's broken and hard to follow at times with poor translation that makes coherence impossible. I'm currently invstigating underneath Yantar and I have no idea why.

 

Stalker was very late.

They were under a lot of pressure to finish it quickly.

They're known to have used third-party assets during testing.

I think it's entirely likely that stuff could have leaked through. It's not really that outlandish a thing to do; when editing movies and TV ads, temporary soundtracks are often used. I'd characterise it in the same way.

We do usually expect people to have removed them by the time they show the film to paying customers, though...

 

But at the potential risk of it escalating and the company being sued into oblivion? I'd rather see more up-and-coming game studios than one *******ised one that sued anyone for anything. Oh... wait.. That's what EA is...
I genuinely think that if someone ran me over with their car, I'd ask them nicely to pay for any medical care and lost pay and leave it at that.. If they didn't cooperate.. then, and only then would I consider suing them. If they did it again the day I walked out of hospital, then I'd go for the throat.

 

Note that the article said "nearly identical", from what i know it has to be completely identical to the said texture that its being copied to. I think theyre allowed to take someones texture, add to it and use it as its not the copyrighted material anymore as they have added onto it.

If the only thing that is identical is the file name but the texture itself looks a lot like it, but isnt 100% the same, then i dont think valve have got a case.

 

I beleive they used doom and half life files as placeholders during testing and creation. and as many have said the game seems rushed so either they just changed the file and didnt bother to change the names or they were so rushed and it went somthing like this.
Manager:We need this out the door this week
Coder:But we have all these assets we need to replace with our own
Manager:What you talking about the game looks done
Coder:But its not our stuff....
Manager:So no one will ever know
coder: But....
Manager: But nothing. Have it ready or you wont get to make that train simulator game youve been dreaming of making
coder: ok

 

So if I drew a moustache on an original picture of Charlie Brown then I invented it? No. All I did was draw a moustache on an iconic figure.

Yes, you can take someone elses picture (like a bit of clipart) and then alter it and not have to pay them, but you have to do it so that it is not deemed recognisable as once having been the original. At least, thats my understanding.

 

there absolutly should be a lawsuit over this. this is where IP lawsuits belong.

taking bits and pieces from other games and then reselling them as your own without paying the owners or getting permission from the owners of said pieces.. fits perfectly

 

Wouldn't surprise me if they used other games textures during testing. Then created their own to replace them and never renamed it for one reason or another.