Pitfall! - New Atari Lynx Homebrew!!!

[TL]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Sfztq8eSk

The person coding it says it is 50% complete right now but has done most of the difficult stuff on it. He is going to contact Activision and try to get an official release (good luck with that!) and show it to David Crane too.

He was inspired to do it by the 30th anniversary of the game and this is his first ever effort at coding on the Lynx!

Really looking forward to seeing this completed!

[zapiy]

Brilliant stuff fella..

Yeah i doubt Activision will allow it, more like shut him down if he contacts them.

[TrekMD]

That is fantastic!  I also don't believe Activision would allow an official release, though.

[TL]

Just change the name to Jungle Lynx or something.

[TrekMD]

Just change the name to Jungle Lynx or something.

Will he still be able to do that after talking to Activision? 

[TL]

Just change the name to Jungle Lynx or something.

Will he still be able to do that after talking to Activision?

Possibly. I would even speak to them if I were him, they are well known for being wankers these days.

[TrekMD]

Just change the name to Jungle Lynx or something.

Will he still be able to do that after talking to Activision?

Possibly. I would even speak to them if I were him, they are well known for being wankers these days.

That's what I was thinking. He may be better off just changing the name and leaving it at that.

[zapiy]

How would changing the name matter a rip off is a rip off.  Or is it not.

[TrekMD]

How would changing the name matter a rip off is a rip off.  Or is it not.

Well, there are a lot of examples where the games have been cloned and given different names.  It has, somehow, avoided legal issues.

[TL]

Cuthbert In The Jungle on the Dragon 32 - I rest my case! 

http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/dragon/55.html

[TrekMD]

Doesn't get better than that example!

[TL]

What I would personally do is replace Harry with Louie from Scrapyard Dog and invent some story about somebody stealing valuable scrap from his yard an hiding it in the jungle!

[108 Stars]

I am working on converting the sprites to the correct size (the sprites pixels on the Atari 2600 Pitfall are twice as wide as they are high, so with the Lynx' square pixels Harry becomes a giant)

Now the thing is David Crane has posted in our thread and explained a bit about copyrights and trademarks. It's GREAT of him to personally take the time to do so.

So:
Gameplay cannot be copyrighted. Even the most unique gameplay can be ripped off in detail by US law.

Characters can be copyrighted: So characters that look like the ones we know from Pitfall would be dangerous.

Trademarks are the real danger: If we used Pitfall names or anything trademarked, Activision would HAVE to sue us by law. It's required from them; if we infringe a trademark and they do NOT interfere, they may lose the trademark forever.

It is up to LX.NET to decide how to proceed.

[TL]

Gameplay cannot be copyrighted. Even the most unique gameplay can be ripped off in detail by US law.

Characters can be copyrighted: So characters that look like the ones we know from Pitfall would be dangerous.

Trademarks are the real danger: If we used Pitfall names or anything trademarked, Activision would HAVE to sue us by law. It's required from them; if we infringe a trademark and they do NOT interfere, they may lose the trademark forever.

It is up to LX.NET to decide how to proceed.

Exactly why I was saying he should change the name and even more so the character, I think my Scrapyard Dog idea would work perfectly

[TrekMD]

So much for these ideas: