@balls

The guy who created breakout (or was a major contributing factor), ironically, was Steven Wozniak. Steve Jobs though was collecting most of Woz's well deserved pay, so in the end your right. He did get screwed.

WilburHorse

@FenderMaster:
The stupid thing is they aren't making the games they are protecting their copyrights for. This would all be solved if they actually made games once in awhile.

Benjammn

@squishyfishy: Not really. Jumping on an enemy doesn't make a game a Mario Clone.

Breakout is a much simpler game. If I had a game simply about breaking blocks with a ball, that wouldn't necessarily be a break out clone. But add a sliding paddle, and you've essentially got a derivation of Breakout.

Now imagine if you've created a simple, but fun, unique game. And the rest of the world copies the idea and sells their version of the game and you don't make any money from it. Is that really right?

Sure, the dude who created Breakout probably didn't get shit (see: guy who invented mp3 players), but it's a matter of principle at this point.

balls187 upside yo head

@ragingmime: Are you certain that Arkanoid didn't license the rights from Atari?

balls187 upside yo head

@RiceBandit: It's not apple's job to enforce patents.

If all said breakout games are free, I'm less concerned, but people who are making money off the IP of others, should be fucked, proper.

balls187 upside yo head

@PATSCRU: You're kidding, right? It's a little late for Atari to start protecting a copyright on "Breakout". Then again, I'm not a judge. I hope this one goes to court and gets struck down good and hard.

@ragingmime: Like I said, I'm no judge/lawyer, but I'm 99% sure you're right.

antialias02

I agree with atari on this one...most games in the casual market (and hell, even some in the hardcore market) are blatant ripoffs of classics. These copycats should be acted upon. Creativity and innovation should be rewarded, not exploited. Make devs come up with original ideas instead of half assed clones and we'll all be better off.

PATSCRU

@ragingmime: not sure i follow the context of N+ here.

TheIrishNinja

@Squamden: prolly the first they saw a profit from.

im confused; wasnt it originally called arkanoid, or did i play a clone in the day too?

TheIrishNinja

Arkanoid has been around for years and nobody's batted an eye. Atari is doing this solely because these are little developers and a big company can push them around. Few small developers would want to go to court, but they'd probably win if they did.

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that if you don't protect your copyrighted material for a while, you eventually forfeit your right to sue people for using it.

I was considering buying N+ partly to support a company that gives indie developers a chance, but I'm rethinking that now.

ragingmime

Don't hate on Turbo, Ozone, or Special K!

Dance off at the Rec Center!

tehkid

Sueing for a clone of breakout is the equivalent of Nintendo sueing for any platformer where enemies are killed by jumping on them.

squishyfishy

I'm no legal monkey, but shouldn't they be going after Apple instead, since they're the ones who approved them?

RiceBandit

I guess even Atari has to put some bread on the table, they certainly arent making money from games anyway

FenderMaster

Pathetic.

Sustenance

First Tris, now this!?

Kreepman

There have been so many breakout clones, why even bother? It's interesting that the iPhone is the first platform that they feel threatened by.

Squamden

Atari lawyers is sure busy nowadays. Wonder if their game devs are at work too. :P

McFazo

I suppose atari'll be getting on the Nintendo suein' bandwagon now, citing "Alleyway" on the gameboy as a cause for concern.

squishyfishy

It's the names, not game play they are classing as a copyright infringement. Get a brain please people.

Badassbill

shouldn they concentrate on making some decent "new" games instead of going after the hundreds of clones pong and breakout out there

xyzface

@TheIrishNinja: Haha I hope that your memories aren't ruined just because it was a clone, I really like Arkanoid too.

Squamden

@Squamden: holy shit! all those years at the arcade, i was so certain it was the real deal. that's crazy.

TheIrishNinja

@TheIrishNinja:
Yeah, you played a clone, Arkanoid was based on Breakout, although it was very well done.

Squamden

@Badassbill: They'd have to read the article and not just the headline, then.

And 'round here, some days, that just doesn't happen.

Dragoonkin

@WilburHorse: Ahh. That probably essplains why Breakout came with most older ipods.

balls187 upside yo head

I don't understand Houghton's point about the legal principles. 'Tris' has as much in common grammatically with 'Tetris' as 'Break Classic' does with 'Breakout'. How is this different?

Babylonian

i just saw those games there yesterday. I was thinking the same thing. LoL
I buy a game almost everyday something new pops up. But I don't see myself paying anything for classics. I am all about unique and quality games and apps. I am so addicted to the Texas Holdem online multi-player. and I love and own, VAY, enigmo, tap tap, aurora feint, Sol free, and now for 2.99 Cro-Mag fun A@% game if you like mario kart style racing.

JorgieX

Pathetic regardless of the reasons.

JonDarkwood

Seriously, Atari. Go make tampons or something.

Frologic

Atari has really pulled out all the stops when it comes to embarassing themselves.

Alicia

@RiceBandit:
Good point. I like how no one blinked an eye over the fact that Apple can, at any time, erase data from your phone. I wonder if the the response would have been the same if Microsoft were in the same position?

Breakout was and still is an amazing game. People ripping off that game shouldn't be paid for copy pasting someone else's game. The 3D one might be somewhat arguable, butthe others are blatant clones.

RE: Tris. They probably did that because it was the easiest and fastest route to prove copyright infringement. I'm not a lawyer, but I imagine it's easier to argue violation of a known logo than it is to argue intellectual property and to piece-by-piece explain the similarities. And lawyers, especially big business lawyers, cost a lot of money.

stupid_mcgee

Atari is using up so much lawyers I bet the game developers are being given briefcases and a copy of Phoenix Wright. Because surely I have not seen any game recently. At least that I care about.

Shockadin