Indeed, for some people to get them to do something it takes a nudge, others a slap to the back or swat to the back of the head, honestly however this is more akin to dragging a teenager away from their computer/phone kicking & screaming and shackling them to the lawnmower to mow the lawn.    -- Just glad it's over and not only are we getting a SCO2, we're also getting a UQM sequel

Yikes the 2.5D hyperspace makes a return...

I remember the make HS red again movement, also the movement to get animated glowing/pulsating mushrooms into the game, but thankfully the 2.5D Hyperspace map changed into a 2D map before release.

The scary thing is it is a valid possibility as Paul & Fred had obtained a number of copyrights from various parties in April as of this year, so in theory every last copyright holder could have submitted a DMCA take down request which would have essentially killed UQM until Fred & Paul had established they had ownership of the copyrights and/or obtained distribution licenses allowing for said copyrighted material to be included in the open source game release.  At this point, it's just a theory on my part and we'll have to wait and see what the courts say.

I think that the important part is that none of them did submit a DMCA notice for the UQM project, even if they could.

And if the current copyright registration for SC2 is valid, then none of this matters now (though again, if all of SC2's authors agreed to transfer the copyright to their material to Fred and Paul, this only confirms that the actual authors of the game see F&P's copyright claims as valid).

It's not always as cut and dry as that, they may have extended a distribution license, they may have sold or surrendered the copyrights seeing them as not of high value to themselves, it's hard to say without getting the whole picture drawn out.

Paul and Fred are going to have to prove every scrap of copyrighted material is under their control to prove the open source license is valid either now or when possibly when released as open source.  -- Yes ugly stuff, and no matter how much we scream on walls it'll come down to the court to determine everything.

[Reiche’s and Ford’s release of the open source edition of the source code for Star Control II under the GPL and CC License was unauthorized and/or invalid]

What concerns me much more, is that this amended complaint is attacking this project as
for this project dangerous are paragraphs §§105 following:

      105.    Upon information and belief, on August 1, 2002, Reiche and Ford released an open source edition of the source code for the 3DO version of Star Control II, which was and is still currently free to be used and redistributed by the public in a non-commercial context under a GNU General Public License (“GPL”). A true and correct copy of the GPL is attached hereto as  Exhibit Y. The content (i.e., voiceovers, dialogue, graphics, sounds, and music) released in  connection with the source code was and is still currently also free to be used and redistributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license (“CC License”). A true and correct copy of the CC License is attached hereto as Exhibit Z.

            106.    Upon information and belief, Reiche’s and Ford’s release of the open source edition of the source code for Star Control II under the GPL and CC License was unauthorized and/or invalid because, as alleged herein, Reiche and Ford have failed to establish that they are  the lawful owners of the copyrights incorporated in Star Control II. Thus, the GPL and the CC License are invalid and unenforceable, given that Reiche and Ford did not have the rights to license the copyrights within Star Control II, or otherwise, in the first place.

(highlighting done by me)

The scary thing is it is a valid possibility as Paul & Fred had obtained a number of copyrights from various parties in April as of this year, so in theory every last copyright holder could have submitted a DMCA take down request which would have essentially killed UQM until Fred & Paul had established they had ownership of the copyrights and/or obtained distribution licenses allowing for said copyrighted material to be included in the open source game release.  At this point, it's just a theory on my part and we'll have to wait and see what the courts say.

@CelticMinstrel
No I'm not here trolling.  I'm calling those who are being Social Justice Warriors and the cult they indoctrinate the trolls.

These are trying times and unfortunately we won't know jack diddly until the legal battle is complete and no matter how many pages of text people write up or how many Wikis people write that's not going to change the fact that the courts will have to do their thing.  Now something for everyone to remember, just because you flag yourself as "Neutral or IANAL" your actions can poison the well of good faith either in P&F or Stardock.  No matter how right you think you are, you are not a lawyer, and depending on certain conditions could get yourself and potentially this forum dragged into a lawsuit as well.

Just to put out an example, legal issues are complex, so complex for example that people around the nation are able to get out of parking tickets because of spelling or grammar issues within the laws themselves such as a missing , somewhere along the line.

My stance is as follows...
I want to see Paul & Fred get the band back together and complete the story that UQM started.
I also want to see Stardock build their own universe and see their story.

Unfortunately the above is at the mercy of the legal system as a whole.

Hmm...while it is certainly possible for boycotts to be organized on dishonest grounds, that does not mean that most boycotts happen that way.  I have certainly not heard any suggestion of P&F trying to organize one.  However, there is ample evidence of Stardock's own actions and statements getting people upset enough that they might try to do so.  If a boycott does happen, I would suggest that Stardock look at itself, rather than casting about for an illicit conspiracy.

Elestan, this is where you have to read between the lines.  I'm not saying Paul and/or Fred or some 3rd party working on their behalf is who is organizing the boycott, but very well could be inciting them with their carefully worded posts... or this could just be the work of "Trolls" or essentially those who get joy in seeing things being destroyed just to suit their desires.

Take their GoFundME, in it they call Stardock or more specifically Brad Wardell the "Crimson Corporation" this alone is an attack for people who are fans of the series as those who know the lore know that the Crimson Corporation is a gathering of ruthless slave traders.  Directly followed by FUD saying Stardock is attempting to quash any attempts to make a new game and strip them of their previous achievements, which would rile up a different set of people who didn't have the details of what's going on in the lawsuit.

Now the question is, where are you getting this "Stardock casting about for an illicit conspiracy"  I don't work for Stardock and everything is of my own observation which anyone can see if they detach themselves from both sides and look at things rationally.

Now here's a really good example for you on what's going on.

Paul and Fred are on a soap box telling their story to anyone who will listen.  It changes the hearts of some and they're recruited to the cause, however when those people start talking the message distorts further and further as it spreads out until it turns into a riot... then you get damage inflicted because if it, not only from those who were supporting Paul & Fred but also from those looting and rioting because they want to destroy stuff even if they don't support the cause that brought people together.  This is what publicly calling for a boycott is, plain and simple.

*sigh* ahh where to start, so the Trolls / Social Justice Warriors / etc have come out of the woodwork even more...

Let's start off with this.  Review bombing / public calls for boycotts are childish tactics usually instigated by somebody who has a vested interest in a certain outcome.  Public boycotts of Star Control Origins points to Paul and Fred or somebody intimately involved with the issue at hand has either directly or indirectly inscited this action.  The same could be said about if there was an equal level of pushback against Paul and Fred with calls to boycott their game(s) going forward and/or their attempts to raise money.  Also, note I am not pointing a finger at Paul / Fred / Brad / Etc as I know this equally could be the work of somebody who would have no qualm in SWATing a person because they're losing a match on a ranked game somewhere.

If you're legitimately worried about the outcome of the legal battle going on, I would suggest keep your eyes and ears open and place SC:O on your Steam/GoG/Etc Wishlist and use your own judgement on either buying or not and don't fall into the mob mentality in either direction.  Now if you do wind up buying the game well after the Sept 20th release No I won't go easy on you in Fleet Battles LoL

Another side note... Legal battles like this are not uncommon, we generally don't see much of them as most people don't immediately publicly blog about it and tend to keep it under wraps until the court case has been settled in one fashion or another or they just bury it.

If you want a good example of what happens during issues with Trademark infringement look at what happened with Pokemon Uranium. 

Honestly I could say it'd hold it's own and be a great game be it from Stardock or from Fred & Paul...

The problem is with such a beloved game that hasn't been touched in close to 30 years, no matter who makes it, it will fail to meet expectations if the fan community attempts to elevate it to saintly status without even having a good run at the game(s)

If you follow both games casually and buy both games when they come out "even if it's dirt cheap on a steam sale" odds are you will enjoy them.  Now if you try to hold it to the same levels as say what happened with Duke Nukem fans and critics alike will be deeply disappointed.  This wouldn't be because the game is bad, but because the game doesn't reach your level of expectation, which would be true even if they spent hundreds of millions of dollars in having everything flawlessly render on the fly while having every line of text voiced along with the optional VR & touch components allowing you to feel your hand get swatted after attempting to feel a Syreen's boob/butt.

My suggestion, don't be so militant on opinions, but do be casually vocal with proper feedback on items in the proper places...
IE:
Improper
HFS the artwork in your game sucks, my 5 year old could do better!
Proper
Honestly I think with the background of the race I'm looking at it should be drawn a little more like X, Y, Z.

As for the legal fight between Paul/Fred and Stardock, at this point we're just all observers and the lawyers are going to have to hash it out in the thunder dome.

A few more ideas from my ever scattered brain

AI Controlled patrols... depending on your relationship with allied races have other ships mixed in the groups to increase the kill:loss ratio.  -- IE toss some Orz & Pkunk in there
Hired Miners for within your sphere of influence and have it so they can only mine what you can mine safely & make sure there's a % hit on profit since you hired someone else to do the mining for you.

Silly question.  Why don't TFB & Stardock team up on this?  Galactic Civ and Galactic Civ II seem to be VERY HEAVILY Influenced by Star Control

What I'd like to see if there was a re-imagining of the entire Star Control line is as follows...

1)  Multi part Game AKA Starcon1 - Starcon2 - the evil child Starcon3 or a true Starcon3 from TFB either being in diff disks on the same disk or whatever & have the timegaps filled in by short clips/movies to help the story flow from "chapter" to "chapter" and fill in the blanks.
2)  Colonies beyond just the single home world of each race.
3)  The Galactic outlook on you/earthlings by your actions.  AKA Strip Mining in an allies "Sphere of Influence" would be bad for you
4)  More Back story on each race, IE were the Precursors properly shown in SC3, Who are the Orz?  etc etc etc.
5)  An Easter Egg of some sort, say the cpt hits an alien artifact & Poof!  they see a video overview of the Docternal wars, or a video of the precursors struggles
6)  Earthling's sphere of influence!  -- Say just enough to reflect how powerful/rich you've become allowing you to have border skirmishes / protect allies / etc
7)  After a certain point give the ability to control multiple fleets or a single huge fleet.
  AI Controlled ships within your own sphere of influence to protect your lands, possibly also real time distress calls for big battles, or from Allied Races / races not yet in the alliance that'd tie into #3
9)  The ability to create more precursor ships by supplying the proper mats to the proper places late in the game.

Now here's a storyline question that can get filled in   What story were you going to tell your grandchildren at a later time in SC2

TFB - Use any/all of this as you see fit, if you request a digital signature saying I won't go after you for any compensation for ideas I'll sign it in a heart beat.
UQM Team - Keep up the good work

I believe the game will live as long as there are people in the world that enjoys true "Content" and not eye candy.  I have done well in getting all my really young cousins addicted to SC2.  Mwahaha their parents hate me now LoL.

But in all seriousness Nothing is truly dead till the last person forgets about it completely, so unless there's a massive worldwide EM Pulse and magnetic storm that destroys all electronics & data storage devices a masterpiece will live on. 

I think that it's important for the game to appeal to both old fans and new gamers alike. People should be aware that it has predecessors, but perhaps it's unwise to make them feel like they are being excuded from something. Ideally, fans and the uninitiated will both able to pick up the game and enjoy it. 

Of course, including SC1 and SC2 with the game will help new players to get into the series, but they shouldn't have to play through them just to figure out the new one.

Hmm you know Halleck, they could always do what the makers of Shenmu "Spelling?" did for their 2nd installment they included a DVD which re-capped the storyline which happened in the first game.  That'll help get people up to speed who may have not played SC1/2 at all or haven't played it since the old dos days.

Either way, i'd be stoked to see a true TFB continuation of the story.

Isn't that where the petition goes from this website?  :-)

Then again I think it'd be more effective to show up with some good beer in hand with your request.  I plan on doing that when I can take some vacation time.

:-) I vote for a race that's great for research & development with that race being able to create new items depending on how many RU they're willing to invest in it.

I'm quiet Stoked about this as well.  :-)  UQM reminded me of the good ole days of when I was in Electronic/computer repair classes back in 1997-99

Now my question is... would it be for a game console, if so which one, or will it be for the PC :-) and have the nice lander exploit lol.

now I have another fun thing to wait for :-)  I'm waiting for the pre-order to come around.