EA rips off Warhammer models in C&C Alliance

lol and heres their attempt to say they didn't copy it.. "notice the extra gun in the front and the lack of the 3 guns on each of the external side turrets, its not the same tank". "also if you notice on the grinder tank there's an extra gun on the top of the main turret, so its not the same as the bonecruncha".
 
Wow, they didn't even try to hide the blatant rip off. Even Games Workshop themselves vary models more than that from one edition to the next.
 
Incidentally this isn't isolated. Theres loads and loads of games that rip off/borrow from WH/WH40K stuff.

Look at halo... The whole "storyline" is a heavily dumbed down version of the space marines backstory...Almost word for word in places.

The Starcraft universe was alledgedly ripped off of a W40k too. (terrans = space marines, protoss = eldar, zerg = tyranids) they do all have veery close similarities in looks and design. Warcraft was definately based off it and takes lots of units/imagery from it.

ME was supposed to have borrowed from it, but I haven't really played much of that game so I don't know.

But pretty much any fantasy sci-fi type thing will usually have some elements of it somewhere... Though not normally this...blatent.
 
Even if they could get away with copying a 40k model (unlikely), it's funny because Relic used the Baneblade last year in Dawn of War 2 Retribution.

I mean I would assume basic research is included in the videogame design process, jeez.
 
It seems EA thought these tank designs were... (puts on sunglasses) forgotten!
 
DeathPrincess said:
Incidentally this isn't isolated. Theres loads and loads of games that rip off/borrow from WH/WH40K stuff.

Look at halo... The whole "storyline" is a heavily dumbed down version of the space marines backstory...Almost word for word in places.

The Starcraft universe was alledgedly ripped off of a W40k too. (terrans = space marines, protoss = eldar, zerg = tyranids) they do all have veery close similarities in looks and design. Warcraft was definately based off it and takes lots of units/imagery from it.

ME was supposed to have borrowed from it, but I haven't really played much of that game so I don't know.

But pretty much any fantasy sci-fi type thing will usually have some elements of it somewhere... Though not normally this...blatent.
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Yeah, a lot of these games/stories feed off each other. Its often hard to pin down the original because one copies the other then the original copies the new franchise until they're all borrowing from everywhere.

But this copying isn't really the same, they didn't just copy a concept or idea like zerg = tyranids, they actually took a specific model and completely copied it. They could have copied the idea of a superheavy tank and made their own, but instead they just copy/pasted a Baneblade.
 
Plague_Injected said:
Cue the apologists.
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south-park-sorry-bp.jpg
 
Tudz said:
Yeah, a lot of these games/stories feed off each other. Its often hard to pin down the original because one copies the other then the original copies the new franchise until they're all borrowing from everywhere.

But this copying isn't really the same, they didn't just copy a concept or idea like zerg = tyranids, they actually took a specific model and completely copied it. They could have copied the idea of a superheavy tank and made their own, but instead they just copy/pasted a Baneblade.
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True, WH40k being a dozen years older than Starcraft doesn't prove it is the original. Even though Blizzard didn't exist at the time, they probably could have come up with it all on their own. :eek:

EA has no shame.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
True, WH40k being a dozen years older than Starcraft doesn't prove it is the original. Even though Blizzard didn't exist at the time, they probably could have come up with it all on their own. :eek:

EA has no shame.
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I read once that Blizzard wanted to make Warhammer licensed games but were turned down, so they created their own similar universe - Warcraft/Warhammer and Starcraft/WH40k.

I have no idea how true this is. I do know there are space orks in the original Starcraft files though.
 
KatalDT said:
I read once that Blizzard wanted to make Warhammer licensed games but were turned down, so they created their own similar universe - Warcraft/Warhammer and Starcraft/WH40k.

I have no idea how true this is. I do know there are space orks in the original Starcraft files though.
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I've understood this to be the truth as well. Now we need a good source of proof...
 
I don't like EA any more than anyone else, but this kind of thing is pretty widespread. Like someone else mentioned, a ton of ideas in the original Starcraft were copies of ideas from other 'universes'. Examples are dropships (copied from Alien, the pilot in Starcraft even says exactly what the pilot in Alien says), marines (they are exactly the same as space marines from Warhammer), etc.

I always thought that if you were to ask the original Starcraft devs why they copied these ideas, they'd probably say something like "We're huge fans of Alien and Warhammer, so we decided to use some of their ideas." I think if EA responded with something like that instead of trying to deny it, not as many people would be mad.
 
Radical said:
I don't like EA any more than anyone else, but this kind of thing is pretty widespread.
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Can you provide any examples of where developers have blatantly copied artistic designs/models from other intellectual properties, as opposed to simply borrowing ideas or emulating the same artistic direction?
 
defiant007 said:
Can you provide any examples of where developers have blatantly copied artistic designs/models from other intellectual properties, as opposed to simply borrowing ideas or emulating the same artistic direction?
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...I listed two examples in my post, and you can look them up on Google if you want. There are many, many, many more examples of this, and I'm not going to list them all here, but if you really think EA is the first developer to do this, I'm not sure what to tell you.
 
Radical said:
...I listed two examples in my post, and you can look them up on Google if you want. There are many, many, many more examples of this, and I'm not going to list them all here, but if you really think EA is the first developer to do this, I'm not sure what to tell you.
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The two examples you listed are copied concepts/ideas, but the models themselves aren't identical like what EA is doing here. The marines in Starcraft are obviously copying the concept of a Space Marine in 40k and the models are "similar", but not the "same". What EA has done is blatant copy/paste of models, right down to the steel grid on the turret and body of the bonecrusha and the shape/gun positions/light positions on the Baneblade.

I don't think anyone really has anything against copying concepts and ideas, if they didn't then sci-fi wouldn't be what it is today... but outright copying of models from another franchise owned by another company is going a bit further again.
 
Enough apologizing.

Widespread? No. This is not subtle copying like the implied similarities between starcraft and warhammer, sure there are some similarities, but visually they became very divergent, and Blizzard did a good job covering their asses while still showing their fandom.

And this isn't like the halo story vs space marine story - the comparison of the story of an armored special dude named John fighting an alien alliance to the story of a Demi-god setting up the human race for galactic domination over the period of 50,000 years is tough for me to grasp....

This is blatant model copying with "Hur durr, we added an extra gun so its not exactly the same". This isn't an example of taking inspiration, or showing fandom. It is pure laziness. There are no excuses.

This happened with Mechwarrior in 2010, they showed a mech model (the Warhammer, lol coincidence) that had its rights leased from the Robotech franchise after the lease expired and were sued because of it.
 
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As much as I want to see more Warhammer 40k in video games but not like this and certainly not by EA. I bet the EA baneblade comes without any guns and you will have to buy 11 DLC packages each containing one gun to have the complete thing.
 
svr said:
As much as I want to see more Warhammer 40k in video games but not like this and certainly not by EA. I bet the EA baneblade comes without any guns and you will have to buy 11 DLC packages each containing one gun to have the complete thing.
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Don't forget armor and wheel/track upgrades! Along with levelling packages to profit off of those who don't have time to earn the upgrades in game.
 
I hope EA goes out of business.

They bring absolutely nothing to the table as far as innovation.
 
I guess if Games Workshop is not protecting their IP, that leaves to door open to less scrupulous companies like Ea (actually the #1 worst company) to walk all over it.

Either Games Workshop protects their IP or not, looks like the ball is in their court now.
 
This isn't a rip off guys. Im sure the CnC version will have a nice blue tint to make it different. :p
 
What a shame. Oh wait, it's Games Workshop, one of the scummiest most litigious companies in the world. Fuck 'em. Steal all their things.
 
A lot of game companies outsource for models. They could have outsourced and this is what the contractor made them. It's on them to check if anything they take in though.

As much as I dislike EA, I can't see an upper telling a modeler to just rip designs from another company. I can see a modeler getting lazy and just using an existing design, or doing so to meet time constraints.

Either way, it could have been avoided. But, I can see how it can happen, and not EA just being evil and telling their employees to rip model designs.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
I've understood this to be the truth as well. Now we need a good source of proof...
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http://www.gamestooge.com/2008/07/02/feature-analog-gaming-warhammer-and-warcraft/
In the early and mid 90’s Games Workshop was approached by a small American development team called Blizzard, the folks at Blizzard were fans of GW’s products and they wanted to make a game based on the Warhammer setting. Negotiations went back and forth and Blizzard began eal development. Then GW backed out. Blizzard, though, still wanted to make the game, so they tweaked it and changed it a little and released it as Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. The rest is history, Warcraft was the first successful RTS game (alongside Command and Conquer). If you look through early Warcraft material and that in Warhammer books you’ll see several similarities: art direction, magic spells, griffin riders, wolf riders, tech gnomes and goblins, all are in Warhammer and the models of these figures look a lot like those found in the Warcraft games.

yep, warcraft was almost warhammer
 
anyone played the tiberium alliance beta? it "feels" worse than the original C&C I played on a 66Mhz packard bell over 15 years go.

Web based? bitch please

they are obviously going to the model where you can buy your way thru the ranks, which totally defeats any purpose for playing online.

when I want to play a RTS I don't want to be in a web browser with VERY crappy animated stuff.... I want to be in a dedicated game, using some badass GPU power to render a beautiful battefield.

This looks to be the worst C&C yet.
 
Looks like the issue is already resolved.

"Games Workshop and EA are aware of the IP issues around the artwork in question, which have now been resolved," an EA representative told Kotaku. "The artwork was internal EA concept art that was unintentionally released publicly. No Warhammer 40,000 tanks have ever made an appearance in Command and Conquer Tiberium Alliances, and never will. Games Workshop and EA continue to have a strong relationship working together on Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and the new free to play game Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes which just entered open beta."
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Something about how bad Mass Effect 3's ending was and how EA should go to hell. Am I doing this right?
 
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