From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


I'm not a fan of remakes, you all know that. But that's not completely
true. More precisely, I am not a fan of _official_ remakes, made by
the original publishers and sold for cash. Fan remakes are an entirely different thing as far as I'm concerned. They're usually higher
quality, and made with more love than their commercial competitors. I
*like* fan remakes.

And I like this remake too: the Rebel Assault Remake (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn8-4_pLprE)

Alas, it isn't released yet but what we've seen of it so far is quite impressive. Of course, given the source material (the original game
was a full-motion-video 'rail-shooter' of the sort that was popular
back in the early 90s), it's not hard to be a better game. And make no
bones about it, the 1993 version was a terrible game. Oh, it was
impressive to see full-screen video, and new Star Wars material was
quite rare back then, but the gameplay and controls were terrible.

The remake aims to update the game so its running on Unreal Engine and
in full 3D. It will still be a rail-shooter, albeit with a little more
freedom of movement. The controls look to be greatly improved too.
While I'll never rank rail-shooters as my favorite genre, the remake
looks to make "Rebel Assault" playable, if not entirely rewarding. And
just not having to stare at a bunch of giant, blocky pixels (the
original video was very heavily compressed) makes the whole thing
worth it.

Here's hoping the IP owners don't shut down the project. This is one
remake I really want to play.


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

You really should get behind PW or Zaghadka, rip off their
pants and shove your dick in hard. You can do it, Spalls!
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 14:51 this Thursday (GMT):

I'm not a fan of remakes, you all know that. But that's not completely
true. More precisely, I am not a fan of _official_ remakes, made by
the original publishers and sold for cash. Fan remakes are an entirely different thing as far as I'm concerned. They're usually higher
quality, and made with more love than their commercial competitors. I
*like* fan remakes.

Cheers. Stuff like Black Mesa is amazing.

And I like this remake too: the Rebel Assault Remake (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn8-4_pLprE)

Alas, it isn't released yet but what we've seen of it so far is quite impressive. Of course, given the source material (the original game
was a full-motion-video 'rail-shooter' of the sort that was popular
back in the early 90s), it's not hard to be a better game. And make no
bones about it, the 1993 version was a terrible game. Oh, it was
impressive to see full-screen video, and new Star Wars material was
quite rare back then, but the gameplay and controls were terrible.

The remake aims to update the game so its running on Unreal Engine and
in full 3D. It will still be a rail-shooter, albeit with a little more freedom of movement. The controls look to be greatly improved too.
While I'll never rank rail-shooters as my favorite genre, the remake
looks to make "Rebel Assault" playable, if not entirely rewarding. And
just not having to stare at a bunch of giant, blocky pixels (the
original video was very heavily compressed) makes the whole thing
worth it.

Here's hoping the IP owners don't shut down the project. This is one
remake I really want to play.

Me too, I hate getting my hopes up for cool fan projects only for
them to be struck for no reason.
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 14:51 this Thursday (GMT):

I'm not a fan of remakes, you all know that. But that's not completely true. More precisely, I am not a fan of _official_ remakes, made by
the original publishers and sold for cash. Fan remakes are an entirely different thing as far as I'm concerned. They're usually higher
quality, and made with more love than their commercial competitors. I *like* fan remakes.

Cheers. Stuff like Black Mesa is amazing.

Ditto. Even Valve approved it.

And I like this remake too: the Rebel Assault Remake (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn8-4_pLprE)

Alas, it isn't released yet but what we've seen of it so far is quite impressive. Of course, given the source material (the original game
was a full-motion-video 'rail-shooter' of the sort that was popular
back in the early 90s), it's not hard to be a better game. And make no bones about it, the 1993 version was a terrible game. Oh, it was
impressive to see full-screen video, and new Star Wars material was
quite rare back then, but the gameplay and controls were terrible.

The remake aims to update the game so its running on Unreal Engine and
in full 3D. It will still be a rail-shooter, albeit with a little more freedom of movement. The controls look to be greatly improved too.
While I'll never rank rail-shooters as my favorite genre, the remake
looks to make "Rebel Assault" playable, if not entirely rewarding. And
just not having to stare at a bunch of giant, blocky pixels (the
original video was very heavily compressed) makes the whole thing
worth it.

Here's hoping the IP owners don't shut down the project. This is one
remake I really want to play.

Me too, I hate getting my hopes up for cool fan projects only for
them to be struck for no reason.

Ditto.
--
"I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws." --Psalm 119:30, but Ant is struggling to do that. Also, itchy and leaky again. Behind again due to slammy colony days. :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 22:50:33 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Me too, I hate getting my hopes up for cool fan projects only for
them to be struck for no reason.

Ditto.

Back in the day, we called that "getting Foxed", after "20th Century
Fox" summarily killed a total-conversion for Quake featuring the
creatures and locations from the Aliens setting. It was, I think, a
bit more forgivable back then: the whole idea of fan-projects like
that was fairly new, and the Fox lawyers just followed their typical
response plan when somebody infringed on their copyright.

These days, it's less forgivable to just send a cease-n-desist. It's
been shown again and again that these projects actually help
franchises more than they hurt by keeping interest up. Rather than
demanding immediate shut-down, IP owners should try to negotiate a
fair license with the fan-projects that allows the fans to keep
working on the project while constraining it within certain limits
acceptable to the IP holder.

But still, too often the IP owners go for the nuclear approach.



--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 10/1/2025 7:42 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 22:50:33 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Me too, I hate getting my hopes up for cool fan projects only for
them to be struck for no reason.

Ditto.

Back in the day, we called that "getting Foxed", after "20th Century
Fox" summarily killed a total-conversion for Quake featuring the
creatures and locations from the Aliens setting. It was, I think, a
bit more forgivable back then: the whole idea of fan-projects like
that was fairly new, and the Fox lawyers just followed their typical
response plan when somebody infringed on their copyright.

These days, it's less forgivable to just send a cease-n-desist. It's
been shown again and again that these projects actually help
franchises more than they hurt by keeping interest up. Rather than
demanding immediate shut-down, IP owners should try to negotiate a
fair license with the fan-projects that allows the fans to keep
working on the project while constraining it within certain limits
acceptable to the IP holder.

But still, too often the IP owners go for the nuclear approach.

Largely because _any_ accommodation to "fan projects" using their IP
legally weakens their cases against anyone else. Once anyone does
something it becomes much more difficult in court to prevent anyone else
from basically doing the same thing.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 1 Oct 2025 17:34:07 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 10/1/2025 7:42 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 22:50:33 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote: >>

Me too, I hate getting my hopes up for cool fan projects only for
them to be struck for no reason.

Ditto.

Back in the day, we called that "getting Foxed", after "20th Century
Fox" summarily killed a total-conversion for Quake featuring the
creatures and locations from the Aliens setting. It was, I think, a
bit more forgivable back then: the whole idea of fan-projects like
that was fairly new, and the Fox lawyers just followed their typical
response plan when somebody infringed on their copyright.

These days, it's less forgivable to just send a cease-n-desist. It's
been shown again and again that these projects actually help
franchises more than they hurt by keeping interest up. Rather than
demanding immediate shut-down, IP owners should try to negotiate a
fair license with the fan-projects that allows the fans to keep
working on the project while constraining it within certain limits
acceptable to the IP holder.

But still, too often the IP owners go for the nuclear approach.

Largely because _any_ accommodation to "fan projects" using their IP
legally weakens their cases against anyone else. Once anyone does
something it becomes much more difficult in court to prevent anyone else >from basically doing the same thing.

That's actually not true.

Trademark law requires you defend your trademark. But it does not
require you to shut down infringements, and allowing others to use it
freely --but with your permission-- does not weaken your case against
other infringements. If Fox sees somebody using their trademarked
aliens IP they can just go up to the fan-project and say, "Hey, you
can't do this without our permission. But we give you permission." And
if the fan-project is careful to avoid trademarked features of the IP
(e.g., the name, the title, certain features like the font, etc.) then
-- as far as trademark law is concerned-- Fox doesn't have a leg to
stand on, but it doesn't matter because it doesn't weaken their case
in other instances.

That doesn't mean the fan-project is free and clear, though. Fox still
can go after them over copyright infringement, which is much, much
wider in scope. More importantly, though, copyright does NOT have to
be actively defended. I can knowingly let one hundred people violate
my copyright, and still bring the full force of law down on the one-hundred-and-first.

So Fox can allow fan-projects without threatening their trademark
status. They do have to actively allow them. There is no necessity to
shut them down.

Like I said, in 1994, when Aliens TC was released, it was somewhat
acceptable that they did so. Aliens TC certainly did violate their
trademark (as well as copyright), and the default position back then
was just to stamp out fan projects. Up to that point, the advantages
of allowing them to flourish wasn't well understood.

These days, there's less excuse. Many fan-projects bolster the brand,
rather than hurt it*. The usual reason for fan-projects getting shut
down nowadays is because they compete with a IP owner's other projects
(e.g., the GTA3 fan-remaster vs. the official one).

















* with obvious exceptions. The "Super Nazi Brothers" fan-mode where
Mario and Luigi sport swastikas and seig heil probably wouldn't do
much for Nintendo's brand (except in certain parts of America ;-)


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Am 25.09.25 um 16:51 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:

bones about it, the 1993 version was a terrible game. Oh, it was
impressive to see full-screen video, and new Star Wars material was
quite rare back then, but the gameplay and controls were terrible.

The controls were ok with a flightstick, without it, unbearable.
I played this game to death but never came very far!
It was hard as hell. I think I gave up when I reached the destroyer
sequence!

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sat, 4 Oct 2025 07:47:46 +0200, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:

Am 25.09.25 um 16:51 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:

bones about it, the 1993 version was a terrible game. Oh, it was
impressive to see full-screen video, and new Star Wars material was
quite rare back then, but the gameplay and controls were terrible.

The controls were ok with a flightstick, without it, unbearable.
I played this game to death but never came very far!
It was hard as hell. I think I gave up when I reached the destroyer >sequence!

I made it to the end... eventually. Like you I played it with a
joystick. Even with, I wouldn't call the controls "okay"; it was just
better than the alternatives. The low frame-rate, both of the movement
of the sprite representing your spaceship and the underlying
background video, as well as a more-than-usual amount of input lag,
made for a less-than-stellar experience.

I read -somewhere, somewhen- that one of the issues with the game was
that rendering full-screen video --even video as compressed as it was
in "Rebel Assault"-- was so demanding on the processors of the time
that the video decoding thread got maximum priority in order to
maintain it's (semblance) of smooth playback. Which is at least one of
the reasons why the input was so laggy; processing user commands was
always second (or, more likely, fourth or fifth) fiddle to everything
else.

It's hard to see it now, but for it's time "Rebel Assault" actually
was pretty impressive. Crunchy as it is, the full-screen video looked
really great to our eyes when it was released. But it aged _really_
poorly; not only to modern eyes, but also to contemporary gamers. Just
a year or two later and it already looked primitive.

But for the briefest of moments, we gamers were wowed. ;-)


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 00:34 this Thursday (GMT):

On 10/1/2025 7:42 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 22:50:33 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote: >>

Me too, I hate getting my hopes up for cool fan projects only for
them to be struck for no reason.

Ditto.

Back in the day, we called that "getting Foxed", after "20th Century
Fox" summarily killed a total-conversion for Quake featuring the
creatures and locations from the Aliens setting. It was, I think, a
bit more forgivable back then: the whole idea of fan-projects like
that was fairly new, and the Fox lawyers just followed their typical
response plan when somebody infringed on their copyright.

These days, it's less forgivable to just send a cease-n-desist. It's
been shown again and again that these projects actually help
franchises more than they hurt by keeping interest up. Rather than
demanding immediate shut-down, IP owners should try to negotiate a
fair license with the fan-projects that allows the fans to keep
working on the project while constraining it within certain limits
acceptable to the IP holder.

But still, too often the IP owners go for the nuclear approach.

Largely because _any_ accommodation to "fan projects" using their IP
legally weakens their cases against anyone else. Once anyone does
something it becomes much more difficult in court to prevent anyone else from basically doing the same thing.

Man, the legal system sucks sometimes..
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2