8:43 AM on 10.30.2007
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Nex
The gaming biz moves one step closer to becoming an episode of Days of Our Lives with the recent news that EA -- specifically a group of writers on The Simpsons Game -- has fired back with a salvo of verbal hot fire in response to Rockstar's panty-bunching over the use of a GTA parody within the upcoming game.
From the mouths of babes:
The game begins with Bart wanting to play a game called Grand Theft Scratchy. Of course this is a parody of Grand Theft Auto. And Marge immediately takes it away from him. She tries to clean up the town and stop the game from being distributed in Springfield because Marge is against video game violence. She uses horrific violence to stop video game violence… in a video game.
Thats called irony… The people who make Grand Theft Auto, they spazzed out like little babies.
They’re supposed to be rockstars… That’s not a big Rockstar move, to be afraid of The Simpsons making fun of their game.
Some would call this response childish or unprofessional, but most of us would call it hilarious while grabbing a beer and settling in for what will hopefully be a slapfight on par with the best episodes of Dallas. There was once a time when being parodied by The Simpsons was a badge of honor reserved for people like Mick Jagger, Gerald Ford and John Updike, so to hear a company like Rockstar -- whose idea of satire is having Jenna Jameson portray a pornographic actress -- complain about being lumped in with the aforementioned would be laughable, if only someone had written a quality punchline, preferably delivered by Jon Lovitz or Zombie Phil Hartman.
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Contest:
That’s priceless. This entire spat is priceless.
Childish or unprofessional though it may be at least someone had to call ou Rockstar's hypocracy.
I'm with EA on this one (Ugh I feel dirty)
Anyone know if EA was paying for licensing rights or making deals with the companies whose games it wanted to parody? If not, Rockstar's decision makes some sense to me.
If to a 60-year-old judge, the parody part of the Simpsons game looks like it could possibly serve as a substitute for GTA, EA has problems.
Victory: EA.
Actually, the demo was really fun and the reviews have pegged it as a Simpsons game that doesn't suck. Despite numerous failures in the past with the IP, it may be worth giving it a chance.
Parody is a better defense in trademark cases than in copyright cases. Copyright "fair use" is a 4-factor test; it is also a defense, meaning EA can't raise it until EA gets sued. Courts are also less likely to find parodical use when the parodizer is a competing business. That's why you don't see more parody in ads.
Rockstar could could bring a trademark action under the theory of dilution, or copyright infringement of the game scenario by a company who is hoping to profit by such infringement. It's not an open-and-shut case by any means, partly because IP law is highly unintuitive.
Or, they could both STFUAJM{ake)G.
Also, I side with EA. Rockstar needs to grow up on this one and learn to take it like a man. Ten bucks says they include a parody of the Simpson's Game in GTAIV much like they have Jack Thompson in there already after his legal spats. I said it here first.
send Rockstar the fucking memo.
My only point in posting all this stuff is to suggest that there is a little more than name-calling at play here. I'm guessing EA is trying to create bad publicity for Rockstar as a part of long-term tactic to discourage infringement suits through the court of public opinion if they can't do so in a court of law.
Rockstar needs to stop crying about this, OMG noooo waaaaa someone is making fun of our game, or using the idea in a way we don't like. FFS shut the hell up and get your new GTA in stores so you don't have to delay it again.
However, to be little bitches about it? - R* fails.
SAT question for 2008: Rockstar is to EA, as Coolio is to [u]Weird Al[/u].