Sony is facing some angry criticism for allegedly copying Sackboy costume entries and selling them on as DLC. The costumes Sony offers are believed by some to have been designed by non-winning entries to a costume contest, being sold without due credit given.
Official PlayStation forum posters have pointed out the similarities between Sony's DLC and fan-designed costumes, which include the Shark suit we talked about a while ago. You can check out the similarities here, and I think you will agree that they're incredibly similar, to the point where it could almost be considered blatant.
Sony is calling the situation a complete coincidence. "This was always going to be a possibility when we ran the costumer competition - releasing new costumes which are similar in theme to ones that were entered," explained a Sony community rep. "Here's the fact of the matter. The art team who are responsible for designing new original (ie unlicensed) costumes were involved at the very final stage of judging, by which time the number of entries had been whittled down to 10 from each batch of entries (Europe, Japan, USA).
"If at any time we take inspiration from a costume competition entry that didn't win overall we will contact the creator directly."
So, coincidence, or dirty plagiarism? Either way, it's Sony's property, so it's Sony's right to give credit and use whatever assets it wants. That doesn't make it classy, however. It's not like Sony would ever admit to ripping off a fan, whether it did or not, so we'll never not for sure. They really are bloody similar though.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
Likes
PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
37 comments | showing # 1 to 37
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Thats the thing about posting your stuff on the internet on someone elses site, you have no rights and anything you write/post can be taken and used without you getting anything for it as when you post it it becomes that sites property.
Serious business.
These people are full of themselves if they think such boring ideas were ripped off from something they did.
Did they ever think that maybe they didn't win the competition because they had similar plans/designs already made? Until I see an ORIGINAL idea that's been ripped off, I'll have to say it's people jumping the gun here
The penguin costume is more suspect, though.
In any case, Sony hasn't exactly been known for its classy behavior, so dick moves like this are hardly unexpected.
One seems to be a penguin head in a top hat, the other one is a full penguin costume (the colors anyway) without the top hat and bow tie, and more generic penguin.
You seem like a resonable person, so lets be resonable, how many people do you think submitted a penguin as their design, I'd say quite a lot.
It's quite likley MM saw that thousands of people posted some form of penguin, so they decided to make one.
Actually there's already a ninja costume in the main game, I think if you clear the asia/japan-themed area you can unlock it, as well as a very cool looking headband.
Indeed though, SCEA could release any number of animal-themed outfits, so this should've been expected.
Either way, even if it was an accident, they should hook the dude up, I think.
Hell, the one i was going to but never did submit looked 99% identical to the robot costume in the game already.
I can understand the frustration on the part of the people who submitted, but a shark costume? A penguin costume? Too generic to have been plagiarized.
"jewing?" are you fucking kidding me?
Besides the DLC costume is really just a shark version of the dinosaur hat included with the game.
So it was bundled and shipped with the game quite some time ago.
Unlike this other kid, I am not looking for monetary compensation. I just want them to give shout out, or say something like "these costumes were inspired by some creative submitters from our costume contest" and maybe list the PSN names of some really good ones.
Personally, to the people saying that there were probably hundreds of penguin submissions and that the idea of having a penguin costume is generic, I have to disagree with you. I kept tabs on the contest and of the ones posted online that I could find, and I didn't see another penguin submission. I highly doubt that "hundreds" of people submitted a penguin design. I am also pretty sure that there were barely 100 submitted drawings for this contest. Maybe 2 - 300 if you really want to push it. I just don't think the number of submissions was high enough to justify that there were "hundreds" of repeats.
You know how many species of penguins there are? Why does it have to be the a similar type of penguin that I drew? I feel like they changed their own design just enough so they could say they didn't rip off my idea. And what's worse is that their design IS WORSE THAN MINE! At least my penguin doesn't look like a gay version of Chilly Willy, haha
What makes me think they ripped off my design even more is that these costumes were the first ones to be released. I just find the timing odd and that they look so very similar to the submissions that were given to them.
Look, at the end of the day, I know i signed my soul away to MM and Sony. I know that they don't have to do jack shit to make me happy or this other kid. But it really seems like a low blow when you put all this work into something and you don't even get as much as a shout out saying that you helped create something that they are now using and making money from.
It really hurts brand loyalty and will make me think twice about wasting my time on another contest. Which is sad because I find them to be a fun and creative outlet.
The comp I entered was run under english law, and the terms and conditions for the comp are flawed.
Wether or not MM and SONY have copyright of my design or not, I still have "MORAL RIGHTS" over my design.
One of these rights is the right to be known as creator of my work.
So if the DLC has come as a result of my design then they have to say so.
I explain this in the thread just before they locked it.
As for the picture of the hat, the main difference is it's not a sackboy costume which is obviously what we are talking about.
The argument that you can't own a design because it's an animal is ridiculous, what about Micky MOUSE or Donald DUCK etc etc.
We are not claiming anything but the credit we believe we deserve.
Look at the recent case of the baja box art that was settled out of court.
There are clearly differences but obviously it was enough to cause a legal challenge and ended in a settlement.
I have not ruled a legal challenge and I will consider all my options.