Star Control IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

[Jul 24, 2013, 09:13 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

As reported yesterday, aspects of Stardock's recent acquisition of the Star Control franchise are still unclear, as the copyright for the races and stories in the first two Star Control games were said to still be in the control of Toys for Bob, the creators of the series. Forum regular Dev found a post from Brad Wardell on the forums for the Ur-Quan Masters website (home of an open-source Star Control 2 remake project) where the Stardock CEO addresses this, saying that the copyrights are actually the property of Paul Rieche, one half of the TFB team, and that he has reason for optimism that they will be able to work this out, also noting this will not disrupt the Ur-Quan Masters project at all:

Brad from Stardock here.

We have connected with Paul and Fred. Fingers crossed but things look hopeful. The copyright to Star Control 1/2 is owned by Paul Rieche directly, not Toys for Bob so I think there is reason to think that they might be able to participate in the creation of a new Star Control game.

None of this changes the status of the Ur-Quan Masters or Star Control on GOG.

Our core team involved at Stardock (myself included) have been huge fans of Paul's work since the Archon / Star Flight days.

By an XCOM like reboot we don't mean XCOM game mechanics but rather creating a new Star Control game that brings in the fun and game play we all know and love. The *campground* is looking *flavorful*.

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17.

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 25, 2013, 09:14

Dev

Kristian Joensen wrote on Jul 25, 2013, 05:30: Here you go. Thanks, I looked for it in star control section and couldn't find it. It was in the atari auction thread lol.

16.

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 25, 2013, 05:30

Kristian Joensen

Dev wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 21:49: Kristian Joensen wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 13:52: A Stardock employee said the following on the GOG.com forums: Source links are appreciated NegaDeath wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 18:27: Apparently I have never played Star Control, nor heard of it (not that I can recall anyways). And that makes me angry as watching a few vids makes it clear this is right up my alley. Wtf. Well now I know which game I'm playing next. Easy enough, AND its free! (the ur-quan masters version). I highly recommend it in fact, since they are very faithful to the original games, and combine the best of both the PC and 3do, plus if you d/l all the remix music thats another great experience. Here you go.

15.

Re: Star Control IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 25, 2013, 01:34

Optional Nickname!

NegaDeath wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 18:27: Apparently I have never played Star Control, nor heard of it (not that I can recall anyways). And that makes me angry as watching a few vids makes it clear this is right up my alley. Wtf. Well now I know which game I'm playing next. I envy you, playing Star Control 2 for the very first time. Meeting those crazy new races, upgrading that magnificent ship, fighting those arcade battles. Fretting over all those unexplored worlds, bliss.

14.

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 25, 2013, 00:33

NegaDeath

Dev wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 21:49: Easy enough, AND its free! (the ur-quan masters version). I highly recommend it in fact, since they are very faithful to the original games, and combine the best of both the PC and 3do, plus if you d/l all the remix music thats another great experience. Yes that's what I tried. I like it! I can see some of the influence on Mass Effect with all the planet exploration and mining and stuff. Looking forward to Stardocks update.

13.

Re: Star Control IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 22:16

Silicon Avatar

Truthfully it can only be better than the mucked up game that was Star Control 3 (if you haven't played it just skip it - SC2 was the best one by far). SC3 was a pale imitation made by a different group - and it showed.

12.

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 21:49

Dev

Kristian Joensen wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 13:52: A Stardock employee said the following on the GOG.com forums: Source links are appreciated NegaDeath wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 18:27: Apparently I have never played Star Control, nor heard of it (not that I can recall anyways). And that makes me angry as watching a few vids makes it clear this is right up my alley. Wtf. Well now I know which game I'm playing next. Easy enough, AND its free! (the ur-quan masters version). I highly recommend it in fact, since they are very faithful to the original games, and combine the best of both the PC and 3do, plus if you d/l all the remix music thats another great experience.

11.

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 19:45

EricFate

Kristian Joensen wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 13:52: But there will be a new Star Control game with Star Control 2 serving as a major source of inspiration. That's about all I can say at this time." I want this to be a good thing, but given their track record, I just don't have any faith that Stardock has the ability to deliver something that I would enjoy playing even remotely as much as the original.

10.

Re: Star Control IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 18:49

Tom

Star Control 2 is a true classic. You're in for a treat!

Re: Star Control IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 18:27

NegaDeath

Apparently I have never played Star Control, nor heard of it (not that I can recall anyways). And that makes me angry as watching a few vids makes it clear this is right up my alley. Wtf. Well now I know which game I'm playing next.

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 13:52

Kristian Joensen

A Stardock employee said the following on the GOG.com forums: "Atari has the trademark for Star Control (obviously a key component) and the (c) for Star Control 3. But Paul Reiche owns the (c) for Star Control 1/2. You couldn't do a HD version of Star Control 1/2 without his permission. In terms of the game universe itself, we wouldn't (I work at Stardock) want to do anything that would be considered "canon" without Paul Reiche's blessing and, ideally, involvement. None of this will affect Star Control on GOG except where checks get sent to. Stardock is already a GOG partner. But there will be a new Star Control game with Star Control 2 serving as a major source of inspiration. That's about all I can say at this time."

Re: FreeSpace IP Sold for $7500

Jul 24, 2013, 10:53

Minuit

As long as nobody messes with Frungy, the Sport of Kings, that's okay with me.

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 09:50

Beamer

Blue wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 09:26:
SevereTireDamage wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 09:19:
Star... Craft?

These aren't the droids you're looking for.

on the forums for the Ur-Quan Masters website (home of an open-source Star Craft 2 remake project)

=)




------------- Music for the discerning: http://www.deathwishinc.com http://www.hydrahead.com http://www.painkillerrecords.com

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 09:33

InBlack

These aren't the droids we're looking for... Stunned




I have a nifty blue line!

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 09:26

Blue

SevereTireDamage wrote on Jul 24, 2013, 09:19:
Star... Craft?

These aren't the droids you're looking for.




Stephen "Blue" Heaslip Blue's News Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, El Presidente for Life

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 09:25

Dev

Yes, even though they share the same initials SC, there's a difference between the 2 Also, I should mention that I actually first found a mention of the post in the original link from the earlier blues story when they did an update to it. I prefer to read about and link to the original source though, especially since in this case the forum post is the complete thing, and one can see the discussion there. I'm very glad that the open source UQM that is blessed by the original devs won't be affected. I wouldn't expect it to be normally, but who knows these days when trademarks/copyrights get involved.

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 09:19

InBlack

Read this in the thread yesterday and it is indeed welcome news. Excepting the fact that we are talking about Star Control, not Starcraft




I have a nifty blue line!

Re: StarCraft IP/Toys For Bob Follow-up

Jul 24, 2013, 09:19

SevereTireDamage

Star... Craft?

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