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MODS bite the DUST 20 Jul, 2001, 20:33 / 25 comments

By DJG


LucasArts have sent in their heavies again and shut down a MOD, this time its a MOD for Unreal Tournament. The MOD included scenes from Star Wars' Death Star, the Millennium Falcon, Endor and Tatooine.

LucasArts said that the project was of a poor quality and would possibly stop people from buying there games (Although it seems they were doing a pretty good job on there own).

This news seems to be the first of its kind since last years smackdown on Matt Shaw's project, and at a time when one of their upcoming games will be the first to officially support Modifications: Galactic Battlegrounds.

Anyone wanting to make a MOD involving Starwars should probably wait until after GB comes out, and see how LucasArts and the world feel after some officially LEC Freindly mods have been produced.

Update: If you didn't read the (rather slanted) PC Zone article because of their requirement that you subscribe, you can view Pat Fitzsimons' (the guy who made the mod) web site here.

Source: PC Zone

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25 Comments

  • Crocodilic on 27 Jul, 2001, 10:04…
    UTbuilder the MOD creator was a complete ignorant fool in the Simon Jeffery chat. He was trying to use the chat as a way of expressing his legal rights. Face it Builder they were in their rights. And he was not going down the appropriate path to make his statements that were completely outragoues in the chatroom.
  • ghost_pirate_lechuck on 23 Jul, 2001, 18:53…
    LucasArts Star Wars Games were good up until about 1994 after TIE fighter was released. X-wing and Tie Fighter were both great. I hope LEC don't shut my Monkey Island fan project down... its at http://www.lucastones.co.uk if anyone's interested.
  • Narrative on 21 Jul, 2001, 22:14…
    One final thought to leave you on, from one of the guys who knows well. Fangames and Mods (almost the same thing nowadays) would NEVER EXIST if it wasn't LEC not giving the fans what they want. If LEC delivered what the fans wanted, they wouldn't turn to creating their own to fill the void that LEC has neglected to fill. Now I know that sounds harsh and I can't speak for everyone but that's my opinion from my personal point of view. Mine project would have never be started if I didn't feel that there was part of the saga or a certain aspect of that world that was missing. Now I'm not saying its LECs fault for not making a game to suit the fans demand, but what I am saying is if you not giving the fans what they want, then dont try to kick their ass for looking else where and going to the extreme of creating their own.
  • lemoocow on 22 Jul, 2001, 02:19…
    Well said!
  • Narrative on 22 Jul, 2001, 21:09…
    PS
    Just wanted to say that what they had so far actually looks fantastic! Anything but amateur.
  • Jake on 21 Jul, 2001, 17:54…
    "We are simply trying to strike a balance between protection of intellectual property and allowing our fans to have a greater level of interaction and creative involvement with the property," LucasArts' Tom Sarris informed Pat recently. "We genuinely want to work with you and not against you. In fact, your models are very good. You simply have to give us time to work this out. We are very close to offering a solution to you and to our fans."

    considering LucasFILM's open acceptance of (at least well made) fan films hopefully LucasArts will turn that way sometime in the near future. For now it sucks to be a SW/LEC themed mod maker. I personally think Pat Fitzsimons should use his obvious mapping and modeling talent to make an original creation, not a Star Wars knockoff.

  • mr fossey on 21 Jul, 2001, 15:36…
    "LucasArts said the project was of poor quality". This implies they wouldn't have shut it down if it was the bees knees... ? Either way: POOR QUALITY?? It looks pretty cool to me. Not only that, but LA complaining about POOR QUALITY after milking the Phantom Menace cow so hard that nothing but crap games came out - THAT'S what put ME off buying some of their stuff anyway!
  • lemoocow on 21 Jul, 2001, 11:35…
    After looking at these screenshots, I don't have to debate on whether or not this should continue. All I can think about is: Watch out Lucasarts! Whoever this er is, he's at least as good as several ers that work at Lucasarts. If anything, Lucas is shutting this mod down so the modmaker can't make Lucas's own games pale in comparison.
  • jaybri on 21 Jul, 2001, 05:19…
    there should be their
  • Glottis on 21 Jul, 2001, 01:55…
    It is techincally copyright infringment, which is illegal. I do agree though that user mods would not hurt business and they make too large a deal about it. When someone made a user mod of Monkey Island, did that prevent you from buying EMI? I doubt it.
  • mercatfat on 21 Jul, 2001, 09:53…
    I'm sure I'm wrong, but isn't it really only true Copyright Infringement if it's sold? Also, why haven't Lucasarts shut down the art/hentai Star Wars stuff around the net? They distract the gamer from his normal life, so it's obvious that looking at those pictures= not buying the game.
  • Maximar on 21 Jul, 2001, 11:24…
    No, even if you don't sell it's still copyright infringement. The law is most definately on LucasArts' side. Whether it's good policy is a whole different matter.
  • QueZTone on 20 Jul, 2001, 22:30…
    yeah im getting quite angry about this too. i mean this is just not fair. fans appreciate lucasart's and lucasfilm's work. so let them have fun damnit! like if im creating a fan-based background from anything LucasArts related that would be friggin illegal? coooomon! praise to be the fangames! lucasarts cut fans some slack! (note: im not saying lucasarts is doing a bad job, however when fans put many hours in something they love so much and then lucasarts says they cant; well im sure the fan-creator lost his/hers interest in the company's products. was that confusing? well it comes down to...FREEEEEEEEDOOOOOOM! hmm ;P)
  • QueZTone on 20 Jul, 2001, 22:33…
    Oh and one more thing, the pics i saw in the news-flash look damn good. the falcon, xwings and deathstar look of very nice quality. oh and i think the creator(s) of this MOD should just continue their work. you've puten too much work in it now. If lucasarts is seriously going to sue you i think they will lose a GREEEEEAAAAAAAT deal of respect from all fans.
  • Zaarin on 21 Jul, 2001, 02:52…
    I agree, they do look good.
  • QueZTone on 20 Jul, 2001, 22:41…
    continue the project...believe me; they will think twice about sueing: how would this look in the newspaper: "LUCASARTS SUES FAN FOR ADMIRING STARWARS" ... and even so if they get serious you can modify the ships and enviroments a bit and name the mod SPACE BATTLES ;) and name Luke Skywalker; Jake Cloudcrawler e.g. ;) boy did this news get to me ;)
  • TaXicab on 21 Jul, 2001, 00:32…
    its not exactly easy to stand up to a lawsuit and win. In my school a friend of mine was threatened with a lawsuit for creating a place where students could critique the teachers. im sure many of you heard about it. it was in news all over the country. rather than face any chance of a lawsuit he dropped the page. you dont want to mess with corporate lawers, they are the WORST. its basically Lucas arts threatening to take everything you own, because you have taken something that they own. Even if it is an intellectual copyright. And beleive me they can cripple you with their kind of resources... i would suggest you comply with LEC legal and get the hell out of dodge. they dont care what the public thinks, as long as they get their way.
  • QueZTone on 21 Jul, 2001, 13:12…
    you don't seem to get it, it would be WORST publicity for LucasArts to sue fans, think about that for a moment.
  • TaXicab on 21 Jul, 2001, 15:04…
    its not going to get any worse publicity than it already is. And who are you to martyr someone for your own causes? They should cut their losses and comply with LEC. if they continue the project just change names around and alter details...
  • mercatfat on 20 Jul, 2001, 20:39…
    That's so retarded. Also, the quality of their games will stop people from buying them, not a UT Mod. When will they ever figure that out?
  • El_Pollo_Diablo on 20 Jul, 2001, 20:46…
    I put that in my report but i retracted the statement. I gave Force Commander and Phantom Menace as Examples.
  • mercatfat on 20 Jul, 2001, 22:00…
    Here's an idea: Instead of letting LEC think that fangames will make us not buy their games, why don't we not buy their games until they let fan game makers do their thing?
  • Huz on 20 Jul, 2001, 22:52…
    I've been blatantly not buying their Star Wars games since forever, and they haven't noticed yet. They should pay some attention to what The Huz wants and ignore everyone else. That's what everyone else is there for.
  • PTDC on 20 Jul, 2001, 23:48…
    I've never got a star wars game either. They don't listen to the person that matters. ME! bunch of fools...
  • mercatfat on 21 Jul, 2001, 00:35…
    That's right! Fight the power!