I'm not saying I like it, but those are the facts.

It doesn't matter if someone didn't read or understand it. Whether they knew it or not they agreed to it, and it's legally binding because it is the publisher's Intellectual Property.

Now some countries have laws that directly conflict with EULA IIRC, they state that if you own something you own it, but, the publisher would still fight that in court and win.

That's really what it comes down to, in real life, you buy a game, you can do whatever you want with it, even if you're not supposed to, and no one will care, but if you become a big enough problem that the publisher notices you then you play by there rules, in which case you have no rights. That's really the bottom line.

Whatever is wrong with that? What if Chrono Trigger had first been released as a fan game? Would you like it as much? Less?

I didn't agree to anything. On multiple levels, since I buy my games used.

The reality is that Crimson Echoes is/will be better than the DS release, with much, much more new content. I'm not surprised that the DS release is doing poorly because really ... it's not a very high quality product. They would've done better to make an official Chrono Trigger sequel and bundle it - it would probably have sold much better then, and wouldn't have required that large of an investment. (If hobbyists are doing it for free via reverse engineering, surely with the original source code this shouldn't be a problem!)

Of course it wasn't a quality product. I for one do expect big firms like â– e to localize their products, yet there was only English and French available in stores across Europe. No wonder it sold like shit when no kid over here could read the screen text!!
Also, being a faithful reproduction of the original is another reason why it sold so bad. People want stuff with changed menus and somewhat updated, not the exact same stuff plus some goodies at the very end...

cYa,

Tauwasser

It's really difficult to judge the size of the fanbase with just this port. Chrono Trigger DS sold 790,000 copies. It's lackluster, but it's still kind of impressive considering it was mostly a straight port. Final Fantasy IV DS (a full-blown 3D remake) sold 1.1 million copies. As of now, FFCC: The Crystal Bearers has sold only 35,412 copies in Japan.

You agreed to it by acquiring the cart. Just because you didn't get the manual, it doesn't mean you can ignore its terms. You are still bound to them.


I think it has more to do with the remakes (especially the SNES FF Advance series) where the new content is very much "out of place" relative to the original content. In other words, it's like a small lame mod/hack to a game that people will forget about.


I personally think it's bigger than you're giving credit for, but the port was most likely disappointing for those that have played the original version. The common recommendation that you would see about such a port is "if you didn't play this game, this port is for you". That's not much praise IMO.


I think you're reaching. The platform issue is really a non-factor. Most of these remakes are for a handheld system (even FF:DOS got a PSP port IIRC, after getting an Advance port). You can only milk the cow so much before noone wants the same shovelware crap.

Remakes themselves are not a bad idea, but they tend to lose continuity... kinda like movies and their sequels that goto DVD (it's a different argument, but I guess it has a lot to do with lack of creativity). The lack of proper continuity is why most of these ports with extra content fail. Consider a popular game, such as Starcraft has a very good expansion. Obviously the expansion was made right after the development of the original, but the continuity of such a game is very important for those loyal to such a series. Compare it to something like Diablo (another Blizzard game), where it's expansion was not developed by the same company, and unfortunately died a silent death. So, when its sequel came along (I shouldn't need to reference it), its expansion was developed in-house and it doesn't have the same pitfalls as its predecessor.

While the US caselaw on EULAs is mixed (currently circuit precedent on the matter is split, with the Seventh Court holding them to be legitimate while others have largely ruled against them, and the Supreme Court has not yet weighed in on the matter) the rulings which come down in their favor generally do so on the basis that they represent a legitimate contract which provides the user a proper opportunity to accept or reject it, i.e. by ensuring physically (by wrapping it around the software) or programmatically (by making the user signal their assent to begin using the software) that the user has the opportunity to review the contract terms they are agreeing to. Without taking these steps to establish their end of the contract, a software company cannot rely on these precedents to support their licensing; with a product that requires no clear assent to use (such as a console game cartridge) there isn't anything supporting a legal contract (above and beyond the normal rights reserved under copyright law) between the manufacturer and customer in such cases as acquiring a preowned copy sans instructions (and licensing text).

Copyright does not grant companies any form of broad compulsion to enact policy terms of their choice upon customers, nor do the actual laws which currently exist in the US or other developed nations support the notion that the sale of software is actually a one-sided contractual relationship in which the customer is actually buying nothing at all.

As much as many corporations with significant investment in "intellectual property" would like to take many rights away from us, the ability to freely use and duplicate solely for one's own use rightfully purchased content (that isn't encrypted, anyway) is still protected under copyright law for now.

It is not. Ever noticed the "Not for resale" signs on the packaging? You're not allowed to resell your stuff to anybody, period. That people turn a blind eye on it just so happens because we don't think of games we bough as someone else's belonging.


So you read every EULA you come across? That's a laughable claim. By now you have got to have used so many products that you should be reading your EULAs right now!
Hell seriously, I'll tell you a secret: nobody reads those, where nobody is a negligible amount of people world-wide.
I admit, I read one once -- not my first EULA, but when I got curious. I was 16 at that time. I'm not even lying, a friend of mine told me to do it, because he read one of his and was shocked by the contents, so I remembered that time... or rather ICQ did. Anyway, that was a fairly short one, only 28 pages in Word with 12pt. After that I was so confused on what I was using (I believe it was the Lycos Mail thing) that I just clicked "Accept" every single time since.
Now I kinda streamline that process over the years and now I am proud to say that I found out just clicking "Accept" without reading stuff works best. Most stuff in there can be contested anyway should anybody ever happen to sue me. Else I'll just claim illiteracy for the time being.
You would seriously have to be an idiot to read those EULAs. There is no way around them anyway and you didn't but a software package to not use it. Also, I wonder if the retailer would take it back, unpacked and all, when you tell him to his face that you couldn't agree to the EULA!

Hell, when I bought games in Japan the packaging said that I shouldn't take it outside of Japan. Whoa, I'm such a daredevil for breaking laws en masse. Seriously, if people would listen to everything the packaging says, they would pay a lot more for everything because no second-hand products would be available. So try to do something productive instead of teaching somebody what his rights ("none") and responsibilities ("everything else") are. It's not worthwhile, because people don't function like that.

cYa,

Tauwasser