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Treading the Fuzzy Line Between Game Cloning and Theft 235

Posted by Soulskill from the welcome-to-the-world-of-policeactioncraft dept.
eldavojohn writes "Ars analyzes some knockoffs and near-knockoffs in the gaming world that led to problems with the original developers. Jenova Chen, creator of Flower and flOw, discusses how he feels about the clones made of his games. Chen reveals his true feelings about the takedown of Aquatica (a flOw knockoff): 'What bothers me the most is that because of my own overreaction, I might have created a lot of inconvenience to the creator of Aquatica and interrupted his game-making. He is clearly talented, and certainly a fan of flOw. I hope he can continue creating video games, but with his own design.' The article also notes the apparent similarities between Zynga's Cafe World and Playfish's Restaurant City (the two most popular Facebook games). Is that cloning or theft? Should clones be welcomed or abhorred?"
PC Games (Games)

Microsoft Lays Off Entire Flight Sim Team 162

Posted by Soulskill from the throttling-back dept.
Dutch Gun writes "Microsoft has just laid off the entire Flight Simulator development team. This continues a long-running trend of terminating or severing relationships with game development studios, such as the Bungie split, FASA, or the closure of Ensemble Studios. While one would presume that core Xbox development is not currently in jeopardy after Microsoft spent up to a billion dollars to pay for Xbox 360 repairs and salvage its reputation with gamers, does this signal a reversal from Microsoft's recent focus on internal game development? And what are its plans for Flight Simulator, a twenty-seven-year product with an extremely loyal user-base and a multitude of externally developed add-ons?"
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Google Earth Flight Simulator (insidedesign.info)

Submitted by
insidedesign
insidedesign writes: "It has been recently discovered by Marco that the newest version of Google Earth includes a Flight Simulator. Though simple in comparison to the full-blow flight simulators available out there, the one available in Google Earth is fun and addictive. Getting started is easy and you can be playing in no time. Simply ensure that you have the newest version of Google Earth, which can be obtained from the Google Earth website, and press CTRL+ALT+A on your keyboard. A dialog will then appear, giving you option of plane (F16 or SR22) and airport. If you own a joystick, have no fear because they are supported! It has even been reported that force feedback is also supported. The game's controls are sensitive so it takes some getting used to. You can see all the available controls here on Google's Flight Controls Help Doc. If you want a quick overview, check out this YouTube video. Good luck flying!"

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