54º40' or Fight! (October 26, 2006)

[Bandit LOAF]

Good news for our northern friends -- GameTap announced yesterday that the service is now available in Canada! This is part of a plan to bring GameTap to a variety of international markets -- Europe can't be far behind! Here's the official word:

As part of its first birthday celebration, Turner Broadcasting's GameTap broadband entertainment and game subscription service has made a number of key announcements today. Most notably, the company has announced plans to enter the international market and GameTap also will be launching a new "GameTap Original" label.

The company will begin its international business by launching in Canada today, where an estimated $765 million was spent by gamers on hardware, games and accessories last year. Importantly to GameTap, Canada also ranks fairly high in broadband adoption with 77 percent penetration, which puts the nation in eighth place globally. GameTap will be made available in Canada for $9.95 per month. Also, for a limited time (October 12-22), a full-year subscription can be purchased for US $59.40 in both Canada and the U.S. GameTap said that more English speaking countries will be added "followed by localized target markets throughout 2007."

GameTap has previously announced that Wing Commander: Privateer will be available through the service in the future -- we'll let you know the minute it happens!


--
Original update published on October 26, 2006

 

[Unregistered]

How does this affect Priv Remake and Priv Gold?

I'm curious how this announcement will affect Privateer Remake and Privateer Gold, since some fan remake projects have gotten the hook when the original (technologically inferior) versions were re-released in game packs. EA's largely tolerated the Privateer remakes up until now but no actual permission was ever given to do the remakes. That tolerance could evaporate if GameTap decides they want more exclusivity on the EA games they distribute.

Now might be a good time to download a copy of the Privateer remakes if you haven't gotten around to it.

 

[bongo]

i couldn't care less. I'll play the real thing and not a cheap copy.

 

[Plasteel Skull]

i couldn't care less. I'll play the real thing and not a cheap copy.

Having the possibility to play i.e. Gemini Gold -- which actually is just smoothed out and graphically boosted/modified version of Privateer, using today computer technologies -- does not make you unable to play classic WC releases, does it? So nobody have ever forced you (at least I hope so) to play GG or PR if only game you are able to tolerate is original Privateer.

 

[bongo]

you don't even address what I said, you're just spouting bullshit.

you can play the real privateer with modern computer technologies like dosbox.

dumbass.

 

[Plasteel Skull]

you can play the real privateer with modern computer technologies like dosbox.

I am perfectly aware of that and it seems it is you, who have some serious issues with reading. I tried to explain, that there are people, who would appreciate playing Privateer with the use of all "modern computer technologies" like those used by modern graphical cards and it will in no way get into a conflict with you playing Privateer on dosbox, but it's obviously a vain effort. By insulting me, acting like an idiot and doing it all as "bongo, the unregistered" you make me realize the fact, that the whole chat with you is also "a cheap copy" of real crius.net discussion. And hence EOT

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Bongo is absolutely right, in that the Privateer Remake is a shallow copy of the original. This is exactly what Hellcat and Mamaontario set out to do -- slap the Privateer name on their not-popular-enough Open Source project to generate buzz for their own careers. Gemini Gold is somewhat different, as it's a very careful and long-term 'fixing' of the Remake. Bongo is also correct in that the original stated 'reason' for the Remake vanished shortly after it published its embarassing first release... DOSBox plays the original Privateer perfectly now.

Regardless, Electronic Arts hasn't ever taken down a fan project that isn't trying to make money -- the Privateer Remake is probably safe.

You do not need to register in the news forum.

 

[PopsiclePete]

Yet everyone is welcome to watch their language, keep it appropriate. Thank you.

 

[KrisV]

We don't need backseat moderators.

 

[meisdavidp]

I can't help but wonder if the good points of both sides of that arguement aren't going to be lost due to the nature of the arguement itself.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I don't think there's any argument at all -- it's a simple fact that EA has never taken a legal issue with a WC fan project.

 

[Pedro]

Yeah, LOAF is spot on as of yet EA has had nothing to say on fan projects, certainly no legal action. In the early days of modding we were all scared about the possible repercussions, sent e-mails to EA. There was absolutley no response, what I intepret this to mean is they don't want to have a legal position on the matter. The good news is that fan projects remind people about Wing Commander, keep the name alive and the franchise is more viable.

However, legal threats do get made, perhaps not by EA but I remember that once there was an Aliens mod for Quake, this happened just as AvP was about to be released and clearly had conflicted interests.
With a re-release of Privateer on the way I can see the argument for as to why they might try to close down the remakes, but honestly it doesn't feel like EAs style, and I don't believe they'd have much to gain from such an action in any case.

What is Hellcat upto these days? I would have assumed if he was really aiming for the games industry he'd already be there, practically everyone is hiring right now, if thats all he really wanted a good CV would be more benefical than extra work on such mods.

 

[ChrisReid]

However, legal threats do get made, perhaps not by EA but I remember that once there was an Aliens mod for Quake, this happened just as AvP was about to be released and clearly had conflicted interests.

A real contemporary example is how Microsoft shut down the Halo mod for C&C Generals a few months ago (then they announced a Halo RTS a few weeks ago).

With a re-release of Privateer on the way I can see the argument for as to why they might try to close down the remakes, but honestly it doesn't feel like EAs style, and I don't believe they'd have much to gain from such an action in any case.

Yeah, for all the complaining that the internet does about EA, they really don't make it a habit to gun for their fans. It's worth noting that they do actively fight illegal piracy of their games.