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Stardock (f. GamerGate-sympathetic CEO) casts Adam Baldwin (GamerGate actor) in Star Control Origins

MattWilsonCSS

MattWilsonCSS

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,349
Boy that headline is a mouthful huh!


For those uninitiated, Star Control: Origins has already been highly controversial, as Stardock, more specifically its CEO Brad "Bee Man" Wardell, has been trying to stop the original Star Control creators from making their own spiritual successor. Brad has gone so far as claiming Paul & Fred were NOT the creators of Star Control, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

The legal battle escalated in March, when Ford and Reiche posted details of an alleged settlement proposal from Stardock. The proposed settlement, they said, would have required Ford and Reiche to surrender their rights to the franchise to Stardock, prohibited them from making a similar game for the next five years, and forced them to pay Stardock $225,000 along with a public apology and other accommodations.

“We (Fred and Paul) have worked together for 30 years and have seen almost everything the game industry has to offer, but have never seen or experienced a predatory legal attack like this -- an established, corporate publisher attempting to bully two lone developers into surrendering their most treasured game, characters and unique universe,” Ford and Reiche said in their campaign.
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He's a small man with a pathetic vendetta, on top of being known for sexual harassment allegations, and bringing bees into the workplace knowing employees were allergic. He's a real piece of work. And yes, he still supports GamerGate.

Adam Baldwin, Serenity actor and general piece of shit, is known as the person who came up with the GamerGate hashtag, and has been directly involved in harassment and circulation of doxxing material of harassment victims including Zoe Quinn.

Just a reminder that GamerGate is not just people in a dark basement or "anonymous internet jerks", but also real ass people WITHIN THE GAME INDUSTRY.

e: boy did I really bungle the word "sympathetic"!!! sorry about the typo
 
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Mr.F

Mr.F

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,922
Hadn't heard of the CEO or his reputation. Man fuck this thing top to bottom, jesus.
 
Muffin

Muffin

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,472
What happens if the original Star Control creators win the lawsuit? Will Stardock even be able to release a Star Control game in that case?
 

Deleted member 249

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,828
Wow. I didn't realize this was true of Stardock's CEO. I even spoke to him a few years ago, now I feel dirty by association.
Fuck Gamergate.
 
Temascos

Temascos

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,669
Adam Baldwin can shove his hate up his ass. Makes me wonder if he ever had a breakdown with having to be beat up by Summer Glau several times.
 
jon bones

jon bones

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,283
NYC
i don't think anyone need another reason to throw this game in the big bag of "who cares" but this is a good one
 
chalkitdown

chalkitdown

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,233
Looking at his IMDB his work seems to have completely dried up since 2015. Turns out being a shithead on Twitter has consequences after all.

Although he's got a pretty big movie with Chris Pratt & Ethan Hawke coming up according to that list but it's the one and only thing he's been in of note in 3 years.
 
TyrantGuardian

TyrantGuardian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,854
Everyone should already know that Brad Wardell is a human piece of trash. He's been accused of sexual misconduct in the workplace, deflected in every stereotypically idiotic way possible and indeed actively shown his support for GG consistently.

Further exposing this clown is good, so thanks for making the thread.
 
Sei

Sei

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,852
LA
His Twitter is a shit show. Wow.

Oh it's the gaming media that's the problem now, I see.

 
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FoneBone

FoneBone

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,606
i'm sure Baldwin's hiring is based entirely on his talent and has nothing to do with his politAHAHAHAHA
 
Mihos

Mihos

Member
Oct 28, 2017
536
Sept 20th is kind of soon, seems like they would have done voices before this. Can't wait for the game to come out... I am sick of melee mode
 
Red Arremer

Red Arremer

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
12,259
Oh, they're clearly pandering to that part of the gaming community now. Like there's not even a question about it anymore. Fuck Brad Wardell.
 
K.Jack

K.Jack

Rap Genius
Moderator
Oct 27, 2017
6,938
Dark Space
Oh well. SCO was already in the "buy the day after FUCKING NEVER" pile, due to how Stardock is treating the rightful creators of Star Control.

I needed no more justification, but there it is.
 

Deleted member 82

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,626
Muffin said:
What happens if the original Star Control creators win the lawsuit? Will Stardock even be able to release a Star Control game in that case?
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I'm no expert, but I've been following this thing, and it seems doubtful. While the issue is complex, the basic problem is that Stardock owns the Star Control trademark (and only the trademark, i.e. the name "Star Control"), while the original developers of Star Control own all copyrights and intellectual properties that aren't exclusive to Star Control 3 (meaning basically, everything that originated Star Control 1 and 2). So they can't make a game under the Star Control name (and likely can't reference the Star Control name to promote the game in any way), whereas Stardock can't use anything that originated in SC1 or 2 in their game.

If Fred & Paul win, Stardock will likely still be able to make their SC Origins game, but they will have to remove any and all content that's a direct reference to SC1 and SC2, including races, characters and spaceship designs. Going by all official info we got on the game, there are at least 3 things in SC: O that come from SC1 and 2: the Arilou race, the Chenjesu race (both sold as DLC, no less!) and little toy Ur-Quan vessel in the interior of one of the ships. If Fred & Paul win, all that will have to be removed.

[EDIT] As a sidenote, Brad Wardell is a sly, lying POS, and that's before factoring in GamerGate. It's been fascinating watching him deny the creators of Star Control authorship of the games (when even Greg Johnson, creator of Starflight and member of the original team, says they're pretty much the sole creators of Star Control), only to then say "we respect their IP, the Star Control copyright is theirs, we're not using anything that's theirs", while simultaneously selling Star Control races (see above) as DLC.
 
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zashga

zashga

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,145
As if I needed more reasons to feel bad about buying Elemental. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to work for this guy.
 
Palette Swap

Palette Swap

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,729
I’m still really comfortable skipping Stardock games.
I hope this one in particular is a spectacular dud, considering the amount of fuckery surrounding the IP.
 
TyrantGuardian

TyrantGuardian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,854
PelegrinuX said:
GamerGate is still a thing? Amazing...
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It always was and it always will be. The name is irrelevant, it just allowed us to easily identify the shitlords who have been gatekeeping women from our communities. We've always known they were there, they just never made it this easy to kick them in the nuts before.

zashga said:
As if I needed more reasons to feel bad about buying Elemental. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to work for this guy.
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Are you me? That was genuinely the worst non-joke game I have ever played.
 

Deleted member 82

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,626
A bit off-topic, but I have a question for anyone who's well-versed in copyright (not trademark law): is the concept of "likelihood of confusion", which so essential in trademark law, applicable to copyright law as well?

If so, I really can't see how Stardock can even consider getting races like the Arilou and the Chenjesu in SC: Origins with their current depiction, under those names, and under the Star Control name. There is no way the average observer could look at the SC: Origins Arilou and Chenjesu without thinking "oh hey, I know those guys from the old games, nice!"
 
JustJavi

JustJavi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,951
New Zealand
Sweet, I won't touch that new game with a 2 metres pole.

Edit: had a quick look at their previous games. Glad I've never spent a cent on them.
 
HyGogg

HyGogg

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,495
As if the lawsuit against the creators of Star Control and the fact that they are totally making a game without the full IP rights, this is just one more reason to stay far away from this dumpster fire.

Also it looks like trash.
 
Zafir

Zafir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,813
Yeah I saw that news and it really wasn't difficult to figure out how those two got associated with each other...
 
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